“70 to 90 percent of decisions not to repeat a purchase of anything are not about product or price. They are about some dimension of service.” –Barry Gibbons, former CEO, Burger King

I think we can all agree that putting a face to a name is always helpful. Many have been the times I have finally met someone face to face after communicating for some time by other means. In just about every case it was like meeting an old friend.

In the sales occupation face to face interaction can make a big difference when establishing a relationship. But what happens when you work across the country or around the world? Obviously, making a personal connection is harder in these situations. But through the magic of technology we can bridge the gap and remain engaged and responsive to the needs of our clients. As our world becomes more globalized this type of technology-based relationship will simply be the norm.

Luckily for those of us in sales, customer relationship management software (CRM) makes it possible to collaborate easily and effectively, no matter the distance involved.

Whether across town or around the globe, a key function for any sales professional is to sell products and services to their customer base. These salespeople are also tasked with finding solutions for customer problems all the while ensuring the process is as pain-free as possible.

In addition to the above, salespersons are always looking for new leads and any opportunity to create new business.

Key to the success of any salesperson is a thorough understanding of his/her customer base. One tool that many sales professionals rely on is customer relationship management software (CRM). The proper application of CRM software can supercharge sales and actually make the managing of a client account much easier.

Below are some of the ways that CRM can improve a salesperson’s results.

Git’r Done

With CRM software, sales professionals can more quickly create and dispatch quotes to clients. This allows for very fast follow up without waiting on someone else to provide the information needed for the quote. In addition to being able to respond to leads quickly, sales representatives are also able to close deals promptly. Equally valuable, all of the transactions created by the salesperson are easy to find in the CRM software. Sales professionals can track many of the following using CRM software:

  • Contacts
  • Quotes
  • Sales orders
  • Invoices
  • Client visits

Sell More to Existing Clients

Customer relationship management software enables you to manage your current customer base and in turn use those contacts to build an even larger group of potential clients. Growing the customer base is all part of the job for a salesperson. By using a CRM system your customer information is at your fingertips in one central location. You can view this data at any time.

It’s no secret that selling more to existing clients is far more cost effective than trying to sell to new clients. Through the proper use of a CRM system, the odds will be in your favor as you mine your existing customer base. It’s the old 80/20 rule or Pareto’s law but it is absolutely the truth. Time spent selling more to existing clients is always worthwhile.

Work from Anywhere

We all know that sales professionals work from lots of different places. From the office to home, the coffee shop and on the road, they are engaged pretty much non-stop. By using a cloud-based CRM system salesmen/women are able to get their jobs done no matter where they are so long as they have Wi-Fi and a device to access the internet. I have worked remotely in places as diverse as China, Algeria and Viet Nam with access to my CRM system.

Since the job is ever changing you want to be able to do your job no matter where you are and despite the circumstances. Additional benefits to having access to CRM no matter where you are:

  • Use your phone or laptop to take notes within the CRM software in real time
  • Immediate follow-ups

Sales professionals who use CRM software will undoubtedly begin to see how much easier their jobs become. The software is not only great in helping business relationships between a business and their clients, but it also does wonders to assist in the salespersons daily work duties.

Don’t Get Wrapped Around the Axle

No matter what anyone tries to tell you about any CRM software package just remember, at the end of the day, it’s just a database. Use it to track your sales team. Whether you have ten salespeople of fifty makes no difference. CRM software will help you to ensure they have what they need and that you can track their activities.

Focus on the reports. Your attention should be on their pipeline, open quotes, new opportunities, recent activities, and lost sales. All the other attributes of your CRM system are nice but cannot replace the value of those reports. And the reports should be automatically delivered to your inbox on a daily or weekly basis. Armed with this data you can manage your sales team to maximum effect. When you are utilizing your CRM software to the utmost advantage it’s like taking a machine gun to a knife fight. The competition doesn’t stand a chance.

Compliance is Not Optional

Trust me on this point. There will be salespeople who do not want to embrace your CRM system. They will complain that it takes too long to enter the data or that it’s a waste of time or any one of a hundred other excuses. Heck, somebody will probably argue that they have been doing the same thing with a spreadsheet for years so they don’t need the CRM system. You need to reply with three words: It’s not optional!

If you want your CRM system to succeed, then it needs to be part of the culture of your sales organization. So be sure that you provide the training and support your team needs and that you work hard to help your team adapt.

Just remember you must require your team to use the system. Because if it’s not in the CRM database….then it doesn’t exist.

No matter which particular CRM system you are using, if you follow the recommendations above positive results will follow.

As a final show of support for using a CRM system I’ll close by quoting Bill Gates:

“How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or lose.”