Servometer, Cedar Grove, NJ, manufactures custom pressure-responsive bellows, seals, couplings and springs. The company's business, like that of many custom fabricators, requires frequent and detailed communication with its customers, sales representatives, and engineering and design professionals. This creates a sales cycle that often lasts months before an order is completed. The firm has long recognized the importance of handling sales opportunities efficiently. As with its customers requirements for custom engineering, Servometer requires software that adapts to its way of doing business. In 1997, it created a database of customer contact information, shared by the company's engineering and sales departments. Later, it added lead management to the database, to help speed response to inquiries-primarily requests for quote (RFQs) -and to track lead sources. The company used the data to measure marketing effectiveness and to develop a strategic, structured lead-management system, critical for providing its customers with quick and accurate responses to inquiries. As it gained experience with the database, and the number of leads and the intensity of competition increased, Servometer management became aware that the efficiency gained by automatically organizing and processing information requests had become vital to the bottom line.
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