25 CRM & Sales Productivity 'Must Haves' For Growing Your Business & Keeping Your Customers Happy

25CRM & SALES PRODUCTIVITY ‘MUST HAVES’

FOR GROWING YOUR BUSINESS & KEEPING YOUR CUSTOMERS HAPPY

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Sales Management

1. Accurate And Visual Sales Tracking

2. The Ability To Set & Measure Goals and Quotas

3. The Ability To Assign Teams and Regions

Chapter 2 - Customer Management

4. Unified Customer Experience

5. Contact Cards That Give You A Complete Picture

6. Accounts Tied To Contacts

7. Appointments (Coming Soon!)

8. Ability To Customize, Filter and Tag Info (Without Needing Third-Party Dev)

Chapter 3 - Lead Management

9. Lead Tracking

10. Easy Lead Conversion

11. Lead Capture Form That Links To Your CRM

12. Snag Full Profiles Directly From Facebook and LinkedIn

Base is your secret weapon for making sales reps 10x more productive and

sales managers 10x smarter - learn why.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 4 - Mobility

13. Native Mobile Apps

14. Offline Access

15. Geolocation - Locate Your Contacts, Leads & Deals On A Map

16. Mobile Reporting

Chapter 5 - Reports & Analytics

17. Insights Dashboard

18. Visual Reporting

19. Sales Forecasting

20. Call Analytics

Chapter 6 - Voice & Calling

21. Make and Receive Calls Right In Your CRM

22. Call Recording

23. Automatic Call Logging

Chapter 7 - Email Automation

24. Complete Integration

25. Google App & Outlook

Chapter 8 - Conclusion

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Base is your secret weapon because people actually want to use it.

Productivity is name of the game for sales experts in any field. To perform at the highest levels you’re capable of, you need to make the most of your time. It’s also not just about the individual. A sales rep who is productive means better service for clients, and happier customers mean more deals. Plus, being more productive keeps the entire sales team moving forward, making progress toward quarterly and annual goals.

Considering how productivity impacts all levels of a company, it’s worth having people and tools that can make all elements of the sales world operate smoothly.

Base is one of those important tools. It’s designed to significantly boost your team’s sales productivity and give you the core sales tools you need to grow your business.

In this ebook, we’ll explore 25 features that are included in Base that will bolster your productivity. From how you manage your rolodex to where you can work to how you assess your performance, here’s how Base can make you a lean, mean, productive sales machine.

Presented by Base

Sales Productivity: The Key to Better Business

For a busy sales executive, one of the biggest ways to impact your productivity

is to approach to sales management strategically. Whether you’re in charge of

agents hitting the pavement or a manager overseeing operations in the office,

Base’s approach to sales management includes features that save time and

maintain focus. Take a look at the essential sales management experiences in

Base that will make your reps 10x more productive and you 10x smarter. Base

sales management software gives you the core sales tools and information you

need to grow your business such as:

1. Accurate And Visual Sales Tracking

Sales tracking is how you follow the development of deals through their

lifecycle. Every deal you close should move through a well-defined and

predictable sales process. This should be the backbone of your sales team. We

wrote in greater detail, a 6 Step Plan To Manage Your Sales Pipeline.

With Base, you have a written and visual representation of how your clients are

moving through the sales funnel. See exactly where each opportunity stands in

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Sales Management

the simple drag-and-drop interface, which can be customized to fit your

company’s specific steps. For reps, tracking helps you stay on target because

you’ll always know exactly where you stand with your assigned deals. This is

great information for managers, too, since you can coach your team effectively

and make sure the right opportunities receive attention at the right time. With

Base’s easy drag-and-drop interface, you can move deals to the next stage

seamlessly so your sales pipeline is always accurate.

Sales tracking with Base gives you a detailed picture of exactly where you and

your team stand. When you know the status of each opportunity and which

opportunities your team members are pursuing you can coach them effectively

and help them focus on the right opportunities.

2. The Ability To Set & Measure Goals and Quotas

Sales pros need to stay focused on the final result. Achieving the desired

outcome with any given customer means setting goals and quotas to serve as

benchmarks for your progress. Goals keep you and everyone on your team on

track.

