7 Best Practices To Integrate CRM with Route Mapping Tools

Smoothly integrating your existing customer relationship management system (CRM) with your preferred route planning software is crucial in identifying efficient routes for your field sales or service team.

Why? 

Because linking these two systems provides you with access to real-time customer data and insights, allowing you to plan and execute your routes more effectively. You can prioritize visits based on customer value, schedule appointments that align with optimal routes, and reduce travel time and costs.

Let’s take a look at the 7 best practices you should keep in mind when integrating your CRM with a route mapping tool.

Connecting your CRM to route planning software can allow you to visualize your customers on an interactive map. You can instantly see each customer’s location and the distances between locations, which helps you in planning routes.

The benefits include:

Improved efficiency: CRM integration with route mapping tools helps field sales reps save time by automating route planning and adjusting for real-time conditions like traffic and last-minute schedule changes.

Enhanced customer targeting: You can prioritize visits to high-value customers and organize sales activities around key data insights, improving customer service and satisfaction.

Cost reduction: By planning more efficient routes, your team can reduce travel time, fuel costs, and vehicle wear and tear.

Better data accuracy: Integrated systems ensure customer data is up-to-date and accessible, leading to fewer errors and more informed decisions.

Route mapping software can calculate the most efficient route for you, taking into account factors such as:

• Live data, including traffic conditions, can be powered by your favorite navigation app whether that's Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, or others.
• Distance between each customer location.
• The sales reps’ start and finish location.

Furthermore, you can make real-time adjustments based on traffic patterns, accidents, or last-minute appointment changes, ensuring you are always on the most efficient route.

Check out our guide to see how you can drive 25% less and increase revenue by 20% thanks to multi-stop route planning!

To further streamline customer data management within your mapping software, you can organize important customer information according to well-defined metrics like lead priority and last check-in. This approach allows for optimized route planning that prioritizes high-value customers, enabling you to make informed decisions and schedule visits more efficiently, ultimately leading to increased sales productivity.

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To fully capitalize on the benefits both your route mapping tool and your CRM software can offer you, it's important to follow key best practices that ensure a seamless and effective integration process.

Let’s go through them individually. 

The first step is to define your goals.

Ask yourself what you hope to achieve with this integration. Are you looking to reduce travel time and fuel costs for your sales team? Perhaps you want to increase the number of customer visits per day?

Another common goal could be improving customer satisfaction by ensuring timely and efficient service. Clearly defining your objectives will help guide your integration process and ensure the chosen tools align with your business needs.

For example, if your primary goal is improving customer service, you might prioritize features allowing real-time updates and accurate appointment scheduling.

Once you have established your goals, the next step is to check compatibility.

Naturally, the next thing to check is if your route planner supports your existing CRM.

For example, the Badger Maps route planner integrates with the most popular CRMs, such as:

• Microsoft Dynamics
• Salesforce
• HubSpot
• NetSuite
• Insightly
• Zoho

Badger Maps allows you to mobilize your sales CRM software, providing you with instant access to important customer information as you work your territory. You can easily sync and leverage data in your CRM, all from your mobile device. 

Field teams increase their CRM usage by 50% when using Badger Maps.

Utilizing an open-source API gateway can be particularly beneficial here. It offers a cost-effective and flexible solution to manage and route API requests, ensuring secure and efficient communication between the CRM and mapping tools.

Cleaning and organizing your customer data is essential before integrating your CRM with route mapping software. 

Why? Well in 2021 Gartner reported that data quality costs organizations an average of $12.9 million every year. Imagine where the figure stands today. 

Begin by removing duplicate records to ensure each customer has a unique entry. This step is crucial to prevent confusion and redundancy during the integration process.

Next, verify that all of your customer information is complete and up-to-date. Incomplete records can lead to inaccuracies in route planning and inefficiencies in sales operations.

For example, ensure each customer entry includes a valid address, contact information, and any relevant notes about their preferences or history. Organizing your data this way ensures that the integration process runs smoothly and that your sales team has reliable information.

Standardizing data formats is another critical aspect.

