The Industry 4.0 evolution has created a paradigm shift in the way businesses are conducted across industries. As organizations turn more customer-centric, they face the obvious challenge of keeping up with the ever-changing face of the market while also staying ahead of the competition by identifying the “next” in market patterns.
Consequently, businesses across all industries rely on a solid CRM solution to organize their existing customer data and to stay updated with the current trends. The manufacturing industry is no exception to this rule.
A traditional industry that, thus far, never stepped out to seek the customer approval before embarking on a new product line, is today forced to change gears to become customer-centric. Also, it has hitherto focused only on the production aspect ignoring the sales and marketing function. Tbe result? Multiple ERP, Automation and Process tools and systems in the enterprise. An effective and unified CRM solution is, therefore, the need of the hour.
Why Salesforce CRM?
Salesforce CRM offers a wide range of features and customized solutions. Let us see how it delivers the goods for the manufacturing industry.
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Quick response time
A customer always remembers how he’s treated. How a firm responds to troubleshooting issues or a simple sales query can go a long in determining whether the customer would come back for a repeat purchase or recommend the product.
A common example of a bad customer service is when the customer waits endlessly over a call to explain an issue and get a favourable solution. The reason could be that the customer data is recorded in disparate systems leading to a considerable lag in fetching details like the purchase history and warranty.
Salesforce CRM for manufacturing organizes and compiles all the data in one place. The representative can look up the records in a jiffy and address the issue at hand.
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Identify quality leads
Sales representatives strive to convert leads to sales that will ultimately result in accruing revenue to the company. However, not all leads result in sales. And, in the process of generating as many leads as possible, companies make the carnal mistake of targeting the wrong audience and placing cold calls.
The sales and marketing team must know when to step back and analyze the customer responses before making their next move. Salesforce CRM helps the company to not only identify the right audience but also generate quality leads that have a high potential for conversion.
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More accurate sales estimation
Predicting future sales is a tough job. But instead of relying on scattered data and making half-baked assumptions, the CRM for manufacturing collates all the purchase details of customers, such as their orders, when they were placed, and the cost. It then creates a purchase graph to clearly depict the high points and low points for a specific period. Thus, with this data, the sales team is empowered to make an almost accurate prediction about future sales.
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Efficient and optimum levels of productivity
Better sales forecast helps not only the sales team in planning well in advance but also helps the manufacturing unit to have a production schedule ready. Based on the customers’ previous records, the company can estimate how much they need to produce and by what time the production needs to be ready.
The user interface of Salesforce makes it easy for organizations to adopt it seamlessly within their processes. The system eliminates duplicate entries, automates repetitive processes, saves time and increases productivity.
A proper sales and production schedule will also bring down ad-hoc costs. The unit can effectively plan for the right equipment, resources, finances and more.
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Better collaboration amongst the sales team
Being connected and remaining updated with the latest is vital in today’s speed-age communication. In a field like sales or marketing, this assumes greater significance because it’s all about networking, communicating, and being in the right place at the right time.
Salesforce’s Chatter enables the sales team to collaborate and function as a cohesive unit. The team can be on the same page regarding new opportunities, potential leads, red flag issues, and so on.
A collective team effort results in better performance and increased output.
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More sales, more revenue
This is yet another advantage of having a near-accurate sales forecast. The customer records reveal a purchase pattern that can be leveraged to upsell or cross-sell products. It’s all about getting the pulse of the consumer right.
When a customer is about to purchase a particular product, the CRM predictive intelligence brings up the related and relevant products that he could be interested in. This data can be used to push further sales. Similarly, during a lean phase, the customer could be nudged into buying more by offering attractive discounts.
Need to know more about the advantages that Salesforce CRM brings to the manufacturing industry? Get in touch with our expert team at Suyati.