Taking Thought Out Of Your Sales Process

With Salesforce reaching revenues of 8.39 billion this year, it is safe to say that CRM systems are here to stay. Since CRM technology emerged, organizations have been committing to platforms they believe will be the cure-all to their sales challenges. Many companies assume their CRM will fix all the issues that arise during their sales process. From missing quotas to the lack of pipeline visibility and sales rep accountability, companies believe in the magic of their CRM to make their challenges disappear.

Unfortunately, after what is often a painful and costly CRM implementation, most organizations still encounter the same issues they previously experienced. They still have problems with data integrity. User adoption continues to lag. Their technology costs are high, but the value they derive from their system is low. CRM systems can tend to be too complex for reps to fully maximize their functionality, and the result in many organizations is that sales reps are left to make too many decisions that should be better supported by the solution.

For example, when a rep makes a call, he or she is responsible for handling an overwhelming number of tasks before moving on to the next call. The rep must decide when to schedule a follow-up call, change the lead status on the prospect, and then send an introductory email to the prospect. It becomes cumbersome for reps to manage all these tasks while staying focused on the goal of connecting with prospects. Also, leaving these tasks up to the rep to handle manually contributes to the data integrity issues that detract from the tools’ utility.

To make the most of their CRM systems, organizations must make them easy to use. At Acquirent, we tackled this challenge by partnering with Salesvue to deploy a Salesforce automation app that empowers our reps to focus on selling while technology handles the rest. Our CRM did a great job housing our data, but we needed an app to automate all the steps in our sales workflow. Salesvue works by setting up the next appropriate tasks for our reps while ensuring data integrity and reporting reliability. Our results are happy, engaged, salespeople who are now highly effective without even having to think about the sales process. We have experienced enhanced data visibility and vastly improved accuracy, and they can focus on our reps without missing a beat.

By strategically mapping out the sales process and having technology drive strict adherence to it, many organizations see game-changing growth in their sales departments. The old adage still remains the same: “Sales is a numbers game!” As such, it is an organization’s responsibility to provide tactical tools that enable their reps to hit the numbers they need to achieve quota.

Happy Selling.

Geoff Winthrop, Executive Vice President