Sell More With An Energy Broker CRM

Keeping your customer data organized and easily accessible is critical for success in the retail energy sector. Energy Broker CRM from Edge makes selling energy easier.

 

Retain More Customers and Scale Your Business

Using spreadsheets and manual files to track your customer information?

Energy Broker CRM from Edge can help you eliminate errors and stay more organized. It can also generate future sales opportunities through visual dashboards and reporting. Manage your energy customers and prospects with ease:

 

  • Export customer contact information for seamless email marketing campaigns

  • Quickly search and find utility account numbers related to specific contracts and customers

  • Store all of your customers’ bill copies and supply contracts in a single application

  • Manage your sales pipeline through visual dashboards and reporting

 
 

And did we mention that CRM fully integrates with Contract Management?
Now you can fully manage your energy broker business from anywhere.

Energy CRM Features

Clients

Never miss a renewal with Client Management.

  • Centralized database with all customer information.

  • View contract data, account numbers, and key contacts.

  • Effectively manage your energy clients.

Prospects

Generate more sales with Prospect Management.

  • Track prospects and future opportunities.

  • Assign different users to lead stages.

  • Effectively manage sales team efforts.

Opportunities

Organize your sales efforts with Opportunity Management.

  • Manage your sales efforts with visual pipeline dashboards.

  • Diagnose weaknesses in your sales process.

  • Hold sales teams accountable for productivity.

Contacts

Build your brand with Contact Management.

  • Easily search for customer contact information.

  • Export data for email marketing campaigns.

  • Impress your prospects by taking detailed notes.

Documents

Digitize your paperwork with Documents.

  • Store customer bill copies and contracts.

  • Export and email documentation on the fly.

  • Get fingertip access to all of your customer records.

Utility Accounts

Search and locate utility Account Numbers.

  • Easily search and find utility account numbers.

  • Never miss an account on a contract renewal.

  • Export account lists by customer, contract, or team.

 

EDGE CRM System FAQs

 

  • There is lots of supporting information that shows brokers who use a CRM to stay organized are more successful than those who do not. There are many benefits to implementing a CRM at your organization including:

    • Allowing your sales team to stay more organized and close more deals.

    • Giving better operational efficiency to your back office team by having a centralized database.

    • Providing executives with high-level reporting and visibility into the organization so they can track key metrics and solve problems before they become too challenging.

  • Yes, we know! Salespeople are sometimes set in their ways and getting them to adopt new processes and procedures can be challenging! One of the best ways to encourage your sales team to use the CRM, without making it mandatory, is to prove to them the added value a CRM might bring. According to CRM.org, 66% of salespeople who use a CRM hit their quota, compared to only 22% of salespeople who do not use a CRM.

  • Edge’s energy broker CRM system has 5 major components that all work in conjunction with each other: Clients, Prospects, Opportunities, Contacts, and Accounts. If you start at the beginning of the sales process:

    • You first have a new Prospect or a Company that you are hoping to sell energy.

    • At that Company is a decision-maker who will ultimately sign the contract. That’sThat your Contact.

    • When your Contact has indicated that they are interested in buying energy, you then create an Opportunity.

    • When the Opportunity closes, the Prospect then becomes a Client.

    • The new client has utility Accounts that are associated with a new Contract.

    Our system is designed to follow the simple steps of your sales process in order to capture customer data along the way.

  • We designed our CRM with the user in mind! In fact, we understand how complex other CRM systems can be and the challenges they present to your sales team. Our system is designed to be simple, easy to use, and most importantly, easy to navigate. We found that 74% of our broker clients’ salespeople have fully adopted Edge into their daily lives.

  • While we do offer energy brokers stand-alone applications, the CRM app is sold in conjunction with the Contracts app. Since each customer in the CRM has a utility accounts related to a specific contract, these applications are sold together.

  • We offer an array of services for helping to migrate your existing customer data into the Edge platform. No matter if you are currently using a generic CRM, an energy-specific CRM, or Excel spreadsheets, our team has the knowledge and experience to help you seamlessly integrate your data.

CRM System Tips & Facts

What Is a CRM System?

A customer relationship management (CRM) system is a software tool that helps you better manage the relationships you have with your customers.

It can be used to track the interactions you have with your customers, such as when they make a purchase or sign up for your newsletter. It also helps you organize and manage that information so that you can use it to improve your business practices.

Many CRM systems are cloud-based and offer mobile apps, so they can be used on any device that has internet access. Some even allow you to view data remotely wherever there's Wi-Fi or cellular service available.

