[Tutorial] How do you centralise a company's information, from prospecting to invoicing?

These days, the majority of French companies use several tools in the day-to-day management of their business:

• CRM,
• A quotation and invoicing tool,
• Accounting software,
• Word & Excel,
• A project management tool,
• etc.

It's easy to imagine the gasworks that emerge: time wasted finding information, double entry, pure loss of information, non-collaborative aspect, etc.

Centralising all a company's information in a single, easy-to-use tool that can be accessed from anywhere will help improve day-to-day management and automate tasks!

In this management tutorial, we'll show you how to centralise your data and guarantee your company's growth and security!

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Centralising information is a necessity!

For better internal management

A multitude of tools often leads to unpleasant surprises:

• Entering different types of information on multiple platforms, resulting in a significant loss of time in day-to-day operations.
• Wasting time finding information spread across different tools.
• Errors made that will pollute your interfaces. This will cast doubt on your actions and therefore waste time when checking.

Efficient centralisation of information within your company will optimise your internal resources: financial, human and technological.

Entering information should be as simple and straightforward as possible. Centralising everything in one tool with a clear process will make it easier to capture information and, above all, to share it (for example, transforming a quotation into an invoice without having to re-enter everything).

An organised structure will save time on time-consuming tasks: searching for information, correcting it if necessary. The ^1st advantage will therefore be better organisation and a focus on what really matters: fewer administrative processes, more commercial activities and therefore more turnover, more loyalty!

When one of your employees is on holiday, travelling, on the phone or off sick, they won't be able to deal with prospects/customers. The most important advantage of centralising information lies in the sharing and collaborative aspect of your tool!

As far as sales and customer relations are concerned, we have just seen the importance of centralisation. But don't forget the other departments in your organisation. The invoicing or accounting department will be able to work with all the data: who to invoice? what address? without having to ask the sales department: this saves time and reduces friction between departments, etc.

For better external management and commercial relations

Poor internal management will always have major repercussions on external management: that of your prospects/customers!

That's where customer files, which centralise information, can add a great deal of value! All employees will be able to make a note of the exchanges they have had (calls, APPOINTMENTS, e-mails). As well as improving the management of your business, the complete history will provide a personalised commercial relationship. At a time of increasing competition, when every detail counts, your professionalism will be appreciated and could make all the difference!

If this happens, all authorised employees will have easy access to the information. If one of your customers calls, without centralising and sharing information, you have no way of knowing who it is, their background or their needs. This is unprofessional and the customer experience will not be good.

Acquiring a new customer costs 7 times more than retaining one! This aspect of the business is therefore vital, especially for small organisations. Building customer loyalty will depend on the small details of the commercial relationship, as we have just seen.

One firm, Bain & Cie, carried out a study and proved that increasing the loyalty of your best customers could lead to an increase in sales of between 25% and 55%.

You therefore need to put in place meticulous management of your customers:

• Personalised exchanges: Mr Robert, Hello Julie, etc.
• Personalised consumption: most popular products, etc.

To automate personalisation and increase customer loyalty, all the information needs to be concentrated on one interface, so that it can be shared quickly. Building loyalty through an emotional bond will help to reduce the attrition rate.

An important point that we don't often think about is the resale of the company! When the time comes to sell your business, having a well-informed, centralised tool will enable you to make much better use of your customer portfolio than the "I've got it all in my head" approach. The software can be a significant asset in the sale price.

Tutorial for centralising and managing your business with a single tool

As we've just seen, using software to centralise and share your data is a key element in your success. Whether you're working alone or as part of a team!

For this tutorial, we'll be using Axonaut CRM + ERP software. This is a global solution that brings together all the functionalities a company needs, whatever its size:

• A simple CRM linked to e-mail and the diary,
• Estimates and invoices with online signature and payment, and reminders for unpaid invoices,
• Cash management linked directly to your bank account,
• Customised export for accountants,
• Supplier and expense management, expense reports with OCR technology,
• And many more: Marketing, Stock Management, Projects, HR.

