Tag Archive for: business tips

Why Your CRM Implementation Feels Disconnected From The Rest of Your Company

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Introduction

CRM software (customer relationship management) makes your business objectives easier to achieve. They provide the best outcome for your customers through your sales, marketing, and customer service departments. However, it’s good to be aware that there are risks involved when it comes to implementing a CRM in your business, and there are steps on how to overcome these challenges.

There are several reasons why your CRM feels disconnected from the rest of your company.

Why Your CRM Feels Disconnected From Your Business

1. Customer records are missing important information

When a file is opened to start integrating data, vital parts of information are missing which can include names, history, or even an email address. This is problematic because then customers cannot be contacted to rectify the issue.

Sales or marketing representatives can prevent this from happening by asking all the right questions to ensure that the correct information is there. Using an ERP could work alongside your CRM so orders and invoices can complete the customer data you need.

2. Using the wrong vendor

It is easy to choose the wrong vendor to implement your CRM because of different marketing and sales strategies. Consumers get caught up with the wrong information to make an informed decision that suits their company best.  But, to avoid this here are a few questions to ask yourself:

  • Does your company have the right CRM tools to use to implement?
  • What reviews does that vendor have?
  • How long has the vendor been in practice for?
  • How does the pricing work for the vendor and what is included?
  • Is the vendor flexible enough to customize what the customer needs?
  • Will your company outgrow the vendor?

3.Complicated CRM

Some CRMs can be more difficult to implement than others, especially if you choose a vendor that does not provide support during your implementation phases. Keep it simple, and implement a CRM that has a powerful and user-friendly interface.

4.Users are Suspicious 

When we talk about users, we mean employees, whether it is in your marketing, sales, or customer service teams. Once your CRM has been implemented, you will expect instant results, right? Not always, because your employees need to get used to using new software which is why your CRM implementation can feel disconnected from the rest of your company. If you want to get your team on board, you have to demonstrate value. Mention how using a CRM causes fewer mistakes and saves them on time by spending less time with manual entry. 

5.Lack of Training

In order to use a CRM well, training has to be provided on how to use it otherwise employees will avoid it. With the right amount of training, employees will engage at a higher usage rate. But, without the correct training, it will lead to lower user adoption rates.

6.CRM Champion

When implementing a CRM, they are sometimes assigned to the wrong coordinators such as a CTO or COO. Your company can feel disconnected when not enough time is spent on the implementation to make it work. Therefore, it is advised to choose a CRM champion that has passion, the ability, and the time to work with the implementation.

7.Thinking CRM is Just a Technology Solution

Implementing a CRM is not just about technology but it is also used to improve customer relationships. So, users have to use it the right way. By thinking the CRM does not need to be utilized correctly, it can lead to your CRM feeling disconnected from your company. This means having trained staff, the correct workflows, and the right management to use the CRM to its fullest potential.

Conclusion

Commercient and Aptitude 8 have partnered to help businesses use their CRM to its fullest potential, and to avoid time-consuming and costly errors saving time and money. By choosing Commercient SYNC, we guide your ERP and CRM data integration with 24/7 support to ensure a successful integration, enabling you to carry on using correct data to achieve daily tasks.


Commercient can integrate your data in an affordable and seamless way while making use of their data integration experts. By Commercient integrating over 85+ ERPs and 5-star reviews, this shows Commercient has the experience and knowledge to implement your CRM the right way. Contact us today!

Productivity Tips For A High-Performing Sales Team

As a salesperson, are you as productive as you would like to be? If we’re all honest with ourselves we could all make slight improvements to better our productivity. You are well aware that the majority of your time is taken up by menial admin, where you would rather be doing what you’re passionate about, sales. Close deals faster and drive more revenue with these tips and tricks.

Implement a CRM System (Customer Relationship Management)

If you’re not making use of a CRM, you are already falling behind your competition. CRM provides solutions to issues that are potentially holding you back as a salesperson. Maximize the time you spend selling with productivity and collaboration tools.

We are all familiar with the ancient proverb “Time Is Money;” therefore it’s about time you optimize your schedule. Most CRMs will allow you to add tasks with a deadline or due date attached to it.

A key benefit of CRM is it allows you to store important documentation. This includes a resource library and templates for sales representatives, making it easier for you to find what you need when you need it. The proper leverage of a CRM will allow you to automate where possible, avoiding time spent on tedious manual data entry.

Some CRMs allow you to send emails from the software itself, preventing you from having to copy and paste what was said from your inbox into the CRM. This allows everyone to see what was said, and how the lead is progressing. Customer data and lead progression is no longer siloed in the inbox of the individual but is visible for the whole sales team where everything is tracked.

Making use of a CRM allows your company’s sales and marketing teams to collaborate. A high-performing sales team requires high-quality leads. Putting your customers at the center of everything with a comprehensive, customizable view of your clients across sales, service, and marketing creates a strong sense of customer service. We don’t need to tell you how customer service can make or break a company.

