What Can CRM Do For My Sales

Thanks to the large number of CRM software programs on the market today, most people have heard of CRM software. But many of those people have an incorrect or incomplete understanding of what CRM is capable of doing. This article will describe what CRM can do for your sales. After a brief overview of the concept of CRM, we'll identify some typical sales problems that CRM can solve. CRM became a buzzword in the 1990's. It referred to a technology-driven initiative to unify the efforts of a company's customer-facing departments. This new strategy would restructure these departments around the company's greatest asset - its customers! CRM would allow customer information from across the company to be available to any employee who happened to interact with the customer, enabling the sales team to sell more successfully, the marketing team to segment and market to customers more effectively, and the service team to provide more personal, more effective resolution to customer complaints or requests. Simply put, the technology available at the outset of CRM was insufficient to allow the concept to deliver on its promise. Today, however, the technology is available, and companies of every size and budget are realizing the benefits of CRM technology. Is your company one of them? Do you know what these benefits are? Why Do I Need CRM? Below are some typical problems that can be solved by implementing CRM.... "I want to improve the performance of my sales team this year." Well what do you mean, "improve?" How did you measure the performance of your sales team last year (meaning can you identify important metrics other than total revenue or number of sales)? Here are some specific questions you may ask yourself: o Can I identify the areas of performance in which my sales team did well, and those in which they underperformed? o Can I identify which of those areas has historically had the greatest impact on overall sales performance? o Which of those areas can be improved with the least investment of dollars, time, or training? o Which specific behaviors should I encourage to drive the performance increase I seek? For example, it may be that you had good lead generation and qualification numbers, but fell short in your more advanced sales stages. Or maybe your sales reps seemed to stall out in a certain part of your sale cycle, taking much longer than you would expect to achieve the objectives there and move into the next stage. There are many ways a sales team can underperform. But if you don't have a well-implemented CRM system, the odds are good that you can't accurately answer the questions that will help you improve. The truth is that measurable improvement can only come from measured results. Otherwise, your message to your sales team will continue to consist of frustrated admonitions to work harder or close better. "I think my sales team is doing a poor job of following up on the leads we receive, although I can't say for sure." There are two problems in this statement - the first is the suspicion that your valuable leads are falling through the cracks; the second is the fact that you can't measure the degree to which effective follow-up is occurring on the leads your team receives. CRM is designed to chain together a prospect's progress through the different stages of your sales efforts, from campaign to close. You can see exactly how many leads your sales team receives, and what actions are taken to pursue those leads. This information is available in high-level percentages and in detailed specifics about each lead. "I only know what's in the pipeline once a week - after spending hours calling my direct reports. By the time I'm done aggregating the data, things have probably changed anyway." It's hard to proactively manage your sales team in today's sales environment without knowing exactly how the pipeline for your team and for each rep looks. Identifying regions and reps that aren't performing well isn't possible without pipeline information. When this information is available real-time, you can use your valuable time for coaching and enabling your team rather than collecting their numbers. Opportunity management in CRM gives you and your sales reps and the ability to see what's in your pipeline in real-time. Information can be organized to show where each opportunity is in the sales stage, when it's expected to close, and what the rep expects it to be worth. Furthermore, if you know your sales process well enough to identify factors that indicate high chances of success or failure in an opportunity, certain opportunities can be flagged to help you take the necessary steps to close those deals or keep them from falling out of your pipeline. Over time and with enough accumulated pipeline data, you can begin to understand the probability related to pipeline values in different stages of your sales process. This understanding will help you forecast sales more accurately and identify the optimal pipeline numbers in each sales stage that will maximize pipeline through-put. "My sales reps don't execute the sales process properly. It's hard for me to identify the degree to which they're really following the process. It's also hard for me to mandate change in sales rep behavior." When CRM becomes the tool your sales team uses to manage the information relating to potential sales, it also becomes the medium through which you can mandate positive change. Your sales process can be integrated into the CRM system, allowing you to monitor the tasks and stages that each rep completes for each deal, or giving you high-level statistics to see the degree to which the sales process is being followed by your sales team as a whole. "My reps are not productive enough - they spend too much time doing things other than selling." CRM is designed to automate the tasks that take your reps away from selling. Whether it be · creating quotes or proposals · churning out follow-up communications · communicating internally with others involved in the sales process · saving or hunting for saved customer communications or the host of other tasks that cut into the time reps spend in front of potential customers, CRM can streamline or automate these tasks to free up more selling time for your sales team. "It takes too much time and effort for my reps to collaborate with other groups who could help in the sales process - we don't collaborate as much as we'd like to, and the collaboration we do engage in is inefficient." This is a CRM sweet spot. The whole concept of CRM is to allow information to flow across the enterprise in the instant it's created. Sales data will be made available to key players in your organization who can help move a sale to completion. This information flow can be automated, eliminating the need for manual communications. Tasks will be automatically created, both to remind your team members to complete assignments and to allow you to monitor and follow-up on tasks that aren't being completed. All of this drastically reduces the time your team needs to spend on the phone or sending emails to inform others of details relating to a sale. "My company's customer and prospect information is unreliable." Today is a great day to start reversing this trend. While you may or may not be able to improve the quality of the data you already have, you can certainly ensure that the customer data you create from now on will be complete and reliable. Good data keeping requires 2 things: a policy and a place. CRM gives you both. You define the policy by deciding what information is required for CRM records like accounts and contacts. Duplicate detection tools and other validation procedures defined by you can be created to ensure the purity and entirety of your customer data. And, of course, CRM is the place - the new center of all customer-facing information in your organization. by Andy Schultz Questions or comments? Invoc exists to help companies identify the ways CRM can contribute to measured, sustainable growth in sales, service, and marketing activities. Feel free to contact Invoc using the information below if you would like to explore the possibilities for CRM at your company. Invoc is a Microsoft Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. 713-240-3549 http://www.invoc.net info@invoc.net Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_B_Schultz

