How does CRM help you make more sales
AlfaPeople |
Aug 04, 2017

How does CRM help you make more sales

CRM is a strategy used in companies to manage customer relationships. However, it is not only associated with managing customers; it is also related to how a company can generate more revenue, retain their clients and generate a greater level of satisfaction. Dynamics CRM is a platform that enables us to apply a CRM strategy intuitively, clearly and completely, guaranteeing excellent usability for all users. One of its main modules is Sales, which allows you to manage new business opportunities, quotes, orders, and pre-invoices, as well as classifying potential customers and analyzing the competition. With all that said, how does this module, and CRM in general, help you make more sales?

The first thing we need to know is that the sales process must always go hand-in-hand with the marketing and services process. The former awakens interest in the market by showing and promoting the products or services the company sells, in other words, if more interest is raised, the chances of getting potential customers will be greater. Thanks to Dynamic CRM’s marketing module, we can create customer segments and prospects in marketing lists that can link to companies according to the target’s needs and tastes. Having a 360° view of your customer plays a critical role in this process as it allows us to understand what the customer purchases the most, which are the most purchased types of products, information of interest, and, their needs. Once you have this information, you can be proactive and suggest new products/services through cross-selling, which is incorporated into Dynamics CRM as part of the product’s configuration.

Through its products configuration, Dynamics CRM allows you generate price lists and discounts in order to reward customer loyalty and generate added value for your supply depending on the type of customer. Ultimately, this shows the customer that they are valued and important for the company, raising trust and fidelity.

As we mentioned above, the services module is an important module for the sales process because it is used to manage post-sales activity. Customer retention depends greatly on the post-sales process, because if response times are not met, clear, correct and up-to-date information is not provided and problem resolution times or warranties are delayed, customers will begin to look for better customer service options with the competition, thus leading us to lose clients. Dynamics CRM offers a services module that enables you to control SLA and configure alerts to ensure that terms are complied with. It also includes a 360° view of the customer. This is where you can validate active and closed customer requests, as well as validate recurring requests per subject, all of which lets you perform an analysis and take proactive action in order to avoid product complaints or issues from arising. The less complaints or problems there are, the more satisfied, and therefore loyal, your customer will be. The post-sales process in CRM also has another great complement: Voice of the Customer, which allows us to do surveys to determine a customer’s level of satisfaction regarding the product/service they purchased and analyze what could be improved. If we have satisfied customers, those very customers will then recommend our products/services, helping us generate prospects and raise interest, therefore, creating greater business opportunities.

Finally, Dynamics CRM’s sales module is a robust module focused on managing revenue and boosting sales by classifying prospects that could become business opportunities. This is the point where we can estimate potential revenue and follow-up on prospects through different records, such as phone calls, emails, appointments and personalized activities in CRM (specific activities). Dynamics CRM enables us to standardize a company’s sales process through business process flows, which create a sequential or step-by-step process, thus generating a standard process for sales teams. This way, you can see which stage the sales process is in, as well as identify the information required by each step in the process. In this module, you can also manage competitor information, such as: what products/services they sell; the prices they use for each product; and advantages and disadvantages compared to your company. If we have this information, we’ll know how to compete in the market and how to generate business opportunities.

Now, a CRM does not sell on its own. You need a sales team for that, and Dynamics CRM knows it. For this very reason, it offers a series of features that can be used by the sales team, such as Panel Social, which allows you to visualize interactions with customers through business opportunities, phone calls, emails, appointments and Cases (complaints and issues). It is a collaborative feature, allowing you to work as a team to earn deals by coming up with joint strategies. Sales teams need to know where customers and prospects are located geographically. For this very reason, Dynamics CRM lets you manage sales territories (segmentation), thus allowing you to identify how sales are performing by region or worldwide. Sales teams have to be motivated in order to generate sales, and that is why Dynamics CRM has a feature called Gamification, which creates a motivational competition within the sales team. This competition offers recognition, rewards, and privileges for the sales team, creating a dynamic sales environment. A quick example to help illustrate this point: the salesperson who closes 5 Business Opportunities in a month earns 10 points. At the end of the competition, the top 3 ranked salespersons will receive a prize or reward.

Another important part of all of this is real-time information and access to said information. In order to cover this angle, Dynamics CRM offers mobility through an application for smartphones and tablets, granting sales teams or account executives access to CRM anywhere, on and offline, in order for them to provide product information to customers, record new opportunities or close new business opportunities, as well as quote products/services. Dynamics CRM offers several ways to access information; for example, through views, which can be created by the system’s users depending on their search needs. Dashboards are another way of accessing information as they are a way of visualizing graphs, views, and reports for smart decision making and they also allow you to know how sales are performing for all customers or just a specific one. All of this information is also available from the mobile application. In addition, it is also worth mentioning that the relationship between Dynamics CRM and Power BI offers improved information analysis to define better strategies, identify risks that could affect your business, analyze historical sales information, and much more.

Last, but not least, the portals offered by Dynamics CRM through Dynamics Portal boost sales in the sense that our customers can count on a channel for accessing and requesting quotes and making requests, orders or consultations on our products and services, without having to move from their desk. In closing, Dynamics CRM is a suite of products and modules that allows companies to execute their business processes in a better way, achieving better relationships with their customers (loyalty and trust), offering better customer service, and allowing companies to identify new customers and boost sales.