As you begin your CRM comparison shopping, it’s important to know the
features that will best suit your needs for sales, services, and
marketing. In this blog series, we’ll touch on each of those areas and
provide insights into which features you should be homing in on to
maximize your CRM investment.
But first, let’s establish one major point: Selecting a CRM based on features alone is a recipe for failure.
While the features are part of the greater whole, the bigger focus
should be “What are my business goals and will this CRM (with the given
features) help me achieve those goals?”. Your CRM search should always
begin with strategic planning, which is the process of consciously
defining your current roadblocks and using those to create actionable
goals for your CRM adoption.
Without understanding which problems you’re trying to solve, it’s
impossible to find a CRM that will satisfy. Strategic planning builds
the framework of criteria for short term and long-term success with the
solution you choose. It also reveals potential risks and roadblocks that
may not have been apparent at the get-go. Laying out a detailed plan
based on actionable goals and real business challenges increases your
likelihood of success and decreases the likelihood that you’ll pour
thousands of dollars into a solution that won’t deliver ROI.
Many businesses don’t recognize (or don’t invest in) strategic
planning as a mainstay for CRM selection, but it is a crucial first
step, and it’s a step you should not take alone.
Unite a team of key players in your organization to offer
perspectives and act as a consulting board for the CRM purchase. Then,
consider a CRM consultant to help you uncover needs you may have missed,
offer knowledge on product features and options, and guide your project
management with time-tested strategies.
Features related to your CRM goals should be ranked by importance. As
you go through this list, think about which features would be your
“must haves” and which would be your “nice to haves”.
Ok, I’m off my soapbox now. Assuming you already know the issues
you’re trying to resolve, let’s discuss the sales CRM features you
should consider.
Collaboration Tools
A collaboration tool is anything that helps the sales rep communicate
more effectively. Some examples you’d see in CRM would be call logging,
email integration, social media, and analytics sharing.
Particularly for email integration, find out if the CRM you’re
considering will integrate with the email solution you already have.
Ideally, the CRM will create an omni-channel communication experience,
allowing your employees and customers to connect via email, SMS, social
media, or a specific chat feature, and then storing that information for
reference later. This ability allows teams to discuss information on a
granular level, creating more cohesive sales communication.
When it comes to analytics, find out if the CRM offers the ability to share report and analysis data, or if it requires an add-on. Having to use an add-on is not the end of the world, but it does add to your CRM cost of ownership.
| Collaboration Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Communication Panel |
| Tasks and Calendar |
| Email |
| MS Outlook Integration |
| Gmail Integration |
| Calls |
| Enterprise Social Networks |
| Analytics |
Business Process Management (a.k.a. Workflows)
Business process management (BPM) capabilities allow sales teams to
create repeatable processes inside the system for sales automation. Two
questions to ask about BPM capabilities are:
- Is BPM supported throughout all the CRM modules?
- Is there an additional cost for more robust, customizable BPM options?
Many CRMs come with basic process configuration options but remain limited in functionality. A process-oriented CRM will come with a library of templates (that can be customized) to give you a framework for creating lead qualification and sales automation. If you want the ability to create workflows that are more personalized, your CRM must offer strong BPM options.
| BPM Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Dynamic Case Management Processes |
| Structured BPM Processes |
| Sales Processes |
| Process Library |
| Process Monitoring and Analytics |
Lead Management
Lead management is obviously a huge factor for sales reps. Think about whether you need your lead qualification and distribution options to be more product-focused or more contact-focused. Product-focused lead management requires the user to relate the lead to a specific product of interest. Contact-focused lead management allows the user to enter the lead without associating a product, and they can add the product information later. Depending on your processes, one or the other may be better suited for your teams.
| Lead Management Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Lead Qualification |
| Lead Distribution |
| Hand-off to sales |
| Analytics on Leads |
Opportunity Management
Perhaps just as important as lead management, opportunity management
is a considerable sales feature. Does the CRM offer opportunity
tracking, sales funnels, pipeline management, histories, and analytics?
Can you perform competitor analysis and/or track competitor products?
Are contracting and proposal generation important to you? Proposal and quote generation can differ greatly between projects, so understanding how much flexibility you have with those tools is important.
| Opportunity Management Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Opportunity Tracking |
| Opportunity History |
| Sales Initiation |
| Qualification |
| Presentation |
| Proposal Generation |
| Contracting |
| Pipeline |
| Sales Forecasting & Analytics |
Integration
This is a BIG one. The sub-categories listed in the table represent
the most common sales integrations, but certainly not all of them. Take
inventory of your other systems before you choose a CRM. Does the CRM
solution integrate with any of these? Will it need to? It’s much easier
(and less expensive) to connect two complimentary systems than trying to
jerry-rig an integration between two systems that don’t have an innate
connection.
Sometimes though, even if the systems are compatible, you may have
special fields or functions you’d like to integrate. This requires a bit
of customization but not as much as a complete integration build would
cost you.
