Spreadsheets often start life as a sensible solution. Someone needs to track customer information, manage a quotation or fill a gap between systems. Excel does the job quickly, so the spreadsheet stays. Then it grows. More people use it. More processes depend on it. Another spreadsheet appears to handle something else. Before long, your team is spending valuable time updating information, checking which version is right and working around processes that no longer fit the business.
This is particularly important in manufacturing, where sales and customer relationships rarely exist in isolation. A customer enquiry can lead to a quotation, order, production activity, delivery, invoicing and ongoing service, potentially involving information held across CRM, operational and finance systems. Our own operational-efficiency work identifies these handovers as potential sources of duplication, delays and lost visibility when information does not flow between systems.
That is why we believe the conversation around CRM for manufacturing needs to go beyond contact management.
The question isn’t simply,“Do we need a new CRM?”
A better question is: “Where is managing customer information creating unnecessary work, and what would make that process easier?”
For AAF Air Filters, part of AAF International, that question led to replacing an ageing manual approach, based largely around Excel, with CRM and quoting functionality designed to reduce pressure on resources while minimising disruption to the team. It is a useful lesson for any manufacturer considering its next step with CRM.
Key Takeaways
- CRM for manufacturing should solve operational problems, not simply replace a spreadsheet with another place to enter data.
- Start by understanding where your team is rekeying, searching for, checking or chasing information.
- Quoting deserves particular attention because it can involve several people, systems and handovers.
- Integrating CRM with other business systems can be valuable, but only where there is a clear operational reason for doing so.
- User adoption matters. A theoretically perfect system achieves little if the people doing the job find it difficult to use.
- AAF International’s experience demonstrates the value of focusing on reducing resource pressure while managing the impact of change on the team.
CRM for Manufacturing is Really About Flow
Manufacturers often don’t lack technology, they may already have systems for finance, operations, customer management, marketing, reporting and other specialist requirements. Add spreadsheets and email into the mix and a relatively simple customer journey can quickly cross several systems.
A typical customer journey moves from enquiry to quote, order, delivery, invoice, support and repeat purchase. The potential systems involved, include CRM, quoting software, ERP, finance, delivery, service and reporting. The issue isn’t necessarily how many systems you have, it’s whether information flows effectively between them.
Imagine a customer asks a straightforward question about an order. If the person speaking to them needs to check several systems, look at a spreadsheet, email another department or wait for somebody to come back to them, the customer feels the effect of your internal processes.
That is operational friction.
A good CRM for manufacturing should therefore help create a clearer flow of information around the customer. It doesn’t have to contain everything. It should help the people responsible for the customer get access to the information they genuinely need.
AAF Air Filters: Moving Beyond an Ageing Manual System
AAF has been operating in air filtration since 1921. Today it operates in 22 countries and provides support in more than 100, supplying filtration solutions across commercial, industrial, residential and specialist environments.
When AAF Air Filters came to Avrion, the starting point was very practical – they wanted CRM with quoting functionality to replace an ageing manual system that relied largely on Excel.
But importantly, their objective wasn’t only changing the technology. In the words of Liane Atherton from AAF Air Filters:
“We first came across Avrion when looking for a CRM system with quoting functionality to replace an aged manual system based mainly on Excel! From development to implementation, each stage was found easy to transact and made easy to understand with the support offered found to be exceptional. Our main area of focus was to improve systems to reduce stress on resource with minimal impact on the team – this was achieved with great success & the system welcomed.”
That last point is the one we’d encourage other manufacturing businesses to notice. The objective was to reduce stress on resource while minimising the impact on the team. That is a very different starting point from buying CRM because you believe you ought to have one. Start with the friction, not the software
It’s tempting to approach a CRM project by drawing up a long list of features. We’d start elsewhere.
- Look at what your people actually do.
- Where are customer details being entered more than once?
- Where does a salesperson have to ask somebody else for information?
- Where is a spreadsheet filling a gap between two systems?
- Which reports need manual checking?
- Where does a quote wait?
- Which customer questions are frustratingly difficult to answer?