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Base helps you communicate goals and quotas with your team and allows you to

track everybody’s progress. It’s a valuable tool for aligning the sales team around a

shared objective. To use the feature, select “Goals” from the navigation bar in Base.

Assigning goals and quotas of different amounts to different players is easy in

Base’s straightforward, intuitive interface. After the goals are set, you’ll see a quick

view of where you stand whenever you’re at the Dashboard screen.

Measuring performance demands setting specific, measurable, attainable and time

based sales revenue goals.  The Sales Revenue Goals report allows you to set

revenue based sales goals for your team and track the progress. Forecasted

revenue will show up in a lighter shade of green or red and the on-track flag paces

you to meet your goals.

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3. The Ability To Assign Teams and Regions

A great sales team needs to be organized. Just as different units and divisions

in the military have certain strengths or specialties, your sales staff is

composed of teams. Base allows you to segment contacts and deals while

giving access to all of the information your people need on the

same dashboard.

This is a huge boon for managers. With Base’s visual permissions setup tool,

you can easily organize your team’s privileges so everyone has access to the

right info without extraneous clutter. Assign visibility to individuals, peers,

superiors, divisions, or whatever classification works best for your company.

The organizational chart in Base also gives managers a birds’ eye view of the

flow of information for easy changes and updates.

Building this type of organizational structure into your CRM and sales

productivity tool ensures that everybody has the information they need for

their jobs. Sales management should be a team-wide idea. When everyone on

the team is using the same system, you’ll all be in sync. No questions about

who’s on point for a project, no distractions in the tools.

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After you’ve got control of how to track your sales processes, turn your

productive focus outside your company. A great CRM and sales productivity

tool should make things simple for customer management; after all, it’s built

right into the tool’s name. Base can make sure that your customers always feel

like your top priority.

4. Unified Customer Experience

Think about what makes your top customer unique. What are her quirks?

When is her birthday? What’s her top priority for her business? What is her

company’s mission? Knowing all those details about her and her work is part

of why your relationship succeeds.

To apply that level of insight and understanding to one client is well within

your grasp. But to obtain it across a full suite of dozens or hundreds of distinct

people and deals, you’ll need a little help.

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Customer Management

Base has your back. You can store every note, every document, every file re-

lated to each one of your clients. Store it all and be able to retrieve exactly the

intel you need in just a few taps. Think of it as an extra memory bank for track-

ing and managing those essential insights to facilitate a seamless customer

experience.

5. Contact Cards That Give You A Complete Picture

When you open a contact card in Base, you can see the call history, notes and

contact details for the individual you are working with, as well as all of the

related contacts at that person’s company. You can also easily review all of the

activity tied to that account, from calls to notes to emails.

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By gathering all the pertinent business and personal information in one

contact card, your reps can know everything in minutes. Whether you’re just

brushing up on the details before an important call or the deal is being

passed on to a new person, maintaining these contact records is crucial to

the health and longevity of customer relationships.

6. Accounts Tied To Contacts

It’s important to have contacts and accounts tied together so you can

leverage the power of the relationships your organization has already

established. Connecting individual contact history to accounts gives your

reps insider information on everything from which offers a company picked

up in the past to which individual contact is most likely to be friendly to

business in the future.

7. Appointments (Coming Soon!)

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8. Ability To Customize, Filter and Tag Info (Without Needing A

Third-Party Developer)

Having a huge storehouse of information won’t do you much good if you can’t

retrieve the information you need at the moment you need it. Tailor Base to

your needs with custom fields, tags and filters. Label entries by company, by rep

handling the deal, by date they first signed a contract, by state, by city, or by

any other classification you could need.

With Base, you have complete control over the data required in your Contact

and Deal cards, allowing you and your team to input, find and sort the

information most relevant to the way you do business. Struggling against your

tools is a good way to lose time and deals. Use a CRM that works the way you

and your colleagues work. You should be able to make changes to the fields in

your CRM tool without investing time and money into third party developers and

consultants.

