Automating the sales process is one of the most important functions of a CRM  system . In fact, much of today's CRM software has its origins back in the mid-'80s and early '90s, not as "customer relationship management" software, but instead as "sales automation" software.
Although much has changed over the past 2 decades, the goal of sales automation software remains the same: make it easy to help sales reps help themselves, and their customers, to increase sales. CRM software is designed to accomplish this goal in two ways: by automating redundant parts of the sales process, which saves time, and by putting all the necessary information right at the fingertips of the sales team.
Part of the challenge for a sales manager is getting new reps up to speed so they can get the maximum benefit out of their company's CRM system. There are still many salespeople who have never used CRM software. And, even if someone has used CRM before, the implementation is usually quite different from one company to the next.
Of course, after new reps have been trained on the basics of using a CRM system, it's time to help them hit the ground running with proven methods to increase sales. We asked some of the industry's leading CRM gurus for advice and came up with these ten tips to help you leverage the power of CRM to boost sales and keep on selling.
1. Get a complete view of customers and prospects
Having basic customer data at your fingertips is obviously helpful. But sometimes, new sales reps can be intimidated by the massive amount of data that CRM systems put in front of them. "Don't be afraid of information overload," says Stephen Fioretti, Oracle Vice President of CRM Sales Products. "Look at past wins, products that have been ordered, and most of all, examine the white space," he notes. In other words, if they've ordered 3 out of a company's 5 products, find out why they didn't take the other two. Often, Fioretti says, the answer is right in the CRM record.
2. Give service personnel more CRM power
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