Wireless Credit Cards Processors - A Unique Service to Attract Customers

Recent advancements in the global business world have created a breakthrough revolution in the modern marketplace. The business owners are putting their best put forward to create unique products as well as service solutions. The attractive range of services attracts maximum customer group and thus in a way their overall all profits are increased with prompt sales figures. The basic fundamental of any business is to increase the volume and acclaiming customer satisfaction. Amongst the wide array of sales promotion tools the best way to entice a customer is to offer them valuable services so that he can spend his hard earned money. Thus we can say that the efficient idea of attaining customer satisfaction and making them visit again is to render high quality services. The range of such services includes credit card payment system. In the present scenario hardly any customer moves without a credit card. Credit cards are primarily the wireless payment solutions that facilitate cashless transactions. Using these metal or plastic cards you can pay off your monthly bills and can make your daily expenses. This allows you a freedom from travelling with cash all the way which is often risky. With the help of these cards you can exceed the limit of cash that you have available in your account. Thus in a way there is no restriction on your shopping mania. These cards are proved to be a major payment method for the sensible customers. A hidden advantage about these cards is that you can avail a lesser interest rate while shopping with it. Now we will talk a bit about how it works. Well, the cards will not automatically work and to make payments from them you need to have a credit card terminal. These terminals are the small machines that have connectivity to your merchant banker. A magnetic stripe is built in the terminal and you swipe you card in to that only but first you need to ask for the dialing tone. After swiping your card and feeding number to the device the service providers give you an authorization while making complete authentication of the user account. In this way the authorization permits you to receive a fixed sum of money from the person making payments. For your convenience and trust a printed receipt is also generated. Now we can say that it is perfect example of dedicated customer service and thus it is becoming increasingly popular across the global market. Mostly available in fixed or wireless credit cards machine types, it is just offering you a peaceful payment as well as billing solution. To learn more about wireless credit cards as well as find out more about wireless credit card processor, go to 1stFinancialMerchantGroup.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dirk_Nanne

