The use of customer relationship management (CRM) is growing significantly. Valued at just $57.83 billion in 2021, the CRM market size is expected to reach $145.79 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 12.5%. CRM is important for your sales team to manage their relationships with customers and prospects. It allows them to keep track of all the essential information about each client and prospect in one central location.
Using CRM can help you boost revenue by providing sales teams with tools that help them get more out of every interaction they have with a potential customer or partner. If you want your sales team to have more success, here are six things they need from CRM:
Follow Up Reminder
When you’ve been in contact with a potential lead, it’s essential to send them a reminder. This can be a simple message that says, “Hey! I noticed you were looking at this product recently. What did you think?” or something more personalized based on your information.
These follow-ups can make or break any deal. According to an infographic, 60% of customers say no for the first four follow-ups. On the other hand, only 8% of salespeople make 5 follow-up attempts. Using CRM software for sales will help you set follow-up reminders. It can also help tailor messages and automate the process so that they are sent out automatically when the customer is ready to purchase.
Account Planning
Account planning can help make the most of your biggest clients. It is about leveraging data to understand customers and offer them personalized deals and solutions to make big sales. According to data from HubSpot, 70% of marketers and 67% of brands are already using account planning and account-based marketing to grow their companies.
To leverage account planning, you can:
- List your customers and prospects. List the names of all your current customers and prospects and the contact information, including phone numbers and email addresses.
- List products and services. Include a description of the products or services you offer, such as descriptions of how they can help your clients get more sales or become more efficient in their work.
- List target markets. Determine your main target markets, such as small businesses in a certain area or companies with a specific industry focus. Then prioritize them by revenue potential and growth opportunities for future income streams from these smaller niches within the overall market space you currently operate in.
There are many CRMs you can use for account planning. However, Salesforce is one of the best available in the market. It has many features and has continued to impress users through exceptional services and functionalities. You can do account planning in Salesforce to get the best results.
Automation Is the Key
Sales automation is the key to increased revenue. Automation means less work for sales reps and more time to spend with customers, so they can focus on selling instead of entering data.
Sales reps want to spend their time selling, not doing administrative tasks like data entry and sending emails. With CRM software, you can automate your most important processes so that your sales team can spend more time with customers and less time entering data or sending email blasts.
Automation can significantly boost the bottom line and help your business grow tremendously. You can use automation to increase productivity, reduce the sales cycle, and enhance ROI. According to a Salesforce-sponsored study, AI-powered CRMs can generate $1.1 trillion in business revenue.
Data Analysis
Data analysis is one of the most important things to improve sales. Data analysis helps you understand your customers better, enabling you to make more informed decisions about how to market and sell them.
Data analysis also helps you understand your sales process, which allows you to make improvements that lead to a more streamlined sales process. This will reduce the time it takes for an order or inquiry from a customer to become completed, thus increasing revenue.
Finally, data analysis can help improve your understanding of what products or services are selling well for each customer and how much they are willing to pay. This information will allow you to make better decisions regarding which products/services should be put on sale at any given time based on what has been successful so far with other customers who have bought similar items before
Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing is building a relationship with a prospect over time to increase the likelihood that they will become a customer. According to data, companies that use lead nurturing as a part of their lead generation and sales pipeline can close 50% more sales while spending 33% less.
Lead nurturing happens before the salesperson reaches out, which means it is essential for CRM systems to track and manage these interactions. If you want your team members to be able to nurture leads, you should make sure your CRM system has this capability.
To lead nurturing effectively, you should:
- Create an email workflow incorporating different communication stages based on your prospect’s stage.
- Send emails at regular intervals, daily or weekly, depending on what works best for your business model.
- Use automation tools like Zapier or MailGun so that whenever someone fills out a form on one of your web pages or completes certain actions, such as watching videos related to relevant topics, their details are automatically updated on the CRM.
Inviting Referrals
This is a great way to increase revenue. All you have to do is send an email asking your customers if they know anyone who could use your product or service and would want the same kind of experience they had with you.
If your customer says yes, ask them if they’d be willing to make a recommendation on LinkedIn or via email. They might even be so happy with their experience that they’ll write in their own words how much they loved working with your company, which can lead to more sales opportunities down the road.
You can integrate an email marketing solution with your CRM tool for better efficiency. This can help automate the entire process and ensure success.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to increase your sales using CRM, there are a few different ways to do it. The most common method is to create a customized experience for your customers and prospects so that they have the best possible experience with your business. You also want to focus on finding new potential buyers who haven’t yet been exposed to your products or services but could benefit from them.
