Find the best Sales CRM Software

What is Sales CRM? Why Do Sales People Need It?

No matter the size of your company or the industry you’re in, chances are you’ll have a sales team in your organization. However, the success of your sales team depends largely on the tools you provide them with. 

The importance and effectiveness of CRM can be understood by the fact that 91% of companies with more than 11 employees now use CRM software.

Curious, right?

Let’s dive deeper and find out what is CRM application and the need for CRM sales for marketing people. 

Key Highlights: 

• CRM provides a birds-eye view of your sales processes. 
• CRM equips your sales reps with all the information they need to personalize the customer experience. 
• It makes it easier to track prospects’ activities. 
• It helps improve customer retention by helping you understand customers’ needs so you can optimize your services accordingly. 
• To pick the right sales CRM software, determine your business’s needs and consult your sales reps to understand the features they need. 
• Don’t forget to use the free trial of the software before committing to it.

What is a CRM?

CRM or customer relationship management is a tool that provides deep insights into a customer’s lifecycle. Sales CRM software seamlessly integrates all customer-related activities right from marketing to sales, customer service system, and support. 

This means that you don’t need to switch between different applications and waste time – you get access to past customer interactions, demographic details, billing information, and  CRM sales metrics with the click of a button. This also means that you can provide better customer service, improve customer interactions, and build loyalty with the right CRM in place.

Why Use Sales CRM in Your Organization? 

CRM is a tool that simplifies the process of qualifying leads, ensures you don’t miss following up on leads, and allows you to create reports for the management. But that’s just the overview. Let’s dig deeper into CRM capabilities for sales teams. 

1. Capture The Right Leads And Maximize Conversions

Here’s an interesting fact – without CRM systems, 79% of all marketing leads are not converted to sales. This clearly indicates the power of automated CRM systems. In addition, the lead management system in the CRM software is one of the best features that facilitate managers to gain a 360-degree view of all prospects in the sales pipeline.

Sales CRM software helps businesses determine which leads to focus on so that sales representatives do not waste time chasing cold leads. CRM also enables you to keep track of all prospects’ interactions and arms your team with vital real-time data. This helps them reach key decision-makers faster, move them down the sales funnel, and maximize conversions.

2. Makes It Easier to Track Prospect’s Activities

It is crucial to equip your team with a tool that enables them to go after only the hottest leads. CRM does that by sending them notifications about prospect activities, making it possible for your sales reps to contact them when they show more interest in your services. 

Essentially, using sales CRM software enables your team to track their prospects, make sales and generate qualified referrals. You can even manage existing customer relationships by providing them with better customer support, access to needed data when required, and much more. That brings us to our next point!

3. Provide Excellent Customer Service

Did you know that 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience? If you lose interest after a sale and don’t follow up with exceptional service, your valuable clients may switch to your competitors.

Customer relationship management tools can help your support representatives provide personalized service to valuable clients. It gives them instant access to a customer’s entire history of interactions. This empowers your team to resolve issues quickly, respond to complaints, and increase first-call resolution rates. CRM technology can help your business gain a credible reputation and keep customers happy in the long run!

4. Increase Customer Retention

The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% compared to the 5-20% probability of selling to a new customer. This highlights the importance of building a loyal tribe of retained customers – it will increase repeat sales and help in word-of-mouth publicity.

CRM tools can help your organization nurture customer relationships at every stage of the sales pipeline. For instance, you can develop customized loyalty programs to reward valuable customers with special offers, discounts, and promotional campaigns. You can even use CRM systems to provide omnichannel support to reduce churn and increase the engagement rate. 

5. Build Customer Loyalty

Collecting data about your prospects (and customers) is critical at the beginning of building a relationship (when customers are about to enter your sales organization), just like at the later stages (when customers have left the organization).

But, unfortunately, many businesses fail to gather crucial data about prospects and customers. However, sales CRM software helps businesses get detailed information about their customers, especially the ones that can prove a lot more profitable and are most likely to make a purchase. 

Providing your sales team access to data about your customers will help them figure out what they want and offer services that address their needs accordingly. In addition, the better you’ll be able to personalize your services, the more loyal they’ll become towards your business. 