Visual Display Tips

Creating displays can help you to nurture your crafty side. The most effective displays always have a theme and seem inspired. Inspiring displays inspire customers to feel as passionately as you about the merchandise that you're selling. Boutiques are famous for creating memorable displays that keep customers curious about what you'll do next. Whether you run a boutique or larger retail store, you can use these tips to make your displays more interesting and effective. 1) Do some research before you begin. Surf the web, go window shopping, and look at magazines to get your creative juices flowing. You can get ideas that help you to decide on a theme or a focus for your display. Consider the merchandise, of course, but also think about color to set the mood, the season, the promotion, or the theme of your store. Once you get an idea, the rest will quickly come together. 2) Consider running your ideas past your employees. Give them a theme and ask them for their ideas. Sometimes your employees are your best asset because they see what grabs customers' attention every day, out on the floor. Hold a contest to inspire your staff to be more involved in the success of the store. You may be surprised at how creative some of your employees may be. 3) Once you have your idea, decide on a budget. Remember that less is often more and you don't necessarily have to spend a fortune on a display. You may want to buy a few key pieces for the display. Try to buy things that can be reused in the future so that you can get the most bang for your buck. Tables or racks that fold, props that inflate, and decorations that lay flat are easiest to store for future use. Mannequins can be customized to fit a lot of different types of displays and can stay in good shape for many years. Investing in this proven seller is never a bad move. 4) When setting up your display, keep balance and focus in mind. Start by setting up your focal point. Too many focal points will not draw attention like a central focus will. The focus doesn't have to be in the center of the display. Good visuals are hardly ever perfectly centered. They're often more interesting if they're not. A customer may pass twenty window displays with centered mannequins and hardly notice them, and then the one that tells a story and isn't perfectly centered will be the one to turn their head. 5) Use lighting, signage, whatever you need to draw attention to your focal point. You can even use more mannequins to direct attention to the focal point. Have them looking at the main character or feature in your display. 6) Make room for interesting visual displays throughout your store or boutique. Use slatwall panels and slatwall accessories to free up space on the sales floor. You can use the slatwall itself to create interesting slatwall displays. Using vertical space can help you to better manage your merchandise so that your displays remain the center of attention. About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading online resource for retail displays, including mannequins mannequins, dress mannequin forms, female mannequins, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ron_D._Maier

How Can Smaller Retailers Find Better Replacements For Their Point of Sale Software?