Different systems may use varying formats for addresses, phone numbers, and other data fields. Standardizing these formats across your CRM ensures consistency and compatibility with the route mapping software.

For instance, ensure that all addresses follow a uniform format, including street names, city, state, and zip codes. Similarly, standardize phone numbers to include country and area codes. This uniformity prevents errors during data transfer and ensures that the mapping software can accurately interpret and use the information.

Select a small, manageable group of users to test the integration.

The pilot group should include a diverse range of users, such as a few sales reps and managers, to ensure that the system meets the needs of different roles.

During this phase, closely monitor how your CRM map integration performs in real-world scenarios and influences sales performance. Collect feedback from the pilot users on issues such as data syncing problems or usability concerns.

This hands-on testing is crucial for identifying potential problems and making necessary adjustments before a full-scale rollout. For instance, if sales reps find that certain customer data is not transferring correctly between the CRM and the mapping software, you can address and rectify this during the pilot phase.

After completing the pilot phase and resolving any identified issues, you can gradually roll out the integration to the entire sales team.

A phased approach helps to ensure a smooth transition and minimizes disruptions to daily operations.

Start by training new users and providing them with the necessary support. During this stage, continue to gather feedback and monitor the system’s performance closely. This incremental implementation allows you to address any emerging issues promptly, preventing widespread problems that could occur with a full-scale immediate rollout.

Check out the 6 ways Badger Maps helps sales teams boost sales performance here!

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When integrating CRM with mapping tools, data must be securely backed up. Several backup strategies and tools can help achieve this. Traditional on-premises backups offer direct control over data but may lack scalability and accessibility. 

Cloud-based backups, such as AWS S3 backups, provide a more flexible and scalable solution. Why? They offer high durability, scalability, and availability, making them a reliable option for storing CRM and mapping data.

Additionally, data security should be a top priority. If you’re using cloud-based solutions, implementing a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) is essential. 

These tools protect your valuable sales and customer data from threats, ensuring your team can safely leverage integrated systems. By prioritizing security, you protect your business intelligence and build customer trust.

Integrating your CRM with mapping tools can be a game-changer, but it’s not without challenges. One of the biggest headaches is getting your team to use the new system without pulling their hair out. The key is to make logging in as painless as possible. 

You might want to look into single sign-on or magic links that are becoming more prevalent today. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s not a hassle.

Oh, and remember to check permissions across both systems—you don’t want someone from accounting, for example, to access sensitive customer data he shouldn’t see. 

Additionally, Badger Maps offers robust support to ensure the successful integration and use of their route mapping software.

You have access to detailed documentation, video tutorials, and live webinars to educate users on the software’s functionalities. The responsive support team can help with any issues, ensuring smooth and efficient operation.

Conducting regular data audits helps ensure that your customer information is current and reliable. These audits involve systematically reviewing your database to identify and correct inaccuracies, such as incorrect addresses, outdated contact details, or misclassified records.

Regular audits prevent the accumulation of errors that can undermine your CRM’s effectiveness and lead to poor decision-making. Keeping your data clean and accurate ensures your sales team has reliable information to optimize routes and improve customer interactions.

Another essential aspect of maintaining data quality is periodically reviewing and cleaning it. Over time, databases can become cluttered with duplicate records, outdated information, and irrelevant entries.

For example, different team members might create multiple entries, which can duplicate customer records, or contact information may become outdated if customers move or change their details. Regularly scheduled data cleaning sessions involve removing these duplicates, updating outdated information, and purging irrelevant records.

This improves the accuracy of your data and enhances the performance of your CRM and mapping software by ensuring that the system doesn’t get bogged down with unnecessary information.

By following these best practices, your team can:

• Improve punctuality and provide a better customer experience.
• Reduce unnecessary travel time and save on fuel costs.
• Improve territory management to prevent overlaps.
• Maximize customer visits and sales revenue.

Author bio: Catalina Grigoriev is an incurable optimist with a bubbly personality. Currently delving into the depths of SEO and content marketing at Planable.

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