Tempest celebrates 25th anniversary (1990-2015)
In 2001, small and mid-sized businesses were looking beyond just CRM systems. They wanted to transform their organizations, get closer to customers and make their sales teams more effective. Tempest added more consultants, support staff and contractors to keep up with the new client needs.
Agency provides change management, CRM and sales skills training
CRM continued to be important, but customers also wanted it to integrate with their call centers using HEAT. Likewise clients realized that they needed to prepare their users for change. Tempest introduced them to Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson and Ken Blanchard, especially after 9/11 caused much down-sizing. To help attune sales, marketing and customer service reps to their customers’ needs, Tempest provided sales skill training in several methodologies. Clients also called upon Tempest to help develop their positioning (Unique Selling Proposition or USPs) and materials to support their marketing campaigns.
Best Customers want to transform their organizations
As a result, Tempest continued to acquire major clients in service industries: BDO USA, DP Fox Sports & Entertainment, Holland Home of Grand Rapids, Laser’s Resource and Michigan Works!, as well as manufacturers: ESPEC North America and School Zone Interactive.
These organizations looked to Tempest to roll-out CRM implementations regionally and nationally, integrate them with their accounting and ERP systems and train their staffs in new business development processes and skills.
Project management helps overcome complexity
To better manage these larger, more complex projects, Tempest worked closely with its clients’ project management teams. Critical success factors were top management support, prototyping with a core group of users from each department, phased implementation, training at all levels of usage and of course, remedial action to achieve optimal results.
If your organization is seeking to transform itself or needs a business mentor – then Tempest can help ensure that your teams are well-trained and well-coached. Contact us or find out how in our Marketing Plan Workshops.
In our next article, we’ll discuss how Tempest added e-mail marketing, bounce management and demographic refreshment services.