By Kerry Doyle
The notion of a salesperson on the road with a localized version of a spreadsheet filled with inaccurate or outdated lead data and little ability to update it presents an anachronism in this era of instant digital access. But for Laser Technology, Inc. (LTI), which has been engineering and selling space-age technology since 1986, such a low-tech system was more than an anachronism: it was a reality that impeded business growth. And it had to change.
Based in Colorado, LTI manufactures speed- and distance-measurement instruments that are used in a range of industries including law enforcement, mining, construction, and timber. It has 120 employees and sells in more than 100 countries. But until recently, its sales force relied on a combination of paper trails, emails, faxes, and phone calls to make those sales.
LTI’s adoption of Oracle Sales Cloud in 2013 modernized the company’s sales process with mobile-accessible lead, contact, and account management features, raising the sales team’s productivity, helping to increase sales by 30%, and opening the door to additional cloud investments.
From Analog to Cloud
“In the past, manually inserting purchase quotes and data into spreadsheets was extremely resource-intensive and inefficient. If a quote fell off, I wouldn’t have that information and I’d have to take the time to talk directly to the salesperson to find out the status of that deal,” says Roosevelt Rogers, executive vice president of sales and marketing at LTI. “We were well aware that a new level of efficiency was needed in order to grow our services.”
With improved data access via Oracle Sales Cloud, agents can spend more time in the field making sales instead of chasing false leads or wasting time with inaccurate or incomplete data. LTI outside representatives and inside sales teams now have the same visibility for all generated leads and related transactions, with clear distinctions between existing quotes and those that represent opportunities. End user features that improve prospecting include a mobile-based tool that locates new opportunities within a salesperson’s vicinity, and the platform’s social network app enables agents across the LTI sales organization to instantly collaborate on leads and share information.
Rogers credits these sorts of features with enabling agents to collect granular prospecting details they could not have assembled in the past.
Marketing Goes Modern Too
Oracle Sales Cloud did more than simply boost sales performance: the automation and efficiency it introduced opened the door to additional cloud technology investments. Currently, LTI is in the process of adopting Oracle Marketing Cloud, specifically Oracle Eloqua Marketing Cloud Service. That platform’s features, such as targeting, web and social media marketing, and segmentation analytics, represent the kinds of tools team members had been dreaming about.
“The Oracle Marketing Cloud adoption has gone really well. I’m almost nervous because it’s been so easy,” says Rogers. “As a 120-member company, we’ve had to be careful about our business efforts, where we devote resources, and how we allocate capital.”
When salespeople receive a lead using LTI’s cloud-based sales and marketing systems, they know it’s going to have potential. For example, if a lead in Oracle Marketing Cloud meets certain criteria, it automatically moves to Oracle Sales Cloud as a viable prospect to be further developed by sales, says Rogers. If it doesn’t meet those requirements, the lead remains in Oracle Marketing Cloud as a focus for further targeted marketing.
Complementary Clouds
The complementary alignment between the two systems represents another important characteristic. Key processes in Oracle Marketing Cloud including segmentation, campaign management, and lead generation are directly connected to lead, contact information, and account management in Oracle Sales Cloud. And since many of LTI’s customers make fairly predictable purchases in regular buying cycles based on yearly budget allocations, LTI sales and marketing teams can easily adjust their timing for sending new product information, planning entire campaigns a year ahead of schedule and linking them to customers.
With its new cloud platform, LTI employees no longer need to physically comb through spreadsheets for data, perform internet searches for lead information, or miss sales opportunities because data was misfiled or simply missing. “When you have this type of cloud service in place, overall you’re simply more effective. And your workforce is happier because they’re able to do their jobs better and faster,” says Rogers.
Kerry Doyle is an analyst and freelance writer who has covered business and technology issues for more than a decade.
