CRM has become a must for sales team in today’s competitive business environment. And the best part of going ahead with a CRM is it helps you save a very good amount of time that you might actually spend in doing manual tasks.

If you are planning to switch to a CRM or planning to buy a new Sales CRM software altogether, check these pointers and avoid common mistakes that most businesses do when they go ahead with a CRM.

Let’s take a look:-

1] Not checking ease of use-

Whenever you look for a CRM, first check how easy it it to use. Remember that your sales team is not a technical team and nor will they have time to dig for information that they are looking for. If CRM is not easy to use, your team will never adopt to it.

This is one of the biggest mistake that people do and regret as you do go ahead with a fancy CRM but you find it so difficult to use that the team gives up on using it.

2] Not defining actual requirements-

Know your sales process thoroughly and and also see departments involved apart from sales team involved to complete the sales process. So for example if you are in manufacturing industry, you will need accounts, sales, inventory etc, departments getting involved in to complete one sales cycle with one prospect.

Knowing your process will help you a CRM accordingly. There are some CRM’s that come with features that actually are not suitable to every industry or business processes. In this case apart from CRM you will have to look for another tools and then align it with CRM to complete your process. Know what you want in the first place.

3] Ignoring customization-

After defining your requirements, check the CRM and see if it fit as per your sales process. For example: If you are in real estate business, you will of course need to track all the on-going projects, status of each project, completed projects, which contact is interested in which project etc. For all this you will need a CRM that helps you make custom tables and fields.

Also consider that the customization must be something that can be easily done else you will need to hire a developer which will be an additional cost for implementing a CRM.

4] Ignoring automation and integration –

Some CRM also require manual intervention for tasks like creating a task reminder, or adding some data etc. These tasks can be automated using sales bots and your repetitive mundane tasks can be completely skipped.

You cannot overlook the integration features in the CRM as that will bring all your necessary apps in one place and make your process much smoother and faster. You can integrate more than 1000 apps like Slack, quickbooks etc using Zapier Piesync and API integration.

5] Not checking Data storage and its access-

 Data storage and security is a big concern for many companies. Failure to meet requirements and mandates regarding security compliances can levy heavy fines and which is why you should check with CRM’s if they have proper certification. For example you can check if for SSL encryption if it is a cloud based solution. In some locations there are different mandates like if you have to do business in Europe,you need to be GDPR compliant.  Check all these details carefully and then choose a CRM.

All the above mentioned points are common mistakes and you can avoid them easily by investing in a better and affordable CRM that will contribute towards having a smooth sales process.

Author:

Abhishek Agrawal is the Founder & CEO at CompanyHub CRM. A technology lover and a writer who loves to give simple solutions on making sales teams lives easier. You can get in touch with him on Linkedin