Friday, February 12, 2010

CRM Reviews custumer relationship management

CRM Reviews custumer relationship management

Microsoft Dynamics CRM and salesforce.com

CRM software (customer relationship management) is a great way to document and organize a company's interactions with customers and sales prospects. Recently I had the opportunity to reviews two of the top CRM programs and help determine which one would work better for our sales force. We have been looking at Salesforce.com which is all done over the internet, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Both programs are very similar allowing the user to basically streamline all phases of the sales process and minimizing the time that reps need to spend on administration and data entry. CRM is really simple to use and you can customize it to fit your company's needs. Since we are a medical device company, we have customized each trial so that we can enter the names of the accounts, office staff, physicians, contact information, and previous notes. What is nice is that you can just bring the account up on your smart-phone and click on the phone number link and then call that account. Following the call your phone automatically asks you if you want to "log the call." This allows you to enter notes on what you discussed over the phone so you are always up to date.

Other benefits of the programs are better customer profiling and targeting, reduced expenses, higher sales productivity, and higher overall profitability. For any rep in the field this is a must. It makes it so easy and you don't have to flip through a bunch of binders to find your post-call notes. Also, if you travel a lot you're not lugging as much stuff around the globe.

Although both programs work great and are very effective, there were a couple major differences. If you are familiar with Microsoft Outlook then you will find the Microsoft Dynamics CRM program very easy to use and follow. It has the same template as Outlook and is very easy to navigate. One downside to this program is the offline portion when using it on your smart-phone. If you don't have a connection then you cannot access your account profiles. This was a major turnoff for me as a rep in the field. There are my times when I am preparing calls while on a plane or in a hospital where you cannot have your phone connection on.

With SalesForce.com, you can search account profiles anytime. This program's navigation is a little different since it is a web-based program, but it's still really simple. Most of us use the internet on a daily basis so we are familiar with the navigation options. While both of these programs have many similarities from the customization options to the call logs, we chose to go with SalesForce.com.

The main deciding factor was the ability to load profiles into your phone before entering an account or plane ride where you have to disable your connection.


CRM Reviews custumer relationship management


Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Will_Cousin




CRM Reviews custumer relationship management
CRM Reviews custumer relationship management
CRM Reviews custumer relationship management
CRM Reviews custumer relationship management
CRM Reviews custumer relationship management

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