What is CRM?

Posted by Commence on January 30, 2012 under CEO Corner | Be the First to Comment

The term CRM means different things to different people. In fact, if you ask ten people what is CRM  you will probably get ten different answers.  CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, but its roots date back more than almost two decades to what was then called Customer Interaction Software  or CIS.  Other than a name change, CRM and its purpose in the business community remains the same.  CRM is a business software solution that is used to automate the front office business processes that impact sales execution and customer service.  Its purpose is to manage the interaction between your sales and support personal and your customers.

Companies that engage in the evaluation and selection of CRM software are traditionally looking to achieve three business objectives:

1)       Data Consolidation – information is streaming into your business every day from the telephone, fax, e-mail and the web. What happens to this information is the problem. The objective of CRM software is to ensure that all of this information is consolidated into a single unified database where it is immediately accessible to those employees that need to it efficiently do their jobs.

2)      Improve Sales Execution – this starts with implementing a structured process for lead qualification and the efficient management of the sales cycle from introduction to closure.  Proper lead qualification ensures that your most valuable asset, i.e. your sales team, is focused on the most qualified business opportunities.   Proper management of the sales cycle using CRM software has helped management keep their eye on the most promising opportunities and has  been shown to improve close ratios and generate higher returns.

3)      Provide World-Class Customer Service – In today’s world where customer loyalty is only skin deep the difference between winning and retaining customers may have more to do with the quality of service you provide than it does your product.  CRM can ensure that all members of the organization have access to customer records and can respond quickly and professionally to customer inquiries.

The challenging economy coupled with a highly competitive market place has encouraged businesses of all sizes to seek a way to get a leg up on their competition.  CRM software has proven to be an effective tool for helping companies market, sell and provide service to their customers.

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Commence Takes Contact Management Software to the Next Level – Attracts Users of Act, Maximizer & Goldmine

Posted by Commence on January 20, 2012 under CEO Corner | Read the First Comment

CRM software provider Commence Corporation has added new functionality to their cloud based CRM software that is attracting users of traditional contact management products.  What is unique about Commence is the ability to manage information at the account level or the contact level with the click of a button.   Traditional contact management software products require the end user to enter contact data followed by the account they are related to.  Commence enables you to add an account then add all the related contacts in one area. This allows you to select an account and view all of the related contacts on one screen.  It’s a much more efficient way to manage customer information.  In addition, under the account view you can capture multiple addresses, notes, e-mail history, sales opportunities, pending and completed activities, documents, and project information all on the same screen.  An added feature is an automated organization chart that graphically displays all contacts, who they report to along with their title and e-mail.

Companies that are still using desktop contact management software are looking for the next generation of software that provides additional functionality, better reporting, and anytime anywhere access to data via mobile devices.  Commence CRM’s robust functionality coupled with its ease of use and affordability has proven to be a nice step up for companies still using desktop contact management programs.

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Customers Applaud Commence CRM’s Full Featured Dashboard

Posted by Commence on August 9, 2011 under CEO Corner | Read the First Comment

The highly competitive nature of the CRM software sector has software providers searching for ways to differentiate their product from the myriad of options available. While many focus their attention on adding wiz-bang features that often provide little value, one CRM software provider has focused their attention on the product’s usability and access to customer data.  That CRM software provider is Commence Corporation.

Commence is a feature rich CRM solution that is attracting customers away from industry giants Microsoft CRM and Salesforce.com.  While Commence offers several unique features over the competition, what customers find most alluring about Commence CRM is how easy the product is to use.  Commence has paid close attention to the routine functions that individuals in sales, marketing and customer service perform each day and has incorporated this functionality directly into the product’s dashboard or home page.  With Commence CRM, sales and customer service people can conduct the majority of their daily business without ever leaving the dashboard.  This not only reduces the learning curve, but provides customers with an immediate return on their investment.

Commence customers and resellers have commented about  the clean and efficient deign of the dashboard which is cosmetically appealing and so easy to use that employees immediately become comfortable with the product’s navigation and access to customer information.  “Commence CRM is well designed, has an excellent sales workflow process and enables the user to perform numerous tasks with a single click.” says Nigel Park, managing director of TPS Consulting, an IT consulting firm and reseller of Commence CRM.  “Customers who test the product prefer it every time over the competition.”

Commence CRM Dashboard

With Commence CRM the user can read and compose email right within the CRM system, add activities, create a new lead or a new account, add a sales opportunity, a service ticket or a project task right from the product’s dashboard.  You can even access both standard text and graphical reports from the reports tab on the left hand tool bar.  No other CRM system offers this level of access to customer and sales data as easily as Commence CRM.

Outlined below is a comparison of the dashboards of Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  You can see for yourself why customers prefer Commence CRM.

Salesforce Dashboard

Microsoft CRM Dashboard

To learn more about Commence CRM and the features that are making Commence one of the most talked about CRM solutions, visit the company’s web site at commence.com or call Commence Sales at 1-877- 266-6362.

