BGS Customer Relationship Management Chapter 9 CRM Technology

Technology and Sales

What is the Relationship between Technology and Sales? • Current communication and data management technology is essential to sales performance. • To achieve objectives, sales organizations must increase their productivity. • SFA enables sales performance. – Sales force automation (SFA) is the acronym in CRM that describes the relationship between sales and technology

What is the Relationship between Technology and Sales? • At the core of sales force automation is the management of – – – Accounts Contacts Opportunities Selling activities Sales operations • Automation is possible because of the creation of a new generation of portable personal hardware.

What is the Relationship between Technology and Sales? • Today’s sales professionals are – Better connected – Better prepared – More involved in the decision making • In order to provide value, salespeople must – Provide customers insight – Otherwise…. competition degenerates to pricing for differentiation.

What is the Relationship between Technology and Sales? • Technology requires salespeople to work on an expedited customer schedule – Measured in hours not days! • CRM solutions have been developed to provide salespeople with – Timely information – Access to sales materials – Visibility of field problems at headquarters • Sales force automation is the heart of a CRM system for sales organizations.

What is Sales Force Automation (SFA)? • SFA is the automating of specific sales tasks customarily done manually. – According to Gartner Research, it is likely that only 25 percent of (U. S. ) sales organizations will have a documented sales technology strategy to increase sales productivity through the year 2006.

Who is Using SFA? • The companies that have adopted CRM are driving the sales innovation curve, while at the same time increasing profitability. • The adoption of CRM and SFA will be a requirement for businesses to remain competitive in the future.

Why are SFA Tools Important? 1 Rep X 50 Contacts X 12 month = 600/Year X 15 Years = 5000 Contacts 50 Contacts 600 Contacts 5000 Contacts Figure 9. 1

What About Older Sales Representatives? • If older sales representatives are very experienced and have extensive contact databases, why then is the trend toward termination of older employees? rs Bo e m o X’ s er i M s nn lle l ia

Trends in Sales

Customers and Information

CRM as a Bridge • If salespeople do not record information in a CRM system, how will account data be effectively transferred?

What about Data Collection? • The point of CRM is to allow proper management of customers – Regardless of the individual involved • Part of the reluctance of salespeople to divulge complete account information is – The insight they input may allow other salespeople to replace them – The data may have taken years to accumulate – Who owns the data? – This issue is grounds for perhaps both an ethical and moral debate.

Sales Communication

Who Are the Participants in Sales Communication? • Headquarters • Internal sales organizations • Sales managers • Customer service

What are the tools of SFA? • Networks – Hard wired networks • WANS • LANS

Wireless Networks Figure 9. 2

What Are the Tools of SFA?

What Are the Tools of SFA? • Hardware – Computers • Speed • Flexibility • Storage capacity

What Are the Tools of SFA? • Hardware – PDAs are truly remarkable sales tools. These devices offer a variety of services • • • Wireless telephone service E-mail access Contact and calendar management Blue tooth networking GPS navigation CRM connection

What Are the Tools of SFA? • Hardware – Telephones • VOIP -The process is called Voice over Internet Protocol (Vo. IP) and involves placing telephone calls through a network generally used to serve Internet data.

CRM Systems and Sales Force Automation Applications • CRM systems for sales – Major CRM suppliers in the enterprise space are: – CRM providers in the on-demand market include:

CRM Systems and SFA

CRM Systems and Sales Force Automation Applications • While the elements of a system are common, sales force automation must be customized depending on the dynamics of the selling situation and the particulars of the industry. Factors to consider are – – – Selling organization size Nature of the sales activity Buyer interaction required Complexity of the sale Competition

CRM Systems and Sales Force Automation Applications • In a transaction-oriented sales environment, the focus of sales force automation is on lead generation and on sales opportunity management or pipeline management. – In more complex sales environments, such as the sale of a fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners using many matrix sales teams, the needs are focused on selling solutions, including • • • Contact management Contract management Sales operations Reporting Analytics

