[Institution Title]
As seen in Table I (above), there are many problems facing the medical device sales team and sales management team. While there are various thought processes regarding best practices for sales and sales management, the proposed solution of CRM for the medical device sales force presented in this paper addresses these problems by providing a centralized method to manage the sales process and focus on outcomes. CRM or customer relationship management is an essential tool that can be used to enhance an organization’s marketing, which ultimately drives sales and increases productivity. According to Winer (2001) CRM is “the need to better understand customer behavior and the interest of many managers to focus on those customers who can deliver long-term profits has changed how marketers view the world”(p 89). This new understanding can assist organizations in developing more concrete strategies for improving organizational effectiveness and strategies to achieve organizational goals.
The measures that would determine efficacy of the CRM proposed solution include multiple automated checklists and systematic approaches. In addition to the automated systematic implementations, a monthly survey would be implemented at the start and end of each month. The survey would request feedback on measures in sales force categories listed above (Table I), as well as the CRM contribution to success of personnel, management, marketing, training, and certification goals. The feedback surveys also would address pre- and post-implementation critiques. A thorough review of feedback collected from these measures would provide sufficient detail to evaluate and determine if the proposed CRM solution addresses the medical device industry sales force problem of unstructured, haphazard sales approaches and decentralized sales processes. Measurement such as feedback surveys are tools that assist in the recognization of areas of weaknesses and strength that business operate
Proposed Solution: Utilization of IS to address the problem:
Today, the Zimmer Biomet Salesforce is challenged to provide a more personalized and effective service without raising costs. With Salesforce.com, the leading cloud-based enterprise, sales representatives have a central location to manage sales-related activities, which can increase costs for the company (monetary and non-monetary) and require more resources to implement to implement change and improve the current system. Additionally, while managers have real-time visibility into team activities and opportunities training and additional manpower are necessary to continuously update and improve the system to meet the adaptability requirements. More specifically, the senior managers who may not have the necessary skills to operate the new technology, need to be trained. Addressing all the identified issues prior to the innovative solution will help managers to become more aware of details and can manage the situation in a more constructive manner with confidence and precision.
In order to implement innovative technologies in practice, it is paramount to be cost conscious and effective as well as to know and follow new guidelines in healthcare (Maresova, Pehaker, Selamat & Kuca, 2015). Technology is evolving at a rapid rate, and the modern age features powerful yet simple processors (Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000). It is also imperative to have an understanding of what actually needs to be changed and implemented.
Hardware and software requirements
Examples of general hardware are items such as laptops, desktops, smartphones, or tablets are required. Hardware for the provision of Internet access also will be required, such as wireless routers and Internet dongles. The primary software platform would be facilitated through SMS surgery scheduling (barcoding, scanning, iPhone), salesforce.com complementary, open API partners, Zimmer -IBM Cognos, and B-FAST.
The open Salesforce.com APIs allow a company to connect the back office and service systems to Service Cloud, allowing customer data from various systems to be brought into one view.
In terms of software, certain minimum requirements should be met, as listed below;
Browsers such as Google chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 9/10/11 and Apple Safari versions 5.x/6.x/7.x/.
If using Windows, utilize Windows 7, XP, or later versions.
If using Apple, utilize Mac OS X or any other later version.
The system used must be able to connect to Internet through a proxy server. The system must have a platform enabling automatic proxy detection, manual proxy, or NTLM proxy authentication.
As pertains to the salesforce CRM visuals, install Adobe Flash Player Plugin (version 9.0.115 or later).
Organizational change involved:
Implementation of a more structured approach is necessary. To ensure accurate and efficiency specific data entry reports would be required each day. In reading about the new thought process for sales management, CRM seems like it may hinder the transition. On the other hand, with proper planning and comprehension pertaining to understanding the needs and organizational capabilities may be diminish setbacks.
Increased communication/trust with upper management is essential to the acknowledgement and focus to address sales force concerns and suspicion – due to increased sharing of their knowledge, or “secret sauce” which is equivalent to accountability and the best documented practices in the industry.
Additional changes, offered to transition sales force style to the outcomes based approach:
Create demand early in sales funnel – promote pipeline building, not velocity. It should be remembered that movement does not always indicate productivity. Movement is not necessarily an indictor of productivity. The movement of required or projected output would be considered immaterial if they are not deliverable.
Managers give representatives more latitude – in prioritization, qualification, and pursuit. Autonomy is in learning because learning information can be the outcome of disemmation or self-learning. In fact, self-learning is more permanent and easier when it is voluntary than when it is enforced.
Managers that have autonomy are capable of flexible in their ability to promote student independence. More specifically self-learning
Managers are supposed to offer support, not solely render directives that will be strictly enforced. Representatives are most likely to succeed when they feel supported rather than directed, and support renders the feeling of concern for one’s growth and development. On the other hand, if not conducted in a constructive and supportive manner, giving directions can make employees feel like their manager is controlling, manipulating or self-imposing. As a result, the subordinate employees may feel insulted or degraded.
