CRM is all about knowing your customers inside out so that you can keep relationships with them effectively.
Two modules in CRM have contact details of people. One is the Leads (Enquiries) module, and the other is the Persons (Contacts) module.
We need the designation of the person to be captured in both these modules. Why is that important?
Why are we capturing details about designation?
We need to speak to relevant and responsible people. That is the most critical part of any sales process.
If you are talking to people with the wrong designation, you might fail in closing the sales.
It’s crucial to approach the right person at the right time with the right solution; then, only sales can happen. The most important being the right person.
The designation is often confusing.
Every company has their style of applying designations. In some companies, directors are more powerful than Vice Presidents. Whereas in others, it can be vice-versa.
Also, generally, all companies use designations differently. While some companies might use Accountant, others might use Finance officer.
This means that if you want to get a list of contacts in your customers who are managing accounts or finance, it is not easy for you to search and group them.
In short, designations are very confusing.
In sales, what we are actually looking for is “Who has the authority to make a purchase or influence the decision.”
Here comes the field called Hierarchy.
Why do we need hierarchy?
Since the other organizations give the designation, we need to have some categorisation based on our requirements.
Now let us think about our requirements.
- We want to know whether your team is talking to the right people with the appropriate authority.
- For marketing and cross-selling purpose, we want a list of people (hierarchy wise) for marketing campaigns.
- It must be easy to use and standardised.
Hierarchy dropdown is standardised and easy to use. It allows categorising data for marketing purposes and targeted communication.
How does hierarchy work?
The hierarchy field in the CRM is a dropdown field.
First, think about how many departments or people with whom you are connected in any organization. E.g., to sell a CRM, we need to connect to (a) top management, (b) Sales team (c) Service teams.
If you want to sell some factory equipment or machinery, you might need to connect to (a) the Purchase department, (b) the Works or factory manager (c) the maintenance department.
Please note that the list will vary depending on the product and services that you provide.
Further, we also need to understand the organisational hierarchy in their respective companies.
Example of hierarchy field in the CRM:
- 00 – top management.
- 01 – Sales Director/VP/Top manager.
- 02 – Sales Manager (branch/region/BU).
- 03 – Sales executive.
- 11 – Service Director/VP/Top Manager.
- 12 – Service Manager (Branch/Region/BU).
- 13 – Service executive.
- 21 – Finance Director (CFO)
- 22 – Accounts/Finance Manager.
- 23 – Accounts/Finance Executive.
