I
f you have a sales team, that is. Contrary to popular belief, a CRM system is much more than a fancy, digital rolodex. The modern CRM has evolved to encompass virtually every facet of the sales process, including forecasting, lead tracking, account management, reporting, and quoting.
CRM doesn’t just do sales, however – most are purpose-built for customer service with advanced case management functionality in addition to traditional sales functionality. Many CRMs can even tie into your accounting system, providing you with a 360 degree view of each of your customers and prospects.
Want to ensure that leads don’t fall through the cracks? Want to ensure that a quote goes out on time? Want to engage the customer who placed an order a year ago and who might need to stock up again?
Look no further than CRM.
At this point, you might be thinking, “Hey, that sounds cool!” Or you might be thinking, “Slow down, what is a CRM?”
If you think that sounds cool, stick around for a second while we explain what a CRM is. CRM stands for customer relationship management and, according to Wikipedia, is “a system for managing a company's interactions with current and future customers.” It often involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support.
You hired your salespeople because you believed they possessed the ability to stay on top of their sales pipeline. You invested in your sales team, and at first glance a CRM might seem like overkill. We encourage you not to look at it that way. CRM systems make already great salespeople greater by automating follow ups and other sales-related tasks.
By implementing a CRM system into your operations, you are giving your sales people the opportunity to manage more leads, more accounts, and more opportunities. And since we have yet to encounter a salesperson who wasn’t interested in closing more sales, they’ll be pleased to hear that adopting a CRM system is a proven way to accomplish this.
According to Accenture, only half (51%) of companies use a formal sales process, and far fewer companies (a mere 8%) report having adopted a sales methodology. The chance that your sales processes could be more organized is high, and the monetary costs of adopting a CRM are far outweighed by the benefits.
Give your sales people the opportunity to automate and become more efficient. Empower them and they’ll love you for it.
What you’ll love is the boost in sales, because, according to Forbes, companies with a fully utilized CRM system can increase sales by 29%.
These statistics are too significant to ignore. Contact us now!
