The complete guide to choosing CRM software for energy companies

Energy companies deal with a lot of in-office and on-site work. Managing new leads, existing customers and field operations is quite tricky at times.

Energy CRMs make balancing clients and details easier with rich customization and integration capabilities that adjust to an energy company’s particular needs.

In this article, you’ll learn what energy CRM software is, how it helps improve sales and field operations and what to look for when picking one.

Key takeaways for energy CRM solutions

• Energy CRMs are platforms that support energy company operations by unifying customer management, workflow automation and project management features.

• These solutions boost sales rep productivity, provide better customer experiences and improve field operations management.

• Customization options, omnichannel communications, project management tools and integrations are must-haves for energy CRMs.

• A CRM platform like Pipedrive can easily be customized to your needs. Try it out with a 14-day free trial.

What is a CRM for energy companies?

A CRM for energy companies is a specialized customer relationship management (CRM) solution that helps businesses in the energy industry monitor client interactions, improve customer satisfaction and manage field operations.

Additional features and customization options help facilitate tasks, like tracking customers’ energy usage, managing renewable contracts or updating field operation records in real-time.

For example, Pipedrive’s customizable dashboards enable energy companies to tailor visual reports to their particular needs.

There are two types of energy CRM:

Purpose-built energy CRMs usually take longer to implement due to their complexity and specialized nature. Some are also part of a broader ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, which can significantly bump up the costs.

ERP solutions are generally more expensive because they address business activities across multiple departments, requiring more in-depth user training, customization and data migration.

Examples of ERP systems with energy-specific solutions include Amazon AWS and Microsoft Dynamics.

In contrast, all-purpose CRMs that can be customized for energy companies are built with scalability and flexibility in mind. All-purpose solutions are often quicker to implement and more budget-friendly options for smaller businesses and start-ups.

How an energy CRM helps companies achieve better results

Regardless of the type of CRM you choose, a tailored CRM for power companies is a solution that helps boost productivity, improve customer experiences and reduce customer churn.

The latter is especially important given the recent price hikes in the energy sector.

Here are some of the top benefits of using an energy CRM:

• Saves time and optimizes workflows via rich automation functionalities to maximize sales rep productivity and reduce unnecessary distractions

• Adapts to your particular niche through ample customization and integration options to minimize workflow disruptions caused by a lack of industry-specific features or interconnected apps

• Enables on-site operational efficiency with cloud-based access and mobile apps to handle project management, sales and field operations in one place

• Gives 360-degree views of customer journeys to centralize sales, marketing and service data so you can identify and fix potential bottlenecks
  

• Highlights growth opportunities through industry-specific reports, forecasts and analytics to identify recurring patterns and maximize revenue

5 things to look for when picking an energy CRM solution

Achieving the benefits mentioned above requires a platform with a particular selection of features.

Here’s a list of the top features to look out for.

Pay particular attention to customization and integration options, especially when looking at all-purpose CRM solutions. These features will help you adjust the CRM to your needs and avoid disrupting current workflows.

How to use Pipedrive as an energy CRM

Pipedrive’s CRM customization options offer energy and utility companies quick and efficient ways to handle their core business processes.

Here are seven ways to use Piperdrive as an energy CRM.

1. Customize pipelines to your sales process

Tailor Pipedrive’s pipeline view to reflect your sales processes and keep your current workflows intact.

The video below shows you how to customize your sales pipelines.

Create a series of deal stages to reflect your current processes. If you’re in the solar panel industry, your sales pipeline might include these phases:

• New Lead

• Contact Made

• Agreement Signed

• Installation Planned

• Installed

You can drag and drop deals through the pipeline view as they progress.

You can also use custom fields to personalize the details stored under each lead, deal, contact, product or project. Go to “Company settings > Details > + custom fields” and add details like:

• The number of necessary solar panels for upcoming installation projects

• Next equipment checkup or maintenance date

• Energy usage

You can also control where these details display throughout the platform and who sees them.

For example, you can detail the “Number of solar panels required” custom field to display by default whenever you add a new project in the project board.

2. Import, centralize and organize your data

Pipedrive imports your existing data, either from spreadsheets or other CRM software, in a few minutes.

Go to “More > Import data” and select your import method.

You can add custom fields during imports to implement company-specific data right away. Pipedrive then organizes data across the following areas:

• Contacts. Individual lead information with previous interactions, notes and files for contact management.

• Leads. Leads who may not be deal-ready yet.

• Deals. Deal-ready leads and sales activities taking place in your sales pipeline.

• Activities. Actions needed to move leads across your pipeline, like meetings or follow-ups.

• Products. Products or services you offer and their pricing – useful for future invoicing and tracking deal value.

