Liberty Forum

Being successful in sales requires always being able to ask for the business and having the right information at the right time to help your customers understand why they should do business with you. I worked in copier sales for 7 years and we worked off sales leads and cold calls to gain business. At that time we had no CRM tools that actually linked the customers we were calling on to a main application. This had it’s drawbacks if we had someone leave the organization and their record keeping was less than stellar. This basically meant we were starting all over in that particular geography. We tried to use various lead management applications but none were easy to implement and they did not talk with our current systems so we were forced to create duplicate systems to make them work.
The value customer relationship management is critical to any business and having the right CRM software in place that is simple to understand by your reps is even more critical. Most sales people are resistant to change if they cannot see the value in how it will make them more effective. Customer relationship management software today has come a long way since I first started in copier sales. I have since moved onto another industry where they use a very sophisticated CRM tool which offers an immense of data and integration. Companies that send traditionally send out business holiday cards can use CRM to help them target specific clients and messages during the holiday season. This can create a more personal feel in their communications and help build customer loyalty. Many organization use the information that receive to help them enhance their customer experience and understand how their products are used to better improve the next version of the product. We have heard that customer experiences are especially enhanced after the hands-on use of a product. The owner of a oxygen facial infusion system saw a dramatic increase in the effectiveness of demonstrations on new customers.

I have found though that those reps that can take a few pieces of that tool and interface more effectively and target their customers are the ones who excel. Being able to understand the information you have to develop strategies and tactics while you are in the field is a powerful tool. And now that most of that data can been seen on the fly without having to wait for month end reports, we are able to tailor or selling efforts and create better value for the customer and the company.

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