Running a sales organization requires equipping your team with the tools and resources they will need in order to be successful. For many business owners, this means implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) system. At its core, a CRM offers an electronic platform to store all manner of client (both current and potential) information to help unearth leads, pinpoint new selling opportunities, and arm your staff with the information needed to optimize every client engagement.
Sounds great, right? Yes and no.
Theoretically, the concept of long-term, easily accessible data sets on relevant companies, contacts, and communication offered by a CRM system can help organizations build, sustain, and grow their client base.
However, many executives realize too late that implementing a CRM platform alone only offers a static and partial solution to achieving their overall corporate goals and vision.
Recognize The Biggest Flaws In Your CRM System
Whether you’re struggling with an existing application that isn’t meeting your expectations or considering launching a new system throughout your organization, it’s critical to recognize some of the most significant shortcomings in the CRM design. Understanding some of the reasons why your CRM is failing can help you create a customized integration best suited for your specific business needs or improve final results with your current process.
Some of the most common CRM flaws include:
Data Silos
Yes, in many ways CRMs help to centralize key data sets, instantly eliminating information silos within the sales team and other departments. However, a CRM integration can often create new silos between specific internal functions and even other branch locations that utilize different technology processes to manage operations.
Lack of Real-Time Data
Today’s business enterprises are digitally connected on a global scale, making access to live data a mission-critical component in any client transaction. Unfortunately, most CRMs require manual data entry from sales, which means that retrieved intelligence could (and often does) have a relevancy shelf life that won’t get updated again until someone on the team manually adjusts the information.
Limited Visualization Tools
Most CRMs offer some type of reporting, metric analysis, and dashboard capabilities. However, oftentimes account executives have a limited range of visualization resources made available to them.
Inconvenient Mobile Functionality
CRM technology, developed long before the internet, was initially designed for data entry on computers and workstations. Today’s on-the-go, field sales reps frequently find the mobile functionality of their systems non-intuitive and frustrating, prompting them to wait until they return to the office to enter in relevant details, or most commonly, skip entering field notes all together. This time-lapse can compromise data integrity as sales reps forget vital details of their client engagement – or forget about logging the interaction altogether.
Having a CRM is imperative, but a CRM alone is not enough. Like Thanksgiving dinner, you need more than just the turkey; side dishes are required to make it a meal.
Unleash CRM Potential With Sales Performance Software
The best way to minimize performance gaps and optimize ROI with your existing CRM platform is to augment the system with a sales performance management software solution. A well-designed sales performance tool will fully-integrate with your current CRM, exponentially improving overall functionality and user experience.
Enhancing your CRM with sales management technology expands reporting capabilities, instantly empowering your team with deep-dive data mining for big-picture, live business intelligence that can be displayed using dynamic reporting visualizations.
Additionally, sales performance innovation streamlines mobile data management to encourage your infield reps to log client contact details in real time to maintain the highest standards of data integrity, ultimately helping your team to better identify leads and maximize opportunity to close with every client interaction.
Want to hear more about using sales performance management technology to unleash the power of your existing CRM? Contact us today!
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SPOTIO is the #1 field sales acceleration and performance management software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.
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