CRM Tools Are Only as Good as the Data Entered

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a critical factor in whether your sales team succeeds. From the sales rep to the sales manager, a great CRM tool can help you refine your sales process, identify weak points and create forecasts based on quality information.

However, for many sales organizations, CRM is not a workhorse for growth, but rather a drudgery slowing down sales reps and not providing sales managers with the tools they need to make decisions. Some sales reps dedicate a full office day once each week to log the progress and opportunities they experienced in the field. By the time they have slogged through the data entry points, they may have forgotten half of the content of their meetings that occurred that week.

As a result, it is important to remember that your CRM system is only as good as the data that is entered. Here are several factors to consider when choosing a CRM tool for your business:

Delayed entry results in lost information. As noted above, when sales reps wait until a weekly time set aside to enter information on a CRM system, they have lost much of the details about their meetings with customers and new contacts. Using a mobile CRM app that allows a rep to enter information immediately following a meeting results in the best data for forecasting.

Mobile CRM is the way the industry is moving. The economy is increasingly becoming dependent on mobile apps, which support the new reality of business and lifestyle. Sales reps, in particular, are on the move and need the technology that supports a business model that is outside the office. Sales managers are increasingly investing in mobile CRM apps.

Sales reps require CRM that “talks” across other systems. Your sales reps are using email to send quotes, LinkedIn to identify contacts for cold calls and calendars to schedule appointments. A mobile CRM app needs to be able to consolidate all of this information and pull from other sources. If it takes more than a couple of clicks to enter data, your reps get frustrated and your CRM compliance rate drops.

Mobile CRM apps allow you to see your sales process clearly. Instead of hours spent around a conference table discussing which activities lead to closing a deal, track your sales reps’ activities using a mobile CRM app. With a mobile app, you can see what your top reps are doing that sets them apart, and then train the rest of your team to follow that sales process. Mobile CRM apps make it possible to develop a repeatable sales model.

Mobile CRM delivers sales reports, fast. When your sales reps enter information about a meeting immediately after they finish the sales call, they can have the meeting documented within 30 seconds. Sixty seconds later, that data can be in your sales manager’s hands in the form of a sales report.

If you are looking for a mobile CRM app that allows you to improve the data your sales managers are using to make decisions, call Front Row Solutions. We offer CRM apps that offer your sales reps the technology they need to stay out in the field and the data your sales managers need to grow their territory.