Results at a glance
- 360-degree customer view: A clear overview of changing ownership, yacht brokers, and yachts as a foundation for sales, service, and yacht maintenance.
- Streamlined compliance: A clear 5-step ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) module to verify complex ownership structures and the source of wealth.
- Controlled transition: A secure migration from SuperOffice thanks to strict testing phases and clear stagegates.
- High adoption: A soft landing for the sales team with targeted training and immediate hypercare after go-live.
- Future-proof roadmap: An architecture that is fully prepared for the upcoming integration with the Infor ERP system and the expansion to Service Cloud.
“Welisa understood that we needed more than just a sales tool; together, we immediately developed that broader architecture for the future.”
– Jeroen van der Meer, CEO Heesen Yachts
Jeroen van der Meer
Exclusive yachts and their owners
The sale of a Heesen yacht is not a standard transaction. It revolves around long-term relationships with a highly select, global clientele. The sale and handover almost always involve multiple parties (such as specialized yacht brokers and legal representatives). In the legacy CRM, SuperOffice, this specific data structure regarding ownership and changing contact persons was difficult to manage. Heesen was looking for a platform to streamline these unique sales processes and immediately meet strict compliance requirements. Additionally, this platform needed to serve as a scalable foundation where service and yacht maintenance would naturally integrate over time.
“We used to do a lot of mass marketing; now we bring the market data into our own ecosystem. This allows us to set up personalized and data-driven campaigns for the approximately 3,000 individuals worldwide who make up our target audience.”
Setting the course together with firm guidance
Because the transition affected multiple departments, a structured approach was crucial. To prevent the project from getting bogged down in endless iterations, we worked with definitive stagegates. For example, the solution design was formally approved before we started building. Heesen appointed an internal project manager for daily coordination. Together with the Welisa project manager, they monitored the strict testing deadlines and overall progress.
For us, however, a successful implementation goes beyond just the technology; it requires a critical look at the underlying business processes. Therefore, we started the project with a comprehensive, strategic questionnaire. With this, we actively challenged Heesen in the preliminary phase to get a clear picture of their own operational workflows. Jeroen immediately saw the value of that approach:
“Welisa listened very well and accurately translated our needs into system architecture. As a result, the foundation was right the first time. That comprehensive questionnaire also immediately made people think: what does our process actually look like?”
During interactive demo rounds, we gathered valuable feedback, after which we successfully translated the complex data structure to Salesforce. Through this approach, we realized the following solutions:
- Data-driven relationship management (Sales Cloud): The sales team can now see at a glance which brokers and rotating contacts are involved in a specific deal. Simultaneously, the system identifies which vessels potential clients are currently sailing on, allowing Heesen to connect with its exclusive global audience on a much more personal level.
- Integrated KYC module: The legally required compliance process (aimed at anti-money laundering and international sanctions legislation) is directly anchored within the platform. The back office is now guided through an automated five-step flow built in Salesforce to efficiently and securely verify identities and the source of wealth.
- Architecture for the entire IT landscape: The solution design has been extended beyond just the sales department. The data model is immediately ready for the next phases, including the rollout of Service Cloud and the integration with the Infor ERP system.
A Heesen yacht departs from the shipyard in Oss
Smooth sailing at the shipyard in Oss
For the data migration, we jointly agreed on a hard cut-off. After the data export, SuperOffice was frozen for new input to prevent data pollution. Just before go-live, we provided targeted training for the key users and the sales team. Of course, we celebrated the go-live with cake.
Immediately after, we started an intensive hypercare phase. We resolved start-up questions right away, allowing daily operations to continue undisturbed. Already during the first check-in with the management board, it became clear that adoption was high and positive reactions were pouring in, after which we could immediately proceed with fine-tuning the details.
The growing involvement throughout the entire process ensured a remarkably high adoption rate and a soft landing for the organization. We asked a lot of the users beforehand, which forced them to think about their own process. When they subsequently saw the system (including their own documents, yachts, and opportunities), they truly got something back via the dashboards. Jeroen aptly describes that balance between feeling and data:
“It really became ‘their system’. Salespeople are artists; Salesforce brings the necessary science and structure to the artist. Only when you get those dashboards does it become truly interesting for the team.”
Scalable foundation for the future
The renewed Salesforce environment offers Heesen Yachts a rock-solid and scalable foundation. The sales department now has insight into the exclusive network of owners and yacht brokers at the touch of a button. The back office has full control over the compliance checks.
Because this foundation is now firmly established, the platform easily grows alongside the organization. For instance, we are now looking ahead together to the next step: streamlining service and maintenance via Service Cloud and an integration with the Infor ERP system.
With this, we are further expanding the 360-degree customer view, from the very first introduction up to years of service on the water. With this scalable foundation, Jeroen looks forward with confidence to the next technological steps, such as AI and the connection with service interventions:
“IT must be an enabler. The more efficient your infrastructure, the more time you have for sales and product development. If you do not set it up right, you are a slave to data entry. I want us to make decisions based on real-time data, so that we can focus on doing business rather than just administering it.”
A Heesen yacht on the water
Are you also struggling with complex relationship structures and compliance requirements within your sales process? It is time to say goodbye to manual searching in legacy systems. Let’s brainstorm together about the ideal IT architecture for your organization during an introductory meeting.
