Sales managers have the tough job of keeping tabs on their team. They need to know what each sales representative is doing, how successful their activities are, and how well (or poorly) different product lines are selling. Instead of stopping by each of your team’s offices, you can save time and prevent disruptions by using innovative technology, such as Microsoft Dynamics® CRM.
Sales managers are connecting Microsoft Dynamics® CRM () with Microsoft SharePoint® Server 2010 to streamline communication and collaboration with their sales teams. By using this powerful software duo, you can monitor a central dashboard for your entire team, which is far more efficient than setting up meetings or checking in with the team individually. You can get a “big picture” view of sales activities, then dive deeper into the details by team member or by year-to-date sales. In a video titled “,” posted on the Microsoft Partner Network, you can see how one sales manager checks on pending sales opportunities, sales invoices that need to be submitted, and an Excel® table comparing team sales figures. All of the major key metrics are consolidated on a central dashboard, which offers a quick and easy way to access the important data that is needed to monitor the team, as well as make the important decisions that close sales.
As noted in the video, when a sales opportunity is won, you can continue to monitor activities for that account, such as review and approve the invoices that go out. As each invoice goes out, the central dashboard that notes sales data is automatically updated, so you can see how the team is doing on overall sales or how regional sales are changing. Other support members of the sales team can also take advantage of Microsoft Dynamics CRM with SharePoint Server 2010 to communicate and collaborate more efficiently. The video also illustrates how the support team can check on the case record for each account. In each case record, the team can see information about the customer, as well as pending tasks. The support team can complete tasks, enter notes that may be helpful for the team to know about that task, and check tasks as “complete” off the list. Each member of the team, including the manager, can see how each account is progressing.
Sales managers are finding that Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 can streamline how they monitor team sales activities, as well as how they communicate and collaborate with the team. .
By Rimrock Corporation,
