/kaksio-labs-logo-white.png?width=150&height=69&name=kaksio-labs-logo-white.png "Kaksio Labs"){kind=logo}
The purpose of implementing Verso Food's CRM system was to provide sales with an easy tool for the systematic and efficient handling of leads. The intention was to start with a light implementation: the main emphasis was on the introduction of an easy-to-use customer relationship management system. Based on several recommendations, HubSpot was chosen as the system. Kaksio team, which convinced the implementation with its expertise and attitude, was chosen as the system vendor.
Verso Food - a culinary success story
Verso Food makes kidney beans e.g. HärkisⓇ known to all. In addition to retail, the company's customers are mainly food wholesalers and restaurants. As the company's operations expanded into international trade, the need arose for a centralized customer information management system that would also make tacit information available to all vendors. The main goal of the introduction of the new system was to create more certainty and transparency for the rapidly growing operations. Verso Food also needed new ways to approach both product-using restaurants and as-yet unidentified customers. With the attention to acquire new customers, HubSpot's newsletter functionality was also introduced as part of the project.
HubSpot was selected based on the recommendations and the implementer based on interviews
“When choosing a sales tool, we asked our close associates about their experiences with different CRM systems. We received good feedback about HubSpot from several. For deployment, we interviewed several service providers. With Kaksio came the feeling that their expertise and delivery reliability can be relied on: Kaksio delivers what it promises. The Kaksio people understood the needs of our company, could explain to us the possibilities of HubSpot in an understandable way and helped us think about how we could best benefit from the system,” says Petteri Toivonen, Product Manager at Verso Food. "We were able to start the project with confidence in its success."
Carefully planned deployment
The project schedule was fast: Verso Food identified the need for a unified customer data system in the summer of 2020, and the implementation project with Kaksio started in October 2020.
“Right at the beginning of the project, we got a very clear timetable from Kaksio on how the project will progress. With this information, the implementation got off to a good start. Clear frameworks made it easier for us to plan and schedule the work of our experts.” Toivonen tells.
At the beginning of the project, the typical customer paths of Verso's customers were described and Kaksio interviewed the company's sales staff. In this way, it was ensured that Kaksio got an overall picture of the field on which Verso Food operates on a daily basis.
During the project, not only was HubSpot CRM configured, but also all sales tools were introduced, a sales pipeline was built, and existing customer information was brought into the new system. Ease of use was the main theme of the project: it was intended to ensure that the use of the new system was rooted in daily activities from the beginning. The implementation has been done purely for B2B sales, with the consumer side capped out of the project.
The project was finished well on schedule at the end of 2020. In January 2021, Verso’s sales people were trained to use the system, and in February, customers received the first newsletter from the HubSpot system. About a month after the project was completed, Kaksio also held a HubSpot clinic for the people of Verso, it was made sure that the system was will in use and questions raised were discussed.
HubSpot in everyday use for sales
Users have been able to use the system well, although Covid-19 has significantly slowed down the horeca industry. The customer database is in use and, on behalf of the system, everything is also ready for larger-scale use when the situation returns to normal.
"All the goals we set at the beginning of the project have already been met at this stage," says Toivonen. “The everyday work of the sellers has been made easier when all the information is in one place. The tool is useful and strongly involved in the daily lives of sellers.”
For the sales team, one of HubSpot's favourite functionalities is the visualized customer path, which allows you to keep track of what kind of customers are at which stage on their customer path. “Monitoring the customer's situation has become easier. Customer management has been simplified. With the newsletter functionality we have not only gotten new newsletter subscribers and valuable contacts, but also new buying customers.” Toivonen says with delight.
Great personalities with skills made of iron
Toivonen was also impressed by the communication during the project and Kaksio's understanding of what is most important for Verso. It was important for Toivonen that the project also remained within the pre-agreed framework and was completed as agreed and in schedule.
“Special nods to the fact that Kaksio’s experts were such good guys. It was nice and relaxed to work on the project. Our sales staff is social and they received a like-minded response from Kaksio. A serious project was finished, but with a twinkle in the corner of the eye.”
On the Verso side, in the project there were several individuals involved with no previous experience in implementing or using a CRM system. “Still, the project didn’t seem like a tedious chore: Kaksio people knew how to explain things so that they were understood. And best of all, they got the team excited about the possibilities and the use of the system! The way Kaksio presented and told things was inspiring and contributed to a good feeling.”
Customer-oriented, functional process
Communication was direct, honest and inspiring from the very start of the sales discussions with Kaksio. "Thank you to Kaksio for the truly customer-oriented approach," says Toivonen. “Based on my experience, I can recommend Kaksio to a small company like us, but I see no reason why the same methods wouldn’t work for bigger ones. Kaksio has understanding from several different fields and I could imagine that regardless of the industry, there is also know-how for larger scale implementations.”