If your business focuses on government contracting, you can tailor Microsoft Dynamics CRM to help you manage your business development efforts. Out of the box, Dynamics CRM is missing some of the data elements you will need to track opportunities, and the standard business processes will probably not match your requirements.
You may want to consider how you approach marketing and determine whether or not you want to use the Leads entity or purchase mailing lists for marketing purposes. Our experience is that many traditional marketing approaches do not work well for government customers. One reason is that government separates the people who need products and services from people who purchase them.
You can populate the Accounts entity with all the agencies and sub-agencies that you sell to. Be sure to enter the data to reflect the hierarchical nature of government agencies, departments, branches and offices. This data is available from several sources for import if you would like to speed up the process. You should be sure to enter the purchasing contacts as well as the actual customers for your company.
Opportunities requires the greatest number of additional fields such as contract type, contract vehicle, and provisions for the key dates in the proposal process such as sources sought, request for information, request for proposal, orals, and best and final offer.
If, like most government contractors, you join teams for contract pursuits, but sure to customize Dynamics CRM so that the teaming relationships are accurately reflected.
SharePoint is an excellent tool for managing the proposal documents. Dynamics CRM has built-in integration with SharePoint, but you may want a more sophisticated approach to create document libraries and assign proposal roles.
InfoStrat's Dynamics CRM solution for government contractors provides these customizations and additional features to streamline the government contract sales process.
You may want to consider how you approach marketing and determine whether or not you want to use the Leads entity or purchase mailing lists for marketing purposes. Our experience is that many traditional marketing approaches do not work well for government customers. One reason is that government separates the people who need products and services from people who purchase them.
You can populate the Accounts entity with all the agencies and sub-agencies that you sell to. Be sure to enter the data to reflect the hierarchical nature of government agencies, departments, branches and offices. This data is available from several sources for import if you would like to speed up the process. You should be sure to enter the purchasing contacts as well as the actual customers for your company.
Opportunities requires the greatest number of additional fields such as contract type, contract vehicle, and provisions for the key dates in the proposal process such as sources sought, request for information, request for proposal, orals, and best and final offer.
If, like most government contractors, you join teams for contract pursuits, but sure to customize Dynamics CRM so that the teaming relationships are accurately reflected.
SharePoint is an excellent tool for managing the proposal documents. Dynamics CRM has built-in integration with SharePoint, but you may want a more sophisticated approach to create document libraries and assign proposal roles.
InfoStrat's Dynamics CRM solution for government contractors provides these customizations and additional features to streamline the government contract sales process.