Are you facing Sales Challenges in your Manufacturing business. If yes, then you are at the right place. We will let you know how to solve those sales challenges. Here’s how –
Read our blogs on emerging trends, you will be familiar with how businesses are leveraging these trends to drive sales. This post looks at the sector through a different lens, discussing some of the key obstacles modern manufacturing businesses face on a daily basis.
#1 Challenge: Weak Reporting and lack of visibility into Sales and Account performance
It’s quite a familiar story. Your sales teams have all the important data that you need, but it’s dispersed across multiple reports, emails and ERP systems; none of them can talk to each other.
Really it’s a tough challenge – How can you confidently make sales forecasts and present those figures to your stakeholders when you can not get a fair picture of what those figures are? Of course, it’s not just a reporting problem: this challenge also affects the front-line sales and service teams as they can’t see the information they need to do their jobs effectively.
The solution: Real-Time Forecasting and Performance Reporting
Full-featured online CRM systems like SalesBabu have a built-in forecasting module that empowers sales managers to understand performance versus forecast. This will help managers to achieve the sales goal.
Real-time forecasting and sales opportunity information can be useful for sales managers to accurately predict demand and sales projections based on real input from sellers and distributors. No more manual paperwork and no more guesswork. Just a single-point source of the right information.
Read more – CRM For Manufacturing Industries
#2 Challenge: Tedious Manual Quoting and Proposal Generation
In case the organization still depends on tools such as Excel, email, or Word for forming proposals and quotes, you’re not alone—this is the most recurrent practice. Although manual sales quoting is the most gradual process, marked by unpredictability and the potential for mistakes.
Moreover, the configuration of sales quotations or proposals is deficient in guidance on complementary or essential items depending on prior product selections. The outcome is a disconnected and inefficient system with a general template.
The solution: Streamlined Proposal and Quote Automation
SalesBabu CRM’s Quote Management module encourages businesses to rapidly and effectively configure, maintain, and grant robust sales quotations. Sales team members can seamlessly integrate product item information into quotes, enabling for effortless reordering, application of discounts, and the inclusion of comments to form accurate, multi-currency quotes and invoices.
Furthermore, within the SalesBabu CRM sales quoting forming module, there is a remarkable attribute for forming multi-option proposal documents that involve electronic signing abilities. For organizations possessing a multi-stage quoting logic, when necessary items and choices rely on client preferences, integrating a Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) system into the CRM signifies to be a comprehensive solution.
Read more – Cloud based inventory management software for manufacturing
#3 Challenge: Improper coordination between Sales and Marketing
Modern sales teams need efficient coordination from their marketing teams in their business. But sadly, salespeople don’t get the expected support they need.
To keep your business at the top of your mind between calls or visits, sales teams need to be able to provide customers and prospects with interesting, relevant content that will nurture and grow the relationship.
The sales team also needs to see how their prospects and customers are interacting with that content; to use it as signals to engage. Finally, sales teams need to be able to easily their findings and insights from the field back into marketing, so that the marketing team can use those important pieces of information to shape their approach moving forward.
The solution: Marketing Automation
Marketing automation works with your company’s website and CRM as one integrated system to attract the right audience, automatically nurture them until they’re ready to purchase, then close the sale and drive repeat business.
Most importantly, it brings sales and marketing teams closer and together. Marketing is able to do quality prospect education and nurturing so that better-qualified leads are delivered to the sales.
The best part is, the salespeople working in the CRM system can view the complete prospect history, including the visit to which web pages. This is helpful for the sales rep to understand what a prospective customer is looking for and how they can be the best assistance.
With SalesBabu CRM you can easily Automate Marketing Activities which include – Lead Generation & Lead Nurturing, One-to-One Communication, Creation & Execution of Campaigns, E-Mail & SMS Campaigns, etc.
Read more – How CRM helps Manufacturing Industry
#4 Challenge: Killing Time on Data Entry and Making Reports
Many of the companies ask their sales department to spend quality time building reports for their supervisors or managers. It’s not justified and not a good use of their valuable time. When sales reps are assigned to do work on administrative tasks instead of doing their core job; what they do best, then sales suffer.
The solution: An Online CRM system that do the job for you
All of the important data that managers need should already live and breathe in your CRM system. These data can be accessed in real-time, from anywhere. This data not only ensure accuracy and reliability, but it also means anyone can pull that data – whenever required.
Cloud CRM for the manufacturing industry is a tool that has built-in features to eliminate the burden of monotonous data entry activity and time-consuming updates. Working on an online CRM tool (CRM For Manufacturing Industries) is a win-win situation for everyone.
#5 Challenge: Skilled Labor Shortage
In today’s world of advanced technology, automation and robotics can help fill the labor gap; however human capabilities will still be required to analyze and solve problems as well as manage end results. With the baby boomer generation entering retirement, the manufacturing industry is facing a skilled labor shortage. This is one of the major threats & challenge which the manufacturing sector is facing today.
The solution: Provide Employees with Regular Training to Increase Their Potential
To overcome the problem and shortage of qualified and skilled manpower, manufacturers must be creative in selecting and recruiting employees; by relying on various online job portals. Producers must be fair and selective when choosing employees. Also ensure they are able to work quickly, under pressure, and ready to work in shift schedules.
Additionally, manufacturers must be able to provide their new and existing employees with regular training to help increase their potential. Manufacturers are required to consider using competency management software to bridge their employees’ skill gaps.
#6 Challenge: Controlling Inventory
One of the main challenges in the manufacturing industry is inventory management, but thanks to helping of automated solutions which has made it very much simple. Nevertheless, still there are many more manufacturers, especially small ones, who are still managing their inventory manually.
Inventory tracking could be a time-consuming process that may be streamlined with the help of software. Checking the stock manually is ineffective and prone to errors which might lead to inaccuracies, overstocks, and shortages, also unidentified damages.
The solution: Good Inventory management software
To avoid unnecessary purchase of the raw materials and the equipment which might lead to dissatisfaction of the customer, good inventory management strategies are highly needed. Barcode Scanner can be used to speed up the process of tracking.
Inventory managers need to be ensured that all the raw materials are sufficient for production and all the goods that are finished are ready to be delivered for the end-users. This can be done very easily by using inventory management software. This will allow the inventory managers to keep up their inventory levels at all times, receive alerts when the inventory ap[proaches the minimum amount and also reorders the items at a proper time.
Good Inventory management software can also be integrated with the barcode scanners to speed up the tracking process of the inventory and also some software systems such as accounting and purchasing systems. Small-scale manufacturing businesses do not need to worry about spending much on this software as they are affordable solutions.
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