Sales CRM for Consultants

Saphyte Team

3 min read

Updated: May 18th, 2022

A sales CRM for consultants can fast-track their work processes and give them more time to concentrate on more important tasks at hand. Find out how this technology is shaping this industry.

Companies providing consultancy services are now facing old and new challenges at work. With the disruption caused by the pandemic, problems abound for active actors in the industry— with direct communications affected by the removal of in-client services and the lives of potential and existing clients disrupted by new laws and policies laid down by governments.

How can client-oriented consulting firms hurdle the challenges of the post-pandemic era?

What is a Sales CRM?

A sales CRM is a type of software that is designed and developed to aid companies with their sales processes. Using intuitive design and automation features, this type of software fast-track and streamline sales and marketing tasks so that companies can generate leads easily, engage them effectively, convert them faster, and drive sales higher.

Sales CRMs are often known for eliminating manual tasks using automation. This helps companies do more with less. It also helps sales and marketing teams focus on more important tasks that are yet to be automated.

Best CRM for Consultants

Below is a list of the best CRMs for consultants on the market:

Saphyte

HubSpot

Zoho

Pipedrive

Salesforce

What do they have in common?

Lead Generation Features – CRMs enhance users’ lead generation efforts. The software lets users collect important information about leads, manage them in a pipeline, and engage them so they convert into customers.

Drip Marketing – CRMs, using automation, lets users perform drip marketing to their leads. Drip marketing is a strategy used by companies today to perform a personalized interaction with potential customers, often through email, until they make their first purchase. Some strategies extend beyond the first purchase, aiming to engage customers again and encourage them to make repeat purchases.

Dashboards – Dashboards allow users to get detailed yet summarized information of what’s going in with their business. Some CRMs allow customization which lets users choose to display in the dashboard what is relevant to them or simply what they prefer to be included in the display.

Automation Features – CRMs have multiple automation features that are not just limited to the ones mentioned above. Some of them include automation in sending texts, prompting to create reminders, or even scheduling meetings. Some of these automation features also allow the company to directly engage with leads and clients, even without human intervention, creating a 24/7 employee that’s working around-the-clock and does not get exhausted.

Challenges for Consultancies

The challenges for consulting firms are varied but most firms experience the following:

Creating Personalized Interactions

Consulting firms, at the end of the day, are judged based on their performance— were they able to assist the client and solve his or her problem?

Because of this, creating personalized interactions is the most important task of consulting firms. And doing this manually can be a little difficult and confusing to consultants.

How CRM helps with this challenge: With lead and client management features, consulting firms can record the customer’s information in the CRM database. Using the customer’s ID, they can add or modify certain data there to make notes about the client and record their conversation at any point in time. Any consultant speaking to the client can make notes on the CRM and the next time the firm has to speak to the client, anyone can just open the notes and see the last conversation.

Data Security

Consulting firms are legally, or even naturally, obligated to keep customer records safe and secure from potential unauthorized data breach and hacking. The security of the database, having it stored using cloud technology, and making only those authorized able to access it allows companies to conform to laws while ensuring smooth data access for enhanced personalized services.

How CRM helps with this challenge: CRM databases can be accessed anywhere in the world, but using the CRM providers’ security services, they ensure that only those with sufficient authorization and the right credentials are able to access the database. This strikes a balance between the need to provide stringent security to protect client interests and the need for sales teams to have more elbow room to access important information from clients to create a personalized service.

Streamlining Documentation Tasks

Consultation firms have so many tasks involving documentation. This can make it hard for them especially when the tools and software they’re using are outdated. Client records and other documents needed for the client’s approval or any data necessary for the consultation to work have to be recorded systematically so that consulting firms can retrieve them and pull them out anytime without a hassle.

How CRM helps with this challenge: CRMs are designed to make it easy for users to retrieve data from the CRM database. With CRMs, users can save documents in the database without opening the personal file of a client every time to see the database.

Increasing Competiton

What consulting firms can do can easily be replicated by others. This highlights the need for them to create value in their industry and distinguish themselves with their unique selling propositions (USPs).

How CRM helps with this challenge: With the ease and comfort provided by the software, consultants have more time to focus on more important tasks that cannot be automated and are yet to be automated. This allows consultants to focus and channel their energy into delivering an enhanced service and meeting the needs of the client, so they can create value and distinguish themselves through their services.

Start your CRM Journey as a Consultant

Want to know more about CRMs and how they can help your journey as a consultant? Feel free to book a demo here.