Customer and sales information must be managed in order to enable sound decision making. In not being able to properly track and manage customer information, management may be missing out on a great opportunity to leverage the available data to their advantage. Here’s how to better manage customer and sales information.

Classifying Goods and Services
Better managing customer and sales information requires the use of categories to classify data. Classifying goods and services with coding can improve the tracking practices. Information can be categorized with SIC or NAICS codes. This can really improve the quality of the data available for configuration of reports. Other coding options such as service names or categories can be equally as effective as the NAICS and SIC codes.

Make use of Metric Options
There are often ad-hoc pieces of information available with many of the common CRM options. Sometimes the metrics provided in the system only cover a portion of the data needed to support high level decision-making. Consider adding additional metrics like sales renewal rates, number of contacts with a customer each month, average turnaround time for orders, time taken from date of order received to delivery, and response rate for communications issued. These metrics could elevate the customer experience if tracked.

Take Reporting Capabilities to new Heights
Reporting is most often used for insight to assess opportunities, tracking sales information, and monitor activities. It can also be used for analyzing data. Information that is missing from customer data can be detected earlier on with reporting. For example, detecting a pattern of omitting certain information from customer records can improve the collection process. Seeing a snapshot of the information available presented in different formats regularly can help you pinpoint gaps. You can see what information would be much more helpful to add to a customer profile if it were tracked.

Auditing IT systems for Authentication and Authorization Purposes
Authentication and authorization for customer and sales information enhances the tracking process. Authentication verifies that the right information is being supplied in order to access data. Professionals, like those at Stealthbits, realize that IT systems are growing more complex, less secure, and become more difficult to manage over time. Lack of the correct credentials limits access to needed materials. Being able to enforce policies through authorization affects how a person is able to access certain information and their ability to enter information. Since the data collected is of value, authentication and authorization features should be evaluated if considering a solution. This limits risks like data being inappropriately accessed, corrupted or lost to breaches.

Customer and sales information can be better managed by using classification options, expanding the available metrics found in the system, scheduling periodic records auditing for improved data integrity, and implementing security safeguards.