6. Gain Detailed Business Insights

Social media posts, customer phone calls, product reviews, and e-commerce transactions – data is everywhere! However, raw data is of no use if not organized and structured correctly. CRM tools have robust reporting CRM capabilities that enable you to drill deep into key performance indicators to improve performance.

CRM dashboards can help you understand important metrics and visually display them for complete transparency. Actionable reports empower you to make proactive decisions, respond to changes in the external environment, and achieve strategic goals faster. Here are some of the most useful CRM reports that can guide managers to gain a better understanding of key business operations:

• Profitability Reports
• Sales Cycle Reports
• Marketing Campaign Reports
• Customer Data Platform and Buying Pattern Reports
• Sales Forecasting system
• Goal Progress Reports

7. Enhanced Protection Of Data Privacy

In recent times, there has been a heavy emphasis on protecting customer data and privacy. So if you are worried that using a CRM system may expose sensitive customer information, you don’t need to anymore!

Modern CRM tools comply with the General Data Protection Regulation Act. This means that they have in-built functionality to manage customer-related information securely. Password protection, multi-layered access control, and data encryption system are some safeguards employed by CRM technology to prevent any kind of misuse or fraudulent activities.

Why are Some Sales Teams Skeptical About Adopting a CRM?

Though most organizations have invested in sales CRM software, many are still skeptical about it. We talked to some of them and highlighted the five most common reasons sales reps struggle or outright refuse to use a CRM (and how you can address their concerns). 

1. Lack of Training and Enforcement

Whenever something new is introduced into a system, it is often met with doubt and reluctance. Similar is the case with CRM software. In fact, 22% of salespeople still don’t know what CRM is. 

The CRM process steps usually involve interacting with clients, explaining the benefits of using your services/products, and attending events and conventions. However, keeping track of every step could be challenging, especially if dealing with multiple prospects. 

That’s where sales CRM software can help. It enables sales teams to track the team’s performance. But, many sales personnel often find it challenging to get used to it. One of the main reasons for this could be a lack of training and the fear of stricter monitoring.

In order to solve this issue, you need to ensure that your team gets the proper training to use the CRM. It also includes highlighting the benefits and importance of CRM in their day-to-day activities. 

Failing to do so will lead to your representatives following old ways of working. This, in turn, might lead to disturbance in the team and impact their productivity.

2. Believed to Hinder Flexibility and Privacy

CRM software today comes with intuitive dashboards, real-time updates, and ready access to data. This helps the management get an overall picture of their company's sales and revenue. As per a study, 74% of users said their CRM system gave them improved access to customer data.

However, there is a high probability that your sales team considers the newly installed CRM software as a monitoring tool. This might make them feel that they are under constant surveillance.

Thus, to eliminate your sales team’s skepticism, you need to make it clear that the objective of having a CRM is better customer management rather than just monitoring their performance.

3. Difficult Navigation

One of the common issues with CRM software is its complexity, at least initially. If your selected CRM tool’s navigation is cumbersome and has unnecessary fields, your sales team will be demotivated towards using it.

Thus, to eliminate these issues, you need to find CRM software that not only fulfills your organization’s requirements but also has an easy-to-use interface. The best solution is to ask the sales team to take the free trial and decide whether it’s worth investing in. 

4. Updating Customer Communication Takes Time

Many companies emphasize recording every customer communication in the CRM. But, unfortunately, this can also make the sales representatives averse to CRMs. Now, why is this a concern?

Well, sales reps may see this as an administrative job that will hamper their work and not something which could improve sales.

To solve these issues, you can use a cloud CRM system so that your sales team can update their communications on the go. Moreover, look for CRM that integrates with other tools that you use in your organization. This way, they need not spend time on re-entering those details and still benefit from it. 

5. No Distinction between Good and Bad Data

CRM usually stores tons of data. However, it also means that there is a lot of raw data present in the software. If it is not sorted and organized regularly, it can be intimidating for the employees to use it. 