These questions tend to tell you far more about what you need from CRM than a generic software checklist.
When systems are isolated, the recommendation is to identify the information exchanged between CRM, finance, operational and service systems, then prioritise handovers based on factors such as volume, time, error risk and customer impact. It means CRM becomes part of an operational-improvement decision rather than the decision itself.
Why quoting is an important part of CRM for manufacturing
In a manufacturing organisation, producing a quote may involve more than simply selecting a product and entering a price.
Consider the scenario in which a quote request reaches Sales, Operations reviews feasibility, Finance validates terms and Management approves margins. The points of potential friction are the handovers, approvals and lack of visibility around that process.
The lesson isn’t that every manufacturer should automate quoting in exactly the same way, it’s that you should understand how quoting actually works in your business before deciding what technology needs to change.
Map the journey from enquiry to quote. Ask:
- Where does the initial customer information come from?
- Is that information entered again somewhere else?
- Who needs to contribute before a quote can be issued?
- Where does work spend time waiting?
- Which exceptions genuinely need approval?
- What needs to happen when a quote is accepted?
- Does somebody then have to enter the same information into another system?
This is particularly relevant to the AAF Air Filters story because quoting functionality formed part of what the business was looking for when replacing its existing manual approach.
CRM and ERP Don’t Have to Compete
Another common mistake is framing CRM and ERP as an either/or question. In a manufacturing environment, different systems may have different jobs.
CRM and ERP are two “interlocking puzzle pieces”, with ERP typically supporting back-office processes while CRM manages customer-facing information and interactions.
Rather than asking one system to do everything, look at where the right information needs to be available.
That could mean making selected operational information visible to customer-facing employees or reducing the repeated entry of customer information between systems.
Our operational-efficiency guidance describes progressive levels of connectivity, from manual movement of information, through shared visibility and synchronisation, to connected business processes such as quote-to-order.
You don’t automatically need the most sophisticated option.
You need the one that removes a meaningful point of friction.
Don’t Automate a Process you Haven’t Understood
This is where CRM projects can go wrong. A process has become cumbersome over several years, so a business decides to automate it. But automation doesn’t necessarily remove unnecessary steps. It can simply make an unnecessarily complicated process happen electronically.
Our approach is to simplify first by reviewing a process before introducing automation, because technology works best when it supports a well-designed process. It specifically identifies accumulated approvals, spreadsheets, workarounds and system changes as ways processes gradually become more complex.
So before configuring your CRM, ask:
- What can we remove?
- What can we simplify?
- What needs to be consistent?
- What information only needs to be captured once?
- Only then, what should we automate?
That’s a much healthier foundation for a manufacturing CRM project.
The Best CRM is One Your Team Actually Welcomes
There is another important idea hidden in Liane Atherton’s testimonial. The system was welcomed.
CRM success is not just a technical question. You can design an impressive system, but if using it feels like additional administration, people will naturally find easier ways to get their jobs done. Often that’s when the spreadsheets quietly reappear. Good adoption starts well before launch.
People doing the work should help you understand what really happens, including the exceptions, shortcuts and manual tasks that don’t appear in the official process. Then change can be introduced at a pace that works for your team.
The purpose isn’t to make people conform to technology. It is to remove unnecessary effort from their day while creating better information for the wider business.
What Should Good CRM for Manufacturing Look Like?
There isn’t one answer because manufacturing businesses have different products, processes, customers and systems.
But there are some useful signs that you’re moving in the right direction.
1. Customer information has a trusted home
People know where to find the customer information they need and which information is authoritative.
2. People aren’t continually entering the same information
Repeated data entry creates administration and introduces opportunities for information to become inconsistent. We recommends examining processes such as customer creation or quote-to-order and identifying every repeated entry before deciding how to improve it.
3. Sales has appropriate visibility
Customer-facing employees can answer more questions without chasing colleagues simply to find basic information.
4. Processes are visible
Your team can see where a customer, opportunity or quotation is in the process rather than relying on personal spreadsheets or someone’s inbox.
5. CRM supports other systems rather than duplicating them
Where useful, information can flow between CRM and operational, financial or reporting systems rather than creating another silo.