The Clear-Cut Advantages of Standardizing the Selling Process

Posted by Commence on October 27, 2009 under CEO Corner | 9 Comments to Read

Any high-growth business strategy must begin with a consistent and disciplined sales process that is easily understood across the sales organization. Salespeople and their managers need to use the same vocabulary, and view selling opportunities as having sequential stages that must be completed before a suspect becomes a prospect, and a prospect becomes a customer. Following a consistent process reduces the anxiety and uncertainty common among both salespeople and sales managers because everyone knows what is expected and needed for every sales pursuit.  Having definite requirements and policies on when and how to give a demonstration, prepare a proposal, or send a sample helps the sales force proactively control the sales process versus simply reacting to requests from potentially unqualified prospects.  Better preparation, deeper research, and clearer goals for each stage of the selling process will result in a more effective sales team and better business results.

A standard approach to pursuing and tracking opportunities is a smart way to assure that all sales activities are aligned with organizational goals and the overall direction of sales management. Consistency also reduces the amount of non-value added sales activities such as drafting letters, writing reports, and having lengthy phone calls to determine what stage is next in a sales opportunity.  Having standard terminology saves time and minimizes confusion.

Sales managers benefit from standardized CRM Sales processes because it is also easier to determine how each salesperson is performing.  Opportunities that are stalled in one stage can be identified and resolved.  Salespeople benefit from standardization because they waste less time determining what information is missing and what the next step should be in the workflow. Sales appointments become more productive because they are only conducted when qualified as part of a planned sequence of events.

The high level steps to implement a sales process are:

1. Document your sales process
2. Design your implementation
3. Train your sales team
4. Support the implementation

Some companies adopt branded systems such as Sandler, Solution Selling, Dale Carnegie or others.  Others develop their own systems with distinct terminology; perhaps a hybrid of popular systems or a mix of the techniques used by the company’s most successful sales performers.

A standard sales process allows companies to more easily analyze events and make sense of trends. As a regional sales manager at a mid-sized organization observed, “The only way to discover what’s working and what’s not is to measure the individual steps of the sales process.  If you know the percentages of prospects that proceed through each stage of the process, you accurately predict how many sales will close in the future, based upon the current pipeline.  You can also compare the performance of team members and take appropriate action, like additional coaching, in order to ensure that the team remains productive.”

Applying Best Practices to Sales

Most organizations are not strangers to processes, systems, and re-engineering.  For example, in the manufacturing industry, plants and warehouses couldn’t operate profitably without them and no business manager would let accounting and purchasing departments improvise. The more complex the task, it’s more likely that the effective principles and processeses for successfully completing that task have been defined and codified.  In other words, much of the business world is already highly process-driven, systematized, and automated.

Yet, oftentimes, the sales department hasn’t been automated.  For example, in a recent study of distributor respondents, eighty-eight percent indicated that they do not have a documented, formal sales process.  Given that sales is fundamental and represents a large expense item, it was quite surprising that written sales processes were non-existent for the majority of the study participants.  Without such a document to provide a consistent road map, executives have no choice but to depend on the creativity, work ethic and luck of individual sales reps and their managers.

Organizations without a documented sales process often exhibit several common symptoms, such as a disconnected and manual approach to selling and a lengthy cycle time to find prospects, get quotes out the door, and close orders.  This may in turn lead to irritated prospects, who expect a rapid response to their inquiries or request for a proposal. .  In addition, top sales employees may become annoyed.  They want to sell, not figure out the best way to put prospects in the pipeline, create quotes, enter orders   and track shipments delivered. Other symptoms of process deficiencies include abundant and costly errors, evidenced by expedited orders and high volumes of returns, and inadequate margin on too many quotes, resulting in deflated profitability.  This may lead to stagnant sales from the most important customers and cause engineering and other departments to be pulled into disarray when the sales team gets a request for proposal or learns about a bid opportunity.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.  Many executives voice issues similar to these, yet the remedy seems to be incredibly difficult.  Sales teams are often extremely autonomous, and management struggles to avoid “big brother” accusations and micromanaging.  Despite these legitimate concerns, it is not that difficult to successfully implement a standard sales process.

When reviewing the various sales methodologies and processes available, make sure your final selection is repeatable, predictable, and scalable.  What you want is a sales process that is simply enough that, over time, it will become second nature to the sales staff. Also, make sure that it isn’t too complicated, or the sales team will not use it.

The elements of a sales process typically include:

• a common vocabulary for describing the activities involved in selling
• clearly defined stages of selling
• an agreed upon checklist of what it takes to move from one stage to the next
• consistent guidelines for information to be gathered and given at each stage
• clear expectations for how long each sales stage should take
• concise definition of suggested next actions

When smart organizations are designing a sales process implementation, they focus on change management, not sales training.  By implementing a formalized sales process, businesses are fundamentally changing the way people do their jobs on a daily basis.  There will be natural resistance.  To develop a change management plan, make sure you can answer the following questions:

• What motivation do sales people have to use the new system?
• What potential barriers are there to implementation?
• How can I overcome those barriers?
• How will I know if the implementation is successful?
• What should I expect during the transition?
• Who can people go to if they have questions?

Follow the Leader

One of the best ways to make sure implementations “stick” is to have the management involved.  One recent study found that when sales training is reinforced by management, the sales skills taught during training produced a 15% permanent increase in productivity.

