COMPANY BACKGROUND:
This industrial equipment sales company from Oklahoma has been in business for four decades. Although it kept a relatively small staff, it acquired a long client list over that time.
Now that they’re getting ready to expand, this company needs to get their sales team better organized and transition from their paper-and-pen system to a more centralized and easily accessible one. Learn how WORK[etc]’s powerful CRM and billing features can help do just that.
THE PROBLEM:
This company has a number of lead sources – suppliers, manufacturers, and their own website to name a few – but most of their leads in recent years have come from trade shows. A majority of these leads are chased down through phone calls, the details of which end up in notebooks kept by the sales team.
This approach has worked for the past four decades, but with sales ramping up the sales team has found it hard to keep abreast of their contacts. A contact list strewn across several different notebooks — some of which may become inaccessible when whoever keeps them is indisposed — negatively affects efficiency, productivity, and the company’s bottom line.
THE WORK[etc] SOLUTION
LEAD AND CONTACT MANAGEMENT
WORK[etc] makes this aspect a breeze by consolidating all of a company’s contacts – both individuals and the companies that they work for – in one cloud-based location. You can easily find the contact details you need without having to wade through a bunch of different applications and notebooks.
Every item, correspondence, or activity that can be traced back to a contact is visible on their activity history. You don’t have to wrack your brain to remember what you and a client discussed three months ago. As long as you made a note of it, you can find it on their activity page. WORK[etc]’s powerful search, tag, and filter tools make looking for particular items fast, easy, and efficient.
Here’s a quick list of what you can do with WORK[etc]’s CRM module:
- Import whole spreadsheets of contacts using WORK[etc]’s import function. Do batch updates to existing contact details using the same method.
- Sync your Gmail and Google Contacts accounts with the platform to start populating your client list and activity history.
- Link your contacts’ social media accounts.
- Link person-type contacts to company-type contacts.
The contact page can even be accessed on your phone through the WORK[etc] iOS or Android app. Most of the heavy lifting (inputing and updating data, etc.) is done through your computer, but the mobile apps serve as an excellent resource when you are out in the field.
SALES MANAGEMENT
This Oklahoma-based company had another pressing need: a more streamlined and efficient sales management system. Specifically, they needed a platform that could handle catalog creation and quote generation without having to use a separate app.
WORK[etc]’s sales module lets you design your own detailed product catalogs and export them into printable format. Quotes can also be created online using WORK[etc] whenever a client or customer asks how much your product(s) and/or service(s) cost. You can also create an invoice directly from the quote.
WORK[etc] further supplements its robust suite of sales tools with the following features:
- Track commissions and promotional offers.
- Create subscription items or items that are billed on a recurring basis.
- Track unbilled charges and recurring subscriptions then use them to create an invoice.
- Track all of your issued, paid, and cancelled invoices.
You can also turn imported contacts instantly to sales leads and assign them to your sales agents. They can then add their own notes and reminders or even make contact through email or phone calls. If you follow a specific sales process, WORK[etc] can be customized to reflect the exact process that you put leads through.
WORK[etc] also generates sales reports and figures based on the data you enter, making it a great tool for checking metrics and performance. Its pipeline view, for example, is a graphical overview of your company’s sales that shows everything from opportunities to signed contracts. You can also include likely and total value projections for each stage. It provides a quick way to check individual agent performance as well as aggregate performance for a specific number of agents or the company as a whole.
Results
By leveraging WORK[etc]’s integrated contact and sales management modules, the company can keep better track not only of their fast-growing contact list but on any sales, leads, or invoices associated with those contacts. Used in conjunction with the platform’s mobile apps, its consolidated and detailed contact list can arm the company’s sales team with the information they need to make closing a sale faster and easier.
As the company goes through a growth period, it becomes even more imperative for them to keep a close watch on leads and the sales they generate. WORK[etc]’s robust and highly customizable sales module can serve as a complete staging point for all of the company’s sales efforts, increasing efficiency, productivity, and with a little elbow grease, hopefully even their bottom line.
SUMMARY
Requirements:
To find a better alternative to their unwieldy paper-based lead and sales processes as they experience a period of growth.
Solution:
Leverage the close integration of WORK[etc]’s contacts, leads, and sales tools to keep track the company’s every client, potential client, and sale.
Results:
Increased efficiency and productivity as well as better sales and lead tracking.
What This Means for your Equipment Sales Company
WORK[etc] brings more to the table than just the typical CRM features. It can act as an all-in-one cloud-based solution to your CRM, sales, billing, and even performance tracking concerns. Learning how to effectively use this powerful platform can help smooth out the kinks that you need to overcome to supercharge your industrial sales company and push it to the next level. You can experience WORK[etc]’s suite of tools by signing up for our free 14-day demo.
