The Best CRM for Sales Reps Designed by a Sales Rep
Streamline Your Valuable Time with Sales Process Automation
Data. Is it the kryptonite of the sales rep community, weighing down their time, and draining their energy as they sift through commission reports, territorial splits, and design wins? Or can harnessing data be a sales rep’s greatest asset in achieving client satisfaction and financial success? That all depends on whether or not that sales rep has a properly designed Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. CRMs are just what today’s busy sales reps need to make the transition from spending countless hours keying data to doing what they do best… selling. Here at P2 Automation we are confident that we’ve developed the market’s best CRM for Sales Reps. How? Because we were once in your kryptonite-laced shoes.
How P2 Automation Built the Best CRM for Sales Reps
The development of our CRM for sales reps began many years ago when Connie Biskamp, an operations manager of a highly-successful but highly-overworked sales rep firm from Texas, came across a blog post about our ability to customize software and help streamline the data collection, management, and reporting processes for sales reps in manufacturing. Connie had contacted several other software companies before discovering us, and was frustrated by the limitations on what they could provide. Nothing she came across would adequately suit her needs, and no one had the necessary understanding of the Rep Firm industry. So, Steve Pestillo, P2 Automation founder and CEO, listened and then got to work figuring out new ways to address the upgrade requirements and tidal wave-sized load of data Connie dealt with on a monthly basis.
Connie was short on time, and needed solutions faster than a speeding bullet. “Steve helped me because I had an aging software that was the Bible of our company. There wasn’t any other product out there that we could move to that could do it all. I had a limited time-frame because the software was not going to be able to function the way it was written for much longer. I had some serious issues.”
The collaboration resulted in a custom sales rep CRM and was exactly the time-saving reprieve that Connie needed to redirect her energy back to operations and her continued dedication to business automation and development. In fact, she was so impressed with P2’s capabilities and the success of the Sales Rep CRM that Steve created, and so passionate that it could help others, that she went on to join our team at P2 Automation.
Connie’s 17 years of rep firm experience, combined with Steve’s 25 years of small business software development, have allowed us to create what we consider to be the best CRM for Sales Reps on the market. What’s the biggest difference? “Simple,” Connie stated, “we listen to you and learn what you need.”
While the sales rep community in general has many similarities, regardless of the industry they represent, such as: assisting with contact management, lead and pipeline tracking, deal and quote management, and sales opportunity identification, each sales rep team also has their unique set of issues, challenges, and concerns. Our team understands your industry. We don’t need you to spend your valuable time explaining the basics to us. Instead, we jump right into the bottlenecks of your business and get to work creating a solution that best suits the particulars of your industry. The power of the P2 Automation CRM for Sales Reps is that each CRM system is customized specifically for your needs.
Real Solutions for Sale Rep Problems
Sales reps are often surprised to learn the many different areas in which a CRM can increase their efficiency and boost revenue. Let’s dive into a few of the most common issues that affect the sales industry across the board:
Sales Commissions
The sales rep’s organizations have a responsibility to pay their representatives timely and accurately. On a commission rate of 4%, even the slightest variation resulting in an error can translate to a major loss of income. Reporting criteria from principals come in a variety of programs and formats, there is no industry standard. We’ve all heard the horror stories of manufacturers who provide data in PDF format that in turn needs to be hard keyed in by the sales rep firms in order to reconcile commissions and orders. This process is tedious and labor intensive, while also being time sensitive, and prone to error. If and when errors are discovered in commission payments, sales reps have a limited amount of time to dispute the incorrect commissions. When you add in other factors such as the additional complication of calculating territorial splits, that margin for error increases exponentially.
“Crunching data and reporting data is the biggest sales prevention item there is in a rep firm. Sales teams become administrators… and then you lose them in the field selling. I’ve seen it break a lot of really good salespeople,” Connie noted.
Our CRM for sales reps has a customized Commission Calculator Product. This tool feeds the data collected from the principals and automatically does the commission calculation for you, based on the parameters we enter for your business. Our sales rep customers have identified an increase in commission accuracy, as well as a significant reduction in the time they spend crunching sales numbers. The Commission Calculator Product also provides the reports you need to keep your team and your principals informed.