6. Your people find it useful
Arguably the most important measure. CRM should help people complete their work rather than become another system they need to maintain.
Five questions to ask before replacing your manufacturing CRM
If you’re considering CRM for manufacturing, don’t start with a vendor demonstration.
Start with these five questions:
- What frustrates our team most about managing customers today?
- Where do we enter, copy, check or search for the same information repeatedly?
- Which part of enquiry-to-order creates the most waiting or manual work?
- What information do customer-facing employees regularly have to ask another department for?
- What would we want people to spend the time we release doing instead?
Those answers establish the business case. Only then should the technology discussion begin.
What manufacturers can learn from AAF Air Filters
The important part of the AAF Air Filters story isn’t simply that an old system was replaced. It is how the problem was framed.
There was an ageing, largely Excel-based manual approach. There was a requirement for CRM with quoting functionality. And there was a clear desire to improve the process while reducing resource pressure and minimising the impact of change on the team.
That gives other manufacturers three useful principles.
Focus on the Work, not the Software
Understand what creates effort before choosing how to remove it.
Improve Connected Processes, not Isolated Functions
Customer management doesn’t stop at Sales. Quotes, orders, finance, operations and service can all form part of the customer’s experience.
Take your people with you
A successful manufacturing CRM isn’t one with the longest feature list.
It’s one that helps your organisation work more effectively and that your people are comfortable using.
CRM Should Remove Friction, Not Add Another System
CRM for manufacturing can be a powerful part of operational improvement, but adding technology isn’t the objective.
Less unnecessary administration is.
Better visibility is.
Easier customer interactions are.
More capacity for useful work is.
At Avrion, that’s why we start by looking at how your business actually operates and where the friction sits. The answer might involve improving CRM. It might involve connecting existing systems, simplifying a process, improving information or automating particular activities.
The technology comes after understanding the problem. We diagnose the underlying issue first, then decide whether the practical answer is process simplification, better use of an existing system, integration, automation or a new capability.
Ready to find the friction in your customer journey?
If spreadsheets, manual quoting, duplicate data or disconnected systems are making it harder to manage customers, don’t assume the first step is replacing everything.
Start by finding out where the friction actually is.
Take our Operational Friction Assessment to identify where your processes, systems and information are creating unnecessary effort and where to focus first.
Or speak to us about your current CRM and customer processes. We’ll help you understand what needs to change, what can stay and where improvement will create the most practical value.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CRM for manufacturing?
CRM for manufacturing is the use of customer relationship management technology to organise and support customer-facing activity in a manufacturing business. Depending on requirements, that can include managing customer and prospect information, sales opportunities, quotations and interactions. The bigger consideration is how CRM fits with the other systems supporting the customer journey.
How is manufacturing CRM different from ERP?
CRM and ERP typically serve different but related purposes. CRM managing front-office customer information while ERP handles back-office requirements, with the two working as complementary parts of the wider technology landscape.
Can CRM replace Excel in a manufacturing business?
CRM can replace spreadsheet-based customer processes where a spreadsheet has become the practical system for managing customer information or related workflows. AAF Air Filters, for example, approached Avrion when looking to replace an ageing manual system based mainly on Excel with CRM and quoting functionality.
The important point is not to replace every spreadsheet simply because it is a spreadsheet. First understand why it exists and what process it supports.
Can CRM integrate with manufacturing ERP systems?
CRM and ERP can be connected where the relevant platforms and business requirements support it. CRM-to-ERP connectivity is one way customer-facing teams can gain appropriate visibility of products, stock, orders, deliveries or projects.
Integration should solve a specific business problem, however. Connecting systems simply because it is technically possible can introduce unnecessary complexity.
What should manufacturers consider when choosing CRM?
Start with your current customer journey and operational friction rather than software features.
Look particularly at:
- Duplicate data entry
- Spreadsheet dependency
- Customer visibility
- Quoting and approvals
- Handovers between departments
- Information your teams frequently chase
- Reporting requirements
- User adoption
That gives you a clearer picture of what the CRM actually needs to improve.
