Sales goals are important to your whole organization and how sales people manage those goals are just as important. Microsoft Dynamics® CRM can greatly improve how sales manage their goals, ultimately improving your bottom line.

There has been a slight shift from Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 to CRM 2011 that sales should pay close attention to. In CRM 4.0, sales use the quota feature to manage their sales goals. In CRM 2011, the goals feature has been added as a replacement for quotas. Quotas are still supported in 2011, but will not be available in later versions. Out with the old and in with the new! Here are a few reasons we’re excited about this transition:

Goals in Microsoft Dynamics CRM are directly tied to opportunities. So if you enter revenue for a particular lead, it will account for your all- up goals. This tracks your actual money in relation to your in-progress revenue so that goals line up in real-time with sales information and accounting data. Once a lead is closed, then CRM automatically records this as actual money (updating goals simultaneously). This backend workflow for goals makes sure financial information stays up-to-date and your sales reps always on their toes to meet their sales goals.

Goals can be set up for opportunities, but are not limited to this. For example, sales reps may be encouraged to look for influencers as well. Managers can set up goals for users or users can do this for themselves. There are parent goals and child goals- specific goals, sales team goals, department goals, company goals. You can really take goals as far as you want to go to support your unique business processes. By default, goals recalculate every 24 hours, but you can manually do this as well. You just have to change the setting to recalculate more often.

So how do you set up sales goals in Microsoft Dynamics CRM? In the sales module, select “goals” and choose the type of goal you’re looking to set up. By default, there are two choices 1. Revenue or 2. Accounts, but you can create your own goal metrics as well if this isn’t what you need to track. Then these goals automatically pull information from opportunity updates. Once goals are set up, you can also pull that into your dashboard view so you always have information at hand.

If you have any questions about setting up goals in Microsoft Dynamics CRM or the transition from quotas to goals, please contact us at Pangea Business Solutions.

By Alexandra Gonzalez with PANGEA Business Solutions- http://www.pangeabsi.com/

Whether you have a small or very large sales department, you likely have your reps separated by geography. You don’t want your teams stepping on one another’s toes and you definitely don’t want to have a valuable customer fall between the cracks. With this said, it’s also important to keep competition amongst your sales team at a good level.

The easiest way to establish territories with your CRM solution in mind is by zip code. I find that many companies complicate things when they try to evenly distribute territories based on their client base in a certain area. It may take more planning up front, but for streamlined automation between sales, marketing and customer service, zip code territory definitions are the way to go.

No matter what you decide when it comes down to this, you want to make sure your CRM solution is flexible because you’ll experience turn over, client needs will change, and you can bet things won’t stay the same for long. Contact us at PANGEA Business Solutions to learn how Microsoft Dynamics® CRM can be the flexible platform you’ve been looking for: http://www.pangeabsi.com/contact.html.

By Alexandra Gonzalez with PANGEA Business Solutions, Microsoft Dynamics Partner out of Florida

Without data, your CRM software isn’t worth much.  So how do you manage your current data imports from tradeshows, website information, integrations from other systems?  That is just the question that many people wrestle with after having made the decision to utilize new CRM software or to switch from one software package to another.  Luckily features and tools from Microsoft Dynamics® CRM can give you the options you need to manage your data effectively.

Like other commonly used Microsoft software, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is easy to use right out of the box.  The latest upgrade to Microsoft CRM 2011 includes new features like the Data Import Wizard that are sure to save you lots of time with the data import process.  The two new features include changes to Data Mapping Identification and Field Mapping.  When selecting a data map, your source – and destination fields will automatically match up.  For businesses migrating from Salesforce and Business Contact Manager, the pre-built data maps make that transition seamless.

Changes in the Map Field section of Microsoft Dynamics CRM will allow you to pick the column headings from the data source and match them with a field on the CRM record before starting the import wizard.  Changes to the Field Mappings feature will allow you to input information into an Option Set and match values to available Option Set Choices.  This new feature provides a level of customization that can be saved for future data imports and will save time from data verification.

For additional details on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and how it can help you turn marketing opportunities into sales, contact PANGEA Business Solutions.

By Alexandra Gonzalez with PANGEA Business Solutions, Microsoft Dynamics Partner out of Florida

A CRM system should show you more information about your customer relationships sales, service, operations and otherwise. What you do with that information and how you get to it varies from organization to organization. But this is where data analytics should come into play. You should be able to use the data in your CRM to make more informed business decisions and increase profitability.

We see a lot of companies going about CRM implementation the wrong way. When they implement CRM software, they try to make their processes fit the software. This can backfire quickly as it’s not working the way your people work and probably not producing the data you need to do your job well. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM and an experienced partner, organizations have the option to define processes and reports before implementing the software. Then Microsoft Dynamics CRM forms to their way of working, helping them be more productive and ultimately putting their data to work…the right way.

If you’re interested in getting more out of your CRM solution, contact us here at PANGEA Business Solutions. As a Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner, we are dedicated to providing companies with flexible and powerful business solutions.

