Why adopt a CRM: benefits for sales teams
A customer relationship management (CRM) system is an essential tool for sales managers to keep track of their team’s progress and achieve their targets. If you have worked with one, we bet that you’d never want to go back to Excel files, post-it notes, repetitive tasks and turtle-speed productivity. Indeed, according to Salesforce, companies that use a CRM increase sales by 29%, productivity by 34% and forecast accuracy by 42%. Here are 5 benefits of adopting a CRM for sales managers and sales teams.
- Data centralization: always accessible up-to-date, reliable data
The primary function and #1 benefit of a CRM system is to store all customer data in one “box”, in a consistent and standardized format. This information can then be accessed and updated by everyone in the organization – according to permission levels. Centralizing data in a CRM system can increase efficiency by eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the time it takes to find customer information. And yes, adopting a CRM means you’ll never have to search again for lost Excel files, found Excel files, updated Excel files, and wonder if the data you’ve found on an Excel file is still valid or not. This greatly reduces errors and inaccuracies in customer information, improving data quality and reliability. With high quality customer information at their fingertips, sales reps, marketing teams and customer service teams can be right and relevant in every interaction with existing or prospective customers.
- Sales activity centralization
A CRM system not only serves as a crucial customer database, it also stores and organizes all information related to sales and marketing activities. This includes campaigns, sales pipeline stages, meeting notes, proposed products and prices, and insights collected. With a centralized platform, everyone on the team can access the same information and stay up-to-date on the latest sales activities. This drastically improves coordination and ensures that everyone is working towards the same goals.
- Sales processes systemization
A CRM system is a power tool for sales managers to consistently reach their goals. A system CRM benefits small and medium businesses by acting as the skeleton to which all sales processes are attached. This requires you to define and establish your sales processes, creating a clear structure that everyone in your organization can understand and rely on. This can be as simple as identifying pipeline sales stages and opportunity qualifiers to determine which sales rep will call an inbound prospect and how quickly they need to call them.
A CRM system is also designed to support elaborate processes connecting different people and actions, for instance, an ongoing renewal campaign that connects customers whose lease expires in 90 days to a regional representative to discuss options and upgrades. Many tasks in this campaign can be automated, including triggered email campaign sending, appointment scheduling, representative assigning, and pipeline reporting.
A CRM system will help sales managers and their team members become much more productive by automating many other routine tasks. This can save sales reps time and ensure that they are focusing on the most important sales activities. Beyond pure productivity, automation frees more time for sales reps to do what they love the most : enjoying human interaction with customers. This stimulating, value added activity is not only essential to reach your numbers, but to increase job satisfaction of your top talent and keep them engaged.
- Lead management and optimization
A CRM system helps sales managers and their team members manage leads more effectively. It can automate the process of lead management by collecting and storing leads from various sources.This includes contact information, lead source, communication history, and any other important details. The system can then qualify and prioritize leads based on predefined criteria, ensuring that sales reps are focusing on the most promising opportunities. It will also generate alerts and reminders for follow-up activities, ensuring that no lead is left behind and no opportunities are missed. This can result in better lead conversion rates and increased sales revenue. A study done by Cloudsware showed that using a CRM system can increase conversion rates up to 300%.
- Efficient sales forecasting and reporting
A CRM system benefits sales managers’ ability to forecast sales revenue by providing real-time insights into the sales pipeline. By analyzing data and trends, sales managers can identify patterns and make more accurate sales forecasts. This can support them in setting realistic targets and allocating resources more effectively. An effective CRM system will also reduce the amount of time sales managers need to spend compiling and calculating numbers every week. This could mean being able to start their weekend on time or to spend an extra day on the road to help a new rep win their first account. With a CRM system, sales managers can track their team’s performance and generate reports on a range of metrics, including sales revenue, conversion rates, and customer retention. This can help them identify bottlenecks and areas of friction, indicating where attention is needed to improve and optimize processes. A loyal CentrixOne CRM user has increased their conversion rate by over 25% just by analyzing their reports and tweaking their processes.
According to Nucleus Research, every dollar invested in a CRM implementation generates a return of $8.71. While a CRM system is an essential tool for sales managers to keep track of progress and achieve targets, it is a critical foundation for growth acceleration and business scaling. CentrixOne offers a simple, intuitive and affordable CRM that enables sales teams to structure, organize and systemize their sales and marketing processes. Once this structure is in place, you’ll be ready to exceed your targets and reach new peaks.
