A Lead Tracking Process Transformed With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Configured by Cargas

CHALLENGES

Heightened Risk of Missed Opportunities Due to a Manual, Unscalable Sales Process

According to Alejandro Rosado, Jr., Founder and CEO of 12:34 MicroTechnologies, using a software system to track sales opportunities wasn’t always at the top of his company’s priority list. 

“You know that old saying about the shoemaker’s kids not having shoes? It was kind of like that,” he said. “It was always one of those things in the back of our minds that we knew we would eventually have to do, but it took a back seat to our service delivery systems.”

Rosado’s method of managing prospects consisted of manually entering notes in OneNote if a prospect needed a quote and setting up reminders in his Outlook calendar to follow up with the person. He said that process worked well when the company only got a few new prospects a month. But 12:34 MicroTechnologies was growing, and that manual process became unmanageable when Rosado needed to track upwards of 20 new prospects at a time. 

The aha moment that something needed to change came when Rosado had sent a proposal for a major opportunity and temporarily forgot about it, nearly missing out on a significant contract. At that point, he realized he needed a system to streamline how he managed his sales process.

As a Microsoft Partner, 12:34 MicroTechnologies had access to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, but they weren’t using it. 

“I’ve logged into it. I’ve dabbled with it. But I didn’t have time to figure it out,” Rosado shared. “Fortunately, we knew the best company to develop it for us: Cargas Systems.”

SOLUTIONS

A Custom-Configured Sales Solution That Automates Opportunity Management

12:34 MicroTechnologies and Cargas have a strong relationship and have confidence in each other’s expertise and capabilities. For over 20 years, the companies have referred customers to each other: Rosado refers customers to Cargas for Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, and Cargas refers businesses needing IT networking and infrastructure solutions to 12:34 MicroTechnologies. 

Rosado said, “In 2022, I reached out to Eric Gervase in Sales at Cargas and said, ‘Hey, I have another lead for you… it’s us.’” 

Cargas then worked with Rosado and his team to configure the software to accommodate the IT company’s sales process steps and customize its fields to be more relevant to the information it collects about prospective clients. 

“The order of the fields, the menus, the buttons, the workflow, and the dashboards are all tailored to what happens in the stages we go through and how we sell,” Rosado explained. “Cargas had ideas and suggestions I had never thought of.”

BENEFITS

Improved Sales Tracking; No Opportunities Slipping Through the Cracks

12:34 MicroTechnologies now has a more efficient, dependable sales process. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales tracks leads, sends reminders to follow up with prospects, and automatically notifies team members when clients have accepted proposals. After receiving customer details via automated emails from Dynamics 365 Sales, the accounting group at 12:34 MicroTechnologies sets up client accounts in the company’s other business management systems.

“Currently, we’re using the software to track opportunities until a sale is closed. Once they’re sold, they move into our other platforms,” Rosado shared. He said in the near future, they plan to leverage APIs to further automate the flow of information from the sales software into their other systems. 

According to Rosado, one of the most beneficial outcomes of using Dynamics 365 Sales is that he has visibility into his company’s opportunities pipeline. “We have great visibility now into our pipeline, and I never would have been able to see that without the software.”

“I’ve been in the Microsoft ecosystem for over 30 years, but it’s different when you’re trying to build a solution for yourself. Cargas got it from the start and saved us a ton of time on the implementation.”

—Alejandro Rosado, Jr., Founder and CEO, 12:34 MicroTechnologies

Also, he has insights — such as how many quotes they have open, implementation timetables, and other details — critical for resource planning purposes. 

Armed with that information, he knows when to staff up to meet delivery schedules and how to manage other resources. “I didn’t have any of those metrics before, and they’re very helpful,” Rosado shared.

That information also enables him to forecast revenue more accurately. While the bulk of 12:34 MicroTechnologies’ income is recurring revenue from ongoing management services, 20 to 30 percent comes from new business and product sales. Before the Dynamics 365 Sales solution, the company didn’t have an easy way to track and quantify the latter, but now they can see the scope of that and anticipate what to expect in the months ahead. 

About working with the Cargas team, Rosado said it was beneficial to have a project team that held them to a timeline while allowing flexibility when needed. “They were proactive about reminding us about upcoming tasks and deadlines, yet understanding if other things came up or I had questions. I felt a great deal of flexibility and really appreciated it.”

RECENT CASE STUDIES