Tinton Falls, NJ -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/27/2006 --According to Thomas R. Cutler, Manufacturing Journalist, in a recent issue of Manufacturing and Logistics IT, Industrial CRM is experiencing huge growth. The article may be read in its entirety at http://www.logisticsit.com/absolutenm/templates/article-manufacturing.aspx?articleid=2428&zoneid=2.

Commence offers industrial companies complete “Freedom Of Choice” to select the solutions and platform that best meets the business requirements of manufacturers and distributors. The comprehensive CRM Industrial application suite is available for use on premise or on-demand as a hosted service. Industrial leaders often build departmental CRM solutions with the award winning Commence Industrial CRM Framework. These choices are why so many industrial companies choose Commence as the solution for managing customer relationships. All Commence Industrial solutions support mobile or wireless connectivity and integration to back-office accounting and ERP systems.

According to Larry Caretsky, CEO of Commence Corporation, “CRM for manufacturers must streamline sales processes by ensuring sales opportunities are tracked and closed consistently and efficiently with customizable workflow rules that automate stages in the selling process.” As part of the lean manufacturing initiative, effective industrial CRM solutions will reduce errors by creating and modifying accurate quotes for prospects and existing clients using a full-featured product catalog that supports complex pricing levels, units of measure and discounts. The technology must allow quotes to be converted to orders, as well as modifying and saving orders until they are ready to be billed as invoices.

Caretsky suggested that another advantage of sector specific CRM is, “The ability improve demand management with sales pipeline visibility allows manufacturers to implement a sales forecasting process that delivers objective insights on sales activity, rather than subjective guessing.”

Decreased client response times are also achieved when there is heightened visibility to manufacturing order status, inventory quantities, and current pricing; this empowers customer service staff with critical customer information.

Aftermarket sales are driving significant industrial CRM technology solutions because manufacturers recognize the value-added profit opportunities available with increased service and aftermarket sales. Only when the minutia of industrial customers’ content is detailed in a CRM system can aftermarket sales opportunities be effectively exploited.
Understanding the idiosyncratic nature of manufacturing processes, industrial enterprises, and lean manufacturing principles mandates that CRM technology solutions recognize these unique sector traits to realize optimal benefits.

In an effort to help industrial distributors and manufacturers thrive, Commence Corporation presents Practices That Pay: Leveraging Information to Achieve Industrial Selling Results, a compendium of smart practices from the leading industrial sales and marketing experts and organizations that are growing in today’s challenging environment.