Pipeliner Hits the Mark for Ernest F. Mariani

Ernest F. Mariani Co. is a food and beverage equipment and parts supplier that prides itself on excellent customer service, speedy delivery, and expert installation and repair. The Salt Lake City-based company recently celebrated 100 years in business.

While the company offers parts and complete systems through its website, much of its business is dependent on its salespeople. And its sales­people are dependent on a CRM system that is easy to use and meets all of their needs.

Finding such a CRM system had been a challenge. Over many years, the company tried a few different solutions, but none really met the needs of its salespeople, according to IT director Chris Morey.

“We were struggling to get buy-in from people in our sales group,” Morey explains. “I provide the platform and the training, but we know within six or nine months if something is a good product or not by whether it continues to be used.”

That was the problem with previous CRM programs—they weren’t being used.

Mariani’s most recent CRM system flop was a system that paired CRM and back-office accounting functionality. Overall, the system “was very cumbersome and didn’t integrate well with our office and the different things that the better salespeople wanted to do out there.”

Morey began looking for a better alternative about a year and a half ago and eventually picked Pipeliner CRM, which his company implemented in the first quarter of last year.

“We just felt so comfortable with them and what they were saying they could do,” Morey recalls.

Moving from the previous solution to Pipeliner took about three months. It took some effort to port over all of Mariani’s customer data and to integrate the new software with Mariani’s legacy accounting system, but in general, Morey says, “everything went smoothly. [Pipeliner] is just a very good operation.

“Once we started with them, I knew we had hit a home run because of their support. Their people are amazing. Whenever we had an issue or anything, they were right on top of it and followed through without having to be asked.”

Salespeople have also found that the solution operates very smoothly and are using it, Morey adds.

“They absolutely love Pipeliner,” he says. “They’re in it every day, using it on multiple devices. It’s very easy to use. The integration with our different programs has made it so that they’ve bought into it.”

And that has led to productivity increases. In fact, using Pipeline CRM for the past year or so, sales have grown by as much as 10 percent, sales rep accountability has increased by 50 percent, and companywide communication has increase by 25 percent.

Equally important, Mariani executives have found Pipeliner to be a good businesses partner. “Compared to other software companies that I’ve dealt with over the last 30 years, [Pipeliner’s] communication has been the best. When they say things are going to happen, they make them happen according to the timelines they project. And they have unbelievable training for new processes and products that become available. Their support team is great,” Morey says.

Salespeople like that the Pipeliner solution offers a wide variety of capabilities, including lead management, pipeline management, and contact management, Morey says. In addition, Pipeliner can compare customer purchases. If one customer is not purchasing some of the items a similar customer is buying, the company uses that information to promote sales and options to that company. Pipeliner also figures the costs of acquiring business, evaluates the targets salespeople set for themselves and checks that they’re capitalizing on opportunities and leads, and even determines salespeople’s closing percentages.

Because Pipeliner has so many features available—in the hundreds—Mariani salespeople haven’t started to make full use of its functionality, according to Morey. “We haven’t even scratched the surface, and [Pipeliner is] always adding new stuff.” 

The Payoff

Since going live with Pipeliner CRM, Ernest F. Mariani Co. has done the following:

• grown sales by up to 10 percent;
• improved salespeople’s accountability by 50 percent; and
• increased companywide communication by 25 percent.