Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software growth has been constantly increasing in recent years. 2020 alone saw an 18% increase in CRM usage across various industries. ([STELLAXIUS](https://stellaxius.com/knowledgecenter/news/the-crm-battlefield-salesforce-20-year-throne/)). With this continued growth, it is likely you are thinking about adding a CRM tool to your business. You're probably already aware of what a good CRM can do, but do you know how to get the most out of your CRM? Let's talk about integrations, CRMs' best companions.

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So, what is CRM Integration?**

CRM Integrations are automated actions that expand the functionality of your software, eliminating the need to toggle back and forth between systems. As defined by [HubSpot](https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/crm-integration), it is the seamless connectivity between your customer relationship management software and third-party applications. Simply meaning that you can combine your CRM with other essential tools you use daily such as email, calendar, social media, etc. Depending on which CRM software you’re using, the integrations can be endless.

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**Why is CRM Integration important?**

It allows you to access all of your workplace tools in one area. You'll be amazed to see how your workflow productivity and efficiency will increase. For example, integrations between multiple applications can help you save hours of time with standard tasks such as data entry. In addition to these benefits, integrations help data flow easily between departments, helping to keep people outside your department in the loop. All in all, integrating your CRM allows for a smoother and more enhanced way of working. 

**Examples of Key Integrations** 

Here are five examples of key integrations vital to any CRM:

**Email Integrations  
**As a salesperson, you probably rely on your email as your primary communication method. With CRM integration, you can seamlessly send tailored emails that are triggered by your workflow activities.

**Calendar Integrations** Stay in the know of all your meetings and calls with calendar integrations. Sync your personal and business calendars into one, as well as view your co-worker's calendars.

**Team Communication Integrations** Increase communication amongst your team by integrating instant chat software to ensure clear and effective communication between team members without ever having to leave your CRM.

**Accounting Integrations** Financial accounting integrations help you make more confident decisions by tracking ROI to your investments.

**Productivity Integrations  
**Increased productivity translates to higher profits. Syncing all of your company data and activities to your CRM  helps to manage one single workflow.

When choosing a CRM, integrations should be a priority to make your workflow simple. CRM integrations are designed to increase efficiency. So you can spend less time managing software and more time growing your business.

With over 3,000+ integrations, Outfield is sure to have what you're looking for. To learn more about our integrations, click below to register for the webinar.

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A discussion of all things related to CRM (customer relationship management) integration: What it is, why it's important, and examples of key integrations.

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Everything You Need To Know About CRM Integration

Did you know that the CRM market is estimated to reach [$17.4 billion by 2023](https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/healthcare-crm-market-88873203.html)?

As the customer relationship management (CRM) market continues to snowball, more and more industries are rightfully taking the steps necessary to adopt CRM solutions properly.  
  
Many have seen expedited growth in their business because CRM usage has eliminated cross-team friction and enhanced collaboration across sales and marketing. Companies have also found CRMs to be helpful with tracking and managing the interactions reps have with prospects and customers.

CRMs aren't an untapped tactic for pharmaceutical companies. This industry is an intense market, where adhering to protocol and obtaining and maintaining lifetime relationships with physicians, chemists, and stakeholders can be a continuous challenge. This software solution allows pharmaceutical companies to ensure their reps execute stellar sales and marketing campaigns efficiently while adhering to compliance requirements.

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Here are the main perks and benefits pharma reps can get from CRM usage:

8 CRM benefits for Pharma Reps:

-   Automation to boost workflow productivity
-   Dashboards for quick glances at reports
-   Task Management to keep reps organized
-   Activity trackers to capture leads at every touchpoint
-   Enhanced data sets with CRM Integrations
-   Get quick references with mobile device compatibility
-   Plan, optimize, and navigate routes efficiently.
-   Reach more interested customers with relevant messaging

  

  
Let’s take a deeper dive into these essential benefits that make reps more successful. 

**Automation to boost workflow productivity**  

CRM Automations help simplify the tasks and responsibilities of busy reps. All pharma reps have to deal with constantly changing regulations and restrictions with their sales activities. A CRM can automate tasks such as updating industry regulations, creating lead assignments, and updating product details.

