About ION
ION (Ion Industries Ltd) is a UK technology partner that builds and delivers financial infrastructure for the education sector. Headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, ION is a Sage Intacct partner specialising in Multi Academy Trusts, further education and higher education, alongside commercial clients.
The business supports 121 education organisations covering 1,339 schools and colleges across the UK, processing billions of pounds in transactions each year. Growth on that scale depends on a steady, well-qualified pipeline — which makes outbound prospecting a core operational process, not a side activity.
ION runs that prospecting motion inside Salesforce.
The Challenge
ION had Salesforce. What it did not have was any structure around the repeatable work happening inside it.
In Rob Mathieson’s words, the team had no checklist structure in Salesforce. Prospecting activity was being carried out, but the steps behind it were not captured anywhere the business could see.
✕ Pain Points
- No checklist structure of any kind existed in their Salesforce org.
- The team could not track the progress being made on customer prospecting.
- Prospecting steps lived with individual reps rather than in a shared, visible process.
- No consistent way to confirm that the correct marketing materials were being used at each stage.
- Lead qualification depended on individual judgement rather than a defined sequence of checks.
✓ What They Needed
- A simple, repeatable way to define outbound prospecting steps.
- Visibility into how far along each prospect actually was.
- A standardised qualification process.
- Control over which materials are used at each stage.
- Something the team would genuinely adopt.
- Fast time to value without a lengthy configuration project.
“We couldn’t track the progress we were making with customer prospecting.”
Rob Mathieson · CEO, IONWhy Checklist Genius — and How ION Uses It
The solution came from the Salesforce AppExchange, not from a rebuild.
Rob found Checklist Genius on the Salesforce AppExchange — and it was the only solution ION needed to trial. Two things settled the decision: speed to value and responsiveness.
| What Mattered | What Happened |
|---|---|
| Speed to value | The product was simple to set up and running within minutes of installation. |
| Responsiveness | Rob requested a feature update almost immediately after adopting the app. It was built and shipped very quickly. |
| Fit to the problem | Checklist Templates gave ION a way to define a prospecting sequence once and apply it repeatedly. |
“The product was really simple to setup and we had it running in minutes. I also immediately asked for a feature update, which was completed and pushed out incredibly quickly.”
Rob Mathieson · CEO, IONWhat ION Built With It
ION uses Checklist Genius to put a defined structure around outbound prospecting inside Salesforce. Checklist Templates capture the sequence of steps a prospect should move through — the data to be gathered, the qualification checks to be made, and the marketing materials to be sent or used.
Rather than a rep working from their own recollection of what usually happens next, the checklist makes the next action explicit and the completed actions visible. Progress becomes something the business can see rather than something it has to ask about.
Today, checklists are applied to accounts manually. That deliberate simplicity is part of why adoption went smoothly — but it is also the next thing ION wants to change with automation.
Rollout Approach
Installation was straightforward and guided by the product documentation. Rob rated the setup experience 8 out of 10, citing the quality of the installation guide. Team adoption was rated equally at 8 out of 10 — users took to it well.
Setup Experience
8/10 — installation was straightforward and supported by the product guide.
Team Adoption
8/10 — users took to the solution well after implementation.
“Installation guide was good.”
Rob Mathieson · CEO, IONThe Feature Request That Shipped
Rob’s second reason for staying with Checklist Genius wasn’t something he found in the product. It was something that wasn’t there yet.
When a checklist was generated from a Checklist Template, it became an independent copy. Editing the template afterwards had no effect on checklists that had already been created.
For a team still refining its prospecting sequence, every improvement to the template applied only to future checklists. Updating existing checklists meant editing them individually.
Rob raised it. Kandisa built it.
Checklist Genius now gives users the option to push newly added template items into every checklist previously created from that template — in bulk, at the point the template is updated.
A process can now be refined once and applied everywhere, including work already in flight.
Results & Impact
ION’s qualitative outcomes were reported directly by the CEO.
Better Qualification of Leads
A more structured process helps the team apply consistent qualification checks.
Structured Prospecting
Outbound prospecting now follows a repeatable process where previously there was no checklist structure.
Better Data Tracking
Prospecting information is captured consistently as part of the sequence.
Correct Marketing Materials
Material selection is built into the process rather than left to individual memory.
“This has allowed us to put a lot more structure around our outbound prospecting, from tracking data, to ensuring the correct marketing materials are used.”
Rob Mathieson · CEO, IONWhat’s Next
ION’s use of Checklist Genius is still growing. Checklists are currently added to accounts by hand, and the clear next step is to remove that manual action.
Customer Recommendation
“This is a fast way to put process into a team.”
Rob Mathieson · CEO, ION