The Future of Sales Is Now: New Capabilities Powered by SugarCRM and sales-i

The Future of Sales Is Now: New Capabilities Powered by SugarCRM and sales-i

Changing buyer behavior, inconsistent economic conditions and an ever-increasing amount of customer-related data is making it harder to drive profitable effective sales.

To help our customers navigate and grow within this landscape we have recently introduced and intelligent account management solution that provides revenue intelligence capabilities to drive winning sales strategies and sales enablement tools to get your sale team selling the right products and the right time to the right customers. Earlier this month, we acquired sales-i, a leading revenue intelligence solution that helps drive this sales innovation.

With complementary products, a shared vision for customer success and engagement, and unrivalled experience and expertise at using machine learning, AI, and generative AI to unlock the value of front-office and back-office data, this new solution is able to accelerate sales and boost revenue, all while helping companies stay ahead of competition.

What we'll Cover:

    Sales Challenges and New Buyer Behavior

    As sales processes become more complex, companies see themselves forced to adapt and change their approaches. Buyers have drastically changed their buying habits, preferring to spend most of their time independently researching products or solutions (27% prefer doing their research online, while 18% prefer researching their options offline).

    When meeting with potential suppliers, they allocate only around 17% to this part of their journey. It is therefore vital that salespeople make the most productive use of this precious time. Here are the top sales challenges we see in companies ranging across all industries:

    • Identifying cross-sell and upsell opportunities
    • Inconsistent sales processes
    • Overwhelmed by Data
    • Understanding emerging buying patterns
    • Lack of Preparation

    According to Aberdeen Strategy Research, sales reps spend up to 43 hours monthly searching for information. Besides, due to new emerging buying patterns, B2B sales reps have about 5% of a customer’s time during their journey. Many reps not only struggle to get answers to their questions, but, many times, they also don’t even know the right questions to ask. With so little interaction with prospects and being overwhelmed by data, there is no wonder that companies find it almost impossible to keep up with new buyer behaviors.

    AI and Data Analytics: The Future of Sales

    Enter intelligent account management and a healthy dose of AI and data management. Today, more than ever, sales processes are data-driven. Integrating AI and ML plays a critical role in this new dynamic. With our new capabilities, powered by Sugar and sales-i, sales reps will love using our product as it will help them sell more and improve their relationship with customers.

    sales-i’s advanced analytics, combined with Sugar’s elevated sales automation capabilities, will help enterprises gain a complete view of customer relationships and their back-office operations simultaneously. With these new capabilities, sales leaders can craft more personalized, targeted sales strategies, being more likely to convert leads into sales. Leveraging our newly joined forces with intelligent account management capabilities can accelerate revenue while enhancing customer satisfaction.

    Beth Freeman, Executive Vice President at FSIoffice, quote sales-i and Sugar acquisition

    Intelligent Account Management with sales-i and Sugar

    The combination of Sugars advanced SFA capabilities containing much of the soft data that is associated with the sales process – sentiment, unstructured documents like emails, calls, meetings etc. and transactions oriented around Marketing, Sales and Service combined with the Structured Hard data found in ERP which is unlocked and turned into insightful relevant Revenue Intelligence by Sales-I is game changing.

    It will allow businesses to understand every aspect of their relationship with their customers, products, markets geographies, in fact any aspect impacting the relationship. And from that create sales strategies to increase revenue, maximize profitability and improve customer satisfaction. Not only are these strategies and actions applicable to CRO, Sales Directors, Managers it also, importantly, delivers personalized experiences optimized for the sales rep themselves.

    Many reps don’t enjoy CRM solutions as they feel they “have to use it” to produce the pipelines, reporting and transactions that the rest of the business needs. With our combined solution the reps will love using our product as it will help them sell more and improve their relationship with their customers. And customers that will look forward to seeing their reps as the solution also delivers information that the customer can use to better understand their vendor spend.

