How to use CRM platforms to effectively drive sales
Keeping track of your prospects and customers manually with spreadsheets and random notes in different places becomes nearly impossible as your business grows.
Not only is it time and energy-consuming to manage this type of system, but things start to fall through the cracks at an alarming rate. This will only exhaust your team and frustrate your customers.
That is why you require a customer relationship management system (CRM). CRM software has been around since the mid-1990s, but it has only recently become popular. Customer relationship management software makes it simpler to manage your entire sales process and stay in touch with your most valuable contacts. This is true for any company, whether it has one sales executive or a 100.
Many small business owners lack dedicated sales teams and are unaware that CRM benefits the entire organisation by increasing revenue and efficiency. This guide will show you how CRM platforms can increase sales quickly and effectively.
1. Maximizes the sales potential of existing relationships
CRM software exists to assist sales executives in identifying and seizing the best opportunities, which extends beyond the acquisition of new customers. sales executives have valuable insights to help them with the available information on customer history and details of interactions. Some of those include being able to increase customer engagement and build rapport with each customer to close deals faster and communicate consistently over a long period of time.
Additionally, due to the fact that customers' needs are anticipated, the purchasing process becomes personalised. Through this, the business is able to determine up-selling and cross-selling opportunities and ultimately, devise well-timed referral strategies.
Keep in mind that customer retention is several times less expensive than customer acquisition, which is why customer retention is critical to driving growth.
Essentially, businesses with the right CRM system have data at their fingertips that helps them not only increase conversion rates but also reduce sales costs.
2. Tracks Sales
If you want to close sales and maintain relationships, you must constantly monitor your sales cycle. Keeping track of your sales cycle with CRM can help you identify any flaws in your processes and improve your sales. CRM can monitor each stage of the process and tell you what is working, what isn't, and what needs to be done.
3. Evaluates your marketing strategy and improve campaigns
Information about how prospects found your company is part of the data you'll find on a CRM platform.
You'll be able to determine and track which marketing methods are bringing you the best return on investment now that you have all of that vital information in one place.
Additionally, having access to customer history and sales interactions allows your marketing team to better understand your prospects' major concerns and frequently asked questions.
Having access to this type of customer data will enable them to create more relevant content and better-targeted campaigns.
4. Obtain Mobile Access
Mobile access to CRM apps is a huge benefit that allows your sales team to meet sales targets. Remote access is made easier with mobile devices, allowing you to better suit your work processes without sacrificing productivity.
5. Simplifies Task Management
To handle your most important responsibilities, task management is essential. Being able to effectively manage customer accounts makes it easier to direct upsells and cross-sells to them, resulting in more revenue for you. A CRM system can automatically prioritise and notify you of any actions that need to be taken right away, allowing you to effectively maintain and develop your customer relationship and dialogue.
6. Captures Leads
Capturing leads is a straightforward and easy way to increase sales. CRM can track form submissions, allowing your team to be notified when a customer has taken action after displaying an interest in what your website has to offer. This allows you to follow up on their interest with a phone call. You can set up your CRM software to notify you when someone visits your website, giving you as much information as possible for your pitch to them.
7. Saves Money
Despite the fact that CRM systems are not cheap, they do help you save money!
CRM can assist sales executives in reducing errors (for example, in orders or quotes). Correcting those errors could take a lot more time and money. Finally, because every new piece of information can be safely stored in the system, it comes down to simple things like saving money on those cluttering and often vanishing Post-it notes.
Final Thoughts
If it is properly implemented and used, CRM will improve the performance of any sales team and will enable sales executives to excel in a few key areas, including being able to search, sort, and qualify leads better; follow up on sales leads in a systematic and timely manner; prioritize and rationalize your follow-up tasks; and increase the rate at which your target is reached.
The benefits of CRM, on the other hand, do not come without effort, understanding, and determination on the part of sales executives. Sales representatives must unanimously agree that keeping CRM up to date is critical to their success.
More importantly, sales teams should believe that by tracking all activities and adhering to established sales routines, they will be more likely to meet their sales targets. It's also important to remember that sales executives will benefit greatly from being able to update and share the most up-to-date information on prospects and customers – all in one convenient location.
