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Benefits of CMO for Sales Staff
The following describes how Cabinet Makers Office software might positively impact the working efficiency of a sales staff.
Whether I am going to the office or on the road with my Blackberry, the very first thing I do is login to our company intranet site. I am taken to an overview of my calendar and tasks for the week. I can also view any messages sent to me by other company staff or even from clients. The ability to confidently manage my day from my Blackberry or computer greatly increases my effectiveness.
The client relations management (CRM) area is easy to use and master. All communications are centralized as part of a contact’s record so I simply search for the person or company I need to work with.
I have an appointment with a prospective client later this morning so I check to see if the reminder I sent him has been viewed. I love the history tracking on all communications through the intranet site – I can send off an invitation to meet, a quotation, or a revised drawing and know for certain that the client has viewed it.
I can even put individual tracking on any documents or images attached to an email which can then tell me whether the link to that attachment is clicked, how often and by whom. With an attached drawing I can tell not only that our designer has looked at the communication I sent but specifically if she viewed the rough plans as well.
The CRM also allows me to easily make use of call scripts. Now at the office, for instance, I can view the record of a past client I want to call and then bring up the phone script I prepared last month. Referral business is important to our company and by carefully calling past clients I can often drum up some extra business for us. The script automatically inserts the client’s contact information and I can easily make notes on the page as I go through the questions and information I want to share with them.
The calendar helps me keep track of all the calls and appointments I’ve scheduled for myself. I can adjust content, date and time of individual items quickly by clicking on them from IntraLook (my communications summary page) or I can move to the calendar. I often decide in favor of the calendar.
I prefer the two-week view as I can easily move events from yesterday that need my further attention onto a specific calendar day or timeslot. Dragging and dropping calendar items from one timeslot to another is a great deal of fun and is extremely productive. Within a few moments I have adjusted my calendar for today and tomorrow.
I put a reminder on my work schedule that I’m covering Jim’s sales calls this week too. I have permission to view all of his appointments for the week so I change the filters on the calendar and within a few seconds I’m looking at both of our schedules.
I see immediately I will need to adjust for a few conflicts and by looking at both of our calendars simultaneously I quickly move the conflicted appointments around. For clients with an email address I send an intramail requesting their confirmation of the new time and date. Later on I can check my Inbox to see if they’ve responded or I can just check the history tracking of my change of appointment notice. If they haven’t viewed several hours before the original appointment time I can call to avoid a mix up.
With last month’s promotion to a regional sales management position I have taken to using the Task Management feature of our intranet site. Here I can manage items assigned to me or any staff I am in charge of. Whether on the calendar for a specific time, just assigned to day, or with no date/time attached at all, an assigned event may need a new date or a greater priority given to it. I can also use this to assign new sales leads to staff or manage company tasks we are responsible for.
The corporate Kiosk makes it extremely easy for me to keep tabs on my team - who is working, who is on break, what tasks each is currently working on, and any comments they have made for themselves or me. From the Kiosk I can also make comments on my own tasks or those of my staff to keep a record but also build team collaboration.
Next week I am attending a builder’s trade show 3 states over. As long as I have an Internet connection at the show or hotel I can login and work as if I was back at the shop. Even without a connection, I can use my BlackBerry to find a contact on our database or check appointments for the day.
[Coming soon...] When I return it will be time to review our regional sales production to compare with previous months and the projections we made earlier. The reports section will make it easy to see the break down for each of our sales team and help me make any adjustments to our marketing strategies.
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