What CEOs Should Know about CRM (Part 1 of 4)

by | Nov 30, 2012

Get Your Best Sales People to Love CRM

Front-line sales people are known for resisting new software.  The best system can be rendered pretty well worthless if you can’t get the users to adopt it.  That is why the best CRM software is designed by sales people…for sales people.  Far beyond the needs of the company “bean-counters” – you need tools that will make a sales professional’s life easier.

Simplified and Customized

No one wins when a new technology takes sales people away from the task of selling.  Both the company and sales person lose money.  The loss is increased when your highly valued staff becomes frustrated with the complexity of the system and becomes unproductive – even rebellious.

The top CRM solutions are simple and easy to learn.  That way disruption is minimized and productivity is kept high during the transition.  You can even look for CRM software that can be customized to fit what you are already doing in your company.

Sales People Selling – Not Doing Paperwork

With an online CRM system that makes it easy to manage tasks, calls and appointments, sales people will spend time face-to-face with customers and prospects.  It actually saves the sales rep’s time.  The simplicity is similar to a contact manager…but it’s on steroids!!!

From initial lead generation to service after the sale, the CRM will track the process and keep your sales people proactive rather than reactive.  Time-saving shortcuts can been built into the basic system.  Find call notes, proposals, sales letters and emails easily.

You want a streamlined information sharing feature.  With the ability to share customer data entered in the field by sales reps, you will be able to improve customer service without expecting the sales person to do everything for the customer.  You can assign many tasks to non-sales staff members.  Stop tracking down the sales rep for customer details.

Reports are critical to running a sales department.  However, some of your high producing sales people are the worst at getting the reports turned in on time.  Good CRM software enables you to have all the information you need already in the system.  You can give the reporting tasks to an admin.  You will get what you need on time, while your team is still out making more sales.

Feed Them Fresh Leads – Effortlessly

You will keep sales rolling with automated systems for lead management.  Whether the lead is from your website, a list you buy or response from an email marketing campaign – the new contact information is easy to access from anywhere.  Use the CRM program to make it easy to download automated leads.  Collect and distribute these fresh leads to your sales staff and watch them smile in appreciation.

Sales people will love the ease of maintaining up-to-date lists of prospects and knowing what comes next for each customer.  Let them do what they do best – SELL.  Support their effort with automated leads and an online CRM that makes it easy to manage priorities.