Since acquiring Welcome Wagon in 2001, Move—the world's largest moving community—has been revamping the 78-year-old company to reach consumer and business audiences more effectively and increase value for advertisers. The tradi-tional basket of gifts from local merchants has evolved into customized gift books filled with offers from many local businesses.
Welcome Wagon employs approximately 250 account executives (AEs) throughout the United States to sell advertising in its gift books. The sales force works from home offices and connects to the corporate office through a virtual private network. Manage-ment believed that isolation from peers and from the company environment played a major role in a high turnover rate among newly hired AEs. Because Move invested approximately U.S.$2,500 per AE for three days of training, including airfare and lodging, the company was anxious to increase its retention rate.
In the past, AEs accessed information on advertising inventory, sales scripts, and presentation materials through a Java-based sales portal that connected to an IBM AS/400. "The sales portal was cumbersome to navigate and difficult to update; we depended on the technology department to push through even the most minor changes," says Varanya Vadakan, Director of Business Processes for Move.com
The inflexibility of the portal made it difficult for AEs to access standardized sales presentations, collateral, and communication, and to track leads. Sales managers had to track AE performance manually using Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheets. "We wanted to create a sales portal that mirrored the stages of the account executives' sales cycle," says Vadakan "We felt that by empowering AEs with all the proper sales tools at every stage of their sales process we could enhance their close rates."
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Microsoft Case Study: Move.com