Ask your CRM consultant to help you determine your integration needs as they relate to your sales goals. Even if you don’t plan to integrate now, it’s good to know your options and how much the investment may cost if you choose to integrate later.
| Integration Sub-Categories |
|---|
| MS Office Integration |
| Export to Excel |
| PBX and Cloud Telephony Services |
| Google Integration |
| Mail Integration |
Orders & Invoices
Once a sale is made, the order must be documented and the invoice
must be processed. CRM order and invoicing capabilities can be as simple
as providing order lists, histories, and invoices; or as complex as
adding supply and payment schedules, order processing windows, and
invoice analytics.
Remember, even if the CRM dots all the I’s and crosses all the T’s
for orders and invoices, it won’t mean much if those features don’t
reflect how your teams work. Maybe order and invoicing analytics are
important to you, but maybe they’re not.
Where do order and invoice functions rank on your list of must have features? In most cases, orders and invoice features will be used less often than opportunity management features, so if you rank opportunity management higher but are worried about order and invoice capabilities, that’s where integration (discussed above) comes back into the spotlight. Integrating that other system with your CRM can fill the gap in orders and invoices without forcing you to completely throw out a CRM that may fit your opportunity management beautifully. These are the sorts of discussions you’ll want to have with your consultant to weigh your options.
| Order & Invoice Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Order Lists |
| Order History |
| Order Processing from Website |
| Order Processing Window |
| Supply and Payment Schedule |
| Order Approval |
| Invoicing |
| Order and Invoice Analytics |
Field Sales Management
If you’re a sales rep on the go, field sales management may be one of
your most sought after CRM features. Many field sales modules will
provide tools to help the rep sell with less complication while out of
the office. Features like mapping, best route, contacts near me, and
mobile orders give sales teams control of their data on the spot.
Many CRMs offer a mobile app to access the system and perform field sales management tasks while offline. If this feature is important to your teams, make sure it’s robust enough to deliver what the teams need and that you’ve considered how any add-ons or customizations could affect your price point. See the Mobile Sales item below to learn more about mobile sales features.
| Field Sales Management Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Field Force Management |
| Field Sales Rules |
| Mobile Orders |
| Map Based Mobile Routing |
| Mobile Forecasting |
| Sales Quota Analysis |
Mobile Sales
As mentioned above, many CRM companies offer mobile capabilities for field sales management. If mobility is important to your sales team, look for a CRM with native apps for both Android and iOS (HTML-5 compatible mobile browser is a bonus). Mobile sales should include access to accounts, contacts, activities, meetings, opportunities, and leads so the rep can access the most crucial customer information on-the-go.
| Mobile Sales Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Accounts and Contacts |
| Activities and Meetings |
| Opportunities |
| Leads |
| Mobile Feed |
| Offline Mode |
| Native Application |
Contract Management
Contract management features can include a range of options. Knowing whether you need the ability to store multiple agreements, create documents based on fields or track approval processes will help you determine how “intense” you need your contract management capabilities to be. Some CRMs offer contract management just to track time or incidents for support service contracts, so if you’re looking for something more geared to sales, be sure to ask.
| Contract Management Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Contract Database |
| Printable Forms |
| Contract Tracking and Approval |
| Contract Analytics |
Product Management
Maintaining a product catalogue in your CRM that can tie a product to
an opportunity is a sales feature that many businesses find value in.
Some CRMs give the user the ability to categorize the products to belong
to a family or hierarchy of products. The feature is called “Product
Attributes”. Product Search may also be a crucial component, as sales
teams will want the ability to find and filter products from the
catalogue.
| Product Management Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Product Catalogue |
| Product Catalogue Management |
| Product Attributes |
| Product Selection |
| Product Search |
Document Flow Automation
A document library with configurable document flow automation my
prove useful for sales professionals who need to send and track
documents like contracts and work statements. An important question to
ask about document flow automation is whether the solution you’re
considering supports security restrictions. For sensitive materials
especially, this is a must.
| Document Flow Automation Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Document Approval |
| Document Database |
| Related Documents |
Project Management
Project management features allow sales reps to create milestones and
tasks to keep a process organized and track the progress of a project.
Beyond basic project management, a more robust sales CRM feature would
include project analytics and tracking.
| Project Management Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Project Management |
| Project Analytics |
| Project Tracking |
System Designer
System designer features provide control of more administrative
functions within the CRM. For example, creating role-based views or
determining access rights for the users. All CRMs will offer some sort
of system designer options, so it just depends on how advanced you
prefer your options to be.
This is another point you may want to discuss with your CRM
consultant. They can advise you on what these sub-categories are and
whether they’re important to your CRM goals.
| System Designer Sub-Categories |
|---|
| Audit Log |
| Activity Log |
| LDAP Integrations |
| SSO Support |
| Mobile Customizations |
| Access Rights Administration |
| Multi-Lingual |
| Multi-Currency |
| UI Customizations |
| Visual Designer |
| Role Based Views |
