There are many types of customer relationship management (CRM) systems that you can implement to help manage your sales team's activities. But regardless of which version of the sales technology platform you choose to use, there are some "must-have" functions and strategies you should keep in mind that will truly contribute to accelerating your revenue.

Here are seven of those "must-haves":

1. Automation

Wherever possible, automate data entry as opposed to manual entry. Data entry in systems is a fact of life, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Minimize it at every opportunity you can. The more manual entry required, the higher the level of non-compliance, resentment, and inaccuracy. Examples of fields to automate: opportunity naming, account type designation, company profile info such as revenue, employees, etc.

2. Training

Sounds obvious? You’d be amazed at how many companies don’t have a planned approach to the onboarding and ongoing training of any and all personnel interfacing with the system. This applies to both the input side and the analytics side. Knowing how to use the system to manage the business is as important as how to use the system to get data in.

3. Stage Structure

Opportunity stages should reflect the “womb-to-tomb” decision making process on the prospect’s side. Each stage should be definitive, non-interpretable, and represent a clear-cut action, not an opinion. 

4. Activity Structure

Activity is what moves an opportunity through the stage process. Understanding this behavior quantitatively is a critical ingredient in the recipe for this secret sauce.

5. Activity Scoring

This goes beyond gamification. It creates a relative currency on the value of the different activities contributing to revenue. It becomes both an “investment score” on client acquisition and retention, as well as a mechanism of personal accountability.

6. Rules of Engagement

If you do nothing else, do this. Establish clear markers as to when things are done. What catalyzes the creation of an opportunity record? All data must be created for exactly the same reason, otherwise, analytical accuracy goes out the window.

7. Anatomy of a Dashboard

Dashboards are control centers. They should be the single (and only) source for reports relevant to an individual’s responsibilities. A control center should be dedicated to an individual at each level of the revenue food chain. Dashboard structure and content is driven by the viewer’s responsibilities and areas of focus.

Learn more about these and other elements and strategies for growing your company revenue with the upcoming event, Revenue Acceleration & Salesforce.com.

About the Author

Larry Nipon has consistently helped companies exceed expectations. As one of the earliest adopters of CRM technology (ACT!’s 1st beta tester), he’s created a new and different set of rules showing how to correctly and effectively marry a company’s revenue strategy to the technology to make it happen. Larry used these strategies to start and build “category-killer” companies whose growth led to acquisitions or investments by the likes of Google, Accenture, Fidelity Partners, EMAP PLC., and others.

Choosing a CRM system to manage customer relationships is one of the most important decisions a small business can make. But with so many options, how do you know which system is right for you? This e-book simplifies the big decision.