There is no denying the fact that CRM is the bread & butter for virtually every sales team in every organization. It is the go-to source of truth that connects all the customer moments, interactions, progress, behavioral data, and many such vital parameters in a way that enables sales reps to use it in live-action. But before we look at the hacks and tricks to maximize the ROI of these systems, let’s take a look at some hard facts. Some of the key findings of the study conducted by Forrester revealed some staggering facts.
- Over 80% of leaders found that having a single source of truth has had a profound value addition to customer data.
- Almost 57% of leaders reported that different departments use different CRM systems.
- 43% of respondents stated that creating a single source of truth was one of the biggest customer experience challenges they faced.
What we summarize of these facts is that creating a unified and centralized window of truth across all the departments should be one of the top priorities for every organization. Once such a system is established, it becomes easy to reap the maxim ROI. After you set up a centralized CRM system, you can use these tips and tricks to add value to your sales team and ultimately, to the business.
#5 Avoiding underutilization of CRM
CRM systems come with a long list of bells and whistles. But unless the features are used in real-time, the money spent on it secretly becomes a tedious expense. In the long run, losing that kind of money can sum up to form a substantial amount, a sum that can be well spent on innovation or employee engagement. And the cause of this is a poor strategy. What you need to do is you need to devise an all-around strategy that covers every angle of the customer’s buying journey and the sales funnel. When you have such a strategy, you will find that a good CRM system has features built to support and help your sales reps at every step of the journey.
When your sales reps start contacting the qualified leads, it means that they are well nurtured and the marketing teams have a fair understanding of what sort of content the end-users have consumed. With a good CRM, your sales rep should be able to get hold of that data and use it during follow-ups and further conversations to well understand the problems and demands of the end-users before they actually end up closing the deal.
Did you know?
Salesforce Sales Cloud is powered by Einstein which helps your sales reps by providing them with actionable insights based on their behavioral data and gives a score on how likely the user is to become a customer.
#4 Eliminating silos
Usually, when different departments in an organization use different CRM systems of their respective divisions, the respective representatives miss out on vital data while interacting with their customers or leads. Information like the context of the customer journey, previous interactions, the current stage of lead nurturing, and personal preferences can help add that personalized touch that can make or break the deal. The key to eliminating operations in silos is to establish a single source of data across the organization. A study by Forrester shows just how necessary it is to establish a single window of truth and what the general belief is regarding the establishment of such systems.
1. Businesses realized that they needed to invest in a centralized CRM to drive customer-first initiatives.
2. Multiple departments usually purchase individual CRM systems to solve the same problem.
3. Not using the CRM in various stages of the customer purchase lifecycle is a missed opportunity.
These key findings indicate just how vital a centralized system is for smooth operation and collaboration across various departments.
#3 Building concrete customer profiles
A fruitful one-to-one conversation with the customer can only take place when the sales rep has real-time data of the customer readily available. With CRM systems like the Salesforce Sales Cloud, your sales reps not only have all the raw data with them but also have solid actionable insights and suggestions coming from the powerful AI named Einstein. To help build such concrete customer profiles the sales rep needs to have social data, broader firmographic data, conversational styles, buying indicators, social data, relationship graphs, and influencer relationships.
#2 Leveraging automation
Sales reps wasting their time on manual administrative tasks is a direct threat to the sales and revenue funnel. The time spent doing these tasks is directly taking a toll on the company’s profits. All that time could have been spent interacting with the customer or building customer profiles. Creating customized and automated workflows to save time on follow-ups, approvals, distributing discount coupons, and other manual tasks significantly boosts agent productivity levels.
#1 – Configure, Price, Quote or CPQ
Every lock has its own unique key. The pricing and quotation that would work for one organization may not work out for another. The software called Configure, Price, Quote, or simply CPQ allows for a more dynamic approach. Generating personalized quotations with special pricing on the go within minutes has never been easier. Any tool that replaces spreadsheets is a potential lifesaver for sales reps. In many ways, CPQ allows for faster and error-free delivery of quotations which means that your reps can close the deals faster than ever.
About the Author:
Beena Dhage
Customer Experience (CRM) enthusiast with expertise in providing solutions leveraging digital and cloud technologies. With forte in Customer Service, BMC Remedyforce Services Delivery and ITIL.
Beena Dhage has over 18+ years in the field of IT – focused on implementing, managing, and supporting Salesforce CRM and ITIL-based ITSM applications. She has vast experience of successfully delivering projects in multi-shore / location environment for customers across various verticals including Financial services, Retail, Manufacturing and Information Technology