CKC Sales and Marketing, LLC

2 Responses to “Sales Blog”

1. Jeff says:

   August 13, 2010 at 8:00 am

   I would like to start the discussion about CRM and salesforce automation. Our company has been in business for 27 years and has never really recorded historical data about our customers or vendors. What would you suggest as a first action item when concidering a CRM? Also, how can that assist our sales team in following up properly and give our management the ability to see detailed reports on their activity.

   Reply
   • admin says:

     August 15, 2010 at 7:59 am

     Thanks for the post Jeff. When considering a CRM I would suggest making sure you assess your companies needs first. Map those needs to the features and benefits of the CRM. Make sure the CRM is flexible enough to change with your company and can grow to meet your needs.

     Your sales team can take advantage of the “automated services” provided by the CRM to handle every day tasks such as follow up emails. Some CRM’s will automatically send out predefined letters and emails to your prospects while recording information such as, time and date sent as well as when it was opened and how many times (Salesforce.com). I have a client now that automates emails to recently delivered proposals for 4 days after the proposal is sent and they are sent out any day even weekends. This way the client receives the email Monday morning without any additional effort from the salesman.

     The reporting functionality is very important to senior management and should be set up to take advantage of the powerful resources of the CRM. With custom reports, management can see where help is needed and target areas of concern. Additionally, they can utilize all features of data recording in different areas of the business, such as Marketing, Customer Service and Finance.

     A CRM is really a central repository for all company data relevant to Sales, Marketing, Service and Finance. Recording daily data may seem time consuming, but the power of that data down the road will enable the company to make decisions based upon real information and not hypothetical data ultimately saving the company valuable time and money.

     Thanks again for the post.

     Reply