New Case Study: How XpressConnect Personalizes Outreach to 70,000 Contacts in Pipeline CRM!
New Case Study: How XpressConnect Personalizes Outreach to 70,000 Contacts in Pipeline CRM!
Customer Story
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Pipeline’s flexible CRM system empowers Tuck Advisors to automate data management and client collaboration through a customized GPT integration and Google Chrome extension.
Having spent 25 years building, selling, and investing in companies, entrepreneur James Marciano developed a firsthand understanding of the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) industry. Recognizing the shortcomings of traditional M&A firms, Marciano founded Tuck Advisors.
Tuck Advisors was started by serial entrepreneur James Marciano, who was dissatisfied with the investment bankers he had hired to help sell companies he had started or invested in.
He observed a total lack of technology and processes that drove the process. Other bankers relied primarily on personal connections and “the old boys network”—while important, Marciano didn’t feel like that was enough, especially for companies in the lower middle market.
He wanted to build the type of M&A advisory firm he wanted to hire and couldn’t find, and specifically, he wanted to work with companies that have a positive social impact. Pipeline CRM, fortunately, wound up being the platform that enabled his vision of a tech-enabled M&A services company to flourish.
Marciano’s relationship with Pipeline CRM began 14 years ago when he searched for CRM software to manage sales databases and deals. After exploring eight other options, including popular CRMs like Salesforce, he chose Pipeline’s professional services CRM for its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options.
Tuck Advisors’ reliance on data for its operations is well-served by Pipeline CRM’s ability to organize extensive datasets and deal accounts efficiently. Customizable features and automation capabilities have significantly streamlined Tuck Advisors’ daily tasks, empowering them to manage over 45,000 contacts and 32,000 company records effortlessly.
“Salesforce was just too intimidating. I needed something that everybody could use on day one. I felt like with Pipeline CRM, I could just onboard folks and, with minimal customization, get going. And then, over time, we could continue to improve and refine the fields and automation to accommodate our ever-evolving workflow,” commented Marciano.
When asked about his long-standing relationship with Pipeline CRM, Marciano praised our company’s exceptional customer service. He stated, “The reason I stay with Pipeline CRM is very simple: it’s because your customer service is outstanding, the best SaaS customer service I’ve seen in my life—and we rely upon 28 different SaaS tools per month to run our company.”
Marciano also added, “When I email support at Pipeline CRM, I know somebody’s going to get back to me within a couple of minutes—and that makes all the difference.”
As a boutique M&A firm, Tuck Advisors faces the distinct challenge of lengthy sales cycles, often closing only a handful of deals each year. These cycles require extensive research, numerous incremental steps, and tight coordination among stakeholders—leading to a substantial amount of sales data, communication records, and tasks. Without the right tools and automation processes in place, managing this complex sales workflow can quickly become overwhelming.
To enhance their sales efficiency, Tuck Advisors leveraged Pipeline CRM’s flexible automation and customization capabilities. Specifically, they:
This strategic approach enabled them to set data entry tasks on auto-pilot and help them manage a substantial database of over 32,000 companies and 45,000 individuals efficiently.
Pipeline CRM’s extensive personalization options enabled (and continue to enable) Tuck Advisors to tailor the system precisely to their specific sales pipelines and data management processes.
Tuck Advisors distinguishes itself from other M&A forms by creating a customized GPT for each of their clients, powered by their proprietary M&A Matrix™. This tool supports the team’s analysts and clients in assessing both past and future M&A transactions.
Trained with each client’s distinct company goals and preferences, their Custom GPTs generate lists of companies that match unique acquisition criteria. If a potential target is already in their Pipeline CRM database, their Custom GPT will automatically link to the relevant record. This enables the team to quickly access detailed information such as company profiles, contacts, past interactions, and deal history stored in the CRM.
The custom integration between the GPT technology and Pipeline CRM enables the Tuck Advisors team to efficiently identify promising prospects, pull the associated record from the Pipeline CRM database instantly, and share their findings with relevant stakeholders for further evaluation and outreach. This automated process has saved the team thousands of hours when it comes to finding and qualifying potential prospects.
While the custom GPT is a valuable tool, Tuck Advisors analysts also conduct manual research on LinkedIn to supplement their findings. When suitable matches are identified, the team’s custom Google Chrome extension can automatically extract the company data from its LinkedIn profile, add it to the Pipeline CRM database, and associate a Deal to that company record, as well as the team member who worked on it (via their API key).
This data automation system enables Tuck Advisors’ analysts to seamlessly add new companies and contacts to the database while allowing flexibility for data customization and corrections. Combining this with Pipeline CRM’s advanced data cleaning features, such as de-duplication alerts, conditional formatting, and mandatory fields, Tuck Advisors ensures that only clean, accurate data is stored.
Tuck Advisors’ sales process involves multiple checkpoints. These include prospect discovery, analyst and client review, outreach and meetings, client introductions, and more.
To streamline the process, Tuck Advisors has implemented a comprehensive project management system within Pipeline CRM that is built upon the following principles:
Task verification: to ensure no tasks slip through the cracks, a daily filter system is set up to verify task completion and highlight overdue items.
Additionally, by leveraging Pipeline CRM’s custom user permissions system, Tuck Advisors can confidently share the platform with their clients while maintaining data security. Pipeline CRM grants clients access only to authorized projects, mitigating the risk of accidental disclosure.
By centralizing project information and communication within the Pipeline CRM ecosystem, Tuck Advisors eliminated the need for manual email updates to clients, ensuring no tasks were overlooked by clients or Tuck team members
As Marciano explained, “Our clients are now integrated into the process flow within Pipeline CRM. This eliminates the need for back-and-forth emails or Excel spreadsheets, allowing us to maintain oversight of tasks our clients need to check off, ensuring we and they are making the progress we want.”
As a leading M&A firm in the healthcare and education sectors, Tuck Advisors relies heavily on data to drive its operations. A robust CRM solution capable of effectively organizing its extensive datasets and deal accounts is crucial. Pipeline CRM’s customizable features and automation capabilities have significantly streamlined Tuck Advisors’ daily tasks.
As Marciano emphasized, Pipeline CRM software has proven to be an invaluable asset in supporting their thriving company: “I know that there are tools out there that are purpose-built for investment banks like ours which charge a lot more than Pipeline CRM does. But these other solutions don’t provide the customization that we need to provide outstanding client service and results.” He also added, “I live on Pipeline CRM all day long. We could not run our company without it. There’s no way.”
Want to learn more about Tuck Advisors and the work they do? Visit the boutique education and healthcare M&A firm.
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