Habit #8 – What’s a Customer Management System?

March 5, 2015 Selling Comments Off on Habit #8 – What’s a Customer Management System?

Use an integrated customer management system that includes e-mail, contacts, calendar, task manager, opportunity tracker and a report generation system.

Does your sales team use a customer management system?  Many salespeople believe they are using a customer management system when in fact what they are using is an e-mail and calendar system.

A customer management system is a system that includes e-mail, contacts, task manager, opportunity tracker and a report generation system.  In addition, a customer management system integrates all of the data so that every opportunity has every bit of data information, related to that opportunity, available at a glance.

Customer management systems are useful and save incredible amounts of time. Gone are the days of the “hard file” and sifting through hundreds of pieces of paper, that usually are completely out of order, in an effort to try and construct the history of the opportunity.

With today’s computerized customer management systems an opportunity history does not need to be generated; it is simply there.  All you have to do is call up an opportunity and letters, e-mails, quotations, phone notes, call reports and any other information related to that opportunity is at your fingertips.

These systems allow individual salespeople to produce two to three times what salespeople could produce using manual systems, assuming they use them efficiently and effectively.  These systems also allow individual salespeople to produce ten times the information they could produce manually, therefore allowing them the ability to handle many more opportunities.

Another important function of a customer management system is the automated task manager that is integrated into the system.  This function takes the place of hand written follow-up notes that are misplaced or lost.  The system will remind you what you are supposed to do automatically.

The power of a system that reminds you throughout the day of tasks and follow-ups that are supposed to be performed is hard to imagine. However, this does not guarantee that the task will be performed or follow-up will be initiated: you have to take action.  The system is there to remind you to do what needs to be done in an automatic fashion.  This is real power!

The four major functions of business management are to plan, organize, execute and control.  The most important one of all of these is control and that means to “follow-up”.  An automatic follow-up system is priceless in that it allows you to control the sales cycle as best as you possibly can.

Customer Management Systems: Use Them!

“A Habit” is not work but just a thing that is done every day and using a customer management system can easily become a Habit.  Define the system, develop the process, enter the details, utilize the tools and follow-up accordingly.

TIME MANAGEMENT.  For Top Performers, every task is planned and focused on the goals that earn the results.  Top Performers use an integrated customer management system that includes e-mail, contacts, calendar, task manager, opportunity tracker and a report generation system to focus their efforts and maximize the utilization of their time with and on their customers.  Top Performers plan and then engage.  They act on their plans, they work hard and they get results.

Coaching these skills is a critical part of what we do.  We are here to help you develop and implement your Strategic Plan and coach and develop the skills to implement the plan successfully.

We are having great success coaching and implementing these methods and skills and our clients love it!