Hey there, fellow business trailblazers! Can you believe summer is almost over, and pumpkin spice lattes are just around the corner? Now it’s time to boost your business and ensure your Salesforce system is ready to tackle the rest of the year. As a revenue operations team, we developed a simple guide to help you perform a CRM check that will put your business on the path to success! 

Data: Clean and Green

Clean data needs to be the foundation of your tech stack. You have to trust what your reports are saying, and data within your systems should correlate and pass seamlessly from one system to another. Duplicate and incomplete data can find its way into your instance in many ways. Yet, no matter how it gets there, you must do something about it. A system that identifies and eliminates these pesky duplicates, like duplicate management rules in your CRM, creates reliable data for effective reporting and forecasting across systems.

Customizations: Tailor-Made Solutions

Customize your CRM to fit your unique business needs. A CRM is generally a pricy part of your tech stack, so it should be set up in a way that works best for your team’s processes. For example, picture yourself running a subscription-based service. Your mid-year analysis reveals a chance to automate the subscription renewal process with custom workflows. This time-saving enhancement ensures that nothing falls through the cracks while your team enjoys the benefit of reduced manual efforts.

User Adoption: Engage and Thrive

Encourage your team to embrace Salesforce to its full potential. Consider, for example, a growing marketing agency that uses Salesforce.com (SFDC) to streamline lead management, among other things. In a recent systems check, they found sales members hesitant to embrace the new CRM because they had lingering questions about the lead qualification process. 

Organizing interactive training and feedback sessions and showcasing the benefits of your CRM to the sales team can spark enthusiasm for how efficient the sales process can be within the CRM. A few advantages of a well-organized CRM system are automation, lead qualification, and activity capture. Incorporating the team’s ideas and input will make them feel like they’ve contributed to a meaningful part of the prospect journey. 

Metrics: Power Your Growth

The very fact that your CRM collects and organizes customer information means it’s holding robust data your business needs to take advantage of. As mentioned previously, the first step is ensuring the numbers tell an accurate story. From there, you should harness the power of data-driven insights. For example, you might use the native CRM reporting feature to focus on closed lost deals and their lead source or create custom forecasts that allow your sales managers to understand when and where they will realize revenue. The possibilities are endless, so be creative and use your data.

Security: Protect Your Fortunes

Safeguard your data as if it were treasure because it is. Security means that not all your data must be accessible to your entire company. It would be best if you established boundaries and unique permission sets. 

Consider a financial services company using Salesforce to manage client portfolios. During a recent security review, they unearthed a potential vulnerability – some users had unnecessary access to sensitive financial data and personally identifiable information (PII). By tightening access controls, improving the profile and role settings, and implementing two-factor authentication, they can shield their clients’ interests and protect their data against potential threats.

We’re Here to Help

Your CRM system holds the keys to how efficiently your team can operate. It sits at the center of your organization and demands careful planning and execution. We encourage you to go through the CRM check tactics in this guide and take the necessary steps to apply them to improve your sales operations. 

Navigating the Salesforce landscape might be overwhelming, but you can do it with some professional help. You have a trusted partner with years of experience with Revenue Ops LLC. If you have questions or want to talk, contact our consultants today.