Widex

When the Chinese subsidiary of a Danish manufacturer of hearing aids opened a nationwide chain of retail stores, Sage provided the foundation for establishing long-term customer relationships.

Creaking systems inadequate for retail
For over a decade customer information had been collected by a creaking system of spreadsheets and paperwork that was woefully inadequate for the new retail operation, where success would depend on each outlet engaging with customers and building loyalty. “We had a problem with the integrity of the data,” said Steen Teisen, Chief Executive Officer of Widex in China. “Spreadsheets are very vulnerable; information can easily be deleted or wrongly entered. And we didn’t have the database management tools to extract the information we wanted.”

Deployed centrally, used nationally
CRM software was identified as the best way forward, giving the business the ability to access relevant data and use it for competitive advantage. The company was looking to devise carefully targeted campaigns to add value in a price-driven market.

Sage was chosen because of its value proposition in terms of features/cost and its user-friendly interface. Sage was installed in the Shanghai headquarters with Sage partner Sagesoft Solutions carrying out the deployment and some customization work, first creating fields in the software to capture the precise data that Widex wanted, then integrating it with the company’s accounting solution. Each retailer uses Sage to track customer engagements up to and beyond the initial purchase. Repairs are logged in the system, including the number of batteries bought. If battery sales dry up then employees know it’s time to contact the client. “The system lets us see red flags early and warns us of potential problems with a customer,” said Teisen.

End-to-end customer engagement drives sales
Sage gives Widex a better understanding of users and prospective customers, far beyond the capability of the old spreadsheets. From first sale to repairs and upgrades, Sage has become a repository for each customer’s entire history. Everyone is working from the same database, a single source of accurate information that is overseen by the Widex management.

With a range of more than 70 products and more than 10,000 customers in their database, Widex is better able to match the right hearing aid to each client’s needs and is already engaged with customers when they begin to think about an upgrade. It provides information that lets them target customers through direct marketing. “Sage helps us tailor campaigns that are a lot less wasteful than advertising. We can make sure relevant customers are alerted when one of our roadshows visits their area, for example, or we can send them information about a new product that suits their profile,” explained Teisen.