As CRM and ERP consultants we work with construction and specialty trade companies who are looking for new ways to help drive new sales and increase repeat business from existing customers. Contractors who are thriving in today’s challenging economy are looking to technology to help solve some of their common challenges. They often see sales staff turn-over and lose staff sometimes even to their competitors! In addition contractors who are growing their business often do so by developing or purchasing new lines of business to help diversify their companies. These market trends are putting more pressure on their internal systems to provide the data and insights needed to be successful. Most contractors who look for CRM software solutions, find that the out of the box solutions fall short of meeting their specific requirements.
As CRM and ERP consultants we are happy to report that Microsoft Dynamics CRM rises to the challenge with Wennsoft’s Construction Accelerator. Most of our customers choose and appreciate Microsoft CRM because it is a highly flexible tool for companies to manage their marketing, sales, and customer service initiatives. As we speak to construction and specialty trade companies, however, we often hear the initial question “How can Microsoft Dynamics CRM be extended to meet our unique needs in the construction industry?” At the TM Group, a dual Gold Certified Microsoft Dynamics partner for CRM and ERP, we work closely with WennSoft, a Microsoft Dynamics independent software developer, who now provides an answer to that question with an out-of-the-box solution--the Construction Accelerator for Dynamics CRM. WennSoft developed this to address contractor’s needs as well as to further extend the value that Microsoft Dynamics CRM delivers into the construction and specialty trades market. The Construction Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides sales and marketing functionality that is unique to the construction and specialty trades industries.
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- Dashboards. Sales Manager and Sales Representative dashboards to help them have the right information at their fingertips.
- Prospect Data Collection. Provides sales reps the ability to easily collect data about a prospect’s locations (e.g., type of building, type of heating and cooling, # of floors, etc.) as well as the equipment at those locations (e.g. type, serial numbers, model numbers, etc.). Use this data to market to your prospect pool as well as more effectively on board a new customer.
- Bid Management. Manage bids by line of business (e.g., T&M service calls, maintenance contracts, and projects/jobs) as well as by role (e.g., prime contractor with subs, sole bidder, subcontractor to a prime, etc.). Track due date and time, other division engagement, sales process and probabilities.
- Subcontractor and Supplier Bids. Track all bids that subcontractors and suppliers provide to you as part of your bid to the end customer.
- 3rd party Relationships. Manage 3rd party relationships such as property managers. Bids can be tracked to both end customers and 3rd parties so you’re always clear to whom you’re bidding.
- Unique Workflows. Numerous workflows help facilitate the bidding process such as auto-notification of a lead estimator to help put a bid together or auto-notification of additional departments or divisions within a company when they should be engaged on a bid.
- Competitor Tracking. Track industry centric skills for your competitors.
The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Construction Accelerator by WennSoft works with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and can be deployed either as an on premise or in the cloud solution. If this sounds of interest to you or your customers, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at jennifers@tmgroupinc.com or call 888.482.2864. You can learn more at www.tmgroupinc.com or www.wennsoft.com.
Submitted By The TM Group, a Michigan Microsoft Dynamics Gold Certified Partner for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft Dynamics NAV and SharePoint Business Solutions.
Authored by: Ken Jacobsen
Photo courtesy of www.freedidgitalphotos.net
The original version of this blog was posted on: http://www.crmsoftwareblog.com/2011/03/the-new-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-construction-accelerator-for-contractors/