Selling Better and Faster is the dream of every business. A good Sales CRM system should be at the centrepiece of this but the wrong CRM can have the opposite effect – making you sell worse and slower. So here is a couple of tips on what a good CRM should be.

Eradicate Time-Consuming Data Entry

According to HubSpot’s State of Inbound Sales report, manual data entry is the #1 problem with their Customer Relationship Management (CRM system). Not exactly a surprising revelation.

A bit more eyebrow-raising is just how much non-sales activities eat into a day. Docurated’s State of Sales Productivity study found that more than 50% of time is wasted searching for content , and working on CRM-related and administrative tasks. Yikes.

It goes without saying that this frustrates those responsible for selling, who would rather be connecting with prospects than doing administrative work. Therefore, it’s critical to streamline reps’ non-sales tasks as much as possible to maximise active selling time.

If you are reading this then like me you have already established that the right CRM system provides both managers and those responsible for sale with actionable insights, and benefits the entire organisation. However, CRM is only as good as the data entered into it. And if data entry is 100% manual? Good luck getting accurate information.

In this instance, CRM is the problem, but it can also be the solution. Some CRMs today lessen the data entry burden on reps by automatically populating contact information from the web and marketing automation systems.

By using the email productivity app “HubSpot Sales” in conjunction with HubSpot CRM (both free) sales reps can live the dream of one-click prospecting. Simply by pushing the “add to HubSpot CRM” button sales reps can auto-populate a new contact record directly from a company website. It doesn’t get any easier than that and you need to make sure your CRM does that.

Finding Good Fit Prospects Fast

Most sales organisations get their leads from a combination of inbound and outbound efforts. The specific mix will vary depending on the team, but its rare to find a 100% outbound or 100% inbound organisation.

Generating inbound leads is generally the responsibility of the Marketing team, but outbound efforts require a bit more elbow grease. Those responsible for Sales often use a combination of social media sites and search to find prospects that seemingly fit their company’s ideal customer persona.

This process works … but not as well as it could. Traditional prospecting into less of a hunting expedition and more of a one-stop shop. For example, HubSpot CRM collects sales relevant information from across the web on a variety of companies, and then compiles data into a searchable database. Representatives can then conduct custom searches based on specific criteria, and the system returns a comprehensive list of prospects that fit the requirements. Prospecting = done.

Prevent Reinventing the Wheel

Content isn’t just king in marketing; its royal status extends to sales as well. Sending buyers relevant content throughout the sales process fosters trust between buyer and seller and positions the rep as a trusted advisor who is knowledgeable about the prospect’s business issues.

Keeping in mind the amount of time reps waste looking for content, Sales CRMs that double as content repositories can help salespeople get the right content at the exact right moment. Need the latest demo deck? A newly-released case study? The most recent pricing sheet? No need to go searching elsewhere — just grab it from the CRM and go.

And content isn’t just external-facing. What about the emails reps send day in and day out? While each and every single email should be customised to the specific recipient, smart reps save templates of their most successful messages for reuse down the line. Too bad this doesn’t save much time when they have to dig through their outbox every time they’d like to repurpose a template. Not to fear — CRM can help here as well. By allowing reps to save email templates directly into their system, reps can access their time-saving messages without even having to open a new tab.

Find out how a good Sales CRM can help you Sell Better and Faster with our free guide. You can download it here.