Do you recognize the gap between CRM and ERP?

22 December 2011

By: Marijn Schouten

Last week an organization that I paid a visit to acknowledged that they have a major problem: there is a gap between CRM (sales) and ERP (delivery). In CRM we record our contacts, activities and opportunities, and in ERP we enter our sales orders and production orders. But does an opportunity simply become an order? And how satisfied is everyone with the order quality?

From quotation to order
As every sales manager that is responsible for the sales of capital goods knows: during the sales project, I must convince my prospect of the fact that his needs are best met by our solution. And at some point in the process, we therefore must (may) submit a quotation, often more than one, before the order is placed. Suppose you make an average of 3 quotations before the quotation becomes an order. And suppose that 10% of your quotation processes lead to an order. That means that you make 30 quotations for 1 order! Moreover, there is often still a great deal to be desired about the completeness and correctness of quotations and orders.

Saving time and money in the quotation process
30 quotations for 1 order: that sounds like a lot of work, and it is. It is interesting, therefore, that it is precisely in this gap between CRM and ERP that there is a great deal of time (not to mention money) to be saved. Sofon supports the essential portion of the primary process of need to order with Guided Selling Software. In that way, our customers save a great deal of time and money, while the quality of their quotations and orders improves considerably. What is the situation with the gap between sales and delivery in your organization?

Marijn Schouten is Director Business Development at Sofon - supplier of sales support software. As Marijn has a lot of contact with clients, he has a clear insight into how companies that deliver customer-specific products and services can realize improvements within their sales and quotation process.

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