Microsoft Dynamics CRM Helps Jelly Belly

Jelly Belly Candy Company, the famous international candy manufacturer, was in need of a customer relationship management system so it decided to deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In the last decade, Jelly Belly has grown rapidly as it has expanded its product selection and number of offices. In 2007, it installed an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and needed a customer relationship management (CRM) system that would easily integrate with it. Microsoft Dynamics CRM was the answer to Jelly Belly’s needs.

Jelly Belly wanted to improve its customer relations and reduce customer churn, while increasing its revenue.The company also wanted to standardize the sales process to make it easier to track and report sales activity. For example, Jelly Belly employees regularly attended trade shows where they acquired several hundred leads, but the company had no system to ensure that these leads were followed up on in a timely manner. Dan Rosman, the Vice President of Information Technology at Jelly Belly, said, “Our manufacturing operations operate with very little waste and produce extremely consistent results. We wanted that same type of efficiency and consistency in our sales, but we needed a tool that would help us achieve that goal.”

Jelly Belly also wanted to attract new customers, on top of keeping its current customers. The Vice President of Business Development at Jelly Belly, Ryan Schader, said, “It takes a lot more time and energy to acquire new customers than to retain current ones. However, without a customer relationship management system integrated with our ERP system, there was little we could do from an organization standpoint to remedy this problem. Our customer relationship management project was critical.” In great need of a CRM solution, Jelly Belly deployed a non-Microsoft CRM system. The system was extremely complicated, difficult to deploy, and confusing to navigate. It did not integrate well with Jelly Belly’s ERP system and the technical issues made it too much of a hassle for Jelly Belly employees. After 18 months of attempting to integrate this CRM solution, Jelly Belly gave up and decided to look into other options.

Jelly Belly contacted Microsoft to look into setting up one of their CRM solutions. In two and a half months, Microsoft Dynamics CRM was completely installed. The deployment was under-budget and highly impressed the Jelly Belly staff, especially after the 18 month failed deployment of their previous CRM solution.

Now, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Jelly Belly employees have a complete view of customer information and account activity. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM serves as a transparent clearinghouse for customer information at Jelly Belly,” says Schader. “There is no longer a disconnection between customer service, order entry, and our sales representatives in the field. Every customer interaction is logged through the system, whether a sales representative or a representative on our customer service team creates it.” Jelly Belly developed a follow up system within Microsoft Dynamics CRM where they can track their customers. Employees can see which customers have not ordered Jelly Belly products in the past year, which then allows them to call the customers to follow up and create new orders. Schader explained that customers are happy to have Jelly Belly calling and reminding them about both purchase information and new products. It saves them time and increases Jelly Belly’s efficiency and revenue.

Overall, Jelly Belly met all of its needs and goals in just five months. The company achieved a 34 percent reduction in customer churn with the help of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Also, Dynamics CRM helped Jelly Belly formalize its sales processes which led to an increase of $60,000 in additional revenue each month. Microsoft Dynamics CRM paid for itself in less than three months. Schader said, “The mantra for our company right now is ‘Work smarter, not harder.’ Tools like Microsoft Dynamics CRM are helping us grow even as the economy goes through a rough period.” Microsoft Dynamics CRM was really the answer to Jelly Belly’s growth. The numbers alone show how much the CRM solution helped. Find out more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM on Microsoft’s website.

Tags: crm solution, customer churn, customer relationship management, jelly belly, Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Dynamics CRM