How to Select the Best CRM For Manufacturing & CRM Software For Manufacturers Explained

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The Best CRM For Manufacturing & CRM Software For Manufacturers Explained

Salesforce is broadly used as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool across industries but is especially helpful to businesses in manufacturing sectors for a number of reasons. Below is an explanation of why it’s the best CRM for manufacturers.

For manufacturing businesses, tracking leads and sales using robust account and contact management functionality is critical.

Using Salesforce, manufacturing businesses successfully track and manage sales and leads. Accounts, contacts, leads, and opportunities are core functionality in Salesforce that enable manufacturers to manage customer interactions and build processes to streamline the sales cycle. What’s more, Salesforce stands out as the best CRM for manufacturers because of the simple way activities in Salesforce can be used to set up reminders to follow up with customers. Concepts around prioritizing follow up using a “top account strategy” enables manufacturers’ reps to closely monitor communications with potential customers and key accounts based on reminders users set in their Salesforce org. Paying especially close attention to those major accounts ensures regular and on-point communications to drive positive impact for a business’s bottom line.

Salesforce also enables users to excel in partner and channel management making it the best CRM for manufacturing

Building on the concept of effective account and contact management, Salesforce also enables users to excel in partner and channel management making it the best CRM for manufacturing. Businesses can combine the functionality of Salesforce activities and activity history with portals to provide access to outside reps or customers so they can see precise details about orders, status, etc. These unique tools in Salesforce help manufacturing businesses succeed in staying on top of interactions with customers outside of their Salesforce system as well as to track internal follow up and management of customer relationships. As a result, users are able to communicate and collaborate internally, with customers, and with other distributors and channel partners. With this connectivity, manufacturing businesses can share information and manage relationships effectively.

Another aspect of relationship management for manufacturing businesses that is made easy with Salesforce is engagement with customers. The ability Salesforce gives to users to provide exceptional customer support and service makes it the best CRM for manufacturing companies. Using standard features in Salesforce, businesses assist customers by staying on top of case management, ticketing, and other requests so that customer inquiries are answered quickly and thoroughly.

Inventory and order management is another feature that makes Salesforce stand out as the best CRM for manufacturing businesses.

Not only does standalone Salesforce functionality make it an effective tool but also the ease with which Salesforce can be integrated with other inventory and stock management systems sets it apart from other CRMs. Accessing details about inventory for tracking stock levels, forecasting demand, and even tracking orders inside Salesforce helps manufacturers ensure they have what’s needed on hand. What’s more, the ease with which Salesforce can be configured allows for creation of custom objects around inventory details or other aspects of orders that can be managed inside the system.

Taking a step back from the details of a manufacturer’s inventory and order history, Salesforce can also be highly useful to manage the broader aspects of supply chain management. Using processes in Salesforce enables users to better integrate with other parts of the supply chain to achieve much greater visibility, insight, and coordination with other entities that are part of the supply cycle. Manufacturers are able to optimize inventory efficiencies, promote customer satisfaction, and drive business growth. At the same time, manufacturers are also able to track standards and regulatory requirements that may be associated with product inventory thereby allowing them to closely oversee quality control in product inventory.

The ease of using Salesforce reports, dashboards and overall analytics capabilities also provides manufacturers with unique insights into their sales and operations.

These features in Salesforce standout among other CRM offerings making it the best CRM for manufacturers. With the reporting and analytics capabilities inside the system, manufacturers are able to distill customer preferences, identify gaps or weak points in operations, etc. all the while providing decision makers with key insights to support tactical and strategic planning. Salesforce enables users to create different dashboards for various needs. For example, a business may need a dashboard for users to track day-to-day activities and stay on schedule for specific tasks. Alternatively, those users’ first level managers may need to see a roll-up of activities to track how a team is working towards specific targets or goals. And finally, managers and executives may need a separate set of reports and dashboards to show longer term trends and performance that inform decision-making for the business. The granularity of these types of dashboards and the reports nested within them make Salesforce a powerful tool for users, managers, and executives.

Managing staff in the field is also a key benefit for Salesforce users in the manufacturing sector.

Optimizing personnel in the field to ensure efficient schedules, route planning, and timely coordination with customers, guarantees customer satisfaction while also ensuring careful management of personnel resources.

Finally, the features in Salesforce that promote marketing automation for messaging to potential customers in a manufacturer’s channel set it apart from other tools making it the best CRM for manufacturers. Automated email communications and follow ups with leads and opportunities enable manufacturers to stay on top of the most lucrative opportunities that will drive results and sales for their business.

Salesforce alone is a powerful tool.

However, the ease with which manufacturers can customize it to meet their specific needs working with subject matter experts like CloudArc sets it apart from other CRMs available in the manufacturing sector. CloudArc ensures its customers have all the CRM features they need without additional expense to accomplish their business objectives.