Tuesday, August 12, 2014

CRM Provides Accountability Within the Salesforce


Sales associates have a big responsibility in the workplace. They have to be able to schedule appointments, keep them and be prepared for the sales meeting. Giving the salesforce access to a CRM solution that provides integration with email calendars can help improve accountability as well as performance in the workplace.

Let’s take auto dealerships and their use of
CRM as an example. Most dealerships gain about 80 percent of their leads through phone and Internet contacts. With CRM at their disposal, sales reps can achieve more organized workflow that improves their income and the bottom line of the dealership. When accountability improves, so do profits.

1. Arm Sales Managers With Information
Accountability can’t be achieved without managers being clued in to how the sales reps do their jobs. Managers need concrete ways to prove that something is happening or not happening. When is sales rep #1 the most productive?  How good is sales rep #2 at scheduling appointments and keeping them? How does sales rep #3 prefer to interact with leads? These are all questions every sales manager should be able to answer. A manager who can’t answer these questions is also working in an environment where there is no accountability.

2. Track Every Opportunity
Utilizing reports allows you to track every opportunity that comes through your door and every new contact you add to your CRM. It’s vital that every customer’s contact information is entered into the CRM, otherwise you’re missing opportunities to populate your database with potential leads.

3. Build a Plan and Set Reasonable Goals
Your sales strategy should include goals that set the bar for your sales reps to meet or surpass. However, reasonable goals can’t be set unless you have fact-based decisions that come from analyzing data. Some of the best data in your CRM will be from your sales reps through their sales reports. The report should contain all the data that, over time, starts to show the behaviors of not only the customer, but the sales rep as well. With this information, sales managers can design their one-on-one coaching sessions that get to the root of any problem the rep is experiencing.

4) Mobile App Integration is a Must
The best way to gain the data you need to make your sales reps more accountable is through a
mobile app that lets them send reports quickly and easily – from the field. Your reps don’t want to hassle with time-consuming CRM reporting tools that are difficult to use. However, when they’re given the opportunity to use a mobile app that allows them to send a report in less than a minute, they’ll use it after every sales meeting.

At
Front Row Solutions, we’ve built an app that does exactly that. Not only will your sales reps be sending back regular sales reports, they’ll also include pictures in the reports. There is no limit to what the pictures can show – business cards to signage to contracts – our camera integration and email calendar integration are valuable assets to your sales reps and to your entire organization. Call us today to learn more about our CRM mobile app.