Parker Rex
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Sherlock CRM

How I turned a $73M marketplace's biggest operational drag into its competitive advantage.

Sherlock CRM in action
Phone ops team working with Sherlock
Phone ops desk during peak hours

Overview

Sherlock CRM shipped in two cycles: a working product in six weeks, then a polish pass for edge cases. It combined customer history, dispatch context, gamification, and phone operations tooling for Delivery Dudes.

Problem

Phone ordering was an operational drag across 50+ offices. Operators had fragmented customer context, turnover was high, and problem orders created avoidable refunds.

Solution

Built a custom CRM tightly integrated with RingCentral and the ecommerce flow so every call felt personalized and every operator saw the right customer context.

Decisions

Build vs. buy

Salesforce could not solve the operator UX problem or integrate tightly enough with RingCentral and ecommerce.

Chick-fil-A as the model

Personalization sells. Every call should feel like the operator already knows the customer.

Gamification layer

Phone operations had high churn, so streaks, bonuses, and customer moments made the role feel more rewarding.

Metrics

Phone operator turnover
Significantly reduced across 50+ offices
Problem orders and refunds
Dropped substantially
Order accuracy
Near-perfect
Average order time
Decreased

Lessons learned

  • Start with the P&L. The biggest product problems show up in numbers before complaints.
  • Build vs buy is about fit, not capability.
  • Gamification worked for retention in a high-churn operations role.
  • Shipping quickly made the next six weeks of polish much more accurate.