Question

Topic: Other

Crm For Appointment Setting And Sales

Posted by Anonymous on 12/11/2008 at 8:32 AM ET 125 Points
The good news is our young business has finally cracked the lead generation puzzle. The bad news is we are absolutely overwhelmed by the admin nightmare.

We are now lookign for a CRM to handle both our telemarketing and our sales.

By way of background, our sales funnel starts by prospects responding to our (usually online) offers with their name and phone number and perhaps a few other details.

A telemarketer follows up, gets more details and, if an appointment is set, allocates that lead to a salesperson who is then repsonsible for updates on that lead.

We need a CRM that any of our telemarketers and salespeople (all around the country) can access, but with the ability to give different levels of access to different people. We do not have our own server (not yet anyway).

We just started playing around with a web-based crm called Pipelinedeals which we hoped would be the answer to our problems. It seems great for use with our sales staff. But unfortunately I'm not sure if it really is designed for use with telemarketers. For every lead it requires the telemarketer to click on the name, open up little boxes and add details, then close the box etc. Whereas our telemarketers need a system whereby they can rapidly call and just add details (perhaps from drop-down boxes) all on the one page where details such as who to call back etc are readily entered and visible. It is only once an appointment is set that the telemarketer can afford to go into greater details.

Any suggestions for a web-based crm that allows for different levels of access and can handle both the telemarketing and sales phases without slowing things down? Short of that, can anyone recommed good telemarketing software?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 12/11/2008 at 9:37 AM Accepted
    tuxmachine,

    Our company has been using salesforce.com for our own needs and to service our clients for over 6 years. It's an essential part of our infrastructure.

    The value for you may be: 1)it's completely customizable (and it doesn’t take an expert), web-based, and a “complete” system.

    Our firm handles complex prospecting, account mapping, and high revenue sales opportunity development, so a lot more involved than typical “Telemarketing”. However, the information collection, activity logging, and reporting pieces may be very similar. You’ll be able to design your page layouts to mirror your scripting so the data recording is intuitive to actual conversations.

    Last thing, the AppExchange allows you to test drive and purchase 3rd party develop applications that help expand the functionality, without hiring a consulting firm to overbill you for simple upgrades.

    I’m in NO way affiliated with SFDC, just a happy customer. Feel free to reach out if you need more info.


    -Terry
  • Posted by telemoxie on 12/11/2008 at 1:26 PM Accepted
    I have used several CRM packages over the years and most easily work with act because I thought it would be easy to hire clerical staff who are already familiar with the product.

    I would suggest that you consider carefully the cost of providing computers and software and training to all your telemarketing staff. Believe it or not, it may be much more efficient to have your telemarketing staff work from computer printouts using pencil and paper with the results keyed in by your clerical staff. This will save on computers, training time, and will dramatically reduce call time. In addition, since you'll have a limited number of people doing the data entry you will have greater control over the way they input data.

    In determining whether or not a partially paper-based system makes sense, you might consider the number of times a telemarketer would have contact with an individual as well as the technical competence of your telemarketers. You may find it less expensive to hire people who have telephone skills but not necessarily computer skills.

    In my personal experience, I have found I can make about 50% more phone calls in an hour using pencil and paper working from computer printouts rather than entering all details into a CRM.

    Good luck to you.
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