Representatives accountable for outcomes rather than performing specific activities. CRM are platforms that are designed to guide the user on the required completion and future task s completion tat is necessary to document the best practices that can counter check tasks that still need to be completed.
Encourage innovation and sense of business ownership – measure representatives on profitable growth of their book of business.
Give considerable discretion regarding activities while guiding representatives through and holding them accountable for specific milestones.
Sales leaders rethink how they manage and what they measure (Adamson, Dixon & Toman, 2013). Instead of a checklist, managers must focus on customer behaviors, especially any signals that the customer would be responsive to a new insight about its business. Such signals include: acknowledging that the status quo isn’t working, conceding other suppliers’ solutions are less viable, providing information typically not made available to other suppliers, and revising purchasing requirements and specifications in a way that reflects the supplier’s advantages. This shift in focus gives representatives greater latitude to use their judgment about the most-effective ways to drive a sales measure (Adamson, Dixon & Toman, 2013).
Employee dissatisfaction is a concern that is often contributed by unknowledgeable or unsupportive management. Some of the causes of employee’s dissatisfaction that will be addressed in this paper are corporate governance, leadership, and planning and execution of tasks. All three of the previously mentioned subjects play a significant role in the relationship and influence that managers have over their employees. Without the necessary support from management that subordinate employees require their dissatisfaction with their job and supervisors increases.
Recommendations: 1) review of performance appraisal system; alternative performance appraisal system; and job enrichment. 2) Developing good work cultures; communication effectiveness and creating great leaders. 3) Strategic manpower planning; and SOP training and evaluation. (Ali, Wilson & Yazmin, 2015)
Process changes:
Tighter business processes will need to be adopted once the CRM software is set into motion. Sales force will require that certain processes are changed in order to effectively implement the solution. For starters ZBR and the CRM company will clearly define expected business processes (Table I) so as to identify and incorporate the features, reports, and customizations required for the CRM to be effective.
The data entry aspect will change and critical sales-related information will be obtained. This data collection process will be streamlined and scrubbed to retain the necessary information required. This process will pre-screen and select the data that are not necessary to save time, space and energy.
The CRM does not come with built-in tools. It is the sales management that needs to retype or encode pre-defined forms which will be part of the digital entries such a excel worksheets. Pre-defined forms will be created and manual entry will be incorporated into digital entries.
Expectations of representatives will change and will require more documenting and processing, yet from the customization of the CRM analytics, a consistent focus on outcomes at each level of the sales process will be maintained. Applying certain changes to CRM analytics create expectations that changes will necessitate and promote specified outcomes. Functionality/ Operation:
Finalizing CRM choice: Meet with a solutions engineer, ZBR would finalize program choice and agreement. The enterprise costs $125 per user per month or $1,500/user/year and comes with API (Applications programming interface) connect systems, dashboard, metrics, workflow automation, and HIPPA compliance. A possible ZBR agreement may include a 12-month plan/ commitment at approximately $10,000 annually plus customization costs.
Develop implementation plan, and purchase platform, the system is developed over one to three months.
Loading & Incorporating Existing Data: At product launch, the first step is to add users, accounts, and data imported from any pre-existing set of data or converted from the earlier used manual data into the system.
The CRM, once it is fed data as indicated above, will group the data and scientifically process it against already preinstalled benchmarks. After the analysis is complete, a report is generated indicating analysis of sales performance. This report will identify the facts pertaining to the sales processes and will guide future strategic decisions as to what actions to take next.
Starting with clean data (Data Integration) will enable seamless use of the system as is stressed by IT experts. Therefore, it is imperative that data is analyzed and scrubbed of all unnecessary clutter before it is input into the CRM salesforce.com.
Training Users: The users are trained once the system is up and running. Sales forecasts, contact management, and reporting are modules will be easily available to the sales team and management.
Additional Customer Support: In the event that there are any technical issues with the new CRM system, ZBR will purchase the premiere enhanced support (direct line) customer support line from salesforce.com.
Impact on the problem:
In terms of sales and the challenges highlighted, the CRM will provide a database of client, sales, marketing, medical education, and additional information in a centralized, easily accessible location. This centralized resource will raise the probable chances of sales success as the information required to properly educate, present, and persuade a customer will be at the fingertips of the sales team. The task-oriented focus will have been tackled and the creative judgment focus will be easier to implement.
Pertaining to management, the CRM salesforce.com will provide sales data and metrics analysis as requested during the CRM customization process. Numerous areas will be addressed, including sales tracking, forecasting, goals and quotas, teams and regions, and reporting. This will better inform management as to which direction to steer the medical device company in terms of sales efforts. It also will allow more focus on guidance rather than direction. Thus, the CRM feedback and solution will address many sales force problems as described in the Table I.
