Oct 16, 2009

Online Customer Relationship Managers

Online Customer Relationship Managers provide all of the functions a remote sales team needs to successfully operate. These online CRMs have telephony software solutions, such as power dialing and voice messaging, built right into them. These technologies are designed specifically for businesses who sell to other businesses through their website or over the phone.

Customer Relationship Managers provide a platform for organizing and managing all of the different processes related to inside sales. An online CRM is one specific type of customer relationship manager and is also called a hosted CRM. The software needed to run the CRM is stored on a host company’s server and is accessed over the internet. Using an online-hosted CRM frees an organization from needing to developing its own system and database. Additionally, the information stored in the CRM can be accessed from any computer with internet access. This can be especially convenient when sales agents work remotely and not all in one physical location.

Some of the key featuring that an online CRM includes are power dialing, voice messaging, fax, and email marketing.

A power dialer is also called a phone dialer or an auto dialer. Dialer software will automatically calls through a predefined list of phone numbers and patches them through to available sales reps. This automation software frequently triples the amount of calls each agent is able to make in a typical work day.

Voice messaging technology allows a sales agent to save a previously recorded voice message within the online CRM. By saving and using only their most compelling voice messages a good first impression can be guaranteed with each message left. Voice messages can also be designed allowing listeners to press a button on their own phone in order to prevent further calls from reaching them or to automatically patch them through to an available agent.

Fax and email messaging serves a similar purpose as voice mail. Carefully crafted templates for both kinds of messages can be saved in the online CRM. These templates can be sent to a contact that a sales rep is speaking to as soon as the contact requests additional information. Alternatively, these messages may be sent in place of a voice message. Since these messages are saved with the Customer Relationship Manager they can be sent by the system quickly with little extra work from the sales representative.