No loafing at Sara Lee Bakery

In the highly competitive bread market, commercial bakers are constantly on the lookout for any advantage that will differentiate themselves from their competitors. Sara Lee Bakery Group (SLBG), a division of Sara Lee Corporation, has found that advantage - a CRM enabling software product that provides customers with the highest level of service available anywhere in the direct store delivery (DSD) business.

The product is called TELE-SCOPE, a little known CRM powerhouse that is quietly increasing sales, decreasing costs and improving customer satisfaction for companies in a variety of industries nationwide. TELE-SCOPE is designed, manufactured and marketed by VisionWare, Inc.(www.visionware-inc.com), a Fort Worth, Texas-based provider of adaptable CRM software.

Currently, SLBG is using TELE-SCOPE in their Texas and Arizona zones and is looking to expand usage of the product into other zones. According to John Shepard, Sr. Zone Vice President at SLBG in Arizona, "TELE-SCOPE gives us a huge competitive edge. We know for a fact that in the DSD community, we have the only software program that can monitor how customers are being taken care of on a day to day basis," explained Shepard. "A number of retailers in both Texas and Arizona tell us that we are more responsive and have the ability to track problems better than any organization using DSD."

Challenge: understand and automate

SLBG competes in the fresh, refrigerated and frozen bakery segments of the market. Major company-owned brands include Sara Lee, Earth Grains, IronKids, Colonial and Rainbo in the United States, and Bimbo and CroustiPate in Europe. Customers include large grocery store chains, restaurants, schools, government institutions, convenience stores and small mom and pop stores worldwide.

SLBG began researching CRM solutions in 1998 because they needed a more efficient way to monitor, track, and identify the root cause of customer calls. In addition, the company wanted to automate the time consuming and often error-plagued system of paging and faxing they had in place to deal with customer orders.

Prior to TELE-SCOPE's installation, SLBG followed standard DSD procedures for dealing with customer issues. In a typical DSD environment, customers are routinely given a series of numbers to call if they have an issue. These phone numbers include the route driver, the sales manager, and everyone in between -- all the way up to the account executive. Depending on the issue, someone is expected to promptly return the customer's call and try to meet the need as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, things don't always work as planned. For example, if a delivery is delayed, the customer tries to page the route driver. If the route driver is busy, he may not respond to the page for several hours or may forget to return the page altogether. The customer is then forced to call other numbers -- trying desperately to solve the issue by escalating it through a series of pages, faxes, or voice mails.

Often the customer ends up calling several numbers, trying to get a response. Or, he may be unsure of which of the 20 numbers is the most appropriate to call, so he calls several numbers. This cumbersome process is inefficient and leads to frustration for both the customer and supplier. Clearly, a better way was needed.

TELE-SCOPE -- a better way

After researching numerous potential CRM solutions, SLBG chose TELE-SCOPE because it met all of their needs at a reasonable price - and provided them with unlimited flexibility. "We were amazed with the product's flexibility," recalls Shepard. "TELE-SCOPE provides us with blank page software - giving us an incredible foundation to design a solution from the ground up with no limitations. When we want a new function, we just develop it using TELE-SCOPE's built-in scripting tools. TELE-SCOPE conforms to our business processes and does not lock us into something that we can not change as our business needs change."

TELE-SCOPE offers a robust, modular, and cost-effective alternative for companies who need to improve their customer communications. TELE-SCOPE integrates easily into the existing operational and back-office CRM infrastructure to cohesively manage all customer interactions for sales, service or support -- no matter how a customer chooses to contact the company. The flexible, standards-based design includes components for integrating communication through telephony, Internet and Web forms, fax, email and wireless devices.

According to Nathan Mills, CRM Manager at SLBG, "When I first saw the product in action, I was amazed at all of the different things it could do. I kept shaking my head in disbelief because we could customize it to do exactly what we wanted. For example, we can create orders in a different way, change the response time or change the hierarchy of how we handle issues. It is limitless in its customization abilities."

