Have you ever been caught by surprise when a key customer doesn’t renew a contract or place their regularly expected order? Connected supply chains and smart manufacturing put a new level of focus on the customer and the ability to predict performance, but simply having the data isn’t enough. You need to know how to dive into it at a more scientific level.

This means you also need a connected customer relationship management (CRM) software solution, along with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, in order to get the necessary data integrity and detail. When these two systems are integrated, you can be sure your organization is working smarter rather than harder. The account-based approach available in ERPs and CRMs will help your business continue to grow by keeping team members focused on proactive vs. reactive data-driven decisions.

Combined information from ERP and CRM will allow you to target, engage, win, and maintain customers.

Let’s dig deeper into five key ways CRM and ERP integration allows manufacturers and distributors to benefit from becoming more intelligent and focused customer scientists.

1: Smarter Business Development

Sales and marketing work hard to generate new business. Use ERP and CRM software solutions to gain real insight into new business targets. Are you connected through any suppliers? How much have other customers similar to them grown or become more proficient? Pull company news and more business connections within the organization into CRM for more relevant and personalized conversations.

According to website conversion and optimization firm Invesp, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70 percent, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20 percent. In fact, existing customers are 50 percent more likely to try new products and spend more than a third more compared to new customers. Bottom line: While it’s important to focus on generating new business, don’t forget to maximize and protect the customers you already have.

2: Smooth Operations and Process Design

Organization and process automation are both vital for business growth. Measuring the effectiveness of promotional campaigns, closing deals, and developing customer relationships is all easier when you have one set of shared data on customers. The integration of ERP and CRM software solutions makes it possible to automate specific tasks and design processes that improve results.

3: Lifetime Customer Value and Robust Financial Tracking

Uniting ERP and CRM software solutions provides manufacturers and distributors with consolidated dashboard visualization of all metrics for tracking estimated budgets and actual expenses, generating ROI, and cost reporting. This integration also enables you to illustrate real-time profitability analysis across your organization. Understanding the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer is a key metric every business should track. The net profit of the entire customer relationship will help measure your most valuable customers and design ways to secure future customers that share similar attributes.

4: Automation for Customer Loyalty

Automation is vital to staying competitive in today’s rapidly moving digital age. Use CRM and ERP integration to automate and increase the level of responsiveness and accuracy in responding to customer inquiries. You can also design ways to track customer sentiment, campaign responses, and gain or loss sale values to move customers toward higher levels of loyalty.

5: Starting B2P

Business-to-person (B2P) is becoming more important with the information overload associated with expanding use and proliferation of digital media. Sending a personalized message at the right time is critical to getting your message read and improving response rates. When ERP and CRM are united, it increases the opportunity to use personalized data that is current and relevant. The ability to pull live data from social sites and real-time business news into CRM will empower all levels of the organization to take their communication to the next level.

Drive CRM Software Solution Integration With Positive Vision

CRM integration into an ERP such as SYSPRO provides consolidated reporting of relationships and distribution data by giving companies access to the total history of each customer’s account. Manufacturers and distributors who embrace the digital revolution by integrating CRM software solutions into their ERP systems have the power to optimize manufacturing and distribution practices, boost customer relationships, and use insights gained to fuel sales and marketing efforts.

With a seamless integration into its ERP, CRM for SYSPRO can give you complete insight into your business. Let the experts at PositiveVision help make it easier for your company to be customer-focused, strengthening relationships and boosting both sales and satisfaction. Contact our experts now to get started.