Get Your Sales Reps on Board With CRM

For administrators working to get everyone in every department on board with the customer relationship management (CRM) solution it’s frustrating to see one of the most important departments in the organization fail to adopt. Let’s take a look at the issues your sales department may be dealing with when it comes to working with the company’s CRM solution.

First, we have to analyze the skillset of the average sales rep. Do you make it a point of hiring sales reps who are hunters with a go-getter attitude, or do you focus on bringing gatherers to the team: people who are content to maintain the status quo and run through the same events during their five-day workweek? That’s a rhetorical question, obviously, but it points to a problem that many sales reps have with their CRM.  Most solutions aren’t built with the flexibility that helps meet the varied criteria of the average sales rep. Your salesforce has different ways of handling their workload, and they are going to place a very low priority on time spent on a sales report, especially if it involves navigating a difficult CRM toolset.

A second area in which to look at is how training is handled when you roll out your CRM solution. In some situations, it’s the lack of focus in this area that leads to poor adoption rates. However, you have to know that your sales reps probably don’t like repetition, which is what many CRM sales reporting solutions are built with – too many fields of data that may or may not apply to the sales reps’ situation. So, regardless of how much training they got at the front end, they’re not likely to take the time to use your CRM system to file their reports.

What incentive have you given your sales reps to take the time to file sales reports? One solution would be to award sales reps for taking the time to file their reports. An even better solution would be to integrate a solution that makes it easier for sales reps to file reports. This solution should include mobility – an app that they can use on their tablet computes or smartphones to send a detailed sales report in short order. For better performance, give them a tool they can use in the field where they’re doing their best work.

Front Row Solutions has focused on providing a solution specifically for the salesforce – a solution that is fully mobile and allows them to send their detailed reports in less than a minute. We know what sales reps want because we were once in their shoes. Plus, we continually work with sales reps to find out their needs as they evolve. Contact us today and find out how to get your sales department on board with a CRM that works.

Reduce the Failure Rate: Utilize an iOS Sales App‬ That Works

Much can be said about the functionality of CRM systems that vendors are building today. However, despite the vast array of tools that come standard in most CRM systems, less than half of them are successfully implemented.

According to a report by Merkle Group, Inc., 63 percent of CRM initiatives fail. After surveying 352 senior-level executives at billion dollar organizations, Merkle found that even though these executives see the value in CRM, they recognize that it is underutilized. The report details that of the organizations realizing revenue and profit growth, they are 50 percent more likely to be using CRM as their key driver to success than the companies seeing low growth.

It’s possible that companies that aren’t achieving success through their CRM systems are not recognizing the value of customer analytics, which is ultimately what a high-functioning CRM can offer. It’s also possible that they understand this line of thought, but don’t think they are capable of capturing the information that leads to an analysis that can provide insights that lead to profits. There are vendors working today to ensure that this information can indeed be captured.

The issue is two-fold: on one hand you have a segment of your workforce – a very valuable segment – that has a specific way of working that doesn’t match up with your current CRM. On the other hand you have an expensive system that has no mobility and/or is difficult to use. Of the 63 percent of organizations that fail to find their implementation to be successful, a majority will point to their sales department as the one that holds out the longest or never adopts the solution.

However, seeking out an iOS sales app that connects the sales reps to the company’s CRM can take the pain out of the adoption of and adaptation to the company’s CRM. The salesforce is highly mobile and needs an iOS sales app that meets their needs as they work throughout the day in the field. However, there are currently mobile apps in circulation that don’t fit the needs of the salesforce. What they really need is a solution that makes their sales reporting as easy as possible.

The salesforce does not want to spend much, if any, of its workday away from their main duty – connecting with clients and making sales. Whether it’s their instinctive drive to work or their motivation to gain as many commissions as possible throughout the day, they will want to spend as little time as possible filing a sales report. Not many vendors are succeeding in offering a CRM tool offers this sales reporting functionality while also integrating with their current system.

Front Row Solutions has succeeded in doing both. Our solution also works as a standalone if that suits your needs. Not only will your sales reps be able to send back a detailed sales report, complete with pictures, in less than a minute – they’ll do it on a consistent basis, which provides more accountability in the workplace.

iOS CRM App: Mobile Solutions for the Salesforce

The mobile salesforce has been calling for a mobile solution for years and vendors are finally listening: mobile CRM experienced a significant growth spurt in 2014.

Gartner predicted a 500 percent rise in mobile CRM solutions, including iOS CRM app development, in 2014. Those numbers aren’t in yet, but it’s clear that vendors are working to bring more mobile solutions to the table. There are some variables to consider though before choosing a vendor offering an iOS CRM app.

There remains a worry among organizations regarding their sensitive customer information and the lack of stability offered by many mobile apps. IT departments are struggling to keep up with mobile security protocols as more employees bring in their own devices to work, connect to the network and open up the system to potential cyber threats. At the same time, companies that have a CRM system tucked away behind their firewall are having trouble connecting mobile solutions to the system. This is an area of opportunity for vendors offering mobile solutions.

For sales reps stepping into rural communities, there are often coverage area issues that make their iOS CRM app difficult to use. This is one scenario that keeps organizations from investing in mobile apps for their salesforce. Yet another issue is encountered when sales reps try to utilize their app from a basement where no signal can get through. Before implementing a mobile CRM app for your salesforce, ask how your vendor would address these issues.

There are human factors to consider in adopting the right CRM application for your mobile workforce. Adoption and implementation programs must be planned in advance and they must include feedback from the workforce if they’re going to be adopted successfully. Furthermore, your vendor should be asking questions of its potential clients so that the solution they engineer performs to the specifications of the client.

What many vendors have failed to do is ask sales reps what they want in a mobile CRM app. This is evident in that many mobile solutions don’t include reporting tools that make it easy for the salesforce to communicate their sales calls with the head office. Sales reps are not likely to spend much time with a solution that requires hours of training, and they’re not going to utilize an app that takes too much time to send off a sales report.

Vendors that are getting it right are talking to sales reps about what they want and they’re building sales reporting tools that give reps an opportunity to send back reports on a consistent basis.

Front Row Solutions is founded by former sales reps, which means we know what the workforce needs. Furthermore, we’ve also asked hundreds of current sales reps what they require in a mobile solution. Armed with information, we’ve created a solution that allows reps to send back detailed sales reports in less than a minute. For information about how it works, contact us today.