By Alexandra Gonzalez with PANGEA Business Solutions, Microsoft Dynamics Partner out of Florida

Marketing teams love the sound of Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011 because it simply makes their lives easier! Marketing functionality is a big part of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and really has been since the beginning. After all, sales and lead generation are a direct result of your marketing teams so it’s only natural marketing functionality is built into your CRM system.

Marketing lists, dashboards, and workflow automation are the newest features added to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and are making lives even easier for marketing teams around the world:

• Marketing Lists- Lists make it possible for marketers to target their campaigns by filtering contacts or accounts by certain criteria. If a marketer repeats or follows up regularly with a certain target audience, these marketing lists in Microsoft Dynamics CRM are a huge time saver.

• Dashboards- Tracking the effectiveness of marketing campaigns ensures a successful business. Budget is spent in the right places and the marketing team is able to make efficient choices based on the information available to them. Dashboards in Microsoft Dynamics CRM make this type of insight available in a quick and easy-to-read, real-time view.

• Workflow Automation- Workflows give marketing and sales employees a process to follow based on previously determined best practices to increase the productivity and efficiency of an organization. For example, workflow automation in Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows you to qualify a lead by answering default questions.

By Alexandra Gonzalez with PANGEA Business Solutions, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ERP Partner out of Florida

In this day and age, productivity is a direct result of automation. If your sales crew is focusing on bringing in new leads instead of manually entering or exporting information, then you’re on the right track. If they’re focusing more on the manual tasks at hand, then it is likely the productivity at your company is low.

The key here is to eliminate those manual processes and streamline the overall sales process with CRM software. CRM Software can speed up contact entry as well as sales team tasks. For example, in Microsoft Dynamics® CRM, you can set up reminders to contact a prospect on a certain day or time because it integrates and works hand in hand with Outlook. It keeps the sales team on task, as well as ensures they’re more efficient with their time. If a prospect or customer calls into them, they can also quickly bring up past information that makes the conversation go smoothly and possibly even pushes the close rate a bit higher.

Bottom line is if your sales team is worried or distracted by where all their information is or whether it’s up to date, then they don’t have the capacity to focus their attention on selling. It’s time to automate your sales crew and it’s possible to do that with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Contact us at PANGEA Business Solutions to learn more.

By Alexandra Gonzalez with PANGEA Business Solutions, Microsoft Dynamics Partner out of Florida

A key benefit to having CRM Software is how it connects your office. Your sales department has insight into the marketing team’s activities and the notes you make about the latest customer inquiry is accessible for other departments. With this type of functionality, everyone at your organization stays on the same page and streamlined communication like this can equate to numerous benefits. Let’s take a look at exactly how each department stays connected with Microsoft Dynamics® CRM:

Operations-

Dashboard reports keep operational managers up-to-date on day to day business, showing what items need attention as well as the successful areas of operations.

Accounting-

Because revenue driving information is held in one place, accounting can rely on the accuracy and real-time data they pull for financial reports. For advanced cases, Microsoft Dynamics CRM also integrates with Microsoft Dynamics GP to help create in-depth financial reporting, tracking and management.

Contract Management-

You can give real-time insight to agents about contract status as well as service eligibility for each customer.

Marketing-

You can easily share target lists with employees or vendors you work with, helping you collaborate and streamline campaigns.  Microsoft Dynamics CRM also eliminates redundant email tracking through Office Outlook synchronization.

Sales-

Sales can better coordinate with marketing by tracking leads in one centralized system so more leads turn into customers. You can also define consistent sales processes across your company.

By Alexandra Gonzalez with PANGEA Business Solutions, Microsoft Dynamics Partner out of Florida

If you’re a manufacturer, you know that sales, marketing, and service effectiveness will make or break you in today’s global economy. That’s why many of you are turning to customer relationship management (CRM) solutions to create the competitive advantage you seek. Microsoft Dynamics® CRM can create the following possibilities within your manufacturing company:

• Efficiently manage your complex relationships—including partners, direct and indirect sales channels, distributors, retailers, and service providers. By centralizing complete customer information, you can help customer service representatives respond to and resolve issues faster.
• Gain cross-organizational insights and automate processes to drive a consistent customer service experience and boost productivity. Microsoft Dynamics CRM also helps eliminate manual data entry, significantly reducing errors. In addition, Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides sales and service employees with the mobile capabilities they need when working in the field.
• Quickly develop and deploy enterprise applications that streamline and optimize the manufacturing process using the xRM framework. Microsoft Dynamics CRM works as a natural extension of the Microsoft Office Outlook® messaging and collaboration client, helping to drive user adoption.

As manufacturing companies continue to fight increasing customer turnover and higher costs for acquiring and serving customers, they look toward solutions that can support the sales cycle and customer service functions without adding complexity. Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides a cost-effective way to meet these challenges.

By Alexandra Gonzalez, PANGEA Business Solutions