Friday, February 28, 2014

CRM Features Your Sales Reps Are Looking For



A majority of working Americans carries a smartphone. An increasing number are equipped with tablet computers. It’s not surprising that vendors are rushing to build customer relationship management (CRM) system applications for these mobile devices.

Sales representatives are traditionally out and about, making their sales calls in person. The salesforce can use a mobile application that allows them access to the valuable tools they rely on in the CRM solutions.

While the clamoring has already begun, many CRM vendors are failing to address the needs of the salesforce, which means the adoption rate is fairly low in the field, especially by sales associates who have historically been reticent to work with time-consuming CRM reporting features. This is something you’ve probably already noticed with your own CRM and the end result may be failure to meet the goals you set.

Throughout the industry, less than 25 percent CRM deployments see a positive adoption rate. While the reasons for these poor rates vary, most sales reps simply don’t see the benefits of using the system. Many of your sales reps actually see CRM as a function for executives to use in oversight rather than a tool they can use to increase their sales.

CRM features are built not only for executive functions, but also for sales staff to use for lead nurturing, sales and customer relations. Unfortunately, a majority of CRM vendors build their solutions in such a way that sales reps perceive the interaction with the solutions as busy work that takes too much time away from what they do best – make sales calls.

CRM vendors should be more focused on building features that improve your sales reps’ ability to enhance their customer relationships, which is the vital step that leads to more sales. The CRM features should help establish a more customer-centered environment with easy-to-use tools that won’t require hours and hours of training to utilize properly.

Your sales reps are constantly on the go, which means they need CRM features that allow them offline or online access to the CRM interface. The mobile application you supply your reps should allow them to do this regardless of the power of their cell signal or whether or not they’re in a Wi-Fi hotspot.

The features that sales reps are looking for include easy customization of their customer relations information. GPS integration is also important for reps who want to facilitate appointment attendance. Calendars, contacts, email and tasks should all sync according to the reps’ specifications, and the CRM dashboard should offer a quick and easy view of the pertinent information.

Front Row Solutions has developed the CRM features that sales reps want. After interviewing more than 100 sales reps, we were able to put together a mobile application that sales reps can use to deliver a sales report in less than 30 seconds. Virtually no training is required, which means your sales staff will be more inclined to not only buy in to the product, but also use it after every sales call.