Lacking a central tool for an extensive dealer network

A leading Home Storage Manufacturer distributes through three distribution channels: retail, direct-to-consumer, and dealers. It had different dealers using different tools with no central tool that allowed them to communicate across the network. This practice hindered the Manufacturer’s ability to organize the leads generated collectively through its website and ultimately drive them to each dealer location. 

The Manufacturer needed a solution that would work across multiple dealer locations and environments with project management and marketing automation capabilities. It also needed to integrate with the proprietary software tool used to design, quote, and sell projects to customers. And lastly, it was essential for them to have a fully integrated calendaring system for its CRM.

Discovering a solution but with limitations

The Manufacturer explored a few different CRMs and landed on Salesforce Experience Cloud. Experience Cloud met all of their CRM needs except for its standard Salesforce calendar. Shortly after launching, the Manufacturer realized it had an uphill battle with the standard Salesforce calendar. They had basic UI challenges and limited flexibility in the different views.

The Manufacturer needed the ability to create and view different calendars for design and installation appointments and a better way to view calendars via the mobile app. The company also needed to be able to continue to work from the standard Salesforce event object since the Manufacturer had already built marketing automations that were triggered from the object. 

The Manufacturer began a search for a new calendar solution that they could customize to their needs. They looked at Salesforce Maps, which was robust for transportation mapping but needed more for calendaring. The Manufacturer considered developing a custom-built scheduling app that would reside in Experience Cloud, but that would have required continuing to use the existing Experience Cloud calendar UI. 

Implementing CalendarAnything to great success

The Manufacturer found CalendarAnything on the Salesforce AppExchange and began exploring it as a potential solution because it did not have the limitations of the Experience Cloud calendar. CalendarAnything created a proof of concept that the Manufacturer successfully demoed with a few select dealerships. The Manufacturer launched CalendarAnything across its dealer division in February 2023.  

They chose CalendarAnything because it had the right blend of simplicity, flexibility, and sophistication. It gave them the ability to launch to a network of over 50 locations with hundreds of users, knowing that each has its own processes, preferences, and way of doing things. They are getting more and more positive feedback from users.

The unique CalendarAnything features that the Manufacturer uses include:

  • The standard Salesforce event object, which saves them the time and effort of having to reinvent pre-built automations
  • The ability to see several different views, such as the Gantt view, as well as the traditional calendar views
  • A user-friendly interface that is simple to toggle calendars on and off
  • Different display options when hovering over an event
  • The ability to change from auto to fixed cell height
  • The search feature to see live results within just a couple of keystrokes
  • Syncing with Google and Microsoft Outlook for dealers that still rely on those systems

CalendarAnything has allowed each user to establish how they want to use the calendar, unlike Experience Cloud, which limited user adjustments. The Manufacturer likes the CalendarAnything individual user settings, such as the ability to show weekends or modify the time the day starts and create custom calendars instead of using default calendars.  

The reason they landed on CalendarAnything and why it has been successful in enhancing adoption is it checked off all the things that they couldn’t do with the previous calendar. Having their network able to transition to using CalendarAnything helps them be more successful in the future because it streamlines and simplifies all aspects of their business because they’re not bouncing from tool to tool to tool.