Technology changes so often that businesses often have difficulty deciding when to replace their technology. This is especially true for growing retail businesses that use point of sale software packages to process such things as customer transactions and inventory. Here is a brief guide that can help smaller retailers find better replacements for their POS software applications. It includes suggestions that can help small and medium-sized retailers find ways to improve their efficiency, customer service experience and their bottom lines by choosing point of sale packages that are more appropriate for their needs. Here are some suggestions for small retailers. --Don't buy more POS software than you need. Many small retailers tend to overspend on point of sale software packages because they think they can use the extra features when they expand operations. This isn't always a good idea because most small retailers don't have enough inventory or sales volume to justify using more complicated POS software packages. As a result, it might be a good idea to find point of sale software applications that can be customized to fit the needs of a smaller business. Doing this can save the smaller retailer money and frustration because they won't to need to worry about features that aren't needed to effectively run their business. --In addition, look for point of sale software that is easy to use. Many small retailers have trouble growing their businesses because they have a hard time managing their inventories and how they provide customer service to their clients. Using POS software that is easy to use can solve most of these problems because it makes it easier to doing things such as interacting with customers and keeping physical inventory counts. In addition, it can also help smaller retailers establish better habits that can improve the way they manage their store's overall operations. As a result, using point of sale software that is easy to use can help a smaller retailer grow its loyal customer base and improves its overall efficiency. Here are some suggestions for medium-sized retailers. --Look for point of sale software that can help you control inventory "shrinkage" and improve the overall experience for your customers. Most medium-sized retailers who would like to grow into bigger entities have trouble controlling inventory shrinkage. Furthermore, they also tend to suffer from customer service growing pains that result from making the leap from a tiny store to a bigger store. These problems can be corrected if medium-sized retailers look for point of sale software that helps employees control inventory "shrinkage" and improve overall store efficiency. There are many fantastic point of sale software packages that can help medium-sized retailers control inventory shrinkage, price integrity and the customer's over-all experience. This makes it a good idea to look into these packages because they can provide very good long-term value for a medium-sized retailer. --Furthermore, a medium-sized retailer should also consider point of sale software that is fully compatible with its pre-existing technology. Many cashiers have first-hand knowledge of the nightmares that happen because a cash register has failed them in the middle of a transaction. These nightmares happen because most medium-sized retailers don't consider thinking about the compatibility of its point of sale software with its pre-existing technology. This makes it important for a medium-sized retailer to ask their vendor for technologically compatible point of sale software. Doing this will make your cashiers' jobs easier. It will also make many of your customers willing to shop more often at your store. As a result, finding technologically compatible point of sale software might be the best way for a medium-sized retailer to improve its bottom line. To buy POS software and to find out more information, please visit pos cash registers and restaurant software. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_J_Thomas