Junk data can pile up if there is an issue with migrating data or if more than one person is making similar entries. Therefore, it is essential to spend some time eliminating redundant data and organizing it to ensure your reps get the most out of your investments. 

How to Select the Right Sales CRM Software?

No matter what your sales reps feel about the tool, you need to make them understand the importance and purpose of CRM and how it can help them in the long run.

Begin with choosing the right sales CRM software and allow them to have a free trial of it. Here’s how you can choose the best CRM application for your organization. 

1. Identify Your Business Needs

Your business requirements will drive your choice. Start by asking yourself questions like what challenges you currently face in sales and the processes you would like to automate. 

You will need to picture your sales process far into the future so that your CRM fits even when your business grows. 

However, there are a few basic features that every CRM software is an important element for sales that has to build a foundation for your process. 

• Pipeline management to provide you with a birds-eye view of your sales funnel. In addition, it will help you better understand how your leads are progressing from one stage to another. 
• It should allow you to collect and store all your customer-related information in one place. Besides, it should let you search your contacts using filters. 
• The software should give you a detailed report on the progress of your sales department (both team and individual-based) and how they are performing. 

Besides the above basic features, different types of organizations have different requirements. For instance, nonprofits and NGOs will need a sales CRM tool that helps manage fundraising events, track memberships, and volunteers, etc. Whereas the need for CRM for an eCommerce business offers marketing and sales automation and includes help desk management, quotes management, email marketing, etc.  

2. Hear Your Sales Team Opinion

As the sales director, the final decision of choosing a sales CRM will rest with you. 

However, it’s wise to get your salespeople involved. Consult with them on the features that they need to perform their tasks more efficiently. In fact, you should also discuss with other areas of your organization, such as marketing, customer service, and more, before you make your final choice. 

Their input on processes that need improvements and other pain points will help you better understand the features you need in your CRM software. With more information in hand, you will be able to make the right choice. Plus, when your team gets to experience the new CRM themselves, they will be a little quicker in adopting the latest technology. 

So always remember, it’s too easy to decide based on what you think your team wants. But not involving your team will only cause trouble in the future as the business starts to expand. 

3. Read Reviews and Get Expert Advice

Reading reviews can help you make a smarter choice. However, the internet is full of fake reviews that can mislead any consumer. So, you should always be sure of your sources before you read the reviews. Look out for trusted media outlets and websites that provide unbiased reviews.

These reviews will give you a brief idea about the vendors with the best customer service and other essential features. You will get a better insight into how other customers are using those tools and how it is helping them solve their problems. 

The next thing to do is to take advice from the experts in that field. There are a few consultant companies that have experts to offer solutions to your problems. These experts assess all aspects of your business needs, financial budget, and other resources to help you reach a decision. 

They focus on your needs rather than having a hard-sell attitude. With some research, you can easily find the name of the top products in the market. 

4. Talk to the Vendor or Software Company

The vendor is as important as the software itself because you will be relying on them for customer support. 

Even after you have purchased the software, you will require their help as long as you are using the software. 

Another reason is that they will help you better understand how their tool fits your needs. So when you talk to them, you must ask a few questions that will help you decide. Ask them about any issues you found while doing your research, their average results, the industry they serve, and more. 

Besides, the software company should be able to provide product training through in-house seminars or webinars (given the current scenario) on how to use the product. Check whether the vendor offers resources such as product documentation, how-to’s, tutorials, answers to FAQs, and guides.

5. Take the Free Trial

The final stage for choosing a sales CRM software involves trying the software yourself before buying. Most of the leading CRM vendors offer a free trial of their software. In fact, some of them even give you a one-on-one demonstration of their product. 

This free trial is an opportunity for you to decide how you feel about the software. You can test whether the software has an intuitive interface as it claims to be. The best part is that you don’t have to pay a single penny to see if the software matches your needs and expectations. 

If you like it, you can always pay the vendor and get it fully implemented. And in case you didn’t, you can always try out the next software from your list. 

Conclusion

Customer management (acquisition and retention) is crucial for any business’s success. Sales CRM software makes it easier to do the work. It provides detailed customer insights so you can personalize their experiences. However, you need the right CRM software to get the most out of your investment.