A sales management system on your desk

Think about some important components of a successful business. What comes to your mind? Some of our readers would mention reliable front desk staff, a team of trained salespeople or a solid website that attracts new clients. Maybe some will think of a referral-rewarding plan and a customer retention program.

Now that we have this list, I can see a pattern emerging. All of the techniques mentioned above target one area of business development: sales. This consensus is here for a valid reason. Sales management is simply the most crucial aspect of a successful venture, be it a mom-and-pop grocery store, an environmental activist organization or a multi-national corporation with headquarters on nine different continents.

True enough, sales may not necessarily be a particular organization’s primary goal (like in the environmental agency’s case.) Nevertheless, sales, be they in the conventional form of soda bottles sold, or be they in the more atypical form of donations raised, are crucial to the continued survival of any establishment that incurs expenses during the course of its existence.

An unfortunately big number of small business owners may not be realizing right now that their companies need a tracking system for assessing their sales performance. Having such a system in place lets business owners and managers set sales goals and measure salespeople’s performance in respect to this baseline.

Most enterprises that decide to address the need to track their sales performance rely on Customer Relationship Management software. These are programs that are built especially for medium to big firms, and normally offer the software as an installation pack for a set substantial price or as a monthly online subscription. Some examples of CRM platforms are Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Salesforce.com, and Oracle’s CRM on Demand.

Nevertheless, small businesses and individual professionals often do not have the resources to afford a costly CRM package. In that case, we at NVSBS recommend a reasonable alternative, and this is the sales tracking system that we use for our own purposes, Business Contact Manager in MS Outlook. We believe it to be quite affordable and easy to implement. Sales tracking is available through BCM by means of tracking individual salespersons’ performances, as well as the results of distinct marketing campaigns. This will enable you, as the owner of your enterprise’s fate, to increase its sales and improve its potential for survival. Then, you will finally have the time to think about fulfilling your organization’s mission.

If you decide to pursue either one of the courses towards a sales management system inside your firm, we recommend getting professional training on effective application techniques. That way, you will learn to utilize the software to its full extent in a way that applies to your particular business. In fact, NVSBS already offers seminars on BCM's connection to sky-high sales. In the case if you decide to opt for the more complex CRM platforms, we recommend personalized consulting that would enable you to learn one-on-one about the peculiar possibilities that Customer Relationship Management brings to your industry. Otherwise, we always look forward to new comments and suggestions. We also urge you to subscribe to the NVSBS blog so that you can automatically receive fresh advice on running a small business twice a week.