In doubt between CRM, ERP or sales control spreadsheets? Understand which is the most suitable tool to control your commercial area
Everyone has a question in his mind that how does sales control work in Sky Marketing so perfectly?
Commercial control is one of the most strategic tasks of a business. It is through it that all the data about the deals closed are obtained and analyzed, so that it is possible to understand how the sales operation works in the company. From this, it is possible to know what the positive and negative points are, and where to improve.
When the company doesn’t control sales well, on the other hand, the result can be disastrous. Poorly defined business processes can impact customer attraction and loyalty and disrupt the business as a whole, including in other areas.
Even aware of this importance, many companies still cannot control effectively, using, for example, tools that are not ideal. Its consequences? Poor sales results and income that leaves something to be desired.
If you’re having trouble tracking your sales, keep reading the article. In it, the team of Blue World City will show you how to make an efficient commercial control and answer questions about which tools are the best. Follow up!
How to make an efficient sales control?
The best way to effectively track sales is to use a good tool. This is because performing the task manually is laborious and can impact employee productivity.
Among the most common tools for controlling sales are CRM and ERP software. If you don’t know the difference between these two types of systems or are choosing which tools to use in your business, we’ll introduce and compare them below.
What is a CRM for?
CRM is an acronym that stands for Customer Relationship Management, or Customer Relationship Management. We can talk about CRM in two specific situations: as a methodology and as a tool.
As a methodology, CRM means turning to the customer relationship at each stage of the purchasing process, looking for ways to optimize the conversion of leads into sales. This includes improvements in the commercial process, in sales control, in information management and even in salespeople’s tasks.
To make this methodology applicable, there are CRM software such as RD Station CRM. These tools have a series of features that automate routines and help not only salespeople but commercial management as a whole. Examples are:
- Complete view of the sales funnel and individual by team or salesperson;
- Monitoring of business metrics and reports;
- Analysis and statistics on the health of the commercial process, such as the evolution of the average ticket and the length of the sales cycle;
- Virtual telephone, which allows contracting opportunities directly through the platform and storing the call recording;
- Complete history of Leads, with notes of meetings and business contacts;
- Sending emails with customizable templates by platform.
In short, CRM organizes the business process and helps control sales.
It is with it that you will be able to generate and monitor data on your sales, on the performance of salespeople and understand what you need to improve to sell more.
What does an ERP do?
ERP is an acronym for Enterprise Resource Planning, that is, Enterprise Resource Planning. An ERP software is used for integrated sales control with other areas, such as accounting, finance, administration, inventory, fiscal control, production and logistics.
Thus, ERP automates several processes and facilitates the exchange of information between departments, keeping the entire company updated in these flows.
The system is also essential for controlling the company’s cash flow, reconciling receipts and orders that have already been executed and allowing management to have a correct view of the amounts payable and receivable.
Likewise, the issuance of notes and payment of taxes is also more organized, which protects the company from problems with the tax authorities.
Other Sales Tracking Tools
In addition to CRM and ERP, there are companies that use other tools, most of them less professional, to control sales.
An example is sales spreadsheets, when the company uses Excel files or Google Sheets to store information.
However, except for start-up operations, this form of commercial control is not indicated. When the business makes few sales, producing a small amount of information with each negotiation, the spreadsheets can be relatively organized—better than writing it all down on paper, for example.
However, over time, the analyzes become limited, as sales and tasks performed by the commercial area grow. So, while they’re useful to get you started, there are better ways to get the job done, like the tools we’ve talked about above.
CRM or ERP? What tool can improve my commercial tracking?
The answer to this question depends on the complexity of your company’s operation. If you have a considerable volume of business per month, a team of salespeople, and you need the most assertive and automated sales control, then CRM and ERP are necessary to achieve this goal.
CRM allows you to establish a well-structured sales process, with defined stages, goals and success indicators. Using the software, you will be able to closely monitor the performance of salespeople and understand if they are following the designed process.
In addition, CRM reports are the sales manager’s best friends, because they allow you to quickly discover if there is any obstacle preventing the team from hitting the goals. You can even track the reasons for lost sales, to try to recover Leads or improve your process.
Similarly, ERP organizes and automates communication between the areas involved, especially in the steps after a sale. All bureaucratic and delicate tasks that involve invoicing, releasing orders and making the product or service reach customers is facilitated by the system.
Using only ERP, however, may not be the best option when the objective is to efficiently control sales. That’s because the software doesn’t have all the tools needed to optimize the area. A complete CRM tool, on the other hand, focuses on sales, allowing for the improvement of commercial performance.
So, if you need to choose, opt for CRM. But if possible, invest in both tools. Integrated, CRM and ERP form a powerful sales control machine, as they involve all areas without increasing management difficulties. Thus, there is a gain in organization and productivity, as well as savings in resources and time for the teams.
How to choose a CRM and an ERP for my business?
Choosing a tool should always be made thinking about how it can improve processes in your company. Therefore, select options that contain features you really need, that solve real problems in your day-to-day and in your sales team.
CRM, for example, needs to have a user-friendly interface, be easy to implement and configure, and have a support structure for questions, especially from salespeople who will use it on a daily basis. ERP, on the other hand, must be fully adaptable to the company’s molds and to the division of sectors and process stages.
A very important point is to pay attention to the integration between the two tools. It’s no use having a quality CRM and ERP if both don’t communicate efficiently. Employees will waste time trying to collect and interpret data in one system or the other, and there goes the productivity gains and resource savings.
Make sure your CRM can be integrated with the ERP of choice without harming the operation. You can check your tool’s App Store and Help Center and evaluate the options available to help you make that decision!
If you haven’t chosen a CRM yet, get to know RD Station CRM and start optimizing the control of your sales right now. With RD’s sales tool, you can:
- Organize your sales process
- Track your sales funnel in real-time
- Automatically record all activities
- View the performance of the team and each salesperson