The Constant Confusion between Salesforce Automation and CRM

Every day I face the unfortunate opportunity to educate business owners and sales managers about the difference between salesforce automation and customer relationship management. There is a very significant difference between the two and it's not as simple as the industry would have you believe.

Salesforce automation is one piece of Customer Relationship Management; as is customer service, accounting, product management, product development and the ability to retrieve business intelligence by studying the data collected. CRM is the full integration of all areas of the business that affect your customers - internal and external.

Often the Sales Department opens the conversation of CRM while searching for a tool that allows them to efficiently gather leads and manage their sales process until the customer is sold and can be handed off to the Service Department. The truth is that all "off the shelf" CRM tools are really not much more than Salesforce Automation - especially the freeware and the low-cost solutions (from ACT! to Salesforce's Group and Professional versions). True CRM is seldom accomplished at the lowest level of deployment.

What excites the Sales Department about CRM is the possibility of automating many of their tasks, streamlining the process of proposal to invoice, easy access to monitor service issues registered by their own clients as well as the ability to easily report personal, team and department performance.

What should excite the business owner about CRM is the possibility of managing his/her entire business from one dashboard - at a glance, the CEO and other company leadership can monitor the performance of sales, service, accounting, R&D and Production.

We welcome the opportunity to visit with you about your company's needs to see how we can help your company find the right tool and move your business toward faster growth!

What is the Value of CRM for Small Businesses?

CRM Tools have been a hot commodity for about a decade. Originally, only the largest corporations could afford to have such a luxury. But through desire comes innovation and visionaries like those who founded Salesforce and Zoho rose to the occasion.

Today, a CRM system can be as manual or automated as a business expects... the decision usually lies in the cost to automate. While one can purchase a database for as little as a few hundred dollars, the tool is manual upon implementation. To customize, a specialist must be retained - and all too often, the business keeps the manual tool because they are fearful that their investment will not pay off.

Here's how it will.

2010 - A start-up business installs Salesforce Group Edition, a CRM Expert is brought in to "train" them on usage. Because the Group Edition does not provide for automation, all processes are defined and handled manually. The company grew from a few thousand a month in sales to a consistent $5,000/month.

2011 - This second year business desired automation so their business would grow more quickly. ZohoCRM Enterprise Editions is installed and a CRM Expert is retained to customize and automate many processes. The company grew from $5,000/month in sales to $30,000/month between May and November!

Run the numbers... This business grew 3X . The cost of their system implementation was a mere $8,000 with all licenses, customization, automation, training and support provided by Brown Dog CRM Consulting. Their investment was paid back within the first 6 months!

Brown Dog CRM Consulting automates the Lead Generation, Sales and Client Retention Processes of your business. We can also automate billing, client support, project management and inventory management.

So, yes, having a CRM tool is half the battle and it will help you grow. But, the real value of a CRM tool is in the "future" revenues that will be generated as a result of customizing the tool to fit your business needs and automating processes so that opportunities do not fall through the cracks.

I'd like to help your business grow - call me at 615-429-6184 to schedule a Complimentary 90 minute Consultation.