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What is CRM?: The Only Definition That Matters to Your Customers

The acronym CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. Many associate CRM with the supporting software systems. However, at the most fundamental level CRM is a business strategy that seeks to develop and maintain on going business relationships with your customers. An account management team plays a large role in an organization’s CRM strategy.   Choosing whether to meet with a customer on site, to go out to lunch, and setting expectations with a customer of when a product will be delivered are all elements of CRM.

The software system (such as Salesforce.com) that ties this strategy together is more commonly referred as a CRM. The system is usually a cloud based database where a company can have all interactions with customers, the different products they’ve bought, information with any issues, etc. While a CRM system is a prerequisite for success, it does not guarantee success. Training on the “human side” of CRM is often neglected. Users are trained on how to use a CRM system, but rarely given the necessary training on “soft skills” required to manage a customer relationship.

At the end of the day CRM boils down to:

• Doing what you say you’ll do
• Doing what you say you’ll do when you say you’ll do it
• Doing more than expected in a way that is noticed and relevant 
  

3 Best Practices for CRM Data Hygiene

The Why: Accurate business intelligence and information translates into making good business decisions. Inaccurate or incomplete forecasts and information pose a significant liability to companies when they have to rely on taking a stab in the dark, or worse, making decisions based off of inaccurate data.

The Tradeoff:  Requiring accurate and up to date information from your sales department requires greater effort and time on their part. It usually requires a more in depth training than what may be provided in on-boarding. The case you have to make is that accurate information gives management a clearer picture of what is working and what isn’t. A clearer picture means more money and commission in their bank accounts. Helping sales people understand the why in each step in your process is critical to data integrity.

1. Required versus Preferred Fields

A CRM administrator’s natural instinct is to make ignored data fields required. While this may be a solution in some cases, it usually an indication of a larger problem. For example, say would you like to collect the cell phone numbers so that automated text messages can be sent out before an appointment. The natural instinct would be to make the cell phone field a required field before the record can be saved.

The above solution neglects practicality and the user experience completely. A customer may not feel comfortable giving out their cell phone number or the sales person may forget to ask for it. In either case, the user is forced to put in bad data to save the record. An appropriate solution would be to make the cell phone field a preferred field, highlighting the background of it yellow to remind the user of the importance.

2. Role Specific CRM Training: Keep it Simple, Stupid!

Because a CRM or ERP can span through different organization functions it is crucial to utilize different layout groups and profiles for these users. Determining the scope of each profile is very important to balance complexity, security, and accuracy of information. While on-boarding programs might help employees hit the ground running, role specific training is critical to create and preserve data integrity. Model your role specific training around different layout groups or profiles in your CRM.

3. Red Flag Reports

These reports can help recognize problem areas in data integrity for your organization. The two most telling reports to include are employee start date and employee role. If your company is moving the the right direction employees with more recent start dates will more hygienic data than employees with earlier start dates. Additionally, data check reports segmenting by role and territory can identify shortcomings by certain roles or departments.

Executive Briefing by InsideSales.com Research Team at  Dreamforce 2012

5 Inside Sales Lead Generation Ideas

I am a firm believer in mastering the fundamentals. Below are few basic lead generation ideas that appear obvious as first, but are powerful when executed correctly.

1. Know Your Customers: What vertical are they in? Who are their competitors? What are your customers pain points and why did they buy from you in the past? I strongly believe account managers can make the best business development reps because they are more tuned in to the mindset and issues that individuals face on a daily basis.

2. Know Your Competitors’ Customers: Ask yourself why they bought from your competitor instead of you? Was it price, timing, awareness, etc. ? Start a discussion with them. Ask them when their contract comes up for renewal and enter into a discussion well before their renewal date.

3. Research Current Customers’ Employment History: Did they work for a company who may be a good prospect? It is difficult and rare to jump from one industry to another. Chances are the pain points that drove your existing customer to buy from you exist in a previous company they worked for as well.

4. Prospect by Position or Title: Know who you are trying to sell to. Sometimes it can be a CEO or VP, but often times it is the people on the ground who have the most knowledge of operational inefficiencies or problems that need addressing. After all, the sale will not go through if you fail to develop need.

5. Start at the Top: High level executives are busy people. A brief chat with the CEO can sometimes get you in contact with the right person much faster than approaching the person directly yourself.