Communication
Sales rep firms have to function like a finely-tuned machine. As such, there are many moving parts to coordinate and communicate with. It is not uncommon for principals to prefer to hear directly from the sales rep in the field, as opposed to the firm they represent. Distributors need to be kept apprised of completion dates and deadlines. End customers are antsy to receive the product or component you’ve sold them. There are so many components that require constant maintenance in order to keep things running smoothly.
Effectively managing all the players and communicating in a timely and efficient manner is vital to keep things moving and keep everyone satisfied. Sales reps walk the delicate tightrope of having to nudge manufacturers and “distis” along, while still maintaining a positive relationship. What if you had an app that could send you reminders and notifications to contact these different departments? We can create workflows that essentially become your own task-managing virtual assistant. We’ll even connect it to the Microsoft Outlook program you are already using to keep you on top of your activities.
Forecasting and Planning
Within these firms, in each sector, from the clerks in the accounting departments all the way up to the top executives, numerous individuals deal with a large amount of complex data on a daily basis in order to stay on top of their deadlines and goals. Management doesn’t always understand why certain information or reports take so long to generate or obtain. We’ve met with more than one firm where an employee will get stuck working through the weekend to simply try and stay on top of the mountain of information that comes their way. Forecasting is an area where having timely information matters, but sometimes it is being done at the expense of employees’ sanity.
We can take your data silos, disconnected sources of data (like your marketing database and accounting software) and connect them through a hub such as Microsoft’s Power BI. This allows you to have one dashboard that consolidates your data so you can more easily analyze it in the format you need. It allows you to track your revenue at all stages, from the initial sale through billing and collections. And in a commission based business where revenue can vary greatly, having the tools and accuracy to forecast future collections allows you to set goals and make strategic decisions accordingly… or identify and avert disasters before they strike.
We have a client who benefited from our program when we simply took the same data he’s had for years and allowed him to view it from a completely new angle. As a result, he was able to identify where time was being wasted selling a product that wasn’t very profitable, and subsequently shift his team over to more profitable products. It has changed the way he looks at his own business and has paid significant dividends both in regards to time management, and financially.
Sourcing Sales Leads
Lately, we’ve noticed a trend wherein it is getting harder and harder to get clients to agree to a sales call. It’s a typical numbers game based on the amount of contacts you’re able to make during your day. If a sales rep firm has the capability to see more potential clients in an area where they already have a sales visit set up, they can maximize their time and work more efficiently to connect with additional potential leads.
When you’re planning your day, imagine having your CRM identify other customers in that area that may be buying the same or similar products. We shine in our ability to help you find opportunities for cross-sales and get more bang for your buck out of your trip.
Is Our CRM for Sales Reps What You Need?
One of the major barriers that keeps people from investing in a custom CRM system for their sales team is that they assume it’s out of budget or only accessible to the major industry players. That couldn’t be further from the truth. While our CRM’s are customized to your specific business, we also consider ourselves experts in working with sales rep firms and have an extensive list of sales rep clients that we have helped. Chances are, if you have a problem in your sales rep business, we have previously encountered it and have already created a solution that may only require a few minor modifications to meet your needs.
Another source of apprehension is that sales rep firms are put off by the notion of having to learn an entirely new program. This is a valid concern, as this can often be a rather time-consuming process. But our system is built on the highly-popular Microsoft Power Platform and connects with Microsoft Outlook. Oftentimes, we’re taking programs you are already using and just enhancing them to better suit your needs.
Our customers have seen a positive ROI from the tools we create for them. Their sales increase. Their customers are more satisfied and have fewer issues. The employees of the sales rep firm finally have the capacity to put their talents back into selling, rather than getting bogged down with data. And user-error is significantly reduced.
“Some people continue doing the same thing because that’s all they know,” Connie noted. “I am always looking for ways to customize and streamline, to make the process easier for people.”
Be the hero your sales reps need. See for yourself the P2 Automation difference. There are a number of ways in which you can get started: you can fill out a brief form to have someone contact you by simply clicking on the following link: Contact P2 Automation, you can call us at (833) CRMPlus, or send an email to sales@p2automation.com and someone will reach out to you and help you choose the automation strategies that are right for you.
