Friday, February 14, 2014

What is your CRM Solution Missing?



The high cost CRM solution that gets a bad reputation doesn’t always deserve it. However, there is a missing component that can assist adopters in getting the most out of their CRM deployment. If this description fits you or your company, you’re not alone.

It’s now widely known that most sales people only spend about 35 percent of their time on sales calls. At the same time, companies invest $18 billion in CRM software solutions while only half of them see a positive adoption rate. If your company has invested in a CRM solution with the intent of seeing a strong return on investment, you’re among the many that are startled by the lack of return you’re getting.

So, what’s the issue?

The CRM solution you chose is likely loaded with bells and whistles, yet your sales crew is not utilizing even half of them. Why? Because it’s probably a time-consuming effort that requires some time to become accustomed to. Regardless of how long it takes to fully embrace what the CRM is capable of doing, your sales staff is motivated to interact with people rather than CRM software.

While it’s true that humans have a natural reluctance to develop new habits, including habits related to more efficient work processes, you can still get the most out of your CRM when you add some automated processes that suit the way your sales staff works.

Many sales people are highly mobile. Rather than making calls or sending emails, they’re on the road, visiting clients in their offices and conversing face-to-face. Is your CRM allowing them access to the tools they need on their mobile devices? You’re looking for more revenue and having the right tools for the right people is vital.

If you’re not getting a good ROI on your current CRM solution, you probably didn’t spend much time looking into what your sales staff actually needed, or you overestimated their ability to take on a new solution quickly and without much resistance.

Most companies need help improving their productivity and jumping into a new CRM solution often isn’t enough. Most CRM solutions need an add-on to help their sales force fully realize the potential of the solution.

Front Row Solutions has developed an SMS text message platform that gives reps the ability to easily report every sales call they make. Our text message solution enables all key analytics to be automatically sent within 15 seconds, which eliminates the need to waste so much time entering data. As a result, your sales team is spending more time doing what they’re good at and what they’re motivated to do – make sales calls.

Front Row’s solution is easy. The text message sent from the sales rep goes to a Front Row server from the Android, iPhone, iPad or Blackberry device. Computers can also be used to enter the information. Once the message is sent, the sales rep that sent it is identified. The record also identifies the client they called, and the date and time is stamped within the message. The information is then populated into the customized dashboard and the analytics database is quickly updated with the information.

With automation like this, you can stop counting losses and start reaping benefits.