Hewlett-Packard Makes Hoover's Part of Global CRM Strategy and End-to-End Sales Process

Business Roadblock

Hewlett-Packard is a large company with a huge number of client accounts. Because the company is continuously hiring new sales representatives and routinely altering its go-to-market models, HP sales reps are often presented with new accounts - strategic accounts they weren't covering before.

One of the key needs the company had was finding a way for its sales reps to more quickly get up to speed on the client accounts they were going to be calling on - specifically the accounts in which HP did not have a strong presence. The company's sales reps needed to be able to slice critical data in a number of ways - whether drilling down for more detail into a specific account or conducting a broader search into a vertical market or industry. These capabilities were key drivers in HP's selection of Hoover's.

Solution

HP decided to offer its employees company-wide access to Hoover's in 2004, making Hoover's a part of its global CRM strategy, as well as offering Hoover's as a plug-in to some of its customized portals. HP integrated Hoover's into its end-to-end sales process to ensure that Hoover's data and tools would be available to HP's sales teams from the very beginning of the sales cycle, when sales professionals truly need to understand the customer.

"In late 2006, HP purchased Mercury Interactive Software Company. As part of our 'go live' plan, we prepared Hoover's Reports for all of the accounts," said HP Sales Operations Manager Kevin McBride. "We wanted to make sure that as we combined the sales force, all of the new sales reps would have reliable company, industry, and executive information available to them right away."

HP also uses Hoover's on a daily basis for account planning and maintenance. "The first thing we do is use Hoover's as part of our information gathering before we go in with our sales team and create an account plan," said McBride. "We typically use Hoover's right before a customer visit, especially if it's a customer we don't know. We also use Hoover's alerts to track changes and industry news that affect our accounts. We know Hoover's saves our sales reps time. We know it makes them more productive, more effective, and more efficient."

According to McBride, as far as customer reach, Hoover's has definitely helped HP hit the ground running much quicker. A major plus in McBride's book is the fact that a large team of Hoover's in-house industry and company experts create and maintain the value-added data for its high-quality core Hoover's company records.

"Hoover's in-depth records are much more thorough, accurate, and reliable than the comparable information offered by competitors because Hoover's doesn't rely completely on automated data collection and consolidation," he said. "And the fact that Hoover's has added news and other data to its less in-depth records is also helpful, as it gives us more than just the basic company contact information."

Bottom Line

Hoover's has helped HP reach more customers by enabling its sales force to get up to speed more quickly. As HP's sales force continues to grow, the company sees Hoover's comprehensive industry, market, and customer information as a must-have in providing its sales team with a one-stop way to access the accurate, insightful information they need to grow their business.