Customer Relationship Management systems are designed to streamline and enhance your brewery’s customer-focused processes, including sales. As your brewery grows and the need to create a system for your sales team, installing a CRM system can be a necessity. But when? It can be a task you need to sit down and figure out.
With a team of two LeAnn Darland, one of the co-founders, and co-CEO of Talea Beer said she and Tara Hankinson started by doing all sales and deliveries themselves.
“That was a challenging, yet essential experience that gave us enormous appreciation for everything sales reps and distributors do,” Darland said. When they were ready to grow the team, hired a Head of Sales that had far more experience in beer sales than they did.
“We learned a lot from her,” Darland said. “Being an effective leader and manager is a constant work in progress, but you can’t go wrong with overcommunication when it comes to goals and expectations.”
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It also meant adding in a program like Karma, a part of VIP.
Scotty Hunter at Urban Artifact explained that the Cincinnati brewery uses the same system, sharing it is useful for a quick reference on an account as well as tracking buyer information, “otherwise it feels a bit clunky,” he said.
“Part of that could be that with us being a smaller brewery and sales team, we don’t have the proper resources to customize it in order to use its full potential.”
By leveraging CRM technology, sales teams can enhance their efficiency, improve customer relationships, and drive sales growth for the brewery.
A CRM system can allow a staff to store and access customer data in a centralized database while helping manage leads effectively.
The Alementary uses an in-house built system that is open sourced called “BrewerLean.”
“There are several modules, one of which is a fast, mobile-friendly sales call tracking system,” said COO Blake Crawford. He explained they will classify accounts as “prospect,” “acquisition,” or “maintenance.”
“Prospect account are accounts we want but haven’t visited — leads, if you will,” he said. “Acquisition accounts are accounts for which we are working to the first sale. Maintenance accounts are previously sold accounts that we’re managing to permanent handles.”
Being able to utilize a CRM system while providing tools to generate sales reports and analyze data is key. Your sales team can gain insights into their performance, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and identify trends or patterns. As your team grows, having the ability to collaborate and communicate as well is helpful. This can promote teamwork, and ensure that they are streamlined in interacting with customers.
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