Prospects & Opportunities

CRM systems typically have functions that allow you to track new sales prospects and deal opportunities. This keeps your salesforce organized so they do not miss out on any sales opportunities in the future. Many CRM’s offer visual dashboards to view sales pipelines and opportunities as they reach different stages of the sales process. This allows managers and executives the ability to keep track of their team’s work and progress.

Contracts & Marketing

Furthermore, good CRM systems make organizing customer and prospect contact information easy. Many systems even have a marketing component that integrates with customer contact data for sending email marketing newsletters or alerts to customers. Using your CRM as your central database for all customer contact information is a great way to stay organized and make sure your team is always on the same page.

Contracts & Finance

Some CRM systems even give companies the ability to track customer contracts and payment data. It is important to know who owes you what and if invoices were paid. Some sophisticated CRM systems even can forecast future receivables based on existing customer contracts. CRMs with this level of sophistication are often customized to meet the business’s individual needs, or are industry-specific, with a focus on the needs of the market.

BILL GATES

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

 

How a CRM Can Help You Generate More Sales

A customer relationship management (CRM) system will help your sales team make more sales by giving them an easy-to-use tool that allows them to focus on the most important part of their job—selling. A CRM system can help your sales team make more sales in a number of ways.

Tracking Leads

First, it can help you keep track of all the leads that come in. That way, when someone comes through the door, you know exactly what they've bought in the past and who referred them to you.

You'll also be able to see which products they've been interested in, so if they come back with something new that's related to one of those interests, you'll know that if you show them more information about it, they'll probably buy it!

Customer Behavior

Second, it helps you keep track of who's buying what. Maybe there are some customers who have been only buying one product or service from your business—but now they just bought two! Maybe it's time for an upgrade! Or maybe someone who used to buy from another competitor has decided that your product is better after all. This data is important to have on hand so you understand what is driving sales.

Detailed Reporting

Third, the system keeps track of how much each customer has spent with you over time so you can see where your best customers are coming from and where your worst ones are going. A good CRM can track the total customer journey so you have real-time data on the health of your business. Advanced reporting functionality gives executives and managers insight into key performance metrics of the business.


Contact Us

Interested in seeing what an energy broker CRM can do for your energy business?

 

How a CRM Can Make Your Operations Team More Efficient

As you know, the key to running a successful business is keeping your operations team efficient.A customer relationship management system (CRM) is designed to help you do just that. A CRM system helps you organize information about your customers and deliver it to the people who need it most—the people who can make decisions based on that information.

For example, let's say you're looking for new vendors to work with. You could use a CRM system to search for vendors by certain criteria like price, location, or other factors important to your business. Then, when someone on your operations team needs help finding a vendor that meets those requirements, they can search through the CRM database and find one.

So how does this make your operations team more efficient? It saves them time! Instead of having to do all of their own research into finding new vendors, they can simply look up what they need in the CRM database and get back to work without wasting valuable time. Here are a few ways CRM systems help operations teams work more efficiently.

Organized Customer Data

CRM systems can help you stay on top of all of your customer data, including when they sign up, what products they buy, and how many times they've visited your site. This information helps you understand who your most valuable customers are, which makes it easier to market new products to them.

Actionable Insights

With a CRM system, you can also create customized reports based on this data. You might want to know which products are selling most frequently or which ones have the highest profit margins. You might also want to see if any customers purchased something that was outside of the original scope, or how often customers are using your software system. You could even use the data in these reports to create new marketing campaigns that target specific groups of people with different interests or needs!

Key Marketing Information

A CRM system will also allow you to manage all of your marketing interactions with each individual customer—from emails sent out through email campaigns to social media engagement. This marketing data can help your team find better ways to get in front of the right customers, put money towards the right campaigns, and develop better plans for your salespeople.

 

CRM TIPS: Making The Most Out Of Your CRM

Half of the challenge of implementing a new CRM system at your business is getting your salespeople and other employees to use it! Yes, we know. You just invested in a new CRM and your employees barely pay it any attention. Here are some sure-fire ways to get your employees to fall in love with your new CRM…

Make It Fun.

Come up with games for how many prospects a sales person adds each week. Or fun challenges to incentivize your team.

Make It Interactive.

One of the best ways to get your people to use a CRM is to find ways for them to communicate through the tool.

Make It Mandatory.

If all else fails, make using the CRM a mandatory task. Eventually, as your business grows, the new people will catch on and just start using it.

Energy Broker CRM Systems

Why Use An Energy Broker CRM System?

