How to Increase Sales with CRM
Selling is to business, what oxygen is to humans. Businesses cannot survive without selling. The pressure to sell has never been higher than now. With the increasing amount of competition in the global market place, the traditional business models are constantly under threat and being challenged. So, organisations need quick, effective and profitable ways to sell.
Here are some of the fundamental sales drivers for a business:
Which are the best markets for your products and services?
Which sectors are most likely to give quick conversions for your products and services?
How do you filter contacts and create a bunch of high probability convertible leads?
Are you chasing the right prospects, is the deal moving forward effectively?
Are you able to analyse the various channels for acquiring customers?
What is the cost to acquire a customer? Is it going up or down?
Which products and services are easiest to sell?
What is the expense of serving a customer complaint?
What is the cost of an ongoing project for a customer?
Which areas provide the best profitability for your company?
Most organisations are challenged when they need to answer these questions. A good CRM will help you answer the above questions with instant metrics. A good CRM implementation will ensure not only answers to these questions but also an analysis of key business areas with real numbers. These numbers are critical to make or break a business. A look at how some of the organisations are selling more effectively with a CRM:
1. Sales Information
The effectiveness of sales team increases with the right tools and guidance. Facilitate and share required information for prospects on the go. The sales team must have the required information for the products/services, the sales pitch, customer contact history and quotation to advance deals. This makes the processes fast and results in quicker conversions.
2. Sales process Automation
A sale is a repeatable process. With effective tools, this process can be accessible to people. The best practices are incorporated in a step by step way to guide sales men. The series of steps from the first point of contact with the prospect to the close are mapped. It helps in a more consistent approach to selling and improves conversions.
3. Sales Targets
Business of a company thrives on sales targets. Well defined goals and targets motivate the team. The CRM allows the supervisors to track the sales targets more closely. Every individual knows his targets and the supervisors can track information and progress with data. The advanced filter options, better lead prospecting and probability based follow-ups can improve sales performance of individuals.
4. Measure what matters
Real time metrics for the average deal size, days to convert deals, no of open opportunities, hot leads, average quota per sales person, and other sales statistics help organisations to see things with clarity. The key performance indicators are benchmarked across the organisation to compare performance of sales persons over different periods, regions, products/services. It also facilitates to share best practices at an organisation level with concrete numbers to back up the methodology.
5. Client Escalations and Support Services
The support services for client escalations can be improved with CRM. The key events are notified to the specific users and their supervisors resulting in better resolution of customer issues. The customer pain points can be resolved on priority basis leading to satisfied customers and increased business opportunities.
6. Social Media Tracking
Brands which are constantly delivering high value content for their prospective customers are surging ahead in the digital race. The content is promoted by prospective customers on social media channels. The authority, value and quality of the content helps a brand to attract leads. CRM provides a way to monitor the social media channels and impact of the content generated by the companies.
7. Improve field Service with Mobility
Facilitate required information for prospects on the go. The sales team must be capable of resolving client’s queries and concerns immediately. When the sales team is equipped with tools where they can access detailed information on the mobile devices, it makes a winning impression on the prospects. With CRM mobility, the sales persons are able to stay on the field to meet more customers and still remain connected to the back office. This makes the processes fast and results in better business opportunities.
8.Shorten Sales Cycles
Automate follow-ups and to do action items for sales. Improve efficiency of operations to spend more time with customers. Access qualified leads, data & history of your prospects to convert deals faster. Use proven methodology for shortening sales cycles and get quicker results with CRM. Use Data Insights, step by step conversions, sales planning, action items and other effective tools to sell your products and services quicker.
9. Call Centers & Campaign Management
The campaign management can help you start market your products and services. Whether it is an email, telesales, social media, radio, TV, event management, print media or any other type of campaign, CRM system can help you to create campaigns for that. Manage all campaigns from the same system and also measure the traction received or the ROI for your money spent on these campaigns. The analytics tools can be used to measure the effectiveness and returns of different channels for improving results.
10. Choose the right CRM
Most of the existing CRMs are hard to use, difficult to customise and can involve long implementation cycles according to your organisational needs. Choose a CRM system that can help you delivery what you need, on time and within your budget. The CRM should help you to manage the sales cycles of your company and also track projects, budgets, expenses, employee time and complete business information according to your needs. Choose the right partner for transformation and business growth.
Top organizations are constantly evolving and improvising their sales processes to meet expectations of the market. The drive for sales transformation and growth sets them apart. CRM is helping organisations to optimise their sales, predict revenue opportunities, improve sales performance, reduce time for conversions and maintain profitability. Today CRM systems are equipped with artificial Intelligence and machine learning tools for improving sales and business performance.
CRM is a business platform to power an organisation to achieve growth and sell more effectively. Kreyon Systems provides customized CRM development services, ERP software and offshore software development solutions. If you need any assistance, please get in touch.