Beyond Closing Sales: How Mobile CRM Aids in Retaining Key Sales Personnel

How well companies monitor sales leads is key to ongoing success, especially in today's challenging business environment.  In fact, how well companies monitor sales leads is key to not only closing sales, but retaining sales people, argued Derek Warburton, vice president of sales for TenDigits Software, at a CRM User Group Summit session yesterday.

He made his case for Mobile CRM as a key component of Microsoft Dynamics CRM initially via a common sales scenario at many companies:

Being out on a sales call and having to phone your office for information on your potential lead.

"This is not an ideal scenario and not the best position to make the most effective sales call," said Derek Warburton, vice president of sales for TenDigits Software. "It is not efficient from a company standpoint."

This is where a mobile CRM solution comes in.

If an employee has a mobile CRM solution on their PDA, they "are going to have a very different experience," Warburton said during the CRMUG Summit session "CRM Mobility: Enhancing Productivity and Effectiveness." "The employee can take 10 minutes before the meeting and look up some information and refresh their memory about different issues. This will make him better prepared."

A mobile CRM solution can also be effective during the meeting, according to Warburton. 

If a customer asks for information contained on a CRM program, a sales person can seamlessly pull it up on their mobile device instead of dealing with a potentially problematic follow-up. "There is a good chance you can enhance customer satisfaction as well," he said.

After a meeting, Warburton said employees can log notes and activity items into their mobile CRM device ...