Historically, companies have used CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems to help customer-facing departments capture information about prospects and customers in a central database. With the rise of inbound marketing, marketing automation and social media, marketing departments have moved on to better tools. Today, they're using increasingly sophisticated platforms to attract, convert and nurture prospects along the buyer's journey. However, sales are still stuck in the land of CRM and data entry, aimlessly logging activities to produce reports and keep management off their backs. Yet we still expect sales to excel. Hooray for sales force automation…?

Replace Your Rear-View Mirror With A GPS

Tell me if this sounds familiar - marketing-generated leads are dumped into a CRM system. Sales are instructed to "close it" (great advice!) and register all activities they're completing towards doing so. Active opportunities are placed in specific phases of the funnel, based on the subjective estimates and best judgment of the sales person. Unfortunately, this approach provides little guidance and best practices on HOW to sell, and all too often you end up with stalled deals and inaccurate sales forecasts.

Sales People Need A Road Map For Success

Apart from a select few, most sales people are unaware of how to best navigate the tricky terrain of complex sales - a requirement to successfully sell your solutions to identified target customers. When you first hire them, they might not even have a basic manual. Subsequently, you need to build a sales infrastructure that establishes effective sales behaviors and replicates best practices by mapping them in a system focused on the sales process. Your team needs the best possible sales and marketing platforms to ensure you're executing on everything from lead qualification to opportunity management to ongoing sales coaching. HOW you sell needs to become a key differentiator and competitive advantage in the long haul.

Your Type Of Sale Dictates The Platform You Need

If you're in a transactional sales environment, where business is closed online or with one or two phone calls, you'll likely do just fine with an ERP system, or an out-of-the-box, "one size fits all" CRM. However, if you're in a B2B sales environment, you need a platform that supports your sales process and ensures your overall sales strategy is operationalized. With this in place, you're able to speed up ramp-up times for new hires, align sales and marketing to make sure opportunities don't fall through the cracks and consistently grow what matters - your people and your bottom line.