User Review
( votes)I'm the business manager of KINOVA, one of the world's leading Ball Python breeders. We are at a major crossroads in terms of our ability to scale due to inefficient sales processes. I've tried several CRMs in the past, but I always get stuck in the weeds with figuring out how to make them fit our business/industry which is quite unique. However, it's do or die at this point; we HAVE to implement new solutions in order for our business to succeed. I would love suggestions for a CRM that may either be the right fit for us out of the box, or customizable in some way to fit our needs.
Here is a rundown of our current sales process:
- Animals are listed for sale on MorphMarket, our industry's leading marketplace
- An individual inquires about animal(s) through one of a number of channels
- MorphMarket message, which sends an email to our sales email using a uniquely generated email address (like Craigslist) for each inquiry (most common)
- We can respond to the email and it acts like a normal email thread, but it's not in any way connected to their actual email address.
- Texting our sales phone
- Social media message (Instagram is most common)
- Direct email (what we would prefer, but probably the least commonly used option)
- MorphMarket message, which sends an email to our sales email using a uniquely generated email address (like Craigslist) for each inquiry (most common)
- We respond to the inquiry
- If they inquired via any method other than email, we direct them to email us to continue the discussion.
- Communication continues via email until the sale is either lost or won
- Sometimes it's very simple: Someone emails and says "I'd like to purchase this snake, please send me a link to pay."
- Other times very complex: Someone wants to start their own breeding project with a particular investment budget and needs guidance on building the right group of animals; someone is purchasing their first snake and needs assistance with choosing the right animal and requires extensive care and husbandry advice; someone wants to negotiate on price, or requests a payment plan; etc.
- If the sale is won, we then send over links to collect payment.
- We request payment via Paypal or Square (most customers oblige)
- Some customers ask to send payment via Zelle, Venmo, CashApp, Money Order, or Wire Transfer
- We basically accept anything, at the end of the day.
- Some customers want us to send them invoices for the payments rather than sending the payment themselves
- We confirm payment is made by checking whatever app/platform they said they would use
- We create an invoice for the customer in Quickbooks and apply the payment.
- If the customer is new, we first have to manually create their account in Quickbooks by copying/pasting their contact info before we can create the invoice.
- We update our inventory (Google Sheet) to mark the animal as sold.
- We log the animal, sale price, customer name, and salesperson in a Google Sheet
- We have a different sheet for each month
As you can see, this is wildly inefficient. I would say our biggest pain points are as follows:
- Double and triple data entry, which wastes time and increases the likelihood of errors.
- Constant task switching (moving between different apps and platforms) also wastes time and decreases our focus.
- Volume of leads. Managing the number of inquiries we get using our current methods is very chaotic and time-consuming.
- For instance, in June 2023 we fielded 211 inquiries on animals from MorphMarket messages alone, and many more from other platforms which are harder for us to track due to our current (lack of) systems.
- Lack of a unified invoicing system/payment portal. The fact that we'll allow customers to pay us a dozen different ways makes collecting and tracking payments very confusing and time-consuming.
- Little to no ability to collect/analyze data. We're not tracking basically any valuable metrics currently and it's frankly absurd.
What I would love:
- In general, a tool to streamline our sales flow as much as possible and eliminate the double data-entry/task switching
- Built-in invoicing and payment portal capabilities
- Alternatively, integration with Quickbooks for invoicing
- Easy and fast lead creation, given the number of inquiries we deal with on a daily basis
- Automation from emails or SMS received, possibly?
- Analytics and data visualization that allows us to better evaluate our customer & sales metrics
ANY advice at all would be appreciated. I'm currently testing out Odoo right now, but I don't love their UI – however, I can get over that if need be.
submitted by /u/summyg
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