Mattress Retail and the Naming Conspiracy - How to Shop and Compare

Unlike most branded retail products, the mattress retail business uses model names without numbers and, because of the totally unrelated names, it is almost impossible to compare and shop models from one store to the next. This "conspiracy" makes it very difficult for the consumer to take advantage of the price guarantees offered at virtually every mattress retailer. The most common question heard by salespeople in the business is, "How can I compare models and shop for best price when the names are different everywhere I go?" The complaint that usually follows is "The price guarantee I see everywhere is worthless. It's a joke. Comparisons are impossible." Accurate comparisons of like models are essential to the effective utilization of the price guarantee advertised by most mattress retail dealers. A typical price guarantee might read, "We'll beat anyone's price by at least 10%." Some retailers will specify that it must be the same brand and model. With the model names being different everywhere, those retailers are able to exempt themselves from ever honoring their advertised guarantee. Some retailers require that the price be an advertised price, but most retailers don't advertise the model names in their ads, and that pretty much let's them off the hook. Consumers cannot shop ads if the model names are not in them, and shopping the competition is extremely difficult in person when the names are different everywhere. It doesn't take long for the consumer to realize that there is a "conspiracy" in place to defeat the use of the "advertised gimmick" called the "price guarantee." The frustration turns quickly to irritation and the consumer is left with nothing but mistrust for the mattress retailer and his sales staff. I don't know how many times a day I had customers tell me, "you guys are just like used car salesmen." The mattress manufacturers would love to have the model names standardized amongst retailers, but the retailers will never let them do that. The manufacturers would save a lot of money, since they have to pay people to come up with new names for every model, every year, for every retailer. They have to tweak the different models in very minor ways in order to keep them slightly different. Those minor differences cost the manufacturers a lot of extra money in modifying the production runs. The retailers want to keep the consumer confused. They want as many different specifications, different fabrics, different tape edges, different stitching patterns, and, most certainly, the different names. The confusion virtually negates the price guarantee because the salesperson can say that the models are different. "This one has a foam encased edge and the one you saw at the department store does not. I can't beat the price, but I can match it." The retailer I spent most of my career with allowed us to beat prices "as long as the models were fairly close." We had to spend a lot of time shopping the competitors to become extremely familiar with the similarities and the differences between the brands and the models in our market area. Unfortunately, that is not the norm for mattress retailers and their staff. Most retailers do not require their staff to shop the competition. The poorly educated staff is forced to "wing it" or to lie to the consumer in order to protect the price points. Some lies can be detected by the consumer and the salesperson loses. Some are so well camouflaged that the consumer cannot detect them and, in that case, the consumer loses. When the consumer loses and discovers the truth later (and he or she usually does) the retailer loses, the salesperson loses, and the industry develops a bad reputation. Trust presents a huge obstacle to overcome. The customer becomes afraid to make that purchase in the future, and the salesperson has a very difficult time getting past the inherent mistrust now permanently entrenched in the customer's psyche. Retailers wonder why the consumer usually takes three years to make that purchase...three years after he knows his mattress is no longer providing a "good night's rest"? The simple answer for mattress retailers would be to modify their game plan and to allow for easier comparisons through the naming process. That change will probably never come. The consumer needs to take charge. Comparisons are actually easier than you might expect. Once you have found a mattress you feel comfortable in and one which supports your spine properly, take notes on the following ten items: 1. Brand name 2. Model name 3. Basic Appearance (firm or tight-top, plush or softer top, or pillow-top) 4. Coil count (queen is the standard used now for quoting purposes) 5. Independent coils or tied together coils 6. Wire gauge (the lower the number, the heavier the wire) 7. Special foams (memory foam or latex foam) 8. Edge support (heavier gauge on the edge or foam-encased) 9. Regular price 10. Sale price These ten items, once noted, and taken with you when you shop the competition, will give you everything you need to find the "comparable" model at other retailers. The "cold white sea" of mattresses staring at you as you enter the store adds to the confusion. They all look pretty much the same, but items 1, 3, and 9 on your list will lead you directly to the correct area. The brand name will match, the basic appearance should be very similar (tight-top, plush, or pillow-top), and the regular price should be pretty close or within two to three hundred dollars (in most cases). The mattresses are usually displayed with the most expensive in the front of the store and the least expensive to the rear of the store. Brands are almost always grouped together. By the time you have approached the correct area, a salesperson will probably have arrived to greet and assist you. If you haven't already noticed signage announcing a price guarantee, ask your salesperson whether they have one and how it works. Bring your notes out and tell your representative that you are looking for ______ brand and ______ model that you saw at _____ store. Indicate the one that looks most similar to the one you selected at the other store and detail the specifications from your notes. Ask which one most closely matches the one you are looking for. If your salesperson tries to deflect you toward other product at this point be wary. Take charge and keep him or her on track. Don't be afraid to say that you are "locked in" to that particular brand. Ask your salesperson to check the specs to make sure that you have matched items 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Lie down to make sure that this mattress feels comparable to the one that you liked in the other store. If it feels the same after spending at least 15 minutes on it, then ask your salesperson to beat the price as guaranteed in their advertising or printed policies. Be sure to utilize the "apples to apples" final price including delivery, set-up, pick-up of the old set, and tax in your price beat. Be careful of high pressure add-ons to recoup the retailer's lost margin dollars. If your mattress retailer does not honor the price guarantee for one reason or another, you should ask for the manager to do it for you, or move on to another mattress retailer who will gladly accept your business. Unfortunately, mattress retail dealers are not likely to change their embedded (excuse the pun) naming "conspiracy." Nor are they likely to alter their "loss leader" advertising that is damaging their image, integrity, and standing in the eye of the consumer. The only solution to this dilemma is a more informed, a more detail-conscious, and a more demanding consumer. Shop with confidence, take charge, take notes, make the comparisons, and claim the price guarantee. Your shop for sleep is easier than your fear expects. Ronald Czarnecki, EzineArticles.com contributor and recently published author of "Shop for Sleep and Survive the Bite" offers consumers the first "how to" guide for mattress shopping. The career veteran of the retail mattress world breaks the "code of silence" and uncovers the map to the "good night's rest" we all deserve. For more information visit Ron at: http://www.shopforsleep.com or join him on his blog site at: http://www.sleeplessandtired.com Good night, sleep tight, and survive the bite! Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ronald_Czarnecki