For manufacturers and SMEs in South Africa who need the best sales order software, the best place to start is to understand what happens after the customer says yes. A CRM keeps track of your customers and the deals you are chasing. An ERP keeps track of the whole job, from the first quote until the customer pays.
If your business makes, prints, builds or fixes what it sells, a single system like QuickEasy with built-in sales order tools will suit you better than a CRM on its own.
QuickEasy built QuickEasy BOS, a leading South African ERP with sales and customer tools inside it. Here is how the two types of software compare.
Key takeaways
- A CRM is a smart address book for your sales team. It helps most until the customer says yes.
- An ERP is one program for the whole business, so everyone works from the same information.
- A CRM on its own can be enough for a business that only sells its time.
QuickEasy BOS includes customer records, quoting, orders and accounting in every subscription.
Skip ahead: Show us how QuickEasy streamlines sales orders
What a CRM does
CRM stands for customer relationship management. It works like a very organised address book that also remembers every conversation. It stores each customer's details along with notes from every call. It also lists the deals your team is still chasing.
Once the customer says yes, the CRM for SMEs has done most of its job. Someone still has to get the job made and send the invoice. In most businesses, those steps happen in other programs, and the order is typed in again each time.
What an ERP does
ERP stands for enterprise resource planning. ERP for small to medium businesses is one program that runs the whole business. All the information lives in one place.
A business is a bit like a building with rooms. A CRM looks after the front desk. An ERP looks after the front desk, the workshop, the storeroom and the accounts office, and they all share one filing cabinet. When the front desk takes an order, every other room sees it straight away.
For more background, read QuickEasy's article on CRM vs ERP.
CRM vs ERP: What each one can do
| What you need | CRM on its own | ERP with CRM built in |
|---|---|---|
| Keep customer details and call notes | Yes | Yes |
| See deals that haven't closed yet | Yes | Yes |
| Price a quote from real material and labour costs | Usually not | Yes |
| Check stock before you promise a date | No | Yes |
| Turn an accepted quote into a job without retyping | No | Yes |
| Send the invoice and record it in the accounts | Needs separate accounting software | Yes |
| Show whether a job made money | No | Yes |
Where a CRM on its own can cause trouble
The trouble starts when the sale is handed over. The quote sits in the CRM, while the order and the invoice sit in other programs. Each one is a separate copy of the same sale, and copies drift apart over time.
- A sales rep offers a discount without seeing that the customer is months behind on payments.
- The workshop only hears about a rush job when the customer phones to ask where it is.
- The invoice goes out at the old price, because the change was only made in the CRM.
- Someone spends hours each month checking that the CRM and the accounts agree.
Linking programs together can help, but every link is one more thing that can break. QuickEasy explains why in: Is your CRM really integrated with the rest of your business?
When a CRM on its own is enough
If you sell your time at set rates and keep no stock, a CRM and a basic accounting package may be all you need. Very little has to be handed over once the customer says yes.
QuickEasy's guide to choosing CRM software for a growing SME covers this in more depth.
When an ERP is the better choice sales order management
An ERP earns its place once a sale turns into physical work. These signs are common in manufacturing and in print and packaging.
- Your prices depend on what material and labour cost at the time.
- You keep stock, and you sometimes promise stock you don't have.
- Jobs move through a workshop or a factory floor.
- Finding out where an order is takes a few phone calls.
- You can see the company's total profit, but you can't see which jobs made money.
How sales works in QuickEasy BOS
In BOS, each sale is one record that moves forward through the business, so nothing is typed twice.
- The enquiry is saved against the customer, with their past quotes and payments on screen.
- The quote is priced from today's material and labour costs, using QuickEasy's estimating and quoting tools.
- The quote is linked to a sales deal, so managers can see its value and when it should close.
- When the customer accepts, the quote becomes the order and the job.
- BOS then checks the stock, and alerts procurement teams of shortages.
- The invoice is created from the same record and goes straight into the accounts.
More importantly, customer records and old quotes stay in BOS when a rep leaves.
QuickEasy's Service Manager and Sales tools also give your sales team task lists and reports on how many quotes they win.
See a real sale run effortlessly through BOS
Send QuickEasy a quote you sent recently, and the team will show you how it moves from enquiry to invoice in BOS. Book a demo.
FAQs
They do different jobs. A CRM looks after customers and deals before the sale. An ERP runs the whole business, including everything that happens after the customer says yes. Many ERPs, including QuickEasy BOS, have customer tools built in.
Does QuickEasy BOS include a CRM?
Yes. BOS includes unlimited customer records and full quote history. It also shows every open deal on a dashboard. These come with every subscription.
What is the best sales software for a small business in South Africa?
If you keep stock or make what you sell, choose an ERP with sales tools built in, so the quote and the invoice share one record. If you only sell your time, a CRM and a basic accounting package may be enough.
Can we bring our customer list into QuickEasy BOS?
Yes. QuickEasy imports customer and supplier lists from your current estimating or accounting package, so you start with your own information.
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