Janitorial and sanitation chemical manufacturers and distributors have unique needs when it comes to managing customer relationships. On top of keeping clients happy, there are strict standards and specifications to follow, and orders and pricing are highly complex. Tracking sales and communications requires the right software, but how do you know which system to choose?
Customer relationship management (CRM) software tracks and manages relationships, interactions and opportunities with customers and prospects all the way through the sales funnel — and beyond. CRM software for janitorial and sanitation suppliers comes with specialized features that meet the industry’s unique needs.
This guide will help you choose the right janitorial and sanitation supplier CRM software for your company. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Janitorial and sanitation supplier CRM software helps companies organize and access customer data and communications to better serve customers and increase sales.
The best CRM systems for janitorial and sanitation manufacturers and distributors offer industry-specific functionality that allows orders, invoices, quotes and more to be customized for the unique needs of companies and customers in this industry.
We recommend choosing a CRM system that is integrated with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. These robust systems allow you to manage and automate key business processes across your entire organization — unifying sales and marketing functions with inventory management, production and distribution capabilities, all within a single platform.
Why choose an integrated CRM and ERP system specialized for your industry, rather than generic CRM software? What you may gain in cost, you lose in functionality and productivity and, ultimately, in revenue. Here are the top benefits of choosing an industry-specific system:
Better customer service. Sales staff at janitorial and sanitizing chemical suppliers need full visibility into their customer accounts to maintain existing business and manage relationships with current customers. That includes access to:
Having all of this information easily accessible within a specialized CRM system streamlines operations and interactions for sales staff. When they don’t have to call the warehouse to check inventory or the billing department to follow up on invoices, they can focus on their most important task: closing deals and keeping customers happy.
Functionality for the chemical industry. Janitorial and sanitizing chemical suppliers are unique, with special requirements other companies don’t have. From compliance reporting to lab management and recipe formulation, integrated janitorial and sanitation CRM and ERP systems offer functionality tailored to your industry’s needs, so you can better track and manage everything from customer communications to inventory and ordering.
Single source of data. Integrated systems offer CRM capabilities in the same database as other key business processes, such as demand planning, inventory management, supply chain management and accounting and financial management. This saves time, eliminates duplicate data entry and reduces errors by removing manual processes.
Real-time information. Integrated CRM and ERP systems for janitorial and sanitation suppliers update quantities, sales and financial information in real time, so everyone in the company can access key information when they need it. This helps sales staff close deals by providing instant access to accurate inventory, pricing and order information.
We covered all of the benefits and features of integrated CRM and ERP systems for the chemical and process manufacturing industry in a previous guide. In the rest of this post, we’ll focus on CRM features for janitorial and sanitation manufacturers and distributors.
To choose the right janitorial and sanitizing chemical supplier CRM software for your company, look for a vendor that offers these top five features:
The right CRM system offers specialized functionality to track and manage which projects are being worked on, their completion status and any associated documents. Tracking these projects effectively drives the new sales opportunity pipeline.
Not only does this feature help sales staff keep customers informed of progress, it also allows them to search past projects in case a customer or prospect requests something similar in the future. They can quickly and easily view the cost, components and success of the project to inform sales conversations.
5. Opportunity management. Salespeople for janitorial and sanitation manufacturers and distributors are typically graded on two metrics: maintaining business with current customers and driving new sales opportunities, whether that’s with existing or prospective customers. Building business with prospects involves creating new opportunities, then nurturing them through the sales funnel — from the initial conversation to their buying decision and all of the touchpoints along the way, including project proposals and sample product formulations.
Keeping track of all of these interactions can be challenging. Opportunity management is another key feature to look for when choosing an integrated CRM and ERP system. It goes hand-in-hand with new product formulation, and is usually part of the project management module, allowing salespeople to gauge the revenue opportunities when developing new products or selling existing ones. For example, the ability to see how past projects have performed can help build business with similar customers.
If the salesperson has done their job, the customer may decide to place an order on the spot. An integrated system allows sales to enter customer orders from within the CRM that are automatically updated in the ERP system. This saves time for sales staff and streamlines ordering for the customer.
A number of other features that are not specific to janitorial and sanitation manufacturers and distributors are also helpful to look for in your new CRM system. These include:
Email integration. Customer interactions typically include a lot of emails. Look for a CRM system that integrates with your email client so you can track messages with clients. Make sure the system you choose also offers tags: this enables you to flag email items to organize customers in the system based on preferences and other attributes.
Analytics and dashboards. Easily analyze how both customers and your sales team are performing against one another and over time. Analytics and dashboards allow you to see which team members are closing the most business and making the most customer visits; rank customers based on their profitability and purchase frequency; and ensure all customers are getting fair pricing, among other performance metrics.
Note and task management. Look for a system that automatically logs all customer interactions as notes and allows you to create and manage tasks. Keeping track of your conversations and open to-dos can be overwhelming, but these tools ensure all customer touchpoints, including calls, emails and meetings, are tracked and organized. This keeps you on task and up-to-date with where customers are in the sales funnel.
In addition to choosing a system that offers all of the features above, ensure you’re making a smart investment by doing your homework about janitorial and sanitizing chemical supplier CRM vendors. To do this, you can:
Reach out to similar companies. Talk to other companies in your industry and vertical to see which vendors they’ve had success with. If they do what you do, and the software works well for them, odds are it will work for your business, too. Most vendors will provide a list of references you can check that includes like companies, or you can reach out to your own network.
Do a personalized demo. Make sure the vendor you’re considering allows you to do a personalized demo before you commit to the software. This typically involves providing sample data that the vendor inputs into the system, so they can show you how the functionality would work for your specific use case. This allows you to give the product a “test drive” and see how it would perform day to day.
Participate in trade shows. Industry-specific trade shows, such as the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) Show, are a great place to find potential janitorial and sanitation CRM software vendors. This provides a low-pressure environment to meet the vendor, learn about the product and see a general demo of the software in action. You can also talk to other companies at the show to see what systems they’re using.
Datacor is an integrated CRM and ERP system designed to meet the unique needs of chemical manufacturers and distributors, including janitorial and sanitation companies. It offers all of the features we’ve covered here, plus a range of specialized functionality to help chemical companies streamline and centralize business processes. Learn more about our janitorial and sanitation CRM software, or sign up for a personalized demo today.