Justification - Why Solution is Appropriate:
Worldwide, the medical device market is expected to grow (Maresova, Pehaker, Selamat & Kuca, 2015). A properly functioning sales force and management team will contribute to company success and maintain its competitive advantage. The competitive advantage arises as the company will be better informed, through the utilization of CRM, as to what strategic decisions to implement to ensure that sales margins are high and that the company achieves a profit.
There is significant evidence on how investments in information technology are linked to higher productivity and organizational transformation (Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000). This article argues the value of IT is in its ability to enable complementary organizational investments such as business processes and work practices. These investments, in turn, lead to productivity increases by reducing costs, enabling firms to increase output quality in the form of new products, and through improvements in intangible aspects of existing products, such as convenience, timeliness, quality, and variety (Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000).
In the case of the ZBR distributorship, it is anticipated that the implementation of a CRM will enable more efficient operations, resulting in increased sales success, and thus increased company profit. In embracing the CRM, ZBR will benefit from accurate data and results and will therefore operate from a platform of knowledge. This knowledge will grant the company the necessary competitive advantage that it requires to be ahead of the competition in the medical device industry.
Discussion & Conclusions
Proposed Solution Limitations:
There are certain limitations that the salesforce.com may encounter in its integration with ZBR. These limitations may be user-generated, and may arise where the process of entering customer information is complex.
One of the most significant benefits of CRM software is the enhanced capability to study historical data and make accurate forecasts. Though the snap shotting capabilities on Salesforce.com allows this, the data must be planned out and set well in advance. As a result, sales managers must have the foresight to predict the information they need before they actually need it. Furthermore, the schedule of these snapshots cannot be changed once they have been set.
Alternatives Considered:
There are over a hundred CRM options available. Salesforce.com is consistently reviewed in the top ten of these options.
One alternative to Salesforce.com CRM is Base CRM – the first Post-PC CRM. Base CRM was launched in 2009 and was attractive because of its claim that it’s the only CRM that “Your Sales team will actually use”. The best features of this CRM were call tracking and recording and the impressive and easy to understand sales analytics. This Software’s mobile application also makes its use easier. This software, however, is basically android based and limits its use to only those with the android software. Also, compared to sales force CRM, this alternative offered less substantive analysis than the Salesforce.com.
Many CRM options offer similar qualities and can help accelerate productivity, make insightful decisions, close deals, and get more leads. Compared to many, Salesforce.com offers superb real-time help and personalized live chat support, delivers social customer service – listening and responding to customers across numerous platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, offers service wave analytics bringing together data from multiple systems, analyzing, and turning analysis into answers, and allows options for crowd sourcing, optimizing feedback. Also, Salesforce.com brands itself as requiring “no hardware and no software” (Salesforce.com).
Expected Long-Term Impact:
With the continued use of a CRM such as salesforce.com and through leveraging the sales data that is collected and analyzed, the sales force will be more reliable and motivated and the sales management team will make more informed strategic decisions. As a result, the sales process will be more efficient.
Future Enhancements:
I would expect that CRM will be the standard and the norm moving forward and that every company will implement a version that suits their needs. CRM companies will continue to improve their analytic and reporting capabilities, staying current with available technology. Analytics and reporting of information is a crucial component and an expectation from customers.
Summary:
CRM is a tool that can be used to enhance an organization’s competitive advantage, effectiveness and efficiency. The benefits that can be accrued from a CRM, such as salesforce.com, are immense. Its impact on the sales teams as described cannot be neglected and is essential for companies that want to experience a higher sales volume and to have an organized and streamlined sales department. The shift to CRM is necessitated by the need for accurate sales information, data analysis, and a new judgment sales approach. The shift to CRM ensures that anyone with this information has a strategic advantage over other companies. Therefore, CRM salesforce.com is indeed a step in the right direction for ZBR, which needs a fresh approach in their sales strategies.
References
Adamson, B., Dixon, M., & Toman, N. (2013, November). Dismantling the Sales Machine, Harvard Business Review. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
Ali, N., Wilson, P., & Yazmin, I. (2015). Symptoms Versus Problems (SVP) Analysis on Job Dissatisfaction and Managing Employee Turnover: A Case Study in Malaysia. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, III (4). Retrieved January 26, 2016, from hit://ijecm.co.uk/.
Brynjolfsson, E., & Hitt, L. M. (2000). Beyond Computation: Information Technology, Organizational Transformation and Business Performance. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(4), 23-48. Retrieved January 26, 2016, from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lvc.edu:2048/stable/2647074
Maresova, P., Penhaker, M., Selamat, A., & Kuca, K. (2015). The potential of medical device industry in technological and economical context. There Clin Risk Manag., 11, 1505-1514.
Theodorou, M., Georgiou, M., Nikolentzos, A., & Bellali, T. (2015). Reconsidering Planning and Management of Medical Devices Procurement in Public Health Services in Cyprus. Global Journal of Health Science, 7(6), 205-214. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v7n6p205
Winer, R. S. (2001). A Framework for Customer Relationship Management. California Management Review , 43 (4), 90-105.
