This is a guest blog post by Rachael Winsor. She manages Go-To-Market and Program Development for RingCentral’s Technology Alliance Partners as a part of their Platform Product Marketing team.
Sales managers and their reps have an intimate relationship, as both of their livelihoods are tied to individual rep performance. Their goals are the most intrinsically aligned of any corporate team, and they should be using tools to improve how they work together.
When the ability to bring call data into CRMs became possible, the benefits primarily touted were increasing sales rep productivity and customer responsiveness, with the end result being growing the bottom line. Though that alone is enough for technology buyers and business owners to purchase CRMs and telephony solutions that can communicate, there are further benefits that serve to develop the rep and the sales team.
Reduce friction between the sales manager and rep.
The weekly one-on-one, or pipeline review meeting, between managers and reps can easily become a point of dread or downright unproductive. By having customer interactions automatically documented within the CRM, the time can be used for more than the manager asking, “Did you follow up with Bob,” allowing the manager to truly dive into their deals and guide them to a close.
Help sales reps help themselves.
People like to feel good at their jobs. For salespeople that means consistently exceeding quotas. There is obviously a degree of inherent talent that makes some more successful than others, but attention to pipeline management can be the difference between 88% and 101%, or better yet, 120% and 157%. An integrated solution gives the rep a tool to hold themselves accountable by giving them a way to measure their activities, and assurance that they’ve been correctly prioritizing their time each day in the office.
Boost rep confidence.
A regular practice of having all customer calls documented within the CRM also gives reps credibility to lean on, should it ever be required. When quarter-end draws near and the expected deals aren’t coming in, the rep has undeniable data that they were making their calls and doing everything within their power to bring in the sale.
When considering a CRM system for your business, the ability to integrate with your telecommunications system should be one of your technical requirements. Since you’re already paying for each individually, there can only be incremental gains by them communicating with one another. The increased productivity will be measurable when more reps are hitting their number and the company is meeting sales targets. Hopefully the integrated solution will help them do it with a smile.