To illustrate the different stages, let's take a concrete example:

Jean, director of a very small business with 5 employees in the Toulouse region.

When Jean began his entrepreneurial adventure on his own 2 years ago, he did what everyone else did: he used Word and Excel for his day-to-day management. However, he had the misfortune to experience growth and therefore to take on new employees :)

His Word and Excel management then proved disastrous. Appointments were forgotten, invoices not sent, a lack of collaboration and exchange between employees... Even using the online version, data was scattered and tasks became time-consuming. Jean was constantly putting off invoicing his customers... unfortunately some of them found themselves in suspension of payments 5 months later, which meant a net loss!

He was losing growth even though he had taken on employees!

Let's look at how Jean improved his day-to-day management and the centralisation of information within his company.

1. Centralising commercial information

Jean's first priority was to restructure the sales side of his business. 3 sales people share all the prospects/customers.

Before, everything was on Excel files for each sales rep. The sales relationship was poor: there was no personalisation of the customer relationship, and quotes remained on hold for months. Prospects were not contacted...

Thanks to the tool deployed, the sales staff now have a single interface where everything is centralised. Each sales rep can see directly which prospects have been assigned, the latest exchanges (e-mails, calls, appointments) and the next steps to be taken.

Directory overview

At a glance, information is centralised and organised for greater productivity.

This overview is generic. The customer files allow you to go into more detail for each prospect/customer, thereby improving the customer experience:

Overview of a customer file

In this file, Jean and his teams can find all the information they need to save time and be proactive:

• The legal details of your prospects/customers,
• Contacts,
• Exchanges: whether by email, call or appointment, you have a complete history,
• Documents,
• Quotes, Orders and Invoices.

Everything is centralised in the customer file. Jean can rest assured that data will be shared between his sales staff. In the event of absence or anything else, everyone in the organisation will be able to retrieve the information easily!

2. Combine daily tasks

Every morning, when they arrive at work, Jean and his sales staff get a list of the day's tasks linked directly to their diaries: appointments to be made, quotes to be sent, calls to be received or made, etc.

3. Monitor customer invoicing

As we saw above, some of Jean's customers were in arrears. A lack of cash flow was hampering his growth. To save time tracking invoices and reminders, Jean uses the invoicing tool integrated into his system.

From the customer file, he can add :

• A quote,
• an order
• An invoice.

Documents are produced in his own professional image.

Customer portal at a glance

To speed up its sales process and sign deals more quickly, it even offers secure electronic signature of quotations.

Once the quote has been accepted, everything is centralised in the newly and automatically created order. The quote, supplier orders, delivery notes and invoices.

Order overview

The invoice is pre-filled with the information from the quotation. No more double entry! As with Estimates, Jean offers its customers the option of paying the invoice directly online. Either by credit card or direct debit.

4. Fast, controlled collection

When you consider that 25% to 30% of French bankruptcies are due to late payment, this is a crucial issue! In conjunction with online payment, Jean's all-in-one software enables you to receive notifications when an invoice has not been paid. This means he can schedule automatic reminders. Payment times have been halved.

Notification overview

E-mail templates are pre-recorded. Jean saves time on this time-consuming task and avoids input errors, calculations, etc.

Preview of a new exchange

John can connect his bank to his online management tool. This means he can manage incoming and outgoing payments from the same interface.

For expenses, he can either create them from his software or do the bank reconciliation:

Bank reconciliation overview

The same applies to customer invoices:

Thanks to all these features, Jean is able to manage his entire business using a simple, effective online tool.

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Conclusion

It's possible to manage a business from a single interface that brings together all your information! It's even advisable to avoid mistakes and oversights. When you're running a business, the day-to-day can quickly get out of hand. Having a solution where data is centralised will help management (control cash flow), improve commercial relations (get paid more quickly) and build customer loyalty (increase the average basket, repeat purchases). What's more, your employees will be more productive every day!

The aim is to focus on what's most important: your know-how! Your sales!

Sponsored article. The expert contributors are authors who are independent of the appvizer editorial team. Their comments and positions are their own.