Make CRM Work the Way Salespeople Do

Make CRM Work the Way Salespeople Do LEVERAGE TODAY’S TECHNOLOGIES TO MAXIMIZE USER ADOPTION To sales professionals, time has never average, spend less than 25 percent of been more precious. their time on direct selling activities and only about 3 percent of their time The challenging economy is forcing selling their companies’ newest salespeople to do more—to spend more products. The rest of their day is spent time on the road, uncover more on administrative duties such as staff opportunities, and follow up on more meetings, and on enabling activities prospects. Many of them are working in such as travel and training. departments that have been cut back; their reward for having survived may Technology, for all its promise, has not include expanded territories, more been much help. To be sure, you’d be accounts, and higher quotas. hard-pressed to find a salesperson who didn’t have a BlackBerry or iPhone, didn’t This is forcing salespeople to be more use email, and didn’t turn to the Web to resourceful and creative in how they find information about prospects. But generate leads, pique the interest of none of these technologies was built prospects, and close deals. Yet most explicitly to help salespeople; the world’s research suggests that salespeople, on top rainmakers work their magic pretty September 2009 much on their own, using their own organizations manage customer that use a software-as-a-service (SaaS) improvised approaches—a combination relationships and associated revenues, delivery model. And the Web interface of instincts, information, persuasiveness, they tend to contain a lot of used by most SaaS vendors has pushed and passion to get them in the door and information within the application and these applications in the direction of win the coveted contract. also “present” data that is integrated speed and utility—of being able to from other enterprise applications. This offer up information in an easily Which brings us to our subject—CRM means information important to digested format. In the case of SaaS systems. Let’s start by acknowledging the salespeople is often buried many levels implementations of CRM, this has contribution CRM has made to the down, and therefore the salespeople meant providing an entry point to broader sales function. The heavy lifting may not even know it’s there. Moreover, data that more directly serves that CRM systems do with the their companies probably wouldn’t be salespeople’s needs. transactional side of selling has made them happy if they spent too much time an indispensable management tool in looking for it—a salesperson who would The Oracle CRM On Demand many organizations. CRM systems can be rather be futzing with a computer product, for instance, provides tabs for great at managing the lead-qualification program than calling on prospects critical sales information, such as process, generating efficient quotes, probably isn’t much of a salesperson to accounts, appointments, opportunities, capturing orders and helping sales begin with. and forecasts. While a salesperson’s use managers roll up results for individual of such a system may provide territories, products, or salespeople. “If you look at CRM traditionally—and information his or her manager can also the systems that have reflected CRM as use, that’s not the only goal. Another But, says Mark Woollen, vice president a business practice—you could key aim is to make it easier for of social CRM products at Oracle, confidently argue that they solved one salespeople themselves to get what they when you ask salespeople what they get part of the CRM challenge, but not the need, and to transform what has out of their corporations’ CRM other part,” Woollen says. Traditional historically been a vault—a rather systems, “what they will tell you, if CRM, he adds, is “very much focused on daunting one—into a self-service they’re being charitable, is that the main the automation of the tasks around information repository. benefit is providing transparency into managing your revenue stream,” not on their pipelines” and thus reducing the the meetings, exchanges of information, In traditional sales environments, number of management inquiries they and snap judgments that often determine Woollen says, “if you need to create a must respond to. whether the business gets won. forecast or send an opportunity to your colleagues, you’d have to determine The problem, as any CRM specialist “Salespeople spend their days in which of 10 or 20 colleagues to call. knows, is that traditional CRM systems conversations with other people—with Here, that information is two or three aren’t really designed to reinforce the their Operations departments, with mouse clicks away. It’s what you’d most-critical selling functions. To start Legal, and directly with partners and expect in a Web application.” with, most CRM systems are built to be end customers,” Woollen says. “These accessed from a laptop or desktop conversations are the essential way that Indeed, some Web-based CRM systems computer, and very few salespeople are salespeople are successful. And these are offer gadgets that make it even simpler sitting in front of one when they close an functions that traditionally haven’t been for salespeople, from their desktops, to important deal. (More often, they’re with automated very well—or at all.” access the information they need. These a customer or prospect.) gadgets are based on the same Happily, this is starting to change. One technology that lets many users see Furthermore, because of the central role important new development is the miniaturized “always-on” versions of, for that CRM systems play in helping increasing number of CRM systems instance, their daily calendars, their local weather and time, or their sports scores on a portal or homepage such as iGoogle. In the case of Oracle and CRM, the five gadgets that are currently downloadable allow The problem is that traditional CRM systems salespeople to instantly perform a search of their corporate CRM system; aren’t really designed to reinforce the see their contacts, top accounts, and top deals; and determine their performance against a quarterly most-critical selling functions. sales target. September 2009 Oracle, moreover, is among the CRM “This really opens up a lot of possibilities in vendors allowing customers to create their own gadgets. One sales department may want to create terms of salespeople having the ability to get something generic, like a calendar of meetings that is always up-to-the- minute and that sits on the user’s that little piece of information they need.” desktop. A pharmaceutical company, meanwhile, may want to create a gadget displaying the latest healthcare news. And a consumer-electronics company road, there is certainly some Newer CRM systems are taking may want to create a gadget displaying information within that system that advantage of the social network idea in blog entries from the chief marketing might help them. more fundamental ways. For instance, as officer heading into the holiday season, part of a lineup of “Social CRM” when the company is introducing Contact information, summaries of products, Oracle has developed several several new products.