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| Built-in E-Signature | 
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| Built-in Complex Quote Creation |
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| Process Payments: ACH, Check By Phone or Credit Cards |
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| Calculate Salesperson Commissions |
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| View Revenue of each Salesperson |
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| View Revenue of each Marketing Campaign |
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| Online Client Enrollment - Paperless Enrollment |
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| Online Client Portal |
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Custom CRM Software
The owner of a company will frequently ask the question, "Which CRM software is the best for my company? Maybe salesforce.com, SiebelCRM, etc. ?" After many years of being in the software design industry, we can say from experience that those types of CRM systems are usually not the right choice. The best choice, almost every time, is custom CRM software designed specifically for what that company needs.
The owner of a company will frequently purchase mass-produced software, and try to make it fit for their company, but the end result is not exactly what they really need. Then they hire contract developers to modify it and build in all the missing functions, but they never get exactly what they really wanted. Custom CRM software, which is specifically created for them, is the only real solution. Mass-produced software will always have something missing, since it was not made specifically for them.
Does the company use more than one software system?
How many software systems are used at the company? If the company uses more than one software system, then it might not be operating at a high level of efficiency. The problem with using multiple systems is that the data in one system is not in the other system, causing problems with double entry of data. The ideal situation is that there should be only one system. Every employee should be using the one custom CRM software, and that one software should have every feature needed by all employees.
Do employees do any work that could be automated?
If employees do work that could be automated, then that company is not running at a high level of efficiency. Employees should not have to manually use a calculator, calculate commissions, or enter data two times on multiple software systems, etc. The perfect software system should do all of this on its own.
Microsoft Excel and Word
Do the staff regularly use Microsoft Word or Excel? This is not efficient. Microsoft Word and Excel are designed for one person to use, they are not designed for the daily user of the entirety of a companies staff. Often salespeople will use Microsoft Word or Excel to create a quote or proposal for a client, but this is terribly inefficient. The ideal custom CRM software would have built-in functionality to create that quote or proposal instantly, just by clicking a button. The salespersons supervisor should be able to inspect all the quotes and proposals of the subordinate. Ideally there would be a record of all quotes and proposals ever made. Microsoft Word or Excel cannot do the above.
Signing Documents Electronically
The use of separate software to sign your documents, such as echosign.com, is not efficient. The perfect custom CRM software should have this functionality already embedded in its software. Why use a separate software to do what the main software should already do? The correct solution is to have one software that does it all.
QuickBooks
Using QuickBooks for client accounting is very inefficient. QuickBooks is an excellent program for keeping track of its profits, not client accounting. The purpose of QuickBooks is not software to be used for all employees. Customer Service Representatives must be able to see the details of a clients account, but Customer Service Representatives cant have access to QuickBooks. The perfect custom CRM software would have read-only access to Customer Service Representatives.
Paper Documents and File Cabinets
Printing client contracts and documents is not an efficient way to run a company. The proper way to handle client documents is to scan client documents electronically. An even better methodology is to direct clients to electronically sign contracts, and then not even a scan is needed.
ACH Software and Check-By-Phone Software
Using separate software to enter ACH payments, or check-by-phone payments, is not operating efficiently. The use of separate software to process payments will necessitate users to enter client data two times. Managers need to have access to see all client financial transactions, and that cannot be done with separate software. Customer Service Representatives must have access to all financial details of a clients account. All of this is only possible with custom CRM software that can allow each employee to have the exact level of access needed.
Salespeople Commissions
Calculating salespeople's commissions manually is not efficient. The perfect software would automatically calculate all salespeople's commissions.
Online Portal for Client Support
Are clients calling your staff with questions about their account? This is not efficient. The efficient way to operate is to have a portal online that clients can use to inspect all details of their account, download documents, etc.
Far More Features Are Available
The features described on this paper are just the beginning. To see more, click here.