Management needs to be involved in more than a cosmetic fashion.  A senior member of the management team needs to attend the training, and this same manager should inspect the sales activities for a period of time to make sure they continuously are consistent with the new sales introduced during the training.

At the end of the day, the challenge with adopting a new sales process is getting everyone to follow it.  Sales management must lead by example in sales meetings and on sales calls.  An automated workflow reinforced by a CRM system that quickly prompts a salesperson to enter required information before moving to the next sales stage is invaluable. Standard reports and online visibility into the sales pipeline can help monitor the progress of opportunities over time so that both the salesperson and the sales manager can spot when an opportunity is stalled.

As one sales leader summed up his company’s recipe for success: “Our company can’t grow consistently unless the sales process is repeatable, not arbitrary.  For us, it is a condition of employment – you have to embrace the standards, follow the processes and use the CRM system.”

About Commence Corporation: Founded in 1988, Commence develops and delivers a diverse suite of award winning CRM software that integrates people, processes and technology.  Available on-premise or online, Commence CRM solutions are utilized by several thousand businesses to streamline sales and customer service front office business processes.  As a result, Commence clients increase workforce productivity, generate positive customer interactions and reduce operational cost.

Commence Customers Welcome New Hosting Service

Posted by Commence on under Commence News | 2 Comments to Read

-FREE Software Upgrade Offered to Existing Customers-

TINTON FALLS, N.J., (October 15, 2009) – Commence Corporation, a leading provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software solutions, today announced that it is extending its managed services offering to existing desktop customers and offering a complimentary software upgrade with its new hosting service.

“Today’s economic crisis has created an environment whereby companies are finding it difficult to upgrade and maintain their own IT infrastructure,” said Larry Caretsky, president of Commence Corporation. “Some have been forced to reduce their IT staff, making the management of their systems even more challenging. As a result, these businesses may now be working with older, fragile hardware or unsupported software and they are rightfully concerned about the impact this will have on their business.”

Commence Corporation has created a unique Managed Service designed to address this business challenge for existing customers.  The service places the role of managing and maintaining the Commence Server hardware and software with Commence Corporation.  It provides customers with the use of state-of-the-art high-speed server hardware at Commence Corporation’s data center as well as 24/7 management of the system by trained engineers. Customers are also entitled to a free software upgrade and continued upgrades for as long as they remain on the service. This ensures that they are always working with the highest quality server hardware and the latest version of the software.

Abhijit Joshi, president of White Hedge Inc., recently switched over to the service and is pleased with the outcome.  “As a small company I did not have the resources to purchase the equipment and staff necessary to manage and maintain my Commence system,” said Joshi.  “In addition, keeping up with the latest product releases became difficult.  By outsourcing this function to Commence I freed up time and resources to dedicate to growing my business while Commence manages and maintains the hardware and software.”

Joshi, is not alone, several dozen new companies are already utilizing Commence’s managed service. For more information contact Commence sales at 1-877 – COMMENCE.

More About Commence Corporation

Founded in 1988, Commence develops and delivers a diverse suite of award-winning CRM products that integrate people, processes and technology. Delivered via the popular software-as-a-service (SaaS) model or implemented as on premised licensed software, Commence CRM solutions are used by thousands of companies to streamline sales and customer service front end business processes.  As a result, Commence clients increase workforce productivity, generate positive customer interactions, and reduce cost. More information about Commence can be accessed at www.commence.com.

CRM Solution Enables Title and Escrow Company to Achieve Greater Productivity and Effectively Communicate with Customers, Loan Officers and Real Estate Agents

Posted by Commence on October 2, 2009 under Customer Success | 3 Comments to Read

-Solution Supports “Customer for Life” Business Model-

For many people, buying a home is one of the more stressful life events. From packing up belongings and getting financing, to working with real estate agents, property inspectors and title officers; the process can be daunting. For real estate professionals, keeping everything running smoothly means managing every aspect of contract to closing.

To improve the customer experience and provide the highest quality escrow and title services, Bellevue, Washington-based The Talon Group supports their business processes with Commence Desktop Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. By choosing Commence’s CRM system, the company has gained a centralized solution for managing data. As a result, The Talon Group is better able to standardize processes, efficiently communicate with customers, improve productivity and support their mission to “build customers for life.” Read more of this article »

Information Management Fuels Sales and Supports

Posted by Commence on under Customer Success | 3 Comments to Read

-CRM Solution Drives 114% Growth in Sales within First 90 Days of Implementation-

A key challenge for companies with multiple divisions spread across many locations is collaboration, especially when it comes to business-critical information. At Southern Petroleum Laboratories (SPL Inc.), a leader in the petroleum and environmental testing industry, customer information was stored in many disparate databases. As a result, sales and operations professionals were duplicating efforts and lacked insight into customer successes and service issues. To address this, SPL implemented Commence CRM from Tinton Falls, N.J.-based Commence Corporation in the fall of 2005 to improve information management. The company experienced a 114% growth in sales within the first 90 days and has been able to sustain that growth despite a chaotic economy. Read more of this article »