What requirements does a CRM need in the construction and building material industry?

You don’t ask yourself this question if you come from the industry yourself, because actually everything is self-explanatory. We work building and construction projects and it goes without saying that I want to see all project participants and information linked in my CRM. But from a CRM perspective, things look a little different. The construction industry is special. Why is that?

The Standard-CRM

Customer Relation Management (CRM) means that I see my customers and all information about the customer (360°) at a glance. Standard CRM systems are designed for this and offer a wide range of options. Classic opportunity management maps a simple lead-to-quote process, which means I work along a path, lead – to – quote.

However, this does not work in the construction and building material industry.

There are already multiple paths in the lead process that point in the direction of the building object and several paths that in turn lead away from the building object. This is due to the fact that many leads are usually made for a project in the form of inquiries from planners, builders, architects and fabricators. The inquirers are rarely the actual buying customers. In the course of the construction project, the buying customers (usually dealers) are asking questions about the offer. The offers are then sent to various parties and should of course only be considered once in the forecast, since it is always the same project.

If I map this process in a standard CRM, I create a separate sales opportunity for each participant in a project, which ultimately means that forecasting is not possible or is very badly falsified.

Industry-specific CRM

In opportunity management, I work on a customer who is also the decision maker in order to conclude a contract with him.

In construction property management, I work on everyone involved and create several offers for a construction property in order to ultimately sell my product in the construction property. The buying customer is usually not the product decision maker.

The challenge is to map this process in CRM. Special industry solutions have recognized this, but cannot be compared with the large providers in the areas of marketing, web shop, community, etc.

In our whitepaper you can find out what a Salesforce-based industry solution for the construction and building material industry can look like and what possibilities it offers.