Can a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system really create profits for a company? A lot of people don’t think so - over the years the media has reported quite a few companies (both big and small) that have tossed a significant amount of dollars down the drain on these kind of systems. But there have been plenty of successes too. In fact, during the 12 years we’ve been selling and implementing CRM products like GoldMine and Microsoft CRM we’ve seen some penny pinching business owners really get a lot of bang for their bucks. Here’s how.

The Lonely Old Quote: Tyler, who runs a parts distribution company had a big problem: one of out of every ten quotes his salesmen sent were never followed up! Sure, some of these opportunities may have been lost to others, but Tyler wondered just how many of these quotes could’ve turned into a sale if someone would’ve just called the customer. The problem? He had no system to track his quotes! Tyler made changes – he purchased a simple CRM system and made sure that each quote was tagged with a follow-up call and alerts to the sales staff when they were due. He also built in an alarm for his sales manager in case a salesperson was ignoring his follow up calls. Within a few weeks Tyler could see the difference. Every quote was now pursued with either a phone call or email.

Opportunities that could’ve slipped through the cracks were now addressed. Sales increased.

The Bright Side Of A Lost Sale: Don, a penny pinching manager at a consulting firm, actually thinks there’s a bright side to a lost sale. “Because of our CRM system,” he says. “We can track every time a sale does not go our way.” Sometimes a competing product beat them. Other times a customer decides not to do anything at all. Whatever the reason, Don’s company tracks the history and every three months runs a Lost Sales Report and does a post mortem. It’s never pretty. It’s oftentimes frustrating. “But it’s ALWAYS educational,” Don continues. “Armed with where we screwing up, we can adjust and win back more dollars going forward.” And he wouldn’t be able to do it without his CRM system.

Too Few Sales Calls, Too Many Donuts: Jim, another penny pinching manager who works at a large cable company was often confronted by sales guys asking for more money. Jim always turns to his CRM system and says, “Well, let’s take a look at the old batting average”. Here, Jim can see how many quotes a salesperson put out vs. what he closed. “Now, now,” Jim chuckles. “What can we do to increase this percentage so YOU get more money.” Jim tracks his sales people’s calls and appointments and looks at their productivity. “Now why did you spend so much time with this little prospect, when you could’ve been spending more time with that bigger fish?” A good CRM system helps the penny pincher squeeze the most efficiency from his sales team.

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