How Open Source CRM Implementation Helped Leading Media Group Drive 18% Revenue Growth and 40% Faster Ad Bookings

Client & Project Overview

We partnered with a leading multi-platform media group that operates across print, television, digital, and live events in northern part of India.

Over the years, their operations had expanded rapidly, but their customer management practices were stuck in the past — scattered spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and manual approvals ruled the day. So, they were looking for a media industry solution that could help them with customer management.

They realized it was time to break free from old ways. They needed a flexible, open source CRM solution that could bring their diverse business units together, automate slow processes, and give their teams a complete instant visibility into customer interactions, ad inventories, and deal pipelines — all in one place.

Challenges & Objectives

Real, On-the-Ground Struggles:

• Data Silos Everywhere: Each division — print, TV, digital — was operating in isolation. Excel sheets were the default CRM, and there was no unified customer history.

• Painfully Slow Booking Processes: Manual ad slot confirmations led to frequent delays and lost deals, especially in fast-paced campaign cycles.

• Revenue Losses: Bundled discounts, last-minute rate adjustments, and manual billing entries often slipped through the cracks, causing revenue leakage.

• Weak Customer Retention: Without structured follow-ups or lifecycle visibility, renewals and upsells were being missed.

What They Wanted:

• A single, open source CRM platform (we selected and customized Odoo CRM) that could centralize customer management across all media channels.

• Real-time sales pipeline tracking and instant ad inventory visibility.

• Automated workflows for lead capture, proposal sharing, booking, and contract approvals.

• Seamless integration with their existing ad booking systems and finance tools.

• Mobile CRM access to empower on-field sales teams.

Scope of Work

Our responsibility was to:

• Deploy a fully customized Odoo CRM tailored for multi-channel media sales.

• Integrate the CRM with the ad inventory platform to enable live ad slot availability.

• Configure dynamic pricing rules for bundled offers and cross-media campaigns.

• Build mobile-friendly CRM interfaces with instant deal notifications and quote approvals.

• Design role-based dashboards for sales, finance, and leadership teams.

• Provide end-to-end CRM training for over 150 sales and account management staff.

Solution Design & Implementation

We didn’t just plug in an open source CRM and walk away — we rolled up our sleeves and built something that made sense for their world.

• Unified Customer View: We centralized customer profiles across print, TV, digital, and events, combining sales history, interactions, ad campaigns, and past pricing — all accessible in seconds.

• Real-Time Inventory Sync: By integrating directly with the ad booking system, we gave salespeople immediate visibility into available slots and rates while they were in the middle of client calls.

• Customized Kanban Sales Pipelines: The pipelines matched their actual sales process — lead capture → media plan approval → slot reservation → contract closure.

• Smart Pricing Engine: We built logic that automatically applied bundled offers, volume-based discounts, and seasonal rates — removing the guesswork from pricing.

• Mobile CRM Access: We equipped sales teams with real-time deal updates, instant quote generation, and approval workflows — right from their phones.

We kept everything fast, intuitive, and aligned with their real sales hustle — because if it’s slow or clunky, sales teams simply won’t use it.

Execution Challenges

It wasn’t all smooth sailing. This project came with some real-world bumps:

• Data Clean-Up Nightmare: Years of customer data scattered across spreadsheets, outdated ERP dumps, and handwritten logs had to be cleaned, merged, and validated without losing valuable history.

• Change Resistance: Senior salespeople were initially skeptical about moving to a CRM, worried it would slow them down or expose their personal deal pipelines.

• Complex Rate Calculations: Pricing structures were anything but straightforward — cross-media combos, flash deals, season-based pricing, and bundled discounts had to be precisely mapped into the system.

• Integration Tightrope: Syncing the CRM with their legacy ad booking and finance platforms in near real-time was technically demanding and required robust API development and middleware tuning.

We worked closely with their sales champions, ran detailed process workshops, and delivered multiple rounds of hands-on user testing to get it right.

Results & Impact

• 40% Faster Ad Booking: Thanks to automated sales workflows and real-time ad slot visibility.

• 98% Billing Accuracy: Automated discount calculations and system-driven approvals reduced manual errors and revenue leakage.

• 25% Boost in Cross-Selling: With complete customer visibility, sales teams could confidently pitch multi-channel packages.

• 18% Increase in Customer Retention: Proactive renewal tracking and targeted follow-ups kept existing clients engaged.

• Instant Access to Performance Dashboards: Sales and leadership could now monitor pipeline health, revenue forecasts, and inventory utilization without waiting for manual reports.

The open source CRM didn’t just solve a process problem — it transformed the way the media group sold, managed customers, and made decisions.

Client Feedback & Innovations

One of their senior account managers put it best: "This CRM is not just software — it’s become part of how we work. What used to take hours, now takes minutes. It’s faster, smarter, and frankly, I don’t know how we functioned without it."

Some of the innovations we introduced along the way:

• Custom media plan templates inside the CRM for quick client sharing.

• Mobile push notifications for deal approvals and follow-ups, keeping managers connected even when traveling.

Key Learnings & Project Team

Key Takeaways:

• Industry Fit is Critical: A generic CRM wouldn’t have survived here. Media-specific workflows, dynamic pricing, and inventory pressure needed a tailor-made solution.

• Early Sales Buy-In Matters: Involving frontline salespeople from day one built trust and made user adoption much smoother.

• Real-Time Sync is Non-Negotiable: In media sales, a five-minute delay can mean losing a high-value ad slot. Real-time integrations with inventory and billing systems were essential.

Project Team:

• CRM Functional Consultant: Led requirement mapping and solution design.

• Technical Architect: Designed the integrations and backend infrastructure.

• Ad Sales SME: Bridged the gap between technology and actual media sales workflows.

• Change Management Lead: Orchestrated training and adoption strategies.

• CRM Development & Integration Team: Customized Odoo CRM, built APIs, and enabled mobile CRM access.

If your organization is navigating similar challenges like - juggling between disconnected systems, facing delays in fast-moving sales cycles, or struggling with customer visibility, this experience shows that practical, industry-aligned solutions can make a real difference.

Sometimes, it’s not about buying more tools, but about making existing processes work smarter and faster. Feel free to explore how open source CRM approach might fit your environment — every step towards better alignment can unlock measurable improvements.

For a better understanding drop us a line at sales@apagen.com or call us at +91 9971800665.