ERP Software and Enterprise Systems (including CRM) Help Tackle Tough Times

The economic downturn has caused companies to get resourceful and smarter. A key initiative, of course is to work with more fervor to bring in new customers and keep current ones. However, the key most companies are figuring out is that they need to work smarter as well. And that means using the right ERP software solutions and CRM software as powerful tools to navigate the challenging economic waters by being more efficient and resourceful with the resources you have to serve your current customer base and create new revenue opportunities.

Enterprise solutions, both ERP (enterprise resource planning) & CRM (customer relationship management) are valuable tools to maximize your performance in any economy including using your valuable customer base to get more business. An economic slump does not mean commerce has stopped. In order to stay in business both short term and long term it is critical not to let your valuable market share erode. A company that halts all spending in an economic slowdown will find out rather quickly that any competitive advantage that took years to accomplish can disappear in a few short months and never return. In any economy there are always opportunities to sell more product. The challenge is to practice effective selling strategies that offer the right consumer the right products at the right time. ERP systems can help you with this challenge.

The key benefits of ERP systems and CRM solutions are that they help pull up the right information when you need it, organize it and help you analyze the relevant data about your client and highlight selling opportunities. Data generated form ERP & CRM systems can produce a needs-based report to indicate what a customer might need that they are currently not purchasing. Developing a sales strategy with this data with a return on investment analysis for the customer with respect to purchase investment, speed of processing or numerous other scenarios is an incredibly effective way to offer additional products to customers. ERP & CRM software can pinpoint products and solutions that are the most beneficial to your customers’ productivity.

As an example, a very useful analytical report that ERP & CRM solutions deliver is information regarding the hourly profitability of sales resources by product category and group. Information is king, and ERP systems allow organizations to turn information into dollars. Enterprise applications can help you focus your resources in alignment with the 80/20 rule. Your best customers are the top 20 percent of your customers and account for 80 percent of sales. It is important to find out who these customers are and focus your sales resources appropriately. In tough times its important to maximize your resources and increase your average revenue per sales hour and average sales by customer.

Just like product analysis, ERP software and CRM systems provide the technology to know your customer and their habits so you can categorize and classify them to maximize your profitability. Once you see the information presented in various scenarios and groupings, you will be amazed at what you find. These analytics can lead to restructuring of sales strategies and staffing. Knowing who your gold level customers are can open up a new array of opportunities that could drive much needed incremental sales.

ERP & CRM application go even deeper into the analysis. By going one layer deeper companies can look at the ROI by sales hour and determine what products are the most profitable and which customers are more likely to buy them. The various ways to dissect the information are many and the beauty of the enterprise systems software is they allow you to customize the analytics to your business needs for both your bread and butter customers, and also for new customers. Enterprise systems help you work smarter by streamlining the process of finding out which leads are the highest probability of closing what products customers would they most likely purchase are critical in developing an effective sales strategy.