In the industry as a whole, customer relationship
management (CRM) systems have an unfortunately high failure rate. Instead of
producing sales
results that are often promised by the vendor, businesses see no Return on Investment
(ROI). Why? What appears to make sense from an IT perspective for tracking
information doesn’t lend well to the operations of the sales team. When
something is challenging to use, sales reps won’t use it.
Because of the investment these businesses have made and the lack of expected results, there is an attitude in several industries that could be summed up as “anti CRM.” The thing is, even the largest companies don’t require an over-the-top CRM system to start seeing results.
For example, according to one Microsoft survey on a multi-billion dollar company, sales reps without accountability only spent 18 percent of their time talking to customers or prospects. Using a very simple CRM, which might be more accurately described as a sales performance improvement system, sales reps boosted their talk percentage to 25 percent, which resulted in a 50 percent sales boost.
Because of the investment these businesses have made and the lack of expected results, there is an attitude in several industries that could be summed up as “anti CRM.” The thing is, even the largest companies don’t require an over-the-top CRM system to start seeing results.
For example, according to one Microsoft survey on a multi-billion dollar company, sales reps without accountability only spent 18 percent of their time talking to customers or prospects. Using a very simple CRM, which might be more accurately described as a sales performance improvement system, sales reps boosted their talk percentage to 25 percent, which resulted in a 50 percent sales boost.
What that sales staff need is a system that allows them to easily report their calls so they are accountable for their activity throughout the day. Sales managers need a system that offers hard data on calls, which will bring more productivity to the mix and better sales totals. Salespeople want to have a system that gives them the option to make personal notes about customers, which assists in their nurturing capabilities. Sales managers want a system that allows them to manage a larger team of reps.
This is what they need and are not getting with their current CRM solutions. One company executive traced his CRM failure rates from 2011 to 2009 and found everything from 18 percent to 70 percent failure rates on various projects. In some cases, it’s the fault of the CRM, which fails to deliver on promises. In other cases, it’s the sales reps who are too busy entering information into their clunky (yet expensive) CRM system and trying to appease their sales managers who are attempting to account for every call made.
More Effective Results with Front Row CRM
Front Row offers a CRM solution that integrates with your current CRM, extending the capabilities your sales reps need in the field. With Front Row, you’ll see an improvement in your sales results because it puts focus on specific items and doesn’t try to be the “do everything” CRM solution.
Clients who have taken on Front Row see a positive impact on the quantity and quality of calls their sales reps can make to prospects and customers. The result is a very positive return on investment in just a few days.
Front Row is focused on productivity, which is why we have developed a unique integrated platform that allows sales reps to use their mobile devices to make a quick report of every call they’ve made. It takes less than a minute for sales reps to report their activity before moving on to the next call. As a result, that time sales reps used to waste entering data is now free to make more calls. Try Front Row’s solution and see how fast you’ll see a positive ROI.
