Expensive CRM investments won’t do anything to improve sales if no one uses them.
Over the next several posts, I’m going to look at the importance of CRM and detail ways you can get the most out of the money you spent on the system.
First, let’s look at why customer relationship management adoption is so important.
When used correctly, automated CRM solutions deliver immense value to sales teams. The data they provide gives visibility that can strategically accelerate sales and improve customer satisfaction. But companies won’t get any of that if reps don’t use the system.
CRM adoption is a nationwide priority at the executive level, according to a recent Gartner survey of CIOs. At the annual Gartner Customer 360 Summit, the message was clear. As Gene Alvarez, Gartner Research Vice President, said:
If you don’t have one, you need one. If a company does have a CRM strategy, but it’s a decade old, an update is needed fast.
Using CRM gives reps instant access to phone numbers, emails, information on company influencers and more. What it doesn’t give them is real-time visibility into how much money they could make, for example, from commissions if they close the deal.
In other words, they don’t know what potential selling behaviors – for example, selling higher margin products - or closed deals could mean for them. This is a loss for the sales reps, of course. But it is also a loss for sales managers and the company in terms of the opportunity to influence sales behavior and encourage CRM use.
This is where tools that automate sales compensation can really help. By combining CRM data with commission information, reps an get more out of the system in a way that serves them. They can see what they will earn.
The data also helps managers show reps where best to focus sales efforts. This will align sales team objectives with company goals, and position the entire organization to meet and exceed their revenue forecasts. Check out these tips for improving CRM data quality from Information Management.
Putting sales compensation information into CRM incents reps to use the system.
Join me next week as I focus on how to create and implement a successful CRM adoption plan.
