[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As we continue to follow the story of Fred and Mary, we see a common thread. Fred and FBoss are set in their ways. They do not think there is any reason to adopt new technology and think using spreadsheets is the best way to track their prospects and opportunities. Mary and MBoss, are 6 months into using their CRM and have adopted several time-saving processes, freeing the sales group to focus on the highest valued clients and prospects.
Both MBoss and FBoss are owners of their SAAS businesses. They have responsibilities for sales, service delivery, quality control, customer service, and hiring. Their heads are spinning 24/7 and they don’t have enough time in the day to complete their tasks.
FBoss manages both the sales and production departments. In a small business, that is often the case. FBoss manages 3 production teams and agrees that they sometimes miss deadlines and he has to follow up a lot to make sure that all clients get up and running and receive customer service when needed.
FBoss and Fred love their spreadsheets, so they continue to use them for their sales funnel for 5 salespeople, and now uses them to track their client projects. FBoss manages the following manual procedures after receiving the signed contract from his customer, he must do the following manually:
- Send a copy of the contract to accounting.
- Create a job order to give to one of the production teams. Each team follows 8 steps to onboard its new clients over a 30-day period and then customer service takes over.
- Enter into spreadsheets the reports from each production team as to each new client’s status from steps 1 to 8. Production teams are often late in sending in their reports.
- Follow up with accounting to make sure they sent out the correct invoice and with production to know where the bottlenecks are.
FBoss is running from department to department, person to person and action items are falling through the cracks.
Fred and the other salespeople make updates in their spreadsheets on their work computers, but don’t have access to it on any device nor do they have reminders or notifications. Sometimes, Fred remembers at 2 am when he is lying in bed and writes himself a note. By then, it is too late to do anything.
Mary, on the other hand, has made the recommendation of a CRM to her boss. Not only does it help sales close faster, but it also helps MBoss know the status of every prospect and opportunity. Mary set up the project funnel with automation, so manual responsibilities are minimized, and the team knows the status, value, and stage of every prospect.
One day, MBoss says to Mary, “Mary, can you show me how to track each of our client assignments the way you track all our prospects and opportunities?” Mary’s eyes lit up. It was easy to see that the CRM can
- Track each job from inception through delivery and into customer service/relations.
- Increase communications internally and externally with less effort using workflows.
They both knew that they did not do a good job of tracking service delivery and job completions and spent a lot of time asking the production team for updates. At that moment, they knew that the CRM was their answer.
Mary created a Job module in her CRM and created the Job Form with each of 8 steps in their service delivery program. MBoss had Mary train the production teams on how to complete a Job Form. All 8 steps are on the form and every time a completion date is entered, the project moves to its next stage, and emails and actions are sent to different team members including accounting and customer service. Now MBoss sees the status of each client and where each client is in the 8-step onboarding process to make sure client work remains on schedule.
After the contract is signed (which is done electronically), the CRM:
- Notifies the accounting department of the new sale and the invoice that needs to be generated.
- Notifies the fulfillment department that a new order needs to be placed. They can access the new project where they will see the request. If they have questions, they can respond to Mary through the CRM.
- Notifies the supervisor that a project needs to be scheduled. The supervisor can see notes about the customer and the status of the order of materials. Like fulfillment, the supervisor can communicate with Mary through the CRM.
- Notifies the customer of order status, scheduled install, and other important steps in the project.
With the CRM, MBoss, Mary, and the production teams can follow every step of the project without sending a single email or making a single phone call. Any changes to a project schedule can be noted in the Job Form and all teammates are notified. Because her CRM is cloud-based, Mary can access it anywhere on any device.
MBoss’s sales are winning new work at a record percentage because their salespeople are spending most of their time on their highest priority clients and prospects. MBoss’s production teams are tracking their projects and MBoss feels in control. Mary and MBoss sleep well at night as both sales and production are performing
In contrast, FBoss and Fred are hassled and overworked. They spend too much time filling out spreadsheets and holding meetings to get updates. FBoss and Fred are losing sleep as sales have flattened and they are not hitting on all cylinders.
If your product involves multiple steps for ordering, installing, and quality check after the sale, a CRM may be a good option for you. It takes many manual responsibilities off of your shoulders by notifying the right people/departments at the right time. Everyone is in the loop during the duration of the project.
We all want to sleep well at night. Managing projects from start to finish efficiently with a happy customer at the end is our goal. To learn about how you can use a CRM to manage projects, contact us at jonr@cccsolutions.com, or call 301-332-0613.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”More CRM and Sales Topics” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_empty_space][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”2″ element_width=”6″ orderby=”rand” grid_id=”vc_gid:1597753502107-1310f708-cd1d-6″ taxonomies=”4, 23″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
