The Organization

The Stelter Company provides comprehensive digital, print, social, research, and training support for nonprofit organizations. The Des Moines, Iowa-based marketing firm serves close to 2,000 clients throughout the United States, offering strategic, planned giving communications solutions for reaching donors.

The Situation

Since Stelter had worked with Ascend Technologies regarding their existing CRM they knew who to contact to assist with their migration to the Salesforce platform. Nina New, Stelter’s Director of Operations, relied on Ascend because “we recognized that we could get in our own way and overcomplicate things if we weren’t careful.” Stelter preferred to stay as true as possible to the original Salesforce platform.

The Solution

Introducing what was essentially an out-of-the-box solution for its CRM needs may have seemed like an in-house project for some companies. But Stelter wanted to make sure it received the maximum performance from the Salesforce tool while retaining the flexibility to update the program as the company’s needs changed. 

Stelter and Ascend used Agile methodology to incrementally roll out sections of the software program. This allowed the various teams to tackle each section in a start-to-finish way, which helped spur adoption of and enthusiasm for the new CRM system. Ascend led a handful of team members from key areas of the Stelter operation through implementation; in turn, these employees served as the point persons to train the rest of the staff.

The Outcome
Stelter’s new platform was launched on time and on budget. Building on the success of the implementation, Stelter collaborated with Ascend on another of its goals: replacing its existing project management system. According to New, the Salesforce Implementation will serve as the standard by which all projects are judged.

“[Ascend Technologies] provided us with unbiased options. They challenged us to think more strategically.”

-Nina New, Director of Operations