Create Clear Expectations for Sales Success in CRM

Sales leadership wants the facts, the data, and the sales from CRM. They expect to be able to easily graph, dissect, and analyze what’s going on in the different territories. The good news is Infor CRM makes this very easy with groups and dashboards. BUT… have you as a sales leader set clear and defined expectations in CRM? Does your team know what actions and data they are accountable for entering and up-keeping in CRM?

We have a saying at Simplesoft… garbage in is garbage out. You can’t expect the CRM to give you what you want if the data isn’t there. So…What should you do?

Start by creating a sales process that is fully integrated with CRM.

• Have your sales team working their leads in CRM
• Create Opportunities to track quotes and potential sales
• Assign probability to close and estimated close date to create a forecasted outlook for the territory

Then, define your expectations of the sales team:

• How long do you want them working a Lead before it’s considered “dead”? What will you do with those dead Leads?
• How many calls/meetings do you expect them to set in a week? Have them create and track in CRM for your review.
• What data do you want them collecting for CRM? Emails, cell numbers, Dealer set up, etc.

Show your team why it’s a valuable tool. When you explain the value CRM can bring, it helps with user adoption. Do you know if they are using all the tools? CRM mobile, Xbar, Contour distance mapping for sales routes? You as a leader should stay engaged and up-to-date on all the features of CRM that help sales teams.

Get Connected!

Infor offers an out of the box Integration called ION. ION connects your CRM to other platforms to create a seamless view of data. The most important to connect is your Infor ERP system. Giving the sales team the complete view of a customer is critical to providing the best service. When connected with ERP you can view; invoices, aging payments, sales orders, parts inventory and more. Arming your sales team with all the tools to succeed is so important.

Lastly, you should be using Dashboards to run the sales meetings. This puts the CRM data front and center every week and shows your team that you are engaged in Infor CRM. Using the CRM to run your sales meeting also shows that even Leadership is on board with the tool.

Want to learn more? Join us for a free webinar September 24th, Sales Growth and Integrated CRM Options. 

This blog post was written by Synergy’s partner, Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton OH, Cleveland OH, and Charlotte NC and surrounding areas. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor CloudSuite CRM. We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.