Sales is the lifeblood of any business, but simply having a good sales team isn’t enough. To reach your full potential, organizations need a modern, fully integrated CRM in place to manage the entire sales funnel. However, this is often easier said than done as not every CRM is created equal.
In this blog, we will walk you through some of the key components you should look for in a CRM to maximize your sales output.
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Embedded Solution
If you are a manufacturer, distributor, or field service provider, it can be difficult to find an embedded CRM solution that can service all your needs in one system. Opus Global Data Solutions can work with you to evaluate and implement solutions that provide seamlessly integrated ERP and CRM functionality. Having an embedded CRM natively integrated within your ERP will provide you with a consistent user interface that matches the rest of the system, and will provide advanced, real-time analytics since the CRM connects to your inventory, sales orders, purchasing, and accounting. This allows your Sales Manager or Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to make data-driven decisions to increase top-line revenue.
Real-Time Dashboards & KPIs
Sales professionals are at their best when they have access to real-time views of the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are crucial for quick, informed decision-making. Dashboard reports can allow your team to view this data in their preferred format, whether that be data tables, pie charts, bar or line graphs, KPI performance tiles, or pivot tables. By incorporating color-coded KPIs, your sales team can be notified of any actionable items such as “opportunities with an expected close in under 60 days” so you can be proactive, instead of reactive.
While many solutions provide generic out-of-the-box reports, our team at Opus Global Data Solutions can work with you to provide the specific dashboard reports you require to hold your sales team accountable and drive new business. Please reach out to us if you would like to further discuss how we can help.
Lead and Opportunity Management
The ability to capture your sales lead information in an organized and automated manner from any browser or mobile device is crucial in this new business age. As you evaluate CRM options, be sure to focus on how easy it is to add leads to your system through automated means (web forms, email client integration, AI/ML business card recognition) and manual methods (spreadsheet upload, mobile app capabilities,). After this information is obtained, the CRM should support automatic distribution methods to the appropriate salesperson based on predefined conditions. For leads that are not yet sales-ready, your CRM should also allow you to nurture them through email marketing campaigns.
Opportunity management will allow your sales individuals to easily create opportunities from leads and prioritize those that have the best chance of closing. Based on our experience helping sales managers and sales teams increase revenue, we prefer to recommend solutions that provide a complete 360-degree view of a specific opportunity where your sales team can see all email interactions with the prospect, including those from the lead record, as well as tasks, notes, and associated quotes. Built-in filters should allow your sales team to easily sort through their opportunities by the estimated close date, stage (development, solution, negotiation), and dollar amount, among others.
Quoting Capabilities
The two most important aspects of a quote are that it is timely and accurate. A robust quote management system should achieve both within an automated and streamlined sales process. All client and product details should be readily available in the opportunity record in a “one-stop-shop” format to help the sales team easily create, edit, and monitor new or existing quotes.
A fully integrated quote management system enables you to transform a previously time-consuming process and increase efficiencies in the sales process to improve bottom line performance. These efficiencies include automated emailing of sales or project quotes to prospects and internal approval map functionality to ensure quotes are being reviewed based on your organizational conditions prior to going to the prospect.
Seamless Connection to Order Entry and Fulfillment
Any CRM worth its cost should allow you to easily convert a quote into a sales order without duplicate data entry. Once a quote is approved by the customer, your system should provide automation capabilities to mitigate any chance of errors and accelerate the creation of the sales order and invoice. Let the system do the work for you, instead of the other way around. Your sales team will be able to focus more on winning sales instead of getting bogged down in order entry and communication with the warehouse team.
Closing:
Selecting the wrong CRM is a costly and frustrating mistake. Our team at Opus Global Data Solutions has decades of experience evaluating and implementing CRM and ERP solutions that meet the unique needs of our customers. We would love to learn about your goals and help you improve your business relationships, boost your customer retention, and increase profits! Please schedule a call with us or request a demo.