Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has been around for 20 years and has been broadly adopted by selling organizations. It has put technology in the hands of sales reps, enabling them to access contact information, track activities, manage accounts and opportunities, and increase productivity to some extent. Yet with the changes that have occurred with the Internet—the shift in the buyer-seller balance of power—many companies are finding that their CRM system is not keeping pace with today’s demands, and not fulfilling the promise of continued sales effectiveness.
Beyond traditional capabilities, next generation CRM includes these added abilities: 1) Mobile; 2) Collaboration; 3) Complete View of the Customer; 4) Analytics; 5) Guided Selling; and 6) Lead-to-Cash Orchestration.
This paper looks at how SAP Cloud for Sales delivers on these new key areas to take sales effectiveness to the next level and equip sales organizations with the tools they need to engage today’s empowered customers.
MOBILE
Mobility is the watchword for today’s sales reps. Mobile devices are being deployed at unprecedented rates, and everyone agrees “mobile” is big and going to get a whole lot bigger. Handheld devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets) are increasingly flexible, powerful, and useful to field-based reps.
But the impact of these devices on sales productivity depends on how they’re being utilized. CSO Insights’ research found that when used for basic functions like email, calendar, and syncing, only 38% of firms reported mobile apps had a measurable or significant impact on sales, but even more concerning is that 26% said they had no impact on sales performance. However, when used for mobile enabled sales calls (needs analysis, solution configuration, capturing voice of the customer), 71% reported mobile had measurable or significant impact on sales.
COLLABORATION
True collaboration means leveraging all the knowledge and assets within your company and co-creating a positive buying experience with your customers. For every question or challenge your company faces, someone has the answer.
COMPLETE VIEW OF THE CUSTOMER
Before they agree to say “yes” customers expect the 4R’s from sellers:
1) Recognize me; keeping track of multi-divisional corporations and their various subsidiaries is just one example of recognizing customers and the challenges associated with doing so. Another is being able to easily identify, your 20 largest or most profitable customers.
2) Remember me; purchase and service histories are part of remembering customers. The ability to look at current orders, back orders, and communications— not just emails from the rep—including all communications from your company with a customer mean not having to begin from Square 1 each time they speak with you.
3) Respect me; reps that are armed with industry-specific insights, who can speak to challenges your company has addressed in similar companies or situations mean you care enough to have done your homework.
4) Respond to me; communicating with prospects and customers the way they want to be communicated with is part of today’s reality.
ANALYTICS
Too often sales management is playing catch up—operating behind the power curve—because they only have historic measures. Examples of this are percentage of revenue attained or reps ahead of and behind plan. You can monitor these figures, but you can’t manage them because they’re already baked.
Sales reps and their managers are drowning in data yet dying of thirst for actionable information. Analytics provide a way to navigate these deep waters and optimize selling activities signaling alerts on leading indicators and providing early warning signs.
GUIDED SELLING
Does consistency matter? Survey says “Yes!” With a formal sales process and consistent use (>90%) by reps, 96% of revenue plan was attained and 72% of reps met or exceeded quota. With a semi-formal sales process and inconsistent use (<50%) by reps, the figures reported were 86% and 55%, respectively.
LEAD-TO-CASH ORCHESTRATION
One of the most surprising, and disturbing, statistics turned up in our research is that 5.4% of deals (weighted average across 800 firms) are lost after receiving a verbal approval/selection. Clearly you want to ease the buying process, smooth the customer experience, and insure that deals won become deals booked.
CONCLUSION
Sales organizations are ready for— and today’s customer expectations demand—next generation CRM: mobile, collaborative, comprehensive, and supporting higher effectiveness. There is neither time nor patience for reps “needing to check on that and get back to you,” when a buyer is ready to act. Placing actionable information literally in the hands of sales professionals during sales calls means more productive selling time, smoother sales cycles and a differentiated customer experience.
To empower reps in this way requires complete customer information from all available sources, integration across your entire organization, best practices/guidance served up automatically, constant analysis of the information stream, and immediate access to all team members. SAP Cloud for Sales delivers in each of these areas, giving your sales organizations the next generation CRM application they need to win with today’s purchase-savvy customers. 
Excerpt from CSO Insights SAP Cloud for Sales Delivers Next Generation CRM – for more info go to www.sap.com/sales.