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It’s easy to get excited about customers you’ve already established and built

rapport with. But equally as important is filling your CRM with new people who

could one day join those ranks of well-established clients. Leads are part of

the customer cycle, and your sales team should have the resources to

properly manage those acquaintances. Base understands what sales teams

need to organize, contact, and qualify leads. Here’s what you’ll have in your

arsenal.

9. Lead Tracking

A savvy business has leads coming in at all times from all sorts of sources.

Maybe you purchased a list, or maybe you collected business cards at a

conference. In any case, you’ll need to be able to quickly import, tag and

assign leads so your reps can start qualification.

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Lead Management

With Base’s customizable tags, you can label where each lead came from

during importing. This information ensures that the best reps get assigned to

the follow-up and they can tailor their pitches. On a broader scale, tagging

leads at this point helps your team identify good sources of successful

contacts and get a leg up on future qualifying.

Not all leads will convert immediately, so tags can also be a help in deciding

whether or not to move forward with a connection. Use the customizable tags

to fit your model for closing business.

10. Easy Lead Conversion

Once a lead is qualified, your reps shouldn’t get bogged down in paperwork.

They’ll want to keep the momentum going on the deal. Base’s conversion

process is simple, with no extra data entry. All the information from the lead is

transferred directly to a contact card in our automated conversions.

Also, if some leads need a second go-around to finally convert, Base offers a

top-down view of all those people. Review lead activity in the Leads section of

the CRM to see who has been contacted, who has replied or who should

be archived. Conversion and management for leads is a breeze with Base.

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11. Lead Capture Form That Links To Your CRM

With a lead capture form, your company website or other web properties can

deliver many high-quality connections who want to learn more about your

business. The contact information you glean from these forms belongs to people

excited enough about your product to take the first step and reach out to you!

We take this valuable tool a step further by allowing you to create and embed lead

capture forms that link to Base. There is no complex setup here. Just copy one

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snippet of code, add it to your website or Facebook page, and those qualified leads

will be funneled directly into your Base account, ready for followup.

12. Snag Full Profiles Directly From Facebook and LinkedIn

Social networks connect you with new and old acquaintances, and in the sales

world, they can be a source of prospecting new leads. In our ebook, “How To Build

Your Sales Pipeline Faster With Social Media,” we cover this topic in much greater

detail. Thanks to the Base Lead and Contact Clipper, you can easily transfer

information from the social world to the sales world. When you’re logged in on

LinkedIn or Facebook and you come across someone who you would like to add to

your CRM, use the Clipper to immediately add the information you can see. No copy

and paste, no tedious data entry.

Dealing with leads can feel like taking shots in the dark. Cut down on the uncertainty

with a strong program of lead management. Base will streamline the qualification

process so that you can get down to making the sale. That’s a win for everybody.

Learn the secrets to selling more on LinkedIn.

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Smartphones and tablets are the tool of choice for many sales professionals

thanks to their easy portability and ever-growing computing power. More sales

teams are shifting from the traditional world of desktops to include a range of

mobile devices and operating systems. Support this change with full-blown

native mobile CRM apps that put all the necessary features and functions on

their tablets and phones.

13. Native Mobile Apps

The key to a great CRM experience on your phone or tablet is the application.

By offering free native apps, Base brings the full CRM experience to your

phone or tablet. The native apps are designed for maximum function and easy

navigation on your device’s screen and they sync all of your data instantly.

With apps for iOS, Android, and Windows phone, your entire team can be ten

times more productive when on the go, no matter what operating system they

prefer.

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Mobility

To further the seamless mobile experience, Base automatically syncs all of

your data across devices. It is the ideal CRM for anyone who relies on a

mobile device in their sales process.

14. Offline Access

Part of working in our hyper-connected world is being able to get by when

connection is lost. Everyone knows the stress of being in the middle of a

project when the network crashes or the signal goes haywire. Base takes that

worry away with offline access. Even when you can’t be online, Base still lets

you see all of your leads, contacts, sales, tasks and stored emails. And

whenever you reconnect to the Internet, all of your activity will automatically

be synced and updated across all devices. Never miss a beat.

