Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Customer Relationship Management Apps Promote Integration Between Field Reps and Inside Sales



Many sales organizations are built to have inside sales reps that support a team of field reps. The inside sales rep may also have smaller accounts that they manage on their own, but their main role is to assist field reps in identifying leads and completing the daily tasks that are involved in sales.

As Amazon and other online merchandisers have made it easy for individuals to look up and research virtually any product sold on the market, some businesses are beginning to question the role for field sales reps. However, with the right customer relationship management app, you will find that your organization is positioned for major growth that requires the support of both field and inside sales reps.

Here are a few things to keep in mind about how inside sales and field sales can benefit from the right customer relationship management app:

Customer relationship management apps improve communication. Many sales organizations struggle to match inside sales and field sales reps in a way that promotes teamwork. However, with a good customer relationship management app, the field rep and inside sales rep can be in constant communication, with both able to enter notes on opportunities, challenges or other aspects of the customer relationship.

Customer relationship management apps reduce the gap between activity and reporting. An inside sales rep that takes notes on a delivery problem, for instance, can post to the system, allowing the field rep to see the notes within 60 seconds. This can be helpful when a field sales rep is about to walk into a meeting and they are able to review the latest notes on past activity in the customer’s account. If there have been any customer service problems, the sales rep can acknowledge them in the meeting and work to maintain a positive customer relationship.

Coordinating inside sales and field sales through a customer relationship management app allows sales managers to tighten and perfect a repeatable sales process. With a customer relationship management app, the behaviors and activities of both inside sales and field sales teams can be analyzed and measured to determine how best to assign tasks between the two types of reps. Having this type of analysis available can also help sales managers determine how best to structure their sales team.

In some cases, an industry may be best suited to having the sales team weighted largely in inside sales, because the product or service sold is not highly technical. In other cases, field sales reps may bear the bulk of the sales responsibility, with inside sales playing a minimal role for paperwork and small accounts.

If you are looking for a customer relationship management app that can maximize the productivity and growth of your sales team through the coordination of field reps and inside sales reps, call on Front Row Solutions today.