Sales teams now have access to more technology than before.
CRM software keeps track of opportunities. Automated tools schedule follow-ups. Dashboards make it easy for managers to have visibility on activities within the pipeline. Even AI can be used to create a summary of the conversation and help teams decide the next steps to take.
However, one rather basic sales activity might still not make its way into the CRM process: the mobile call.
This often happens for field sales teams, recruiters, account managers, and other professionals who often talk to prospects or customers on the phone.
The CRM Only Sees What Gets Logged
Consider this: a sales representative makes 25 calls during the day.
Some prospects do not pick up the phone. Some require a call back another day. Others need information regarding the price. A qualified prospect requires the rep to call back the following week.
Without logging any of the above in the CRM, the CRM might only show the following things:
- No record of the call
- Call duration and time stamp not logged
- Uncertain call result
- Incomplete follow-up dates that are logged
This is precisely the issue that the Business Call Logging Software is supposed to tackle by bringing mobile business communications together with the existing solutions used to organize client relations.
Why Manual Call Logging Fails
Reps can enter their activities in the CRM manually after each call.
This works theoretically.
Practically speaking, the sales person may be rushing between meetings, making multiple calls at once, commuting, or just preparing for the next client interaction.
At the end of the day, updating the CRM becomes yet another routine task.
While some calls are logged properly, other require manual summary, while some others aren't recorded at all.
Automatic Logging Transforms the Workflow
The real value lies in eliminating the dependence on human memory.
From:
“Has the rep remembered to log the call?”
Teams can advance to:
“The call has been already recorded. What's next?”
That's where automatic call logging software becomes useful.
The usual workflow can look something like this:
Mobile call → Call recorded → CRM entry found → Result recorded → Activity synchronized
The rep can keep calling and taking calls while the corresponding call activity is being recorded and linked to the corresponding business system.
Why the CRM Connection Makes Call Data Valuable
Recording calls by itself isn't enough to provide visibility into your communications.
It needs to get into your CRM.
The right call logging CRM software is able to make the connection between the call and the lead, contact, account, or deal so that the phone conversation is logged as part of the customer's history.
Rather than seeing just:
Lead contacted
Your CRM can actually hold valuable data such as:
Call -> Duration -> Outcome -> Notes -> Follow-up
Which means that the sales manager, or any other rep for that matter, gets much more context upon coming back to the lead in the CRM.
SIM-Based Call Logging Suits Well For Mobile First Sales Teams
Usually, a call tracking solution starts from the calling platform.
Mobile-first sales teams, on the other hand, need a slightly different approach.
SIM Based Call Logging Supports Mobile First Sales Reps
Conventional call logging begins with the platform used to make calls.
Mobile first sales reps offer a unique set of challenges.
The rep may be using:
- Company provided SIM card
- Business number he/she owns
- Established customer connections via that number
- Native mobile dialer on their device
Making all of the above changes for no other reason than better CRM logging is counterproductive.
Using sim based call logging means keeping the existing mobile calling process intact while recording calls in the background and linking them to CRM data.
The Objective is Not Increased Logging
It doesn't look like the way of the future for sales operations will have reps logging more activities.
Instead, it will involve having reps log less activity manually.
The repetitive information can be logged automatically.
Reps can then log the information that IT cannot understand: the issues of the customer, intent, relationship context, and next steps.
For mobile-first sales organizations, closing the loop from calls to logged data seems like a minor operational win.
