Traditional B2B organizations relied mostly on the raw talent of their sales agents, but it all changed with the emergence of CRM tools. It’s a powerful business analytics system that reveals valuable details about your clients and helps you to seal the deal with more customers.
According to the research, effective sales organizations are 81 percent more likely to be practicing consistent usage of a CRM. The tool can improve your sales funnel, enhance consumer journey, and eliminate administrative time waste.
For this reason, it is crucial for you as a sales company to learn how to leverage on CRM features. In this post, we will show you five smart CRM hacks that lead to faster selling. Let’s take a look.
Contextualize Your Outreach
Did you know that feeling unappreciated is the No. 1 reason customers switch away from products and services? On the other hand, almost 90 percent of clients will pay more for a better customer experience. Both facts lead to the same conclusion – modern consumers want you to pay attention to their specific needs.
This is where CRM software steps in to save the day. The tool assists you with tailoring offers because it can track consumer website behavior. As a salesperson, you are able to explore the browsing history of every single client individually, which gives you more than enough information to customize the final offer.
Besides that, you can improve sales outreach through email automation. Whenever your leads visit a specific page, CRM will automatically send them a sales pitch or the invitation to check out another piece of content such as eBooks or webinars.
The best thing about this concept is that it doesn’t bother B2B prospects. On the contrary, they were the ones who took the first step and you are only using the opportunity to contextualize your outreach.
Take No Prisoners
Sales agents are persistent and pushy by definition. However, there is always a chance to forget something in case you are doing things manually and simultaneously. Perhaps you will forget to call a prospect on time or mix offers sent to different clients.
CRM has the purpose to remind you of everything you’ve done by now, so you can never fail to reach out to the prospect or forget something in the process. You can schedule a calendar of events and meetings, sending the right message at just about the right time.
At the same time, you can go back and see the entire history of communication with any given B2B customer. If you do the homework prior to the meeting, you can actually elevate customer experience to the whole new level.
Reduce Data Entry
A recent study proved that manual data entry is the single biggest CRM adoption challenge. It just takes a lot of time that sales reps could otherwise dedicate to their real job, and that is reaching out to potential clients and making lucrative business deals.
Fortunately, CRM tools include incredible business analytics and reports that reduce the need for manual data entry. There are all sorts of infographics, charts, firmographics, and tables that grow and evolve automatically in real-time.
In such circumstances, sales representatives always get accurate and up to date information. It allows them to act faster and more precisely, customizing their tactics so as to fit the requirements of each B2B prospect.
Utilize Marketing Content to Approach Clients
Although as much as 93 percent of consumers want brands to share interesting things with them, a big portion of sales professionals doesn’t utilize the potential of marketing content to approach their clients.
This is obviously a mistake because quality content can strengthen prospects’ relations with your company and take them deeper into the sales funnel. What does it have to do with CRM? Well, CRM allows companies to store and handle marketing content very easily.
Gerry Allen, a CRM specialist at Resumes Planet, explained how things work here: “Using CRM software, you can index and sort files by themes, types, keywords, or any other feature for that matter. This also means you can find it quickly and use it to rightfully address potential clients”.
Focus On the Highest-Performing Channels
B2B organizations use numerous sales and communication channels, but it doesn’t mean that all of them guarantee results. You need to know exactly which channel is the best option for your company in any given situation.
For instance, you might be targeting a company’s senior executive but fail to capitalize because you are using Instagram as the channel of communication. CRM system, however, will probably recommend you to address this person via LinkedIn or email in order to maximize sales potential.
This is particularly important because the efficiency of sales channels changes from time to time, thus making it necessary to adapt your tactic occasionally. Focusing on the best-performing channels, you will ensure higher conversion rates and long-term success of your business.
CRM software is not just another weapon in the company’s arsenal, but rather one of the most productive B2B sales drivers. Its valuable features allow a better understanding of your customers, thus helping you to improve sales results in the long run.
Warren Fowler is a marketing enthusiast and a blogger at Resumes Planet, who loves music. If he doesn’t have a guitar in his hands, he’s probably embracing new technologies and marketing techniques online. You can meet him on Twitter and Facebook.
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