Unlock Data in Your CRM Software to Increase Sales

Choosing the Right CRM System

In a June 2011 DestinationCRM article, Razi Raziuddin, senior director of project management for IBM’s new hyperdata project IBM Netezza said, “Companies need to keep years . . . worth of data, and in a majority of cases, it ends up in some cold storage where it is not easily accessible . . . as a result of not being able to access that data, companies lose the insight and details it could hold.” You could have the best sales CRM system in the world, but if it’s not unlocking the data you need to get the competitive edge enjoyed by top sales forces that are succeeding even in today’s difficult sales climate, it won’t be the best CRM solution for you.

Process and Strategy has Proven Success

According to the 2011 Miller Heiman Sales Performance Survey, the top 4 percent of 25,000 sales forces surveyed achieved 4 times greater sales growth than the other 96 percent of sales forces, even during the down economy.  Miller Heiman Executive Vice President Bill Golder said that even during the recession, the “World Class,” top sales performers moved ahead by being focused on their process and strategy. “Knowing your customer” is one of the three primary ways these sales forces continued to achieve success. According to Bill Golder, the organizations that succeeded put most of their time in aligning their sales metrics with business objectives.  For example, they built comprehensive prospecting plans and aligned prospects as closely as possible with the “ideal customer” for their products.  These activities are not possible without intelligently-used and accessible customer and prospect data.

Intelligent and Accessible are Keys to Sales Performance

Ninety-seven percent of the “World Class” sales performers identified in the Miller Heiman survey knew why their customers bought from them, and 90 percent of their salespeople had an excellent understanding of their customers’ business needs. This is where your CRM system comes in, and how ISM can help. With the experience of successfully implementing CRM solutions, ISM knows the type of data your sales reps need to understand your customers and their needs. ISM also has the experience to be able to unlock that data for you, and create a CRM system that your sales reps can intuitively use to focus on selling your products. It can be as simple as “green good” and “red bad.” Sales reps don’t need to know every little piece of data ever collected on your customers. They need to know, as fast as possible, which opportunities are emerging and how to best meet their customers’ needs. We invite you to view our other CRM Best Practices, Implementation and Process resources and if you need some help please contact us to start the discussion about how you can unlock the business data that you already have, and make your CRM software give your sales force business intelligence ahead of the competition. It can help you become a “World Class” sales performer.

 

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