Choosing the best CRM software for outside sales is a must if you are to be successful as an outside sales rep.
Having a centralized management system for all of your important customer information can allow outside sales teams to organize themselves better, ultimately leading to higher revenue streams as a result of increased efficiency.
Features such as contact management, sales pipeline management, reporting and analytics, and integration capabilities are of vital importance to outside sales teams who, if they were to be required to manage these tasks manually, would end up drowning in paperwork.
According to one forecast of research done by Nucleus Research, they speculated that for every dollar a company spends on a CRM, they could expect to receive a ROI of $30.48. That’s a staggering return that outside sales teams must capitalize on.
So let’s take a look at how outside sales teams can drive efficiency and increase revenue by using a CRM.
Making use of a CRM can be a game changer for outside sales teams. Let’s take a look at some of the most important factors such as improved communication, better organization, and data-driven sales insights.
Utilizing a CRM software for sales reps will greatly improve your communication processes.
How?
Having important customer info at hand in the field will help you personalize your sales communication, ensuring you are addressing each individual customer's needs and specific pain points. This level of personalization demonstrates to your customer that they feel valued, increasing their faith in you as a sales rep and furthering your chances of landing a sale.
With a CRM software in place, you will also be able to maintain a level of consistency in your communication that couldn’t be achieved otherwise. Each interaction can be logged, meaning if there are multiple people involved in a transaction, everybody involved can see what has been said and come fully prepared to each meeting.
There’s nothing worse than your customer believing one piece of information and you another, so with a CRM system in place you can easily avoid mixed messaging.
Consolidating all of your customer data in one system will make it easier for outside sales teams to have instant access to contact details, interaction history, follow-ups, and other important pieces of information that can help them when selling to customers.
Sales productivity can flourish with use of a CRM.
With all of your data in one place and not spread around across multiple platforms, outside sales teams will benefit greatly from a more organized workflow. Better access to data has been shown to shorten the sales cycle by 8-14%, according to a study done by Nucleus Research.
This organized system a CRM offers can allow sales teams to work faster and focus more on the nitty gritty elements of selling instead of tedious admin tasks such as scheduling meetings, setting reminders, and follow ups. Additionally, automated workflows ensure that no opportunities are missed, as every customer interaction is meticulously tracked and logged in the CRM system.
A CRM tool used by field sales teams offers powerful reporting and analytics features that can help you track sales rep performance, identify market trends, and make informed decisions that can aid to your bottom line.
With the organizational capabilities on offer, you will be able to collect quality sales metrics on your customers, all in one place.
Many of the leading CRM systems such as HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoho offer in-depth analytics capabilities that will give you a clear overview of the entire customer journey. They offer customizable sales dashboards that give detailed overview of sales performance, allow you to manage your pipeline visually so you can get insights into every stage of the sales process, forecasting tools that use historical data to predict future sales, and much more.
Listen to this Outside Sales Talk podcast episode with the senior inbound sales professor at HubSpot Kyle Jepson who shows you how to build your sales right with the right CRM and sales tech!
It's clear to see that using a CRM tool as an outside sales rep can lead to massive improvements in your teams producitivity levels.
Now let's take a look at the best CRM software tools in the market.
Price: Starter – $50/mo, Professional – $500/mo, Enterprise – $1,200/mo
Features: streamlining lead management, email marketing, sales pipeline and deal tracking.
Capterra Rating: 4.5/5
HubSpot is one of the best CRM for sales reps. HubSpot offers state-of-the-art lead management, sales pipeline and deal tracking, email marketing, and sales automation features that can allow outside sales teams to engage with potential customers at every stage of the buyer's journey.
They offer a sleek and modern user interface that is simple and effective to use. The HubSpot mobile app enables sales reps to access CRM data on the go. You can update records, log calls, and check information from your smartphones or tablets, which is crucial for outside sales.
HubSpot’s Marketplace offers over 1500 apps that outside sales teams can integrate with, improving the effectiveness of their HubSpot CRM.
One such app is Badger Maps, a route planning tool that helps salespeople spend less time driving and more time doing what actually matters - selling! Badger Maps can streamline your entire sales process and on average, sales teams who use Badger Maps sell 22% more and drive 20% less.