As an energy broker, managing customer data should be the least of your concerns. Energy brokers play a unique role in the deregulated energy markets. By negotiating the supply of energy between retail providers and end-use customers, energy brokers are critical to the supply chain. Managing customer relationships while continually finding the lowest prices in the market can be a daunting challenge, so keeping track of new prospects and existing customers must be simple.

An energy broker CRM can help your organization stay focused on what matters most - your customer and supplier relationships. There are many operational and marketing benefits to implementing a CRM at your energy brokerage. A CRM will allow back-office employees simple access to customer documents and contract details. A CRM will also allow you to manage your salespeople more effectively by gaining visibility into the sales process. In addition, your marketing team can use customer data collected by your CRM to set up regular email drip campaigns to prospects or existing customers.

How Energy CRMs Can Streamline Operations

In addition to the many benefits described above, a CRM system can automate and streamline operational workflows. Are your pricing desk personnel struggling to locate customer bill copies? Maybe your finance team is having trouble locating the specifics of a customer contract? An energy broker CRM system solves these problems and more.

Centralized Energy Information

Having your customer information in a centralized database that all team members can access, eliminates manual errors and wasted time. Many of our clients see a drastic decrease in labor costs after implementing our technology. Gone are the days of having to pick up the phone and ask a salesperson to resend a bill copy. When your team is all working from a single CRM solution, all of the pertinent information to work on a deal is readily available.

User Permissions

In addition, energy CRM systems like Edge have user permissions functionality, so you can allow certain users to access specific customer data, and hide specific data from other users. This is a key function of having multiple team members work cohesively from a single system.

 

“We are so thrilled to have implemented EDGE at our business. Our employees’ efficiency is through the roof and sales are higher than ever!”

— EDGE Broker

Generic CRM Systems vs. EDGE

Yes, there are many generic CRM software applications on the market. Systems like Salesforce and Hubspot are robust CRM technologies; however, they can cost your organization tens of thousands of dollars to customize for an energy broker application.

EDGE History

On the flip side, Edge is an energy broker-specific CRM application. When we first began to develop this technology it was for our own energy broker business in 2010. When we decided to wind down our broker business, we invested in developing our energy software platform to be the ideal solution for energy brokers.

Energy-Specific

Unlike generic CRMs that need customization, Edge is already built to suit your energy broker needs. In addition to the CRM functionality, we have applications for processing energy commissions, accessing utility ECL customer data, initiating pricing RFPs with retail energy suppliers, managing supply contracts, and more. Our team of highly-skilled software engineers, developers, and product architects, are all U.S.-based and have turned Edge into the leading software application for energy brokers.

How Technology Is Changing The Retail Energy Sector

Technology is changing the way we do business throughout the world, and although the retail energy sector might be lagging, it is no different. Energy brokers who take advantage of technology have an unfair advantage over those who do not.

Overview

The retail energy industry has been late to adopt technology as a way of transacting business. Many energy brokers and suppliers still process energy quotes and contracts via the telephone and email. As technology continues to develop and grow, the retail energy industry is beginning to transform. Today, there are online energy brokers who allow residential and small commercial customers to transact with suppliers on their websites. Other brokers are implementing reverse-auction functionality where suppliers bid on customer contracts in real-time. As this industry continues to evolve, it is important to be positioned for success with the right technology.

Workflows

An energy broker software application, like Edge, allows brokers to be at the forefront of this technological revolution. Not only does a system like Edge allow brokers to replace manual processes with automated workflows, but it also streamlines the broker-supplier relationship. Applications such as Edge’s RFP enables brokers to submit custom price requests to multiple suppliers with the click of the mouse. On the other end, suppliers can turn around price quotes directly in the Edge system, allowing brokers to manage opportunities from a single dashboard.

Utility Data

Furthermore, access to utility systems such as the Eligible Customer List (ECL) has given brokers an unprecedented opportunity to create prospect lists, confirm customer utility data, and structure pricing. Edge’s ECL application is another example of how technology can transform the way you transact business. In the current climate, finding the lowest rates for your customers is paramount. Utilizing the ECL, Edge clients can automatically calculate load-factor to determine the best way to quote a customer.

Payments

Additionally, many energy brokers have commission pay structures in place to pay agents, channel partners, sales employees, and referral partners. Trying to manually reconcile supplier commission payments while figuring out who to pay is an operational nightmare. Systems like Edge allow energy brokers to process commissions automatically. Not only will our system identify errors in supplier commission statements, but it will also calculate multiple levels of sales commissions based on your pre-set parameters.