Updated · Originally published
Does your sales love using Microsoft Excel?
Microsoft Excel has been used by salespeople for years to track sales pipelines and forecasts. But many organizations will decide to implement a CRM system to have better visibility into pipeline and opportunity management during the sales process, across the entire company and including multiple sales reps and territories.
In order to make this work, all of your sales reps need to give up their Excel documents and agree to update all of their information in the CRM system. Then the data can be aggregated and accurately reported.
Some sales reps drag their heels on this, or they rely on assistants to collect the information and make the updates, but the data can become out of date as soon as it is passed on. The key is to get sales reps to enter the information on their own, as it happens.
So how do you get sales reps to self-enter their information in CRM?
You need to give them a CRM system that is easy to update. Just as easy as updating their old method of sales tracking – a Microsoft Excel document.
Quick Updates in an Excel-like Grid
The EditAble CRM Grid tool transforms Microsoft Dynamics CRM forms (or pages) into Excel-like grids. Instead of opening each record, the sales rep can update all their records quickly, in line, by clicking on the cell. They can even update multiple cells at once.
Now, sales reps can make quick updates to the sales pipeline as they happen.
Excel-style Grouping and Calculations
Another way that Microsoft Excel is used is to perform calculations and groupings. The same can be done right in Microsoft Dynamics CRM with the EditAble CRM Grid add-on tool.
For example, a sales rep can group all of their stage 5 sales opportunities to see the total revenue for the month. They can see the numbers they are forecasting compared to their goal.
There is no need to export information out of Dynamics CRM and then perform calculations and groupings. You can keep it all in one system, so you are always using the most up-to-date information.
Make the move from Excel to Dynamics CRM
Making the move to a full CRM system used by the entire organization can be a challenge, especially if people want to stick to their old ways of tracking information. The key is to make it as easy as possible for them to adopt the new system. Make it easy for them to transition away from Microsoft Excel with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, utilizing EditAble CRM Grid, and always maintain an up-to-date sales pipeline.
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By Ryan Plourde, ForgeXRM,