Find more sales opportunities with a complete CRM solution. Combine strong marketing automation with sales pipeline intelligence to win more sales. Allow sales reps to sell faster than ever, from anywhere with the use of a CRM. Data at your fingertips whether you’re at the office, on the road, or with a customer.

Popular CRMs include Salesforce, Zoho CRM, SugarCRM, Microsoft Dynamics 365, HubSpot CRM, and others. These systems can fit any budget, and can scale up as your business grows.

Your operations are managed by your ERP system (enterprise resource planning), and data between it and your CRM remain siloed. Increase your productivity with an ERP and CRM integration with Commercient SYNC, the #1 data integration platform for sales.

You’ll be able to access important ERP data within CRM, such as customer information, sales history, invoicing, A/R, serial numbers invoiced, inventory, etc. New sales, accounts, opportunities, etc., created in CRM are integrated to ERP, giving you a full view of sales. Take a look at our supported ERPs and CRMs here.

More Productivity Tips

It’s common sense to make an appointment for your important tasks such as meetings or demos, but it is also important to pencil in your “less important” activities. One example is checking and cleaning up your inbox.

For example, it’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed when you see hundreds of new messages awaiting your attention. Even if the majority of them are less important messages or junk that you haven’t gotten around to deleting. Make time to delete pesky spam and follow-up on quality messages. Unroll.me can assist by organizing your subscription emails, so you don’t have to spend time sifting through the clutter.

Finish the most dreaded task first, whatever that may be for you. Once you have that out of the way, you’ll be able to focus on what you like doing. Saving the worst for last may lead to procrastination in that regard. Organize your call list: Who do you have to call that’s most important? Who do you not want to call? And who would you be calling that may have you come off as annoying instead of you being attentive? Streamtime is a productivity software that may help you in this regard, helping you to easily assemble your daily to-do list.

Take time for yourself and schedule it. In our modern society, we value hard work. While it may make you viewed in a favorable light with your superiors to burn the midnight oil and work through lunch. Being highly productive may result in burnout. This will end up costing you in the long run. In some cultures, taking a nap at your desk is smiled upon, as it shows how hard you have worked.

Schedule that time for yourself. Take your lunch break, stand up from your desk and do some stretches. Make your workspace a place you want to be, where you feel energized and productive. Plan is a time management tool that places more of an emphasis on work-life balance than the other apps. You can keep track of whether you’re maintaining a healthy lifestyle or not.

Invest in some time tracking software. While we encourage you to prioritize personal health by taking time for yourself, it’s easy to get sucked into reading just one more post on social media. Or perhaps finishing just one more level on a mobile game. Schedule personal time, and stick to it.

Time tracking software will allow you to see what you spend most of your time doing. Scale back low-value activities, and focus on quality leads. Create time for all your ongoing projects so that one isn’t left behind. RescueTime, StayFocused and Toggl are all examples of time-tracking mechanisms.

If you’d like to learn how Commercient SYNC ERP and CRM data integration can improve your sales team’s productivity, please contact us today.

Tips On How To Revive Business Growth

If you feel like your business growth has stalled, don’t worry. Through a few tried and proven techniques, you can revive your dream. Here are a few things you can do to keep your business from sinking in the sand, and boost your company’s growth.

Update Your Software

To stay afloat in this digital age, one important thing is to keep up with the latest technology, or else you’ll risk missing the opportunities to decrease costs, improve productivity, and stay competitive. Nowadays, there is great technology available that can help you become more customer-centric, which can help you take your business to the next level.

If your business is running ERP and CRM systems, for example, you don’t have to operate your company with these systems being disconnected, which can give you a cluttered view of your business processes and operations. Instead you can integrate them with the Commercient SYNC Integration Platform, and stay up-to-date with the changes made to your ERP and CRM simultaneously. Your sales and customer service teams will be on the same page. With a SYNC data integration, you’ll be able to give your customers excellent service, and help increase efficiency so you can focus on growing your business.

You can review our all products, including SYNC and IoT Pulse, as a first step toward upgrading your software, and helping your business.

Engage Online

If you haven’t been regularly engaging with your customers online, now is a good time to start. It’s a great way to help your business stay afloat in this digital age. For instance, at Commercient, we can engage with our customers regularly through our website, blog, and social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. This can help you interact with your customers easily, and can also help you reach new audiences you may not have had the chance to target before. It’ll also aid in showing that you are personable and approachable to your clients and customers.

Put Customers At The Heart Of Your Business

One of the best ways to keep your company from sinking is to put your customers at the heart of your business. When you put your customers first and focus on building long lasting relationships, you’ll have more loyal customers. Once a client has made a purchase, be sure to keep in touch (e.g., regularly send out email newsletters and updates) with your customers, which helps build loyalty. They will be instrumental in helping you spread the word, and can even become your brand ambassadors.

Research conducted by the Gartner Group shows that 20% of your existing customers – the loyal ones – generate 80% of your profits. Therefore, when you truly understand your customers and deliver what they want, they’ll keep coming back, and you’ll be able to keep your business from sinking. At Commercient, we always put our customers first. See what our customers have to say about us on our homepage.

If you need more advice and help with growing your business, contact us here at Commercient today.