Sales POP - Purveyors of Propserity
CRM Systems ROI: The Question of Efficiency
Blog / For Sales Pros / Mar 10, 2014 / Posted by Nikolaus Kimla / 4838

CRM Systems ROI: The Question of Efficiency

As we’ve been covering in earlier articles, computing ROI for a CRM systems is an involved affair. But another way of figuring ROI for CRM would be to put it under the heading of efficiency: how would efficiency be improved for the key areas of the company? For in the end, that’s what CRM is all about—at least it should be.

Sales Customer Relations

Since the sales force is the front line of customer relations, it stands to reason that CRM systems should bring a high degree of efficiency to the sales reps. CRM should empower them to easily track their sales, and know where all of their sales cycles stand, by enabling them to visually see each sale and its current position in the sales process. Since CRM is the singular repository for sales data, any rep needing to take over a sale from another can instantly pick it up with no annoyance to the prospect. Sales management should be able to readily visualize the whole sales process and accurately analyze and forecast sales with ease—without the necessity of constant verbal interaction with salespeople.

The smoothness of such an operation carries through to prospects and customers. An understanding of the prospect is “built-in” to CRM so that the all-important care factor is always present. The likelihood of the close is increased, as is the likelihood that the customer will purchase from your company in the future.

On the company side, the focus can be on profitability; sales that are more profitable can be given priority. The risk of less profitable sales is lessened, the risk of losing sales due to inefficiency, nill.

CRM Systems ROI is all about efficiencySales Administration

When CRM systems are implemented there is always training time—which means a degree of downtime or at least slowed production for sales. For traditional CRM applications, this training can go on for months, and in some respects may continue indefinitely. Today’s leading-edge CRM systems can be trained in on reps in a matter of hours or—at the most—days.

Another aspect of efficiency to examine is sales administrative time. That is, the amount of time spent by sales reps inputting data into the CRM systems, the amount of time spent retrieving that data, and (a big irritant for salespeople universally) the extra hours spent having to create reports. A CRM solution should shave considerable time off of each of these functions if it is to really return on the company’s investment.

Of course each of the above points for Sales impacts yet another issue: will the CRM solution be adopted by salespeople? If it is too complex or too time-consuming for them, in the end, they’ll quietly resort to their own solutions such as individual notes or spreadsheets. In such a case the ROI for CRM systems has, maybe even secretly, went right out the window.

CRM Systems and the IT

Traditionally CRM systems have been chosen by IT, approved by management, and then implemented without much consultation with other key areas of the company. In an interesting case of “karma” the ramifications of this lack of research most often kicks back on IT. IT staff are having to spend many extra hours, days and weeks training users, coaxing users to actually use the CRM system, and “tweaking” it to make it more user-friendly or more conforming to the company business model.

If the full spread of research on a potential CRM systems ROI is done to begin with, IT efforts to get them implemented after the fact will be minimal.

When evaluating CRM tool ROI, it all comes back to efficiency. When taken fully into account, that efficiency will translate to increased profits more smoothly brought about. And in business that’s the name of the game.

Learn how efficient a CRM solution can truly be. Sign up for one of our free webinars.

About Author

CEO and partner of pipelinersales.com and the uptime ITechnologies, which I founded in 1994 and has since played a significant role in the development of the IT-environment. pipeliner is the most innovative sales CRM management solution on the market. Pipeliner was designed by sales professionals for sales professionals and helps close the gap between the requirements of C-level executives for transparency and the day-to-day operational needs of field and inside sales. I am also the founder and Initiator of the independent economic platform GO-AHEAD!, which orientates itself on the principles of a free marketplace in terms of liberal and social responsibility. Connecting people, the trust of business leadership in terms of values such as freedom, self-responsibility, and entrepreneurial spirit, and strengthening their awareness in order to create a dynamic boost within the economy triggered through spontaneity, all stand for the initial ideas surrounding GO-AHEAD! I studied in Los Angeles and Vienna and received my Masters's Degree in 1994. I am married and have 3 children My Specialties are in: Sales Management, Sales CRM Software, CRM Cloud Solutions, SAAS, Business Strategy, Software Development, "Pipeline Management", Social responsibility, outbound sales, b2b sales, inside sales, sales strategy, lead generation, sales process, entrepreneurship, coaching, mentoring, speaker, opportunity management, lead management, Austrian School of Economics

Author's Publications on Amazon

This is a practical manual covering the vital subject of Sales Management. I firmly believe that sales are the most important profession for dealing with today’s turbulent world and Econo my, for salespeople create wealth and produce peace. But salespeople need a competent, stable leader—and…
Buy on Amazon
Inside this eBook, you’ll discover a series of chapters dedicated to some of the most important areas facing sales today. From the sales process definition to measurement, lead generation, and proven sales techniques, this comprehensive eBook will provide you with the information you need to…
Buy on Amazon
A common term in sales today is EQ, which stands for “emotional I.Q.” It means the skill a salesperson has in reading emotions and utilizing them in sales. It means empathy and a number of other abilities. The short version is, it’s an I.Q. when…
Buy on Amazon
People are smart to question the future of automation, for it has become part of everything we do. With the quantity of applications and technology around us, we yet still crave more. We become convinced of its power when our package is delivered from Amazon…
Buy on Amazon
Sales management isn’t a simple subject by any means. But at the same time, it does have some basic and somewhat simple fundamentals—and that is what we are bringing to you with this book. First come pain points of sales management, and how to overcome…
Buy on Amazon
Today the Internet has transformed a seller's market into a buyer's market and author Nikolaus Kimla states that the role of sales has never been more crucial. It is now time to give salespeople the role they factually can play: entrepreneurs within the enterprise. They…
Buy on Amazon
This is our public declaration of the intentions behind Pipeliner, and our objectives and motives for the product and for our company. Behind the development of that CRM application and, in fact, behind everything we do, we have a real cause. The story begins with…
Buy on Amazon
For the future, there must be a perfect balance of humans and technology. You have to have the perfect technology, andthen the perfect human being in application, performance and presentation. Today and into the future, it’s a 50-50 balance. In the past it was perhaps…
Buy on Amazon
The salespreneur is based on the concept of the entrepreneur. Before we can explain the salespreneur, you have to have some understanding of the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur plays a crucial role in any economic system. The entrepreneur seeks out information that can be utilized for…
Buy on Amazon
A seasoned captain would never leave port without a competent navigator. In a similar way, a sales manager might be a total ace at "commanding the ship" – at inspiring and coaching sales reps, pointing out and getting agreement on making quotas, and keeping everyone's…
Buy on Amazon
..
..
..
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. For information on cookies and how you can disable them, visit our privacy and cookie policy.