Top reasons for salespeople to use CRM solutions
In many organizations, there is a resistance from sales people to use CRM (customer relationship management) software tools to track and manage customer contact and interaction information. The most common complaint is that the software has been implemented by management as a means of spying on the activities of the salespeople.
While in some cases this may be true, best-in-class CRM implementations focus first on the needs of the users – not management – and most particularly on the needs of the sales people. Such software can benefit salespeople directly in many ways, enabling them to become more effective and productive in their day-to-day sales activities.
CRM software can help salespeople to be more effective and productive by:
- Automating follow-up activities with customers, enabling sales people to follow up with customers and prospects at the right time
- Enabling sales people to impress prospects and clients with their “perfect memory”… sales people can note and stay abreast of family members, hobbies, birthdays and other information that helps to foster more personal relationships with their customers and prospects
- Facilitating the sharing of information with other members of the sales team so that account teams can work with each other to manage complex accounts, and inside sales can coordinate with the outside sales team
- Automating the generation of letters and proposals
In addition, if companies have their act together, they can harness the technology to provide salespeople with additional benefits, including:
- Sales document templates, enabling salespeople to generate sales letters, proposals and other documents from a library of well-written materials
- Reduced time spent on sales forecasting because the forecasting data is automatically built as opportunities are managed
- Access to a pipeline of leads generated by the company’s web site, the inside sales team, or an outside telemarketing firm
- Automation of the company’s established sales process within the CRM solution, especially useful for new sales people who need to get up to speed with how their company sells
- Demand creation by marketing whereby marketing communicates with designated customers and prospects in each sales person’s contact list for the purpose of generating calls and inquiries from these customers and prospects to the sales people
When implemented correctly, salespeople have lots to gain by using CRM software to manage day-to-day sales activities.