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BRACKNELL, UK – 29 November, 2011 – Maximizer Software, a leading provider of simple, accessible and affordable customer relationship management (CRM) software, today announced that leading United Arab Emirates sports newspaper, Sport360, has gone live with Maximizer CRM. Summing up Maximizer’s CRM’s impact, John Jose, circulations director at Sport360, commented that the system had already greatly reduced the newspaper’s administrative workload, increased the visibility and availability of accurate information and enabled the team to focus on growing the business and expanding the customer base. Founded in 2010, Sport360 is a sports newspaper and associated website published in the United Arab Emirates. The newspaper has grown quickly since its launch, rising to a total circulation of 35,000 free and paid-for copies, thanks to its high-quality international news coverage of sports such as football, horseracing, cricket, motor racing, tennis and many more. The Sport360 team is continuing its huge effort to sign up readers as paid-for subscribers, having brought 8,000 on board in just one year. Sport360 sells copies via shops and news-stands and supplies in bulk directly to airlines, hotels and hospitals. Deliveries are handled by a specialist third party distributor but the newspaper retains responsibility for providing daily reports and information which detail how many copies are to be printed, and where they should be delivered on any one day. Delivering the right number of copies to the right locations 312 days per year is a major logistical challenge. Using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to manage this process became increasingly difficult and time consuming as Sport360’s circulation grew. For accurate live reporting, information had to be centralised in one system rather than in data silos spread across the business. Sport360 realised that the best way to store subscription and delivery information and access live reporting functionality would be with a CRM solution. John Jose, circulations director at Sport360 comments: “I asked some publishing industry contacts which CRM system they would endorse and almost all of them recommended Maximizer CRM. This was an important factor in our decision, because as fellow publishers, they understood exactly how we wanted a CRM system to perform.” Following on from this strong positive feedback from local users and its own detailed research, Sport360 contacted Maximizer Certified Business Partner, GNet Computer Systems. After a detailed consultation, GNet began to implement Maximizer CRM. Immediately after go- live there was a marked improvement in the circulation team’s working day. Maximizer CRM revolutionised Sport360’s processes, with reports specifying daily print runs and delivery schedules – which used to take two hours per day to create – available instantly. All subscriber records are held in one place, together with production and deliveries information, so instructions for the printers and distributors can now be printed off or emailed in seconds. For example, Maximizer CRM allows Sport360 to specify certain delivery days for specific customers ahead of time. If a customer wants the newspaper only on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, details are automatically omitted from Tuesday and Friday’s reports, ensuring that no avoidable costs are incurred through printing surplus copies. Sport360 now has complete customer information including start and end dates for each of its subscribers. So when subscription renewal time comes the team has the correct information to contact the customer, helping to increase repeat business. Live reports can be produced at the touch of a button, providing a clear picture of income against costs, day-by-day. Reports can be easily configured to show other vital data, such as total live subscriptions, cancelled subscriptions, daily revenue per subscription and total subscriptions revenue per day. “The reporting functionality is a fantastic benefit. We can even see whether an individual subscription came in under a certain promotion or special offer price,” adds John Jose. “We are still experimenting with what it can do but it has been tremendously useful so far. To be able to view total revenue per issue or total profit per day is extremely helpful for planning and budgeting.” Sport360 also uses Maximizer to generate monthly invoices for its bulk customers. Because the daily information on copies supplied is held in Maximizer, it is a quick and simple process to create a unique invoice for each customer showing copy rate and number of copies received. This efficiency of information access and process provides huge savings in time and effort over the previous system. “Probably the biggest challenge we face is converting the free copies we distribute into paid subscriptions,” John Jose continues. “So we’re looking at specific ways in which Maximizer CRM can help us to reach our goals on this front. Clearly, having all our customer contact information in one accessible place is a positive start. Thanks to Maximizer CRM we now have a much better overall view of our customers which improves retention rates and also helps with new sales.” Maximizer Campaign Manager can be used to email targeted subscription offers or notify customers approaching the end of their terms that it’s time to renew. “We are recent converts to Maximizer CRM but already we wonder how we ever managed without it. We’re just starting to use Maximizer’s email functionality which is a perfect tool for anyone in the publishing industry,” says John Jose. “And automatic subscription renewal reminders take a great weight off our team, because a major strength of Maximizer CRM is that it will never let a subscription lapse without alerting us and the customer. In short, there’s no room for human error or forgetfulness which can otherwise lead to lost sales. ” Sport360 now plans to use the system to manage and maintain information on the newspaper’s advertising partners – and it is also considering making Maximizer CRM available to its accounts team because of the neat way in which Maximizer CRM handles invoicing. Mike Richardson, managing director EMEA at Maximizer Software commented: "This deployment at Sport360 shows the tremendous versatility of Maximizer CRM. It illustrates the positive impact of CRM on the newspaper's growth and profitability and serves as a role model for other organisations in the publishing industry." About Maximizer Software Since 1987, Maximizer has delivered Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and professional services meeting the needs, budgets and access requirements of entrepreneurs, small and medium business and larger corporations. Simple, configurable and affordable, Maximizer CRM enables organizations in all industries and markets to increase sales, enhance marketing, and improve customer service while boosting productivity and revenues. Headquartered in Canada, with worldwide offices and business partners, Maximizer Software has sold over one million licenses to more than 120,000 customers. For more information, please visit: www.max.co.uk or www.maximizer.eu Media Contact: Tony Martin or Ashley Fryer
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Maximizer CRM Boosts Circulation and Profitability at Sport360 Newspaper |