Everything's automatic!
Since installing TELE-SCOPE, SLBG has been able to implement a 2-hour resolution guarantee for all customer issues. "With TELE-SCOPE, everything's automatic!" explained Mills. "The customer is given one 800 number to call - that's one number for every single issue. When the telephone agent at SLBG takes the call, an entire procedure is automatically set in motion behind the scenes. The issue is never closed until two different people close it, which provides a simple and effective check and balance

For example, a customer runs short on bread. He calls the 800 number and relays that information to the agent. The agent enters the information into TELE-SCOPE. The software then automatically pages the appropriate route driver. The driver has 30 minutes to respond to the page. If there is no response, TELE-SCOPE automatically escalates the issue by sending the issue up the chain of command to the next in line. This procedure repeats up through the hierarchy until the ticket is closed. In this scenario, the driver delivers the extra bread and closes the ticket. TELE-SCOPE then signals the agent that the issue is closed and prompts the agent to call the customer back to ensure satisfaction. Only after the customer is completely satisfied can the phone agent officially close the ticket.

Nothing falls through the cracks
"The great thing about TELE-SCOPE is that you always have a backup - nothing falls through the cracks because it forces the correct procedure to take place," explained Mills. "If we don't get a response within a short time period, then very quickly someone else will know about it. Before TELE-SCOPE, issues dragged on, and we continually were trying to track down information or contact somebody else. Now if the contact isn't made right away, someone else will know about it immediately."

ROI: increased productivity and just in time ordering

Since SLBG deployed TELE-SCOPE in three of their zones beginning in 1999, the company has come to rely on the product as an essential part of their business. "I can't imagine keeping track of everything the old way," confided Mills. "If for some reason, we weren't able to use TELE-SCOPE, we would be lost. Keeping in contact with everyone would be a monstrous undertaking.

According to Shepard, "I can safely say that without this product, I would have to hire two full time people to track customer issues in the Arizona zone. TELE-SCOPE has definitely allowed us to increase our productivity.

Shepard continued, "Another benefit is that TELE-SCOPE gives us the ability to manage our business in a just-in-time ordering basis. It allows us to easily spot patterns, such as ordering habits of a customer," Shepard explained. "For example, we can look at the data and see that on a set day of the week, we are routinely getting a call from a particular customer about a certain item. This tells us that the customer may not be ordering enough product, which in turn causes us extra time and money to make a special delivery. If this pattern is consistently repeated every week, TELE-SCOPE allows us to easily spot the trend and get ahead of it, instead of constantly chasing it."

Easy to use

According to Shepard, an important feature of the product is its ease of use. "When I first saw a TELE-SCOPE demo, I was concerned that we would not be able to use it because of its complexity. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was very easy to use and customize." Shepard continued, "We didn't have to worry about paying a consultant for software development even after implementation, because it is so easy to change the program to meet our continually evolving needs."

From a user's perspective, it is also very easy for an agent to sit down and with little training, be able to work the program. Everything is intuitive and automatic, neatly contained in one application.

Robust and feature rich

Another feature of TELE-SCOPE that is important to SLBG is Interaction Management, which provides a detailed view of all current and past issues. When talking with a customer, all of the information the agent needs is presented on screen. The agent does not need to ask what the issue is or who is responding to it - every step of the resolution is available to the agent.

SLBG management uses TELE-SCOPE's Long-term Customer Call-in Record to ensure better communication with customers. Many of SLBG's larger chain store customers are aware of TELE-SCOPE and are eager for SLBG to share the detailed trend reports with them during monthly status meetings. These reports combat incorrect perceptions by giving both SLBG and the customer a clearer insight into problems. By viewing the long-term trend reports, customers clearly see what issues they need to improve on their end, ensuring that both companies benefit from a smoother working relationship.

SLBG recently added the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capabilities to their powerful TELE-SCOPE feature line up. The purpose of the IVR is to provide the route driver (or whoever is managing the ticket) the ability to update the status of the ticket without having to talk with a live agent. This feature improves efficiency by allowing the ticket to be closed, thus stopping the escalation of the issue even though the phone agent may not be immediately available to answer the phone call live.

A positive culture change

Shepard concludes that he has seen some amazing changes within his organization since deploying the software. "TELE-SCOPE allows us to have accountability - even at the lowest levels of our organization. From a behavior perspective, it's changed the culture of our company in a positive way. Our people know that if they don't respond within 30 minutes, TELE-SCOPE will automatically send the issue up the hierarchy. Of course, everyone at SLBG knows that it is good business to be responsive. They also know that if they don't respond, someone else will, and they will hear about it!"