Pipedrive stores each data type under dedicated dashboards. Data types are also interlinked to grant you easy access to additional context and seamlessly transition between sales activities.

If you’re in the Activity dashboard, for example, click on a particular activity and you’ll see the deal and contact information associated with it.

Linked information can be helpful for quick prep before an internal meeting or call with energy customers.

3. Centralize customer communication channels

Pipedrive lets you engage with customers across channels and track all communications in one place, keeping conversations flowing and aligning your sales, marketing and customer support teams.

From an integrated email inbox to in-platform calling and meeting scheduling, Pipedrive unifies all available touchpoints under each contact profile, allowing you to:

• Send personalized text messages through Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS

• Connect with LinkedIn leads and consolidate prospect research

• Schedule, send and track emails in bulk or individually

• Make phone calls and record conversations

Pipedrive’s Leadbooster add-on also handles live chat and chatbot communications for websites.

The chatbot automation builder lets you set up workflows that speed up communication by answering commonly asked questions, booking meetings and qualifying and routing leads.

Consolidating communication makes it easy for sales reps to connect with customers through their preferred channels and get up to speed on previous interactions for a better customer experience.

4. Use automation for seamless workflows

Pipedrive’s workflow automation capabilities also cover other customer touchpoints to streamline business processes.

Go to “More > Automation” to find a wide range of automation templates organized by use case.

For example, the “Welcome new deals right away” template is useful for establishing immediate email contact with leads who’ve just entered your pipeline to keep them from going cold.

You can also set up custom automation workflows by selecting the “+ Automation” button.

For instance, you could create a trigger to send confirmation emails whenever a lead transitions to the “Installation planned” phase within your sales pipeline.

Automation workflows also apply to administrative tasks, like assigning leads to the appropriate representatives or turning deals into projects once they reach particular pipeline stages.

5. Use Pipedrive Projects to manage field service operations

Pipedrive’s project management add-on lets you handle field service operations like equipment installations and maintenance directly in the platform.

Just like sales pipelines, the Kanban-style project dashboard is fully customizable. If you handle equipment installations, your project dashboard might include the following phases:

• Installation planned and scheduled

• En route

• Installation in progress

• Installation completed

You can set up multiple project dashboards to distinguish between installations and periodic maintenance operations.

Each project includes space for relevant notes and documents. You also have the option to send or view previous emails, so field technicians get up to speed on each customer’s requirements.

You can assign projects to field technicians, while Pipedrive’s mobile app lets them update project progress in real-time.

Pipedrive’s native Google Maps integration is another handy feature – use it to plan routes for in-person meetings, installation and maintenance operations.

6. Integrate with invoicing and messaging software

You can significantly boost Pipedrive’s core functionality and customization set through its Marketplace integration options.

For example, the platform’s native Paycove integration creates quotes, invoices and contracts as deals move through your sales pipeline. It automates manual data entry and ensures data accuracy.

The Paycove integration also enables sales reps to send automated follow-ups and payment reminders, and deal stages will auto-update once payments are processed.

Other popular integrations include Sakari SMS for text messaging directly within Pipedrive, Microsoft Teams for handling online meetings and Surfe for finding and qualifying new leads. There’s also Zapier if you’d like to connect Pipedrive with other third-party tools.

Pipedrive also includes Application Programming Interface (API) capabilities for specific business needs. That means you can connect Pipedrive with almost any other app if you work with a developer.

7. Monitor performance and grow with Insights

Finally, monitor business performance and identify growth opportunities with Insights.

Use Pipedrive’s reporting features to generate detailed, industry-specific reports.

For example, a solar panel industry company could tailor reports with custom fields to track metrics like:

• Number of solar panel units sold by type

• Total solar panel energy outputs

• Total client energy consumption

• Revenue through bills

The Insights feature includes unified, high-level sales performance dashboards with real-time data covering sales pipeline health, deal revenue and more.

The AI report generator is also useful for quick prompt-based reports, while Pipedrive’s forecasts use historical sales pipeline performance data to project future revenue.

All these features combined give you the data to identify and act on growth opportunities.

For example, the solar panel company might use custom fields to compare revenue across solar panel types and identify top sellers. It could then ensure its sales team is ready to answer questions about and pitch these prime products.

The company could also use forecasting to predict future sales metrics for popular products and plan stock to prevent potential fulfillment delays.

Energy CRM FAQs

Final thoughts

A CRM system that’s specifically tailored to your energy company’s processes can have big benefits throughout your sales cycles – from attracting potential customers to securing customer loyalty.

Still, achieving these benefits requires a system that offers a solid blend of sales, marketing and project management features.

Pipedrive checks these boxes. Try Pipedrive free for 14 days and see how easy it is to tailor the user-friendly platform to your specific workflows.