Because Hexaware had no real standardized marketing processes in place, its marketing department had been acting as a “sales support group,” working on tactical tasks fulfilling sales team requests, according to Amit Varshneya, VP of Marketing, Hexaware, which has headquarters located in India and North America.
While many organizations work from a centralized CRM system and/or marketing blueprints, the Hexaware team was operating solely on multiple Excel sales lists. Therefore, there was no way to record and track prospect touch points, much less measure sales funnel efficiency. Building on the growth of its repeat business, Hexaware quickly realized the need for an organized and reliable infrastructure for sales and marketing.
In the very first year of implementation, the tone of Hexaware’s Sales and Marketing’s conversation changed from how Marketing had done on Sales support requests to how many revenue enhancing opportunities were created by Marketing.
Apart from the obvious disadvantages of previously not having a CRM system, the absence of an end-to-end lead tracking mechanism made it difficult to effectively track Marketing’s lead quality, conversion rates and ROI analysis of marketing channels. “Hexaware’s Marketing leadership championed the cause of closed-loop lead management and partnered with the Sales team to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM system integrated with Eloqua for a true closed-loop lead funnel,” Varshneya said.
Equipped with a tracking mechanism, Hexaware’s Sales and Marketing discussions are now focused on more strategic areas, including the effectiveness of marketing channels, which is now evaluated by hard data based on conversion. Lead handoff and nurturing are jointly discussed and planned, as a result of more closely aligned Sales and Marketing teams.
Hexaware’s Marketing team works more cohesively with Sales to focus on more effective channels that provide measurable results all with the buy-in and support from the executive team.
“After implementing Eloqua and changing many of the Marketing and Sales processes within Hexaware, Marketing went from near-absent to a best-in class efficient organization,” Varshneya said. “Hexaware has much more of a Marketing and Sales savvy culture compared to just a few years ago. Hexaware proudly stands behind its world class marketing organization which is organized, well informed, and thoroughly equipped to compete on global scale.”
