To answer this, it is worth questioning the following: Where do we store our customer contacts? Where are interactions such as appointments, calls, and emails recorded? Do we have sales projections? Do we have a sales pipeline of sales?
I generally find that clients answer yes to all of the above, but that yes is related to multiple Excel files, which are “annihilators” of sales staff productivity. In worse circumstances, we find a similar answer: “No, I only manage my contacts in my email.”
The answer to the initial question requires a bit of prior preparation, since when I should implement the CRM, we generally associate it with the moment in which we find the need to unify our customer information in a database (the disarray), this is the moment when we are in a hurry, it is the moment in which the leader of the organization asks you to investigate the best CRMs on the market. Here are some small recommendations based on my experience after working on multiple implementations, these could help you reduce implementation costs and even lead you to a more successful implementation:
· Involve collaborators from the beginning. Most of the failures we find when implementing any system is not involving the end user.
· Organize and consolidate your customer data, asking yourself: What information do I want to know about my customer? What information do I want to know about their company? (think of Excel fields, such as name, last name, birthday)
· Think about what information you want to record from activities such as tasks, appointments, calls, lunches, among others. This will help us measure possible opportunities in a “predictive” way.
· What is my sales funnel? Here is a little help: https://www.pipedrive.com/es/blog/embudo-ventas
· Create a work process (remember the first thing, involve the staff)
· Keep in mind that implementation is not 100% a task for the technology department. Do you take driving lessons in a mechanical workshop? Information technology adapts the tool to the needs of the internal client, and the implementation must be managed from the sales management.
Having the above clear and organized: It’s time to implement a CRM! This will help us increase our sales, create projections, analyze the customer portfolio, make better decisions, and improve the level of customer service through proper monitoring.
Which CRM is the best? I leave that to your discretion, but this is the one I recommend PipeDrive and even by entering here you can get a free trial month which will help you get an idea of the potential of having a CRM.
#technology#technologicaladvances#IT#Cloud#CloudComputing#Security#DevOps#Tech#Apps#Productivity#Mobility#BI#CRM#Sales
