A CRM (customer relationship management) system can be a sales team’s most valuable asset. That’s true only if you have one that’s easy to use and supportive, and you have full adoption across the board. Otherwise, it can turn into an expensive technology that drives no benefits.
If your media sales team currently uses a platform, do you ever consider if it’s helping or hurting sales efforts?
There are several categories that such a system can support. In this post, we’ll offer some insights.
Does It Hurt or Help Productivity?
Ideally, a CRM system should streamline processes to save time, ensure consistency and share information. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, which means it doesn’t always contribute to greater productivity. When your CRM tool requires a lot of manual re-entry or duplication to stay up to date, it’s likely lowering productivity instead of improving it. To address this, you’ll want to deploy a solution that removes manual re-entry, with data feeding directly from your proposal and order system.
Another area of productivity to consider is how easy it is to find what you need. Being able to filter by a set of relevant criteria speeds up this process, so you spend more time selling, not hunting for data.
Your schedule is busy, and your plate is full. Technology needs to support you by making you more efficient. If it doesn’t, it just becomes another pain point.
Is It Broadcast-Centric?
For a CRM system to improve sales processes, you want one designed for the media industry. Very few fit this description. Salesforce, the unarguable leader in the space, offers customization, but that doesn’t always translate to the right features.
Additionally, you’ll pay steep upfront costs for this, and there can be recurring costs for adding users and other features that will become important as you evolve your workflows. A product like Salesforce has a significant range of capabilities, but most come with a cost.
A platform that aligns with media workflows and needs will truly help you. For example, you can manage your deals through visual dashboards and monitor proposals and orders by account. Another advantage for media companies is that it integrates data fully into your sales workflow. It’s not a separate system when the CRM tool is part of a single platform. You don’t have to log in to multiple systems to access data.
Does It Support Better Forecasting and Pipeline Transparency?
CRM systems can be pivotal tools in forecasting and pipeline performance. You’ll be able to see the impact of pending deals while also leveraging historical and pipeline reporting to meet business goals. Sales managers can derive quick insights from data to make the most informed decisions. For example, you can see year-over-year or month-over-month trends. Accessing this helps you strategize selling with your team and spot opportunities to reach out to advertisers for repeat business.
Not all CRM tools will have this functionality, but it’s a must-have. It works by leveraging historical data. You don’t have to guess about the future, as you have data to provide clarity.
Is It Keeping Data Clean?
The power of a CRM system depends substantially on the quality of the data. Garbage in is garbage out. That’s not how you want to leverage this technology. Clean data requires:
- Full adoption of users to input information
- Governance around how you’ll input, delete or move data
- Integration of the system with proposal and ordering systems
All three are critical to data hygiene. One part is internal procedure and policies, and the other is about solution functionality.
Increase Sales and Efficiency with a CRM System
Companies that use CRM tools can achieve higher sales and greater efficiencies. If you’re using one and aren’t seeing any of these benefits, you might need to migrate to a new one. All the tools you use as salespeople should contribute to your efforts, not cause more challenges.
Learn more about the opportunities by reading our post on CRM benefits for salespeople.