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15. Geolocation - Locate Your Contacts, Leads & Deals On A Map

Powerful mobile tools mean more than just a CRM on your phone. Base’s truly

mobile CRM amps your productivity even when you’re on the road. Geolocation

helps you make smart decisions about your client visits. You can visualize all of

your leads, contacts and deals in a map area, so you can see who you should

visit and where you should spend your time. And with one-touch driving

directions, Geolocation makes it easy to reach your customers. When you’re

going on the road, you should spend time prepping for your meeting, not looking

for  it. Learn how you can use Geolocation to build stronger bonds with your

clients and prospects.

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16. Mobile Reporting

You don’t stop thinking about your sales goals when you leave your desk, so

your CRM should be able to keep you on point wherever you go. Mobile reports

from Base CRM on your smartphone or tablet give you the same powerful,

actionable reports you experience on the web.

Monitor total sales, forecasted sales, sales by account, sales by owner, your

sales funnel report and more directly from the Base native mobile apps. This

means that even when you’re away from the office, you can respond to business

disruptions, track progress and take action immediately.

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As sales leaders, we need to understand how to obtain and analyze data in

order to make good decisions for our businesses. Otherwise, we’re operating

in the dark.

To help make reps 10x more productive and executives 10x smarter, we

designed Base with meaningful out-of-the-box reports that drive actionable

insights.

Reports are more than just a looming threat for your weekly meetings. They

help everyone on the team to know what is working well and what isn’t. They

assess the health of the pipeline and the bottom line. And yes, they can do

wonders for productivity.

We’ll show you how easy it is to get the insights you need with the beautifully

designed, useful reports in Base.

17. Insights Dashboard

The home screen in Base is your insights dashboard. Every time you log in,

you’ll be greeted by all the most important stats and facts. See your progress

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Reports and Analytics

toward sales goals, a solid overview of account activity, and notes on your

upcoming assignments. Think of it as the CRM gatekeeper, the first look at

what you have on the horizon.

18. Visual Reporting

One of the risks of data-heavy reports is getting lost in a sea of numbers. To

be effective, reports should clearly communicate important facts and trends in

your sales team’s performance. There is a treasure trove of data housed in

your CRM, the trick is having a tool that can unlock it.

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Base accomplishes this by making reports visual. With zero setup required, the

CRM will automatically pull from all of your data to give you crucial insights into

your business. The visual presentations of activities can help your leaders to

optimize processes, coach teams and calculate revenue. And, as with so many

features in Base, you can filter reports by date, user, team and tags for a close-up

look. Whether you need a bird’s eye view or you need to put one rep under a

microscope, Base’s visual reports have the perfect combination of knowledge

and detail.

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19. Sales Forecasting

One of the best insights Base reports can give your leaders is in sales forecasting.

This report uses the numbers in your pipeline to calculate how much revenue you can

expect down the line. Forecasting helps you take control of your business by helping

you weather the ups and downs of your industry.

It works by determining the likelihood of winning the deal and each sales stage. By

crunching those odds with the predetermined close dates, Base presents beautiful,

easy-to-read reports that will become required reading for your managers and

executives.

Predicting the future might seem like the work of fortune-tellers and psychics. But

when your leaders have that power, they can make better decisions, keeping

everybody at the company in a better position for success.

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20. Call Analytics

Another Base report that will make a huge difference in your sales team’s

operation is the Call Analytics data. Considering how much time your reps

need to spend on the phone, having a chance to dig deep on the process and

success rates will show them which tactics are producing results. From

learning the best times for calls to being able to predict outcomes, Call

Analytics reports are a must.

How can you get all of this great insight into your team’s calls? By taking

advantage of Base Voice.

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Base Voice unites your contemporary CRM with the most traditional sales tool,

the telephone. Conversations with clients, whether it’s a cold call to a new

prospect or a follow-up with a longstanding customer, are still at the heart of

good sales work. Combining an old-school phone with your nimble, powerful

CRM means more productivity and knowledge for your reps.

