Some companies “upgrade their system.”
Others rethink how their entire business should operate.
Brown & Morrison (BAM) falls squarely into the second category.
This manufacturer’s rep firm has been around since 1941 — long enough to know that spreadsheets and basic accounting software can only take a growing operation so far. For years, BAM relied on QuickBooks to run their financials and support their workflow.
But as their business expanded, it became clear that QuickBooks wasn’t built for their high-volume distribution company managing quotes, orders, equipment, service, and multiple sales channels.
As a result:
- Reporting became tougher.
- Cross-department visibility was limited.
- Processes lived in people’s heads rather than in systems.
Before choosing the CRM partner and workflow architecture, BAM first needed the right integration foundation.
Their new system had to ensure CRM wouldn’t become another silo — everything had to run in sync with accounting.
Brown & Morrison got in touch with Dan and April from My CRM Manager, who evaluated their operational challenges and analyzed their business, and recommended a tech stack that could actually keep up with their growing needs:
- Sage 100 for powerful, distribution-friendly accounting.
- Sage CRM to run sales, service, quoting, and operational workflows.
- GUMU™ Sage 100 – Sage CRM Integration from Greytrix to tie everything together in real time.
MCM recommended GUMU™ specifically because they needed:
- A deep, reliable Sage 100 – Sage CRM synchronization.
- A single view of quotes, sales orders, customers, and activities.
- A reliable, scalable, and proven for 10-40 user Sage CRM deployments in North America.
This tech stack ensured that CRM wouldn’t sit on the side – it would become the engine that manages the flow of work across departments.
How Sage CRM Became Core to Their Daily Operations
Once the integration was in place, the next task was to shape Sage CRM to align with BAM’s real-world processes. The team didn’t just configure fields and screens; they designed workflows that made efficient system use impossible to avoid.
Here’s what that looked like in practice:
- A True Inside-Outside Sales Workflows
Now they can create inside sales quotes, outside sales reviews, updates, and manage deals, all inside the CRM. In addition, the awarded deals get processed directly through the integrated Sage 100 connection. As a result, there are no duplicate entries and no mystery around order status.
- CRM for Sales and Service
Most CRMs stop at sales. But not the one they configured for BAM. BAM uses Sage CRM to:
- Track equipment records
- Manage service jobs
- Maintain service histories
- Log quotes, awarded deals, and activities
The system became a unified hub for them and not separate islands of data.
- Custom Dashboards That Actually Get Used
Under MCM’s leadership, a comprehensive dashboard was built for BAM that gave each department exactly what they needed:
- Sales team can see pipelines, quotes, and deal status.
- Service tracked equipment and job updates.
- Management can see performance, bottlenecks, and progress instantly.
These dashboards dramatically improved transparency across the company.
- A Custom Profitability Analysis Tool
One standout customization from MCM was a salesperson profitability analysis, something that does not come out of the box with Sage CRM. With this, BAM could finally answer:
- “Which salesperson is contributing the most profit and not just revenue?”
- “Are the right efforts being rewarded?”
- “Where should leadership focus next?”
These insights became a strategic game-changer for Brown & Morrison.
Joint Strength
My CRM Manager — Greytrix’s preferred partner for CRM projects in North America — led the analysis, architecture, workflows, dashboards, and user adoption. They shaped Sage CRM around how the Brown & Morrison business actually works.
Greytrix enabled GUMU™, tying the entire Sage 100 + Sage CRM ecosystem together in real time so those workflows functioned exactly as designed.
Both roles were essential — one built the system teams rely on every day, the other ensured every process, update, and transaction stayed connected without compromise.
In other words:
That’s the strength of a joint offering.
What Brown & Morrison Achieved
After switching from QuickBooks and adopting the Sage 100 + Sage CRM + GUMU™ ecosystem, BAM saw transformational changes:
| Result | Impact |
| A Unified Source of Truth | Sales, service, and accounting finally had access to the same information — in sync and in real time. |
| Streamlined Workflows | The quote-to-order process became fast, accurate, and consistent across departments. |
| Data-Driven Decisions | Dashboards and profitability reports empowered leadership to make smarter strategic calls. |
| High User Adoption | Because CRM was built around the business — not forced on it — the team embraced it. |
| Future-Ready Infrastructure | BAM now has a scalable system that can grow with new products, reps, geographies, and opportunities. |
Takeaway for Businesses in Distribution & Manufacturing
If your CRM and ERP feel like they’re living separate lives — or if your accounting system is carrying the load that your CRM should be handling — Brown & Morrison’s journey shows there’s a smarter, more connected way to run your business.
- Sage 100 for powerful, distribution-focused accounting
- Sage CRM to drive workflows, visibility, and customer management
- GUMU™ to keep everything in lockstep with real-time, reliable synchronization
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