How Your CRM System Can Improve Your Company’s Cash Flows

CRM systems are most often introduced to an organization as part of a wider project to improve sales productivity, visibility and efficiency. CRM can help companies focus on sales methodology, forecasting, opportunity management, and customer service and support.  However, many companies overlook the ability for CRM solutions to assist in the control of credit and more effective customer debt management when integrated with their ERP system.

By using data from your integrated financial system and utilizing dynamic grouping options and campaign management within a CRM system, you can identify groups who are delinquent, and start a campaign of collection attempts.  This process- which would typically be used as a marketing and sales tool – can then provide a workflow activated, multi-wave campaign to chase debt in the same way the sales department would chase leads.

Using standard CRM functionality, follow-up calls can be scheduled in the activity calendar of the relevant user – such as an account or collections manager – to follow up. Subsequent campaign or collection activities would continue the debt recovery attempts by making use of activity management or workflow, automatically creating reminders, activities, and escalation while improving account interaction – such as history and current projects- provided by CRM to handle debt recovery more sensitively and efficiently.

You could take this a step further by utilizing integrated e-mail marketing technology to provide insight into the opening of debt collection emails and to dynamically generate follow-up activity or calls based on opened e-mails.  Imagine the power of knowing that a debt collection e-mail has been opened, and having the ability to make a follow up phone call immediately after.  You not only know the person is in the office and working, but the old excuse of “I haven’t received your invoice”, could be follow up with “But you opened the email this morning at 10:00 a.m.,” would be a great way to short cut the collection process.

In the current economic climate, the ability to be more effective at debt management has risen on the business priority list. Companies need to improve their cash position and reduce business risk due to overdue debt.  Utilizing tools – like your CRM system – to help reduce this risk, may be easier than you think.

Join us for a “SageCRM Collections Manager” webinar

SageCRM AR Collections Manager helps to speed up the collections process by setting up to-do and call lists using the task automation capabilities within SageCRM. The AR Collections Manager also allows for tracking follow-up tasks and communications that are linked to the overdue invoice and customer record.

See how it all works – register here for our free, one hour webinar on Tuesday, August 30^th at 9:00 am Central / 10:00 am Eastern.