    Soft data and hard data merged by Sugar and sales-i

    Here are the new capabilities that will allow companies to become more profitable while lowering their operational costs:

    A True Customer 360

    CRM promises a 360-degree view of the customer’s journey. Many CRM systems however focus on the capture of new customers and cover an important portion of the customer journey, from the sparking of initial interest marked by leads and opportunities to the culmination of sales orders, weaving through the fabric of campaigns, prospects, and customer interactions. However, with many companies it is the account management side and repeat business which drives the most profit and revenue, and this is an area that many CRMs fall short as beneath this surface of customer engagement and sales metrics, lies an iceberg of critical customer engagement data, hidden within the depths of ERP systems.

    ERP systems encompass the lifeblood of customer engagement that CRM systems often overlook. From the financial planning & budgeting data, through the cyclical transactions of subscriptions and projects, to the tangible outcomes of work orders and inventory management—these systems capture the essence of customer interactions beyond the sale. The depth continues with detailed insights into costing, RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization), invoicing, and the critical flows of payments and collections, as well as sales schedules, billing, and revenue recognition.

    This division of data presents a chasm, where much of the rich knowledge of customer engagement information—vital for a true Customer 360 view—remains siloed within the ERP system. Bridging this chasm not only promises a holistic view of the customer but also unveils opportunities for unprecedented insights into customer behavior, preferences, and value, driving strategies that are truly customer centric.

    With integration to over 180 ERPs Sugar combines that hard + soft data from SugarCRM + sales-i to produce real impactful revenue intelligence and a set of sales enablement technologies that deliver impactful results for the CRO, Mangers, Reps and customers.

    Intelligent account management powered by SugarCRM + sales-i

    Focus On Opportunity Identification

    Our new solution will help you better understand historical sales patterns by analyzing your ERP data. Our latest AI capabilities will help your sales reps better prioritize leads and opportunities, increasing the conversion chances. With the help of our revenue intelligence capabilities, you can quickly identify products your customers are most likely to buy.

    sugarcrm + sales-i capabilities

    Thanks to new upselling opportunities, you’ll gather more precise customer insights along with new diverse revenue streams. You’ll be able to focus on the opportunities that are most likely to generate revenue, while also gaining a competitive edge by being able to make on-time recommendations.

    Sugar and sales-i’s combined powers will also empower you to effectively identify sales trends with a library of pre-defined reports. You can spot your company’s top-selling products in seconds, and leverage product association reports to improve decision-making and tailor sales strategies.

    sugarcrm + sales-i capabilities

    Our data-driven approach will allow you to recognize a growing demand for specific products or services and optimize your planning, inventory management, and resource allocation.

    Proactive Notifications

    With our new integration, you can also identify changes in product sales. You can now define product alerts for all your focus products in your catalog, customize and filter your alerts depending on your preferences or needs, and personalize the content of our notifications.

    sugarcrm + sales-i proactive notifications

    Our new proactive notifications empower sales teams to boost their productivity by focusing on high-value deals and opportunities and understanding market trends and competitive activities without leaving your main interface. Sales reps will now be able to identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities more efficiently.

    AI-Powered Guided Selling

    The Sugar and sales-i integration will also help your sales teams leverage powerful guided selling capabilities. Each salesperson will gain access to a personalized guide that fits their unique situation and scenario with AI-guided, multi-sourced data. This way, they’ll be able to create a personalized and unique experience for each prospect, motivating them to close deals, thanks to your sales reps’ ability to create unprecedented levels of engagement. Furthermore, our integration will facilitate intelligent, actionable cross-sell motions for each account.

    sugarcrm + sales-i AI-powered guided selling

    Cheers to the Bright Future of Sales Intelligence

    Our new Intelligent Account Management solution will accelerate the quote-to-deal process and increase revenue by boosting your organization’s ability to effectively retain and engage customers. They will also help you expand your revenue streams through more upsell and cross-sell opportunities, deliver happy successful salespeople and most importantly satisfied engaged customers.

    Curious to learn more about this new era in intelligent account management? Check out our new SugarCRM and sales-i webpage.

    Or, want to take a deeper dive into the partnership? Watch our recent webinar, A New Era in Revenue Intelligence: SugarCRM Acquires sales-i, for a full look under the hood!

    Paul Farrell
    Paul Farrell Paul Farrell, Chief Product Officer, leading product marketing and product management.
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