Sherwin-Williams Paints a Sweet Picture With SugarCRM

SugarCRM and Channel Partner CorraTech Help Sherwin-Williams Improve Sales Performance

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SugarCRM, the market-leading customer relationship management (CRM) company that enables effective customer engagement enterprise-wide, today announced that Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes, a division of The Sherwin-Williams Company, turned to SugarCRM and channel partner CorraTech to improve sales data management, increase visibility into the sales pipeline, and boost sales performance. Results of an initial pilot showed that sales reps who used SugarCRM substantially out-performed those who did not.

“And it was easy to see that our star sales performers were team members who used Sugar every day.”

The Automotive Finishes Division of Sherwin-Williams distributes products to collision centers, dealerships, body shops, fleet refinishers, manufacturers, and OEM suppliers. One of the Division’s challenges had been quantifying data on sales activity. “As we introduced new sales initiatives, we had a difficult time measuring the effectiveness of our efforts,” recalls Brian Shenk, director of marketing services for Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes. “So we recognized the potential value of a robust CRM system.”

Shenk and his team evaluated many legacy providers of CRM and reached an interesting conclusion: “We were very interested in open source CRM and realized we wanted a solution that offered choices between a cloud-based and an on-premise deployment,” notes Shenk. Sherwin-Williams consulted CorraTech to help evaluate open source CRM solutions. After a thorough evaluation process, the company launched its SugarCRM pilot program. Beyond meeting the criteria mentioned, Sugar also offered ease of customization and integration with other internal user systems.

Sherwin-Williams realized tangible benefits from its SugarCRM pilot, which included individuals in a number of different roles in the sales organization. In addition to demonstrating superior sales performance for the pilot group, the Sherwin-Williams SugarCRM solution:

• Provided greater visibility into sales activity
• Supported a diverse sales team with over 22 language packs
• Delivered a positive experience for pilot users regardless of their technical proficiency

“Our Division had a successful year,” concludes Brandon Devis, director of sales force effectiveness for Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes. “And it was easy to see that our star sales performers were team members who used Sugar every day.”

“With the assistance of CorraTech, Sherwin-Williams has made SugarCRM a platform for improving sales management and boosting performance,” remarks Lorna Heynike, senior vice president of marketing for SugarCRM. “And its successful approach to introducing SugarCRM to the company’s sales culture is a model for other companies that are serious about CRM.”

For more information on Sherwin-Williams, please visit www.sherwin-williams.com. To learn more about the Sherwin-Williams SugarCRM pilot project, please see the case study.

About Sherwin-Williams

The Sherwin-Williams Company, founded in 1866, is one of the world's leading companies in the manufacture, distribution and sale of coatings and related products to professional, industrial, commercial and retail customers. Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes, a division of The Sherwin-Williams Company, manufactures and distributes a complete line of advanced technology paint and coating systems for automotive and fleet refinishing industries.

About CorraTech

CorraTech is one of SugarCRM’s oldest partners. The firm provides design, development, strategy and support for multi-channel commerce projects. CorraTech’s practice area is called Shopping to Shipping® and encompasses all of the technology solutions today’s businesses need including eCommerce, CRM and integration with backend systems.

About SugarCRM

SugarCRM democratizes customer engagement, empowering every professional who interacts with the customer to excel at their job. SugarCRM’s market leading open Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform delivers the agility, flexibility, and security required to equip each customer facing professional with the relevant information and tools they need to effectively collaborate and engage with their customer, both within and beyond the enterprise. SugarCRM applications have been downloaded more than 11 million times and currently help over 1,000,000 end users across disciplines effectively engage their customers. Over 7,000 organizations have chosen SugarCRM's On-Site and Cloud Computing services over proprietary alternatives. SugarCRM has been recognized for its customer success and product innovation by CRM Magazine, InfoWorld and Customer Interaction Solutions.

For more information, call [phone] or 1 87 SUGARCRM toll-free in the US, email [e-mail], or visit www.sugarcrm.com. You can also connect with SugarCRM on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.