Who Controls Your Sales Data?
My friend Dave has four salespeople. Right now his company needs all hands on deck to best position themselves for the recovery. But one of them is coasting, content with the residual commission and long term relationships he has built over the years.
This salesman knows what Dave is now realizing: He “owns” his accounts and all of the information associated with that relationship. His notebooks, black book and Blackberry are assets the company can’t afford to lose.
Dave is held hostage in replacing or eliminating underperforming staff, because they control the information about the company’s customers and prospects.
Your company must own this information. The technology that typically makes this happen is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Database. A well-implemented CRM means:
⇨ Marketing, sales and customer service are in one place
⇨ Actionable sales and marketing campaigns flow in repeatable-even automated-processes
⇨ Management has clear visibility into the sales pipeline and salesperson performance
⇨ Salesperson turnover results in no lost information or relationships
With a CRM, Dave could replace underperforming sales staff and provide complete information on every lead, proposal and opportunity in a territory to a new sales person. That’s the power of owning your company’s sales information.
