In the spring of 2009, The Frantz Group’s Ken Heun read about an interesting company in “Manufacturing Business Technology” magazine. Panorama Consulting Group sounded like a top-notch company and one that could benefit from FG’s help. Ken made contact, nurtured his lead, and by summer’s-end, Frantz Group had a new ERP consulting customer. Today, you’re reading about this now-important Frantz Group client, why they’re important to us, and how they feel about what FG does for them.
First, some background: Panorama helps firms evaluate and select ERP software, manages its implementation, and facilitates all related organizational changes to assure that clients realize full business benefits. Panorama has deep and broad expertise with over 100 different ERP systems and is 100% independent; they do not sell software, have no financial ties with software vendors, and their technology-agnostic approach ensures objectivity. A stand-out selling point for Panorama is that, on average, companies spend 9% of their annual revenue on ERP implementations, but the average Panorama client spends just 5%.
Panorama is a stellar FG client for a number of reasons in addition to the integrity and strong performance you just read about. First, ERP has been a Frantz Group area of expertise for the entirety of our 17 years. We’ve helped numerous ERP-related clients in countless ways and we know our way around this topic from all angles. Second, Panorama is a very good sales organization. They know how to work opportunities and to close them, and, a prime example of this is Senior Manager of Business Development, Brian Potts, who joined Panorama in the fall of 2009.
FG’s Cory Catterall, who works with Brian, says of him, “The thing I like best about Brian is that he is a true salesperson. If someone is willing to talk and expresses an interest or a need, Brian wants it. So many sales people I interface with want reasons to reject leads, but Brian is the complete opposite of that. I believe that’s what makes him so successful at what he does.”
Panorama is happy with Frantz Group, too, and the reasons for this stem not only from our expertise, but also from the roles we fill for them.
FG introduced itself to Panorama at a critical time: Panorama had winning service offerings and they were growing fast, but, according to Brian, they, “Had no formal structure for lead-generation or nurture. We were hit-or-miss. Frantz Group gave us a consistent approach.” Brian goes on to say, “We were growing and needed to maintain a certain level of business, not just go about
Along with business growth comes that perennial “good problem”: Everyone at the company was very busy, so, the more business they got, the tougher it became to find time to ‘feed the bulldog’ as John Frantz, president of FG puts it. Frantz also points out, and Brian agrees, that, along with having less time to prospect, the bigger a company gets, the more work it needs in order to maintain its trajectory. Brian states that Panorama needed to, “Keep leads coming in on a stable basis, not wait until things slowed down to develop new business and then have an inconsistent level [of work]. Hiring Frantz Group was a good move to support our growth.”
“We’ll have pretty much doubled every year we’ve been in existence. Over the last year, [since we’ve been] working with Frantz Group, as numbers continue to grow, [we see] a lot more revenue to be brought in and FG has had a key role in supporting that.”
When asked what objectives Panorama had for FG when they hired us, Brian said, “Very general; we needed expertise [at lead generation]. We had no set expectations. We have been very pleased.” Brian rates FG’s ability to reach desired results at 8 to 10. “It’s absolute necessity to keep prospects in line. I don’t think we’d be where we are without your service.”
Panorama needed FG was for its expertise at finding, nurturing and qualifying leads, but also for Frantz Group’s demonstrated skill at communicating seamlessly as a part of the ERP world. “One of the reasons we initially went with FG was because they do have the understanding. That is critical. To work with a ‘general’ call center that doesn’t have the terminology would be a waste of time.”
When asked about clients brought to Panorama by Frantz Group, Brian lists a “Food manufacturer that’s lots of fun” and a “Furniture manufacturer that’s been great business for us, actually incorporating several businesses, and a large international transportation client that could do future business as well.”
Because Panorama seeks long-term clients who entrust them with ERP decisions and implementations that can grow and change over time, small starts sometimes lead to giant results. Closing a deal with an international transportation company from a Frantz Group lead was a big win. Brian’s take: “It’s hard to know the future, things change… but, to have that foot in the door is a big deal for us.”
As part of our work, Frantz Group sets appointments for Panorama with decision-makers. When queried about FG’s effectiveness in this area, Brian states, “There are exceptions, but I’ve been very happy. People have been prepped on who we are, they’re ready for the call at the time we’ve got it, an I’ve got good background info, too, leading in to the call… You don’t have to walk through the basics again and can get down to business quickly.”
The leads passed from FG to Panorama show a variety of titles: director of supply chain, ERP project executives, controllers, finance titles, and more. These people do very different jobs, so, we asked Brian if FG had been able to interact effectively with those titles. Here is what he said: “Amanda [FG Senior Account Rep.] passes-on who she’s been talking with, this person’s role, and, if we’ll need to be talking with additional people in that company, I’m forewarned on that as well. Understanding the company and who makes decisions is key.”
As a final question, John Frantz asked Brian if there was anything surprising he’d learned by working with our company – any surprising positive result he’d netted but hadn’t anticipated upon starting his relationship with FG:
“Really, what I’ve found very helpful, and I guess surprising, is the sense of how to nurture a lead over time. In this industry, things can take a year to take hold, and hearing back from clients we initially talked to a year and a half ago is very exciting. The fact that we can keep that relationship going, the fact that FG/Amanda has good experience with the CRM package that we use, that’s very helpful.”
Brian’s plans for his relationship with Frantz Group into the future: “Well, my personal plans are, over the next year, to grow our sales department here, and increase the use of Frantz Group. I think it’d be a perfect relationship to build on.”