Sales reps are excitedly embracing web-based CRM, also known as software-as-a-service (SaaS), which can be accessed from a Blackberry or iPhone as well as from a laptop. The ASP software of web-based CRM which makes this possible contains downloadable applications or gadgets for seeing a variety of important information bites that salespeople need: daily calendar, weather and time, top contacts, top accounts, current deals, and performance against target.
Web-based CRM is not simply a gadget from the techies; nor is it a “pushed-down-from-management” tool. Rather, it is the application of choice of those in the trenches, those meeting face-to-face with the customer.
Because sales people spend most of their time away from the office, certain features of web-based CRM appeal directly to them:
1. Mobile connectivity. Sales people do not need all the features of a full-blown CRM system. Instead, they need to be able to connect using their cell phones (Blackberry or iPhone) to pieces of the system that apply to products and services they sell, their customers’ information, or various aspects of deals in progress with customers.
2. Information sharing. Often more than one person is involved in negotiations on a contract or proposal. Each person needs to be able to see summaries of previous communications with the client, the changes to the proposal under consideration, and “what if?” analyses of various scenarios.
3. Essential information access. A sales person needs to access his or her own information at the click of a button: sales meetings, customer meetings, driving directions, sales forecast, pipeline, notes from last meeting with customer. And these need to be accessed from the road rather than from a desktop, or even a laptop, computer.
4. Social media integration. A sales person who wants to learn more about a prospect is anxious to log into LinkedIn or Facebook to do that. Web-based CRM often builds that capability into the application.
If you are a sales person who uses web-based CRM, why do you use it? Does it answer your needs? What else do you wish it would do?
