Which CRM requirements are crucial for sales management? This is part
one of a five part document describing sales requirements
considerations for selecting a CRM system. You'll want a CRM that
encompasses all of the customer journey, so keep these
requirement categories in mind as you analyze the sales management
capabilities of a CRM system.
Opportunity Management
Opportunity management plays a significant role in a CRM system. It
gives sales teams the ability to track sales processes, manage
pipelines, and do competitive analysis. When defining your CRM
requirements for sales management, take note of the opportunity
management capabilities listed below:
- Sales process
- Pipeline
- Won/Lost analysis
- Competitive analysis
- Competitive product analysis
- Discount approval & analysis
Activity Management
Activity management is defined by the tracking & reporting of
activities, usually associated with the sales department. A salesperson
may use activity management to report on their sales calls or share
calendars with a manager. This sales management function is great for
creating transparency and holding individuals accountable for their
sales activities. However, the overall usefulness depends on an
organization’s structure and processes. Keep these aspects of activity
management in mind as you search for you CRM:
- Activity tracking
- Calendar
- Activity reporting
- Trip reporting
Quoting
One question clients always want answered is “how much is it going to
cost me?” The automation of this process is quoting. Quoting is one of
the more complex functionalities in CRM. Look for features like:
- Quote generation & assembly
- Discounting, tax, & freight costs
- Currency
- Electronic signature
- CPQ, configure pricing
- Substitution
- Inventory/product availability
- Shipping forecast
- Contract pricing
- Price catalog
- Quote delivery
Forecasting
Forecasting is the process of predicting sales and revenue. Managers
look to forecasts to help manage the over revenue expectation of the
company and to eventually predict profitability. Keep these major
forecasting requirements in mind when searching for your CRM:
- Currency adjustments (applies to foreign)
- Baselining (snapshot view of forecast and compare to another forecast)
- Manager adjustments
- Upside
- Machine forecasting
- Sales distribution
- Forecast periods
- Product forecasting
Call Planning
Call planning capabilities help salespeople map out and manage their
on-site customer interactions. For some industries, call planning is a
legal requirement. Keep these considerations in mind:
- Expense tracking
- Time tracking
- Routing
- Mapping
360 View
This is the generic term for understanding all the communications
from your company and the customer. Consider these features to create a
360 degree view with CRM:
- Email
- Notes
- Phone calls
- Inbound/outbound calls
- Meetings
- Activities
- Products
- Sales history
- Opportunities
- Contacts
- Cases
- Social & News
- Financials
- Relationships (parent company, who’s their attorney, etc.)
Order Management
Order Management is the process of turning a quote into an order and
completing a sale. These processes warrant consideration when searching
for the right CRM fit. Things to consider with order management are:
- ERP integration
- Order tracking
- Taking orders
- Converting quotes to orders
- Reordering
- Part ordering
- Customer self-serve (aka portal)
Contracting
For every deal, there’s a contract. Contracting tracks the process of
creating, signing, and approving the contracts. Think about your
company’s contracting processes and how that factors in to your CRM
requirements for sales management. Consider:
- Contract creation
- Signing
- Term tracking
- Termination
- Approval/authorization
Need help with CRM selection?
We'll use our expertise to uncover the best CRM for your business goals.
Contact us at sales@techadv.com to get started today.
*STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 OF OUR 5 PART SERIES ON CRM REQUIREMENTS*
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