March 2007 Synching and securing your customer data Hanley Wood integrates CRM and event management to boost booth sales across events By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor
It used to take two labor-intensive weeks to prepare a single report on Hanley Wood Exhibitions’ (www.hanleywood.com) top 100 customers. As the producer of multiple events for the residential and commercial construction industry, the Irving, TX-based company had used a conglomeration of data management products that didn’t connect customer histories across events. When data security became an issue, finding a secure, consolidated system became imperative.
“If all you own is your database, and that can walk out of your business without your knowing it, that’s huge,” says Shawn Pierce, Director of Infrastructure. “Exhibitions account for a large portion of Hanley Wood’s bottom line.”
The exhibitions division is part of media giant Hanley Wood LLC, which was purchased last year by J.P. Morgan Partners for $650 million — nearly 14 times earnings. The valuation was based on the company’s growth potential, according to industry analysts. Fulfilling that potential has meant adding new events to the portfolio — which includes World of Concrete, Surfaces and the International Pool & Spa Expo — as well as increasing cross-product sales to customers who exhibit at multiple industry events.
With customer data isolated in individual event silos, then divided between the sales teams’ customer relationship management (CRM) system and exhibition management’s CAD-based floor plan management system, it was an onerous task to target top prospects based on buying patterns across shows and products. In late 2003, Pierce began investigating solutions that would give greater visibility into customer histories and, at the same time, tighten security to prevent a data loss incident. He selected a2zShow Enterprise (www.a2zinc.net) event management software.
a2z’s scalable system consolidated event management, floor planning, and inventory and financial management, as well as provided a platform for Web site content management. The implementation team converted the sales CRM to SalesLogix®, then integrated this application with a2zShow, so prospect and customer data would automatically synch and be up-to-date in both systems. The six-month implementation process culminated in September 2004, when a2zShow went live in time for the 2005 International Roofing Expo. Each subsequent event rolled over to a2zShow, which now handles 15 events per year.
The sales force now sees complete customer histories and target markets by industry, event and product. From the smallest 60-exhibitor show to the largest with 1,800 exhibitors, Pierce says Hanley Wood has experienced measurable results in nearly every functional area: • Exhibit sales — Cross-product sales have gone up in excess of 10 percent since 2004, due in part to the integration of SalesLogix and a2zShow. • Attendee marketing — As the No. 1 marketing vehicle, event Web sites used to cost $25,000–$65,000 to deploy and maintain. Now, database-driven Web sites with deep content are created for every show at no added cost. • Financial management — Reporting procedures now take 30–40 percent less time, and custom reports can be saved and run automatically. • IT licensing and maintenance — Fees have dropped from $150,000 per year to about $50,000 per year, enabling Hanley Wood to produce 50 percent more shows at one-third the IT cost.
“The a2zShow exhibitions management system is the heart of our business. Every-thing runs through it,” Pierce says. “It enables us to take better care of our data, which is one of our key assets — that and our customers’ good will.”
Hanley Wood’s Strategy Goal: Increase cross-product sales to top customers. Objective: Target market based on buying patterns across multiple events. Strategy: Consolidate customer data in one exhibition management system to gain visibility into sales histories. Tactics: Implement a2zShow to consolidate floor planning and booth space inventory management; integrate this system with the sales team’s CRM system; automatically synchronize customer data between the two systems. Results: Cross-product sales have increased more than 10 percent since 2004.
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