Sub-Zero is the leading manufacturer of premium, built-in, home refrigerators. Along with its corporate companion Wolf, the company designs and builds the world’s premier preservation and cooking appliances. Innovation and quality are hallmarks of the Sub-Zero and Wolf brands. Through foresight and responsiveness, the company has worked since 1943 to redefine and transform kitchens into the heart and soul of today’s homes.

Situation

To further its reputation for innovation and industry leadership, Sub-Zero embarked on a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program implementation. Among its key objectives were the desire to improve its customer understanding and the ability to make more informed, timely decisions by analyzing meaningful data.

Strategy

Wipfli team members identified a series of initial projects to be addressed in preparation for a CRM implementation. The first step was the alignment of Sub-Zero’s CRM objectives to their overall corporate objectives. Underlying systems for warranty claims, support, and call center automation were also assessed and shored up. Next, Wipfli team members guided Sub-Zero through its CRM software selection process to ensure the best corporate and cultural fit.

Wipfli then helped steer Sub-Zero’s successful CRM plan execution by:

• Facilitating a comprehensive CRM analysis and design process to help Sub-Zero leverage technology in support of its objectives.
• Working closely with Sub-Zero team members to review and test CRM functionality during the implementation to drive higher user adoption.
• Ensuring effective overall data migration, conversion, and integration, resulting in the subsequent ability to analyze data as business intelligence.
• Introducing an issue tracking tool and enhancement tracking tool to enhance internal communications during the implementation and beyond.

Benefits

Wipfli’s expert guidance and assistance led Sub-Zero on a pragmatic and thoughtful course to CRM plan execution. As a result, Sub-Zero gained many valuable insights, first into its operational structure and then into its market. Overall, the company developed a more formalized process of collaboration that helps them prioritize initiatives and better manage costs.

Using its improved business analytics, Sub-Zero now makes business decisions based on real, reliable, and timely data—decisions that help drive smarter marketing projects with greater efficiencies and cost-effectiveness. Sub-Zero also has a broader, more comprehensive view of its customers, a view that is helping to increase productivity across its many customer service efforts.