It’s every manager’s dream: sales reps spending less time working with clunky CRM platforms and more time having quality conversations with customers. We hear you and we’ve thought of a solution!

“How can I maximise and support our sales reps’ performance?”

It’s the million dollar question that has many managers tossing and turning throughout the night. Reality is, most businesses are always looking to improve their sales teams’ performance and numbers, while providing greater visibility over reps’ day-to-day activities. Some of the most common questions typically include:

• What is important to our customers?
• Which customers do we need to be checking in with on a consistent basis?
• What opportunities should we be concentrating on during a certain period?

Having a quality CRM and training your team up can definitely help in getting to the bottom of these all-important questions. Unfortunately, too often, we see the adoption and implementation of a CRM falling flat because there’s often very little understanding as to what a business’ sales rep truly needs to perform at their best day-in, day-out. Bigger picture wise, there’s also often little understanding of the business’ greater needs, making for a potentially all-round tricky situation.

In a world where the right technology is on-hand to provide valuable insights and information, the day in the life of a rep - let’s call this rep Henry - may look something like this:

“I need to see what meetings I have tomorrow. Great! My first meeting at 8:30am is with Georgia who likes a more casual approach, so no need to put on that suit and tie. I’ll need to report back to my manager Steve about how the meeting with Georgia went - better put in my notes quickly before I generate the quote Georgia asked for. I hope we have those lines in-stock and ready to be sent out.”

Of course, this is only one brief example. Other scenarios and examples may look like…

Engaging in informed conversations

It would be ideal to have clear visibility about specific information about new products, campaigns or promotions. Having the relevant product information, data and stock availability on-hand is key so that I am able to effectively sell potential customers products based on its functionality and then to place an order immediately based on the availability of stock. It enhances my customer service and has the potential to open other avenues into our customer pipeline.

What features would help reps to achieve these goals? They really need a CRM that has product information, search and filter features, as well as real-time inventory synchronisation with their ERP including stock levels and pricing. This means reps are able to get all of the key promotional, technical and marketing information they need in a timely manner and find what they’re looking for. It means reps are always liaising with customers with the latest up-to-date product information, which makes a huge difference.

Here’s how such an interaction might play out:

Georgia (our customer from our previous example): “Hey Henry, I’m interested in the sale you’re running on paint. For us to run the promo in our store, we’d need 2 pallets minimum. Do you have enough stock so that I can run this as an Easter sale?”

Henry (yep, our trusty sales rep we met earlier): “Sure Georgia, let me check our stock levels. Yes, we have 4 pallets available if you want them… and they come with an extra adaptor if you take the lot - how does that sound? Would you like me to reserve that stock now and get the order out to you tomorrow?”

Order management 

I need to be able to place orders for customers directly on our system so that I can ensure that the order is placed in a timely manner and is validated and correct, in-line with the customer’s needs. Having the ability to lock-in regular client orders in a quick order format, would be really handy. All I’d need to do is add the relevant quantities and press a button to send off orders quickly.

To make these needs possible, the reps need a mobile CRM that provides tools so that they can quickly create orders based on item codes and create template orders that are client or task specific. They should also able to order as is or easily adjust the quantities for their client. Because they also have full visibility over their customer's past order history, reps are able to facilitate better conversations that lead to greater insights about fluctuations to order quantity or item returns.

Let’s go back to Georgia and Henry’s conversation:

Georgia: “Yes that sounds great, we’ll take that stock - please lock it in!”

Henry: “Sure Georgia, I’ll reserve that stock and order it for you right now so that it gets there in time for your sale.”

Full visibility over meetings with clients

I need access to a tool to plan my activities, and events so that I can co-ordinate my calendar with visits, travel requirements and more with my customers.

What reps need here is a CRM where they can schedule in activities and attach them to the relevant deals in their pipeline so they can see their entire to-do list on one, easy-to-navigate page. Activities can also be focused and assigned to a contact or account based on your business’ preferences meaning reps will never miss a follow-up task in their pipeline.

Let’s listen in again on Georgia and Henry:

Georgia: “Hey Henry, we would like you to meet with us to demo the product and grab a quote for a brush and other paint tools.”

Henry: “No problem, let me check my timeline and calendar. When would you like to catch-up?”

Henry looks at his pipeline and timeline. He knows he has to schedule in a meeting with in two weeks. He can also see he flies out to Sydney, which he still needs to book a ticket for and doesn’t want to schedule in any conversations on the day he’s flying out.

Georgia: “As soon as possible would be great as a few of the management guys are really keen.” 

Henry: “Okay, how about in two weeks on Thursday 23 May at 11am?”

Georgia: “Perfect, we look forward to seeing you then.”

Customer specific information to facilitate quality engagements and quote responsiveness

Knowing who and which customers are interested in what products and providing access to promotional, technical and marketing material helps to ensure customers are satisfied as I’m able to compile and email customers as requested based on the specific products discussed.

A quality CRM allows users to capture personal and conversational aspects of a contact or account interested in your products, and creates deals that can be tracked meticulously in the pipeline. This helps your team to gather complete details about your customers and the activities or appointments scheduled to create and fill your pipeline.

I need to be able to quickly and accurately create quotes for customers based on requirements for new products they may be interested in purchasing.

By having all the customer specific information, you can easily generate a quote you need at your fingertips, including up-to-date inventory information, customer order history, specific prices and promotions, information to negotiate pricing with and quote detailed conversations while on the move. This enables you to improve your brand’s quote responsiveness and provide quality customer service on a consistent basis.

Back to Georgia and Henry (before their scheduled meeting):

Henry sends the following email to Georgia:

“Hi Georgia, I have some updated catalogues and promotions that you and your team might be interested in which may help with the decision towards that quote we talked about the other week. I’ve attached them to the email for you - looking forward to seeing the team soon.”

At the scheduled meeting:

Georgia: “Henry, the deal looks great and we’re all on the same page. Can you please create a quote for this in-line with our standard order amount?”

Henry: “Sure, I’ll draft one up for you right now.”

From here, all Henry has to do is bring up the template order on his laptop/tablet/smartphone and draft up the quote for the customer right then and there for their approval.

Quality info at your fingertips

It’s essential that sales managers have access to information about customer visits relating to details and products discussed.

An important part of being a good sales rep is having the ability to write detailed notes that include all aspects and details of transactions with customers. This ensures everyone involved is up-to-date and looped in on what’s happening. Having visibility of these notes via a CRM, gives managers the ability to coach staff on the quality of their notes to help them improve their skills in this area.

Let’s look at how sales manager, Steve, uses this functionality to coach Henry.

Steve is wondering how one of the company’s most important and high-value customers is going so he checks Henry’s notes for an update. After looking at the notes, it seems everything is fine but Steve doesn’t have a good idea as to why that is just from Henry’s notes. He schedules a meeting with Henry so that he can get a full update and let Henry know how he can increase the quality and level of detail within his notes so that consistent catch-ups aren’t a necessity.

Of course, we’ve only touched on a small selection of user stories our team creates in this post. We’re mindful that every business is unique and we adapt our Mobile Sales and CRM service accordingly. By understanding our clients and walking in their shoes, we’re able to provide a product and platform that exceeds their needs. This of course, results in a better overall engagement process. We like to think of creating these stories as our genius zone!

Want to better leverage your Mobile Sales and CRM platform to boost sales and increase your sales reps’ overall efficiency levels? Contact Woven today.