Price: Starter - $ 25/user/month, Professional - $ 80/user/month, Enterprise - $165/user/month, Unlimited - $ 330/user/month
Features: sales forecasting, lead and opportunity management, customizable CRM dashboards, advanced reporting, and scalability for large teams.
Capterra Rating: 4.4/5
Salesforce CRM for salespeople is a robust platform designed to enhance the productivity and effectiveness of outside sales teams. Salesforce's scalability allows it to seamlessly adapt to the growing demands of large sales teams without compromising performance.
Their AI feature, Einstein, provides predictive analytics and personalized recommendations that can help boost sales efficiency. Einstein makes use of historical data to predict future sales outcomes. For outside sales teams, this means forecasting sales, predicting which leads are most likely to convert, and identifying potential opportunities.
The Salesforce AppExchange has over 7000 apps that outside sales reps can integrate with, enhancing their experience using Salesforce CRM.
Check out the list of the best Salesforce integrations for sales teams here!
Price: Standard - $15/Month, Professional - $39/Month, Premium - $79 /Month, Elite - $239/Month
Features: customizable CRM solutions tailored to smaller sales teams, allowing interface, field, and process customization to match specific needs.
Capterra Rating: 4.3/5
Although Zoho CRM can work well for larger outside sales teams, this is a great field sales CRM for those working in a smaller team.
Small sales teams usually don’t have the most complex of needs and with Zoho offering features such as lead management, email campaigns, pipeline management, and reporting, this efficient CRM software tends to satisfy their needs perfectly.
The churn prediction feature allows sales reps to organize their customers based on their likeliness to churn, helping them to plan ahead and take the necessary action to ensure they don’t lose their customers to a competitor.
As a sales rep, it’s essential that you have access to your outside sales CRM in the field. The flexibility a mobile CRM offers reduces the friction associated with data entry and management, leading to more consistent usage and better data quality.
By integrating your mobile CRM with a route planning software, you can access crucial customer information, track interactions, and manage your schedules in real-time while on the go. This seamless access can help you always be prepared, informed, and ready to capitalize on every sales opportunity, regardless of your location.
With the ability to update records immediately after a customer meeting, schedule follow-ups, and receive real-time notifications, you can enhance productivity and streamline the sales process. This level of integration not only boosts sales efficiency but also allows you to provide a more personalized and responsive customer experience.
“CRM usage increased more than 50% once our sales team adopted Badger”
Ken Buck
Regional Sales Manager, Danaher
Price: $58/month Business, $95/month Enterprise (Free 7-day trial)
Features: Route optimization, route planning, lead generation, keeping track of appointments
Capterra Rating: 4.6/5
Badger Maps can integrate with most major CRM systems and is one of the best tools for outside sales teams.
With Badger Maps, outside sales reps can automatically plan, route, and maximize their time in the field, cutting down driving time by 20%. Offering capabilities such as route optimization, lead generation, map visualization, and automated data gathering from the field, Badger Maps helps field sales teams save time on their daily planning, maintain better relationships with customers, and get organized.
With Badger Maps, you can see all of the contacts stored in your CRM on an interactive map, allowing you to narrow down which accounts you want to see by adding filters like industry type, days since last check-in, and more. This way, you can better manage your sales territory and see the accounts you want to prioritize next. You can also keep track of your upcoming follow-ups so you can reach out to the right people at the right time.
The average team of 10 reps sells $936k more the year they start using the app.
"After getting Badger Maps, weekly meetings per rep jumped from 12 to 20. This led to a 22% increase in annual revenue."
Brad Moxley
Business Development Manager, Cutter & Buck
Badger Maps syncs and leverages the data you have in your CRM, all from your mobile device.
You can also enable a two-way, real-time native integration with the most popular CRMs such as HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Insightly, NetSuite, and many more.
Additionally, field sales teams increase their CRM usage by 50% when using Badger Maps.
Badger Maps can help outside sales teams optimize the time they spend on the road, reducing outside sales reps’ average drive times by 20% and freeing up an average of 8 hours a week.
These time savings can be used to meet more prospects and close more deals.
Sign up for a free trial today or schedule a demo to see how you can start integrating this field sales tool with your CRM software!
Learn how you can maximize your sales routes & sell more with Badger Maps
Looking for our logo?
Grab a Zip packed with our logo in PNG and EPS formats.
Get Started now with a free trial of Badger Maps, no credit card required!
free trial