[CRM automation](https://explore.outfieldapp.com/crm-integration) is one of the most robust features for pharma CRMs. It allows companies to streamline communication to help reps respond to and manage leads faster, automate scheduling with physicians, and save time from doing repetitive and tedious tasks.

**Dashboards for quick glances at reports  
**At one point or another, pharma reps need to uncover answers to crucial questions like: _How much revenue have I been bringing in? How many new leads have I created? Have I been staying on top of my customer touchpoints?_   These can all be quite tricky to manage. Lucky for you, CRMs have found a way to make this easily accessible. 

With Dashboards and Reporting, reps can simply select the data necessary to create a customized report unique to their concerns. Then, the data can be transformed into powerful visualizations that are easy enough to interpret for the average person but expandable enough to be valuable to even the most skilled analyst. 

**Task and activity tracker to keep reps organized**  

Being a pharma rep can be very challenging. The numerous tasks it takes from turning a prospect into a customer can be complex for anyone to handle. With a CRM's task management feature, users can manage tasks that sync with their calendars to provide timely reminders.  

This even allows managers to help their reps stay more focused on identifying individual clients’ needs and how to deliver their best sales efforts. So by the time your reps meet with their clients, they are more prepared to provide value without wasting time.

Reps can follow the progress of potential clients from prospect to customer. Activity tracking covers every touchpoint: calls, form submissions, document downloads, physical meetings, etc. This feature allows your organization to capture more information about your customers and track the leads that are most likely to convert. 

**Enhanced data sets with CRM Integrations**  

Most high-performing pharma reps use several different software platforms daily to complete basic tasks. Switching back and forth between apps cannot only be tedious but a waste of money. Reps end up spending less time doing what they do best: selling. With [CRM integrations](https://explore.outfieldapp.com/crm-integration), you can connect any business software to ensure your organization runs at its maximum efficiency. Standard CRM integrations include email, calendar, chat functions, and accounting.  

**Get a quick reference with Mobile Device Compatibility**  

To best grow your practice, pharma reps will find it necessary to access information anywhere they are. This means quickly referencing notes before meeting with a physician or viewing clients’ data to track the progress they’ve made. Mobile CRM allows reps to stay on top of their pharmaceutical efforts whether they’re in the office or on the go. 

CRM mobility even contributes to reps' growth by giving them the ability to identify new referral sources. The referral generation tool is how reps can quickly identify the best prospects nearby which, in turn, allows your organization to have the best possible positioning.

**Plan, optimize, and navigate routes efficiently.**  

Here is another time-saving advantage. Who has time to spend planning routes? Reps should be spending less time traveling and more time meeting with clients. Most modern CRMs come with [route planner](https://www.outfieldapp.com/route_planner_app_for_multiple_stops) technology that will create optimized sales routes for you.

This feature is more than for planning, it’s proactive! Route planners can automatically adjust routes along the way to accommodate for cancellations and rescheduling. While on the road, reps can even prospect the area for new leads to add to their route. Need live traffic updates? Yes, a route planner can do that too. 

**Reach more interested customers with relevant messaging  
**Knowing exactly _who_ and _how_ to make a sales pitch can be difficult even for the most skilled rep. It is one of the many challenges pharma reps face daily.

By analyzing customer data and current market conditions, pharma CRMs can identify trends from potential and existing customers, allowing reps to use more tailored messaging to target customers based on qualifying factors like product or service needs. Not only will doing so generate more referrals, but it will also build better customer relationships. 

With features such as note-taking, calls, and email logs, reps can analyze recent customer touchpoints both before and after a meeting to strengthen their customer relationships and have a more robust sales strategy. The last thing you want is the sales team focusing their efforts in places that don’t convert.

**Ready to get started?**

Finding a CRM that meets not only the needs of your reps, but also those of your company can be an expensive and daunting task. [Outfield](https://outfieldapp.com/), a performance-based CRM, not only allows you to try it free for 30 days, but they discover your company's specific CRM needs and tailor an adoption program to meet those needs.

Discusses 8 reasons why pharma sales reps would benefit from the use of CRM software via leveraging customer data to close more deals. 

Kelton Lucker

Everything You Need To Know About CRM Integration

How Pharma Sales Reps Can Benefit from a CRM