21. Make and Receive Calls Right In Your CRM

Thanks to Base Voice, you can make and receive calls from within your CRM.

Each rep gets a dedicated phone line so they’re always available for customer

chats.

In addition to making a rep more easily available to clients, Base Voice has a

full suite of other features to make phone time more convenient. During the

conversation, reps can access a digital notepad, read from prepared call

scripts, or review related deals. Plus, every incoming call is connected to the

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Voice and Calling

appropriate contact card, keeping the information you need where you know

you can find it.

22. Call Recording

Base Voice also makes phone communication a powerful learning tool. The

Call Recording feature lets reps keep an audio file of any conversation they

make or receive, on any Base platform they’re using.

During a deal’s lifetime, this is a great resource for double-checking the details

discussed with a client. The recordings are always available in case you need

a reminder of any pertinent information or want to confirm what was said in a

certain discussion. In addition, listening through old calls can be a learning

experience, especially for newer reps. If they can replay conversations, they’re

more likely to see what went well and what went wrong. This will strengthen

your team as a whole and keep everybody performing at their best.

23. Automatic Call Logging

Even if you don’t want to use the Call Recording feature, Base Voice still tracks

the conversations as they happen. Any call made or received using Base

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Voice is entered as an activity on the contact, lead or deal card it is associated

with. Calls are time- and date-stamped from any Base platform where the calls

are made.

Base is all about automation. Call Logging doesn’t take any effort on the rep’s

part. Nothing will be forgotten or entered incorrectly, and your team can keep

its focus on making the sale.

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Today’s sales reps spend as much time in their inboxes as they do on the

phone. Email can be a huge drain on your time if you don’t manage it carefully.

Here’s how Base can help you to make the most of this communication tool.

24. Complete Integration

Closing a deal takes a huge number of emails. Base can keep track of them

for you. If you connect your email account to Base, any time you send or re-

ceive a message from a contact in your CRM, a copy will be attached to that

person’s card. Thanks to Base’s complete integration, copies will automatically

be added whether you’re working in Base’s inbox or in a different email client.

Integrating email with your CRM is just one more step to creating a truly cen-

tralized source of your work information. The setup process is simple, and

Base will remember your account information and take care of everything

from there. This level of automation allows you to focus on work, resting as-

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Email Automation

sured that all of your customer info is stored and available to you in one

safe place.

Organized and easy access to your email history will ensure you have the infor-

mation you need to close the deal.

25. Google App & Outlook

Google’s email service has attracted fans thanks to its flexibility and ease of use.

With Base’s Google email gadget, you can make both your email and your CRM

even more powerful. Add new contacts directly into Base or create notes, tasks

and deals from within your Gmail account.

You can also sync your email with Outlook. Base CRM for Outlook lets you man-

age customers and track conversations in Base without ever leaving Outlook.

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The widget copies your Outlook contact activity right into your Base account.

When you install the Base plugin for Outlook, you can sync your existing con-

tact groups with Base. Any time you update a contact in Outlook, the contact

will be updated in Base. Likewise, any updates to contacts in Base will be re-

flected in Outlook. After you’ve synced your Base CRM contacts with Outlook,

you can open a contact and see all related deals.

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For over 25 years, CRM systems have faced criticism over lack of user-

adoption.

Just look at Avon’s failed implementation of SAP, where they wrote off $125

million dollars because their end users said, "sorry, not going to use it". While

this was a recently publicized example of lack of user adoption, it happens all

the time. Any salesperson will tell you that CRMs just slows them down.

That’s a big problem, stemming from the fact that CRM systems cater to

managers, not sales reps. Instead of focusing on the end-user, the sales rep

who just wants to crush their quota, CRM systems expect them to enter data

so that managers can generate reports and track how their sales team is

performing.

It’s also why we see so many sales reps reject their CRM systems, leaving

managers high and dry with incomplete data and faulty reports.

Well Base is changing that. Our tool is designed to increase your team’s sales

productivity.

See for yourself. Try out all 25 sales productivity boosters featured in this

ebook by completing your no-risk 14-day free trial.

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Conclusion

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