Lead Management Software

The Vanilla Soft page has a good article by Ken Murray (News - Alert) on five things to consider from an Inside Sales standpoint before plunking down money for CRM, SFA or telemarketing tools.

"For those of us that focus on Inside Sales, I think many of us would argue that CRM gives a lot of folks some snazzy reporting but does little to boost the productivity for our sales people," Murray says.

So if you are considering software for your Inside Sales team, here are Murray's five key questions to ask:

"What is your desired end state?  Visibility, reporting or more production from sales?" If it is a production boost you are seeking, I would shy away from traditional CRM and seek out platforms that increase the effectiveness of your sales team through enablers that power and increase their activity.  If your sales are fine and you are seeking a deeper understanding of the customer relationship, then CRM may hold the answer.

"What is your bandwidth to implement a new platform?" If you are a small or medium sized company without an IT department, then simpler is better. CRM can be a bear to implement, especially if you are going to have several departments making multiple touches.

"What is your budget?" Needless to say, budget will rule the day.  The good news is that with the vast amount of offerings today, companies can pick from best-of-breed providers and power their Inside Sales people for cents per hour.  Pricing is all over the place but you can start to get some real functionality starting at $65 per month and max out around infinity.

"What is the cost of distractions?" Adding a new platform or changing platforms is not done in a vacuum.  There will be lost productivity as team members migrate through the change.  The most masterful implementations that I have seen always involved the selling team early in the process.  Create buzz around the value to them.  

"What if it all goes bad?" With all of the vendors with great offerings, easy implementation and no contracts, there is no reason to make a bad decision that you can’t turn around very quickly.  Most service providers offer a 30 day free trial.  You don’t have to go all in.  Pick a vendor, pick a campaign and give them a try.  Most will tell you in advance if they are a good fit for your sales organization.