By Jeffrey Gitomer
Are you using some form of database management to “control” your customer data?
Customer Relationship Management or CRM has been around in one form or another for nearly 30 years. But in the last five years it’s become more sophisticated, more of a sales necessity, and a lot more competitive.
The main multiple-user programs include Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho, Oracle, and Hubspot.
Since I am often asked “which one” I recommend, I think it’s best to develop criteria for what I feel needs to be included (you should do the same), and go from there.
Logging on your CRM application gets you to your opening desktop dashboard. At a minimum there has to be an eyeful of “now.” You want to see hot prospects, top proposals, a forecast, their report card, and today’s appointments. You want a quick path to contacts, emails and calendar – and maybe a motivational quote.
From there, it should only be one click to new leads, current accounts, opportunity accounts, activity lists, phone book, email, contacts, tasks, a daily to-do report, a won-loss report, and/or a lead analysis report. And just a double click away from account detail, key issues, key people, and a sales plan to close each deal.
ALERT: CRM is MISSING sales coaching. Coaching helps the salesperson make the sale, either internally with product knowledge, or externally with sales answers by means of online coaching when you demand it.