Equals 11

Please describe your company and your position there.

MAVENDOG is a project leadership firm. With a model that compensates for project and market unpredictability and instability, Mavendog is a creative and unconventional asset to help drive and deliver top project priorities. Using versatile and fractional program and project consultative talent, we help organizations with Strategic Portfolio Development; Program Leadership; and Project & Change Delivery needs. I am the president of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Equals 11?

Our business has exploded in recent years, and we needed a far richer answer to our CRM challenges. We knew Salesforce was the best choice, but we did not have the internal knowledge or experience to mold the technology to our enterprise model.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We evaluated a number of CRM products (including Hubspot, Zendesk, and Zoho). We also discussed our challenges with other software. We landed on Equals11 because of our confidence in their approach to "demystifying" Salesforce for us, and demonstrating how it could best mold itself to our unique business model. We had been stumped for many months on how to capture, manage, and integrate our own professional services and related consultants (from a product sense) into a CRM.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Equals11 performed a series of workshops, interviews, and analyses on the present sales operation model, as well as other important processes, in the first phase to obtain a knowledge of our current technological stack. During the second phase, they used a solution-oriented approach to designing the Salesforce Sales Cloud and other sales enablement components required for a future implementation. Equals 11 then wrote feature stories for a Salesforce deployment blueprint as a consequence of the research and design. Along with a proposed Roadmap of future release capabilities to offer ongoing value to Mavendog CRM transformation.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Three resources total. An account Success Manager; Project Lead; and Functional/Solution Lead.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Equals11 provided a thorough analysis of our business, capturing the current state and future vision. By gathering a top-down understanding of our business and direction, they were able to tailor a realistic scope for configuration and development. The scope was groundwork for an immediately useful and impactful Minimal Viable Product (MVP) that allowed us to transition off of old processes with no relapse.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Equals11 used a Kanban-based, iterative workflow to capture scope and eventually build their roadmap. It was a nice reference piece building our objects and overall MVP setup.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Equals11 helped us prioritize and roadmap for remaining scope. It was a very measured approach. It's comforting and encouraging to have a partner who can prescribe Salesforce functionality so surgically.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Equals11 is a younger company and newer brand, and they are still refining their customer training in Salesforce (which is purposely ad-hoc and as-needed based on the customer). Nevertheless, our progress was never compromised. In fact, it was encouraging (and fun!) to be a part of their ongoing improvements.