The challenge
After 15 years on Salesforce, Flatiron’s sales team relied on spreadsheets and disconnected tools to manage its pipeline. Slow follow-up, complex reporting, and dependence on outside contractors made it harder to keep up with thousands of monthly applications.
The outcome
Flatiron migrated to Close in 30 days, bringing communication, AI-powered outreach, and follow-up into one platform. Within 60 days, conversions increased 75%, while the team reduced acquisition costs and eliminated more than $200K in annual software and administration expenses.
The spreadsheet signal
Jem Millett, Senior Director of Growth at Flatiron School, can tell a CRM is failing well before there’s a critical event. She looks for spreadsheets.
“The first thing that tells me we need to consider a migration is we have to create workarounds with spreadsheets outside of the tool,” she says. At Flatiron, she found them at pipeline review. Reps were pulling up hand-built trackers to talk through their own deals, because Salesforce could no longer tell them where they had left off.
Her reps were not the problem. Since 2011, Flatiron has helped people break into tech through certificate programs, university partnerships, and a paid apprenticeship model. Every chapter added new requirements to Salesforce. Almost nothing was ever removed.
“It got to the point where it was like a multi-layered cake, and you were like, I don’t know what the truth is.”
By the time Jem arrived, a capable team was doing good work around its CRM instead of inside it, an outside contractor owned every change, and reporting lived in disparate tools. The cost that bothered her most was that applicants were waiting longer than they should have.
What Flatiron needed from its next CRM
After more than 15 years running sales and operations across several CRMs, Jem knew what Flatiron needed: a system her team could manage without contractors, fewer tools, and clear pipeline visibility, with calling, texting, email, reporting, and lead management in one place.
With no long-term contract or procurement cycle, it was a decision she could reverse easily. “Worst case scenario, we do this and very quickly I say, whoops, I made a mistake.”
A 30-day migration without 15 years of baggage
Rather than carry 15 years of clutter into Close, Jem and Flatiron’s data scientist decided which records and fields were worth keeping, and moved only that data over. Flatiron went live in May 2025, and every rep was fully up and running in Close within 30 days.
“Be ruthless with the data and activities that actually move the revenue needle, and cut the rest.”
Flatiron receives more than 2,500 applications a month, and an applicant is usually talking to other schools at the same time. So the team built for speed. Flatiron uses Close’s voice agent, Chloe, to reach new applicants and book their assessments and interviews right away.
“Some people don’t check their email. Some people prefer text, some people prefer phone calls. Phone calling is not dead. Voice agents are the perfect little scheduler.”
Workflows carry the follow-up from there. Applicants hear from Flatiron immediately, then every other day, then every three days, then weekly, and then monthly. Applicants who don’t engage move into a “holding cohort” and keep getting something useful once a month.
The reps felt the impact immediately. AI summaries turn a student’s whole history into a few lines, so answers could be personalized. Texting, emailing, and calling in one place turned their day from hunting for the next task into working a queue.
The result: $200K saved and 91% lower CAC
- Conversion rate up 75% within 60 days, and still holding.
- More than $200,000 saved each year by replacing Salesforce, its add-ons, and a contract admin.
- Cost to acquire an apprentice cut by 91%.
“It’s given them so much time that they’re focusing on showing up for the meetings and being fully present, versus trying to chase down the meeting.”
