Sales departments are the backbone of any business. They are responsible for generating revenue, closing deals and building relationships with customers. And with this list of tasks, salespeople need all the help they can get. A CRM system is a tool that can significantly improve the sales process and help sales teams achieve their goals.
In this article, we’ll discuss why you should invest in a CRM for sales and the benefits it can bring to your business (even to remote sales teams).
What is CRM for Sales?
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a software system that helps businesses manage their interactions with current and potential customers. The primary goal of a CRM system is to improve customer relationships, enhance sales processes, and increase revenue.
A CRM for sales focuses specifically on managing the sales process, from lead generation to closing a sale and retaining customers.
It helps sales teams keep track of their prospects, leads and customer information in one central location. This enables them to better understand their target market and tailor their sales approach accordingly.
What is a Sales Process?
A sales process is a system that has been designed specifically to nurture leads. This process typically consists of a list of steps that can be repeated with every lead to give the best chance of successfully converting a lead into a sale. This process is typically developed over a long period of time, and each step is thoroughly tested and refined to achieve the best result.
A Dynamic CRM Sales Process
As a sales process is key to tracking where a sale went wrong and improving upon those weak points, it is important that a sales process isn’t disorganised. A CRM can assist you in creating a dynamic sales process that is organised and, therefore, easy to track. A CRM can assist in all the steps of a sales process and streamline these steps.
Prospecting
A CRM works together with your digital marketing strategy by automatically capturing all leads in a centralised location. These leads have already shown interest in your product or service, making it an easier sale.
Qualifying
To make the salesperson’s job easier, a CRM can also qualify your leads, determining which leads have a higher likelihood of converting into a sale. It then organises the leads from most to least likely.
Responding
A CRM will automatically distribute leads to the relevant salesperson. If a lead hasn’t been responded to in a timely manner, it will send another notification or reminder. If the lead hasn’t been responded to again, the lead can also be reassigned to another salesperson. This assures that no lead is ever lost in the crowd.
Quoting
A CRM can assist in the quoting process, making it easier and faster to send out quotes on request. This increase in efficiency and response time is sure to leave a good impression on a prospective customer.
Closing
If the lead turns into a client, the next steps can be taken to assign them to prospective departments, ensuring they receive efficient and effective service from the company.
Nurturing
The sales process doesn’t stop once a sale has been made. Nurturing a client is an important aspect of retaining the client. It is also easier to upsell to a current client than to recruit a new one.
Therefore, a CRM is an important part of making continual sales and increasing revenue.
Leadtrekker is a CRM that has specifically been designed to assist sales personnel and marketing agencies. Its purpose is to ensure that you can track where your leads are coming from, which campaigns and marketing strategies are performing well, and assist salespeople in making sales easier and more organised.
Can A CRM Manage a Remote Sales Team?
The answer is yes.
Globally, sales teams are moving towards a remote working environment if they have not done so already. Other than sales reps experiencing difficulties with this shift, managers are faced with the challenge of changing their managing styles to adjust to this “new normal“.
Sales managers are encountering difficulties with a multitude of previously “straightforward” aspects, including communication, company culture, scheduling, morale, and tracking productivity.
Where a manager could previously pop in to check up on a sales rep, sales teams and managers are now isolated from one another. Because of this, it is now more difficult than ever to ensure sales reps are focussing on their assigned tasks.
What enflames the situation is the multiple layoffs that have occurred due to COVID-19. Where sales reps could previously focus on selling, they are now often doubling up as client service and admin staff. This has had a negative effect on sales as a whole, leaving companies and managers to wonder how they got into this recessive state and how to get out of it.
How Do You Manage a Sales Team Remotely?
There are a few techniques that you can apply to ensure your sales team gets back on track in a remote working environment.
A Sales Focussed Approach
It is extremely important to ensure that a sales team’s main focus is selling. Take any other duties (such as customer service) off of their plate and emphasise that their priority is to sell.
By making sales the team’s primary responsibility, there should be an increase in the size of the deals that are signed, the sales cycle should shorten, and there should be an increase in the sales that are made.
Keep Communication Records Organised
This is something that should be done whether a sales team is working remotely or from an office; however, it becomes more crucial when management is taking place remotely. Records of previous communications with potential and current clients need to be stored and organised.
This will allow the sales rep to know when to follow up next, what sales techniques have previously been used on the potential client, and any personal details important to the prospect.
The Four Metrics That Matter
Managers often use too many metrics with which to measure a sales team’s performance. This can leave a sales rep feeling confused and overwhelmed when reaching for too many “goals”. In truth, there are 4 conversion metrics that truly matter.
- Calculate and monitor the lead additions on the sales pipeline.
- Keep track of how many of those lead additions are converted into real opportunities.
- Mark how many of those opportunities turn into signed and sealed deals.
- Take note of the sales cycle length and how long it takes the sales team to move from one stage to the next.
Sales CRM System: The Benefits
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can assist sales reps with dramatically increasing their sales. It can do this by simplifying and automating certain admin tasks, giving the sales rep more time to focus on selling. It also has the capability to easily store communication records in an organised manner, ensuring sales reps and managers have easy access to previous internal and external communications.
A CRM can easily measure whether the metrics mentioned above are being fulfilled. Calculating lead additions, what percentage of those lead additions turn into real opportunities, and the number of solid sales that occur from them can all be documented and displayed in an easy-to-understand report.
There are multiple other functions available in a CRM, like Leadtrekker, that can aid managers and sales reps in their day-to-day tasks, ensuring leads never go to waste and sales increase.
Contact us to learn more about how a CRM can help you manage your sales team.
