CRM Analytics Provide a Snapshot of Your Business
Reporting is one of the most important and critical components of CRM software and should not be overlooked when evaluating CRM software packages. Basic CRM solutions provide standard pre-built reports primarily for account and contact management or for sales such as 30, 60, or 90-day forecasts. Other more robust packages offer customizable reporting where you can edit the pre-built reports to meet other requirements. The key to getting a return on your investment however is driven from programs that offer analytical reporting. These more advanced CRM systems enable management to get a real time snap shot of business performance not only from sales, but from a marketing and customer service perspective as well.
Sales Analytics: Sales Pipeline
The interactive sales funnel below illustrates a sales pipeline for the entire sales organization. Management can review each sales representative’s pipeline and click any stage of the sales cycle to get the details of every potential sale within that stage. This enables management to stay on top of new opportunities and to take a pro-active approach to assisting in deals that are critical to win.
Other graphical sales reports display the top ten opportunities by revenue and a comparison of sales by industry sector.
Marketing Analytics: Leads by Source
The tracking report shown below illustrates the number of leads your business is getting and the source of those leads such as a trade show, e-mail campaign, direct phone calls, or customer referrals.
Advanced CRM systems give your marketing organization the ability to create and manage bulk e-mail campaigns and to measure the effectiveness of each campaign. Understanding which lead generation programs are driving the most business is critical to improving the quantity and quality of lead generation and closing more business.
Customer Service Analytics: Open Tickets by User
Robust CRM offerings also provide a look into customer service. The graphical pie chart below displays the number of open service tickets for each assigned customer service representative. This helps to determine which representatives are handling customer inquiries quickly and efficiently, and which ones may need assistance. Management can click any part of the chart to drill down and get more details about the tickets handled by each service representative.
Most mid-size to larger organizations view CRM analytical reporting as a core feature of CRM software and one that can deliver the return on the investment they are looking for. The reports illustrated are samples taken from Commence CRM, a software program targeted at mid-size organizations.
All images courtesy of Commence CRM