Sales Management’s Responsibilities • It is sales management’s responsibility to ensure participation in and performance of the CRM system. – The sales manager controls and motivates his or her organization through reviewing activity in the system in the following areas • • Lead management Sales opportunities Key account activity Territory management

Sales Management’s Dashboard • Dashboard

Contacts • Contact database

Contacts and Calendars • Calendars

Contacts and Calendars • The ability to review availability of key managers and to schedule a meeting quickly is important to making progress against business objectives. – Contact and calendar management provides salespeople in the field the same access to decision makers as those employees working at headquarters.

Sales Prospects • Prospects

Sales Analytics

CRM Sales Analytics • Analytics are the means by which we evaluate the success of the CRM effort. – We use a number of performance metrics to conclude successful CRM implementation. In reference to the sales function • • We measure sales force usage of the system Accuracy in forecasting Ability to manage operations Allocation of sales resources

The Heart of Sales and CRM • Analytics are the heart of any CRM system. • The immediate availability of sales data following input is what makes CRM so valuable.

The Heart of Sales and CRM • Two measurements are critical – Opportunities won or lost – Pipeline • The information reported in these two displays reveals the capability of the salesperson involved, or the quality of their competition.

Forecasting • Obviously, the forecasting function is the foundation for production, inventory, warehousing, and logistic functions. – The financing and profitability of any company is therefore dependent upon sales forecasting. – A CRM system is essential in monitoring this volume schedule and becomes more important as the scale of the task increases regionally, nationally, and globally.

Forecasting • CRM helps pipeline management by providing: – More accurate forecasting – Early indication of erroneous elements within the forecast – A comparison of territories, regions, and nations with regard to past trends and business history – The ability to track all individual forecast changes by individual

Data Integrity and Quality • The effectiveness of any CRM system is dependent upon the quality of the data stored in the system.

Dashboards • The dashboard has two metrics that identify CRM acceptance – System usage – Areas within the CRM system accessed by each salesperson

Dashboards • The dashboard also provides management with key performance metrics to evaluate a salesperson’s performance individually, within their peer group, and across the company. Some important measurement metrics can be seen on the example of a CRM dashboard posted on salesforce. com’s web site. • Those analytical measures exposed are – Sales volume, which can be expressed in units, dollars (or local currency) – Open Deals- Top Five sales opportunities (for example) – Sales Leads - Source of prospect by quantity – Key Account – A review of sales by key account – Open Cases – A review of customer service issues and resolutions – Pipeline – A forecast of upcoming sales by type, by month – Sales Activity – a review of sales activity by source

Pipeline • The pipeline graphic utilizes data input into the forecasting module of CRM. – – Best estimate Each sale is assigned a probability-estimated closing date. The net forecast results from committed cases Individual forecasts combine to comprise a regional forecast and then regions for national pipeline estimates.

Campaign Management • Campaign management helps sales professionals plan, develop, and deliver major account promotional programs and informational e-mail efforts.

Product Information

Single Location for Product Information • CRM systems provide salespeople a single source for a variety of sales needs, including – – – Specifications Design Pricing Collateral materials Company documents Products purchased

Single Location for Product Information • Using the CRM system as a single source of information can save hours of time for salespeople to – Collect information – Reduce huge inventories of collateral materials – Ensure the use of only current information

E-Catalogues • Electronic catalogues maintained within CRM systems provide salespeople access to the latest source of product and pricing information. – Online catalogues ensure accuracy, flexibility, and greater control of pricing information. – Pricing exceptions are better controlled and system acceptance of pricing changes accepted only with management involvement.

E-Catalogues • http: //www. grainger. com

Collateral Materials • CRM improves the efficiency of many business operations. The ordering and distribution of collateral materials is far more efficient when handled in a CRM environment.

Project Tracking • In a CRM system, you can automatically track the progress of any sales project.

Questions?