How do you build a fully customised CRM system to handle over 20,000 sales leads? Not so long ago it would probably involve drafting in software consultants and waiting months to get a finished product. Now, that’s all changed.
On a recent trip to London I met the team from Miinto, whose managing director, Richard Packman, told me that one Sunday he discovered the App Builder in Podio and in no time he’d built the CRM system to run their business! No software development skills needed, no expense, no waiting.
Miinto work with independent clothing boutiques to sell more than 100,000 products online, enabling these smaller retailers to compete for traffic with the online clothing giants in a way that wouldn’t be possible on their own. With operations in seven countries, Miinto originally used Podio as their intranet before going a whole lot further – adding CRM and even management of their photo studio to the host of operations they run on Podio.
Miinto UK’s sales director, David Cederholm, described how before moving their CRM to Podio, the old system they were using was simply a place to store data with limited abilities to assign tasks; there was no support for working on mobile devices or social collaboration features that enabled communication without email. The shift to Podio has made a dramatic improvement:
“Using this system in Podio has changed our world, all of a sudden we can now manage a remote sales team correctly. Naturally you have some people leave, some new people starts, we expand into new territories; straight away all the information that we have can be sorted into that place, tasks can be visible, and it causes accountability.” – David Cederholm, Miinto UK, sales director
Not only was it easy to actually create the CRM apps in Podio, Caroline Mckinnon, operations manager at Miinto, explained that getting the team up and running took just one training session before employees were able to pick it up as they went along. Here’s how Podio has changed the way Miinto work:
- Massive reduction in time-consuming internal email conversations
- Real time coordination of team members in the office and on the road
- Improved visibility and accountability for sales lead handling
- Reduced IT costs by eliminating the need for other systems
But don’t take my word for it, let the team from Miinto show you how Podio works for them in the video above.