It is the end of the year which means you are probably getting ready for the holidays, and, perhaps, preparing your business goals for the new year. As you look forward to the new year, here are 5 great ways to build more revenue with less follow-up fatigue.
- Automate reminders and follow-ups
As salespeople, you are busy. You juggle multiple sales leads along with maintaining customer relationships. Follow-up is the key to walking leads through the buyer’s journey and nurturing customers. When you get behind with follow-up, Follow Up Fatigue sets in and business suffers.
A way to combat Follow Up Fatigue is automating reminders and follow-ups through your CRM. If you need to follow up in person, with a personal email, or by calling after an action is taken by prospects and customers, set an automatic reminder that triggers when the action is completed. If a follow-up needs to take place that does not require engagement on your behalf, create automated messages based on date or actionable triggers. Either way, your CRMs automation features will help you stay on top of follow-up in the new year.
- Segment your messaging
Many of us sell to businesses across industries or to consumers across demographic groups. In each case, use your CRM to deliver different messages to different groups. You will be amazed at the reactions you get when you tailor your messaging. Have a technical issue that you want to share with a segmented audience, prepare your email template, click start campaign, pull down your dynamic mailing list, and launch your messaging.
Using Dynamic Lists to segment your contacts into smaller groups for specialized messaging. A robust CRM and its Dynamic Lists will help you keep your mailing lists up to date so that when you are ready to launch your next segmented campaign, you won’t have to first organize your list.
- Communicate with customers and prospects directly through your CRM
Communications have evolved over time. Because of this, we have multiple ways to communicate with prospects and customers including phone calls, texting, email, chat, and social media. In some ways, this is good, but many channels can result in a fragmented communication system. When you use many forms of communication, you need to be intentional to record the communication in your CRM. This is time-consuming and increases the risk of outdated or misinterpreted information.
Most CRMs allow you to communicate with prospects and customers directly. We recommend that you take advantage of this feature. All communication is recorded in one place. It reduces the risk of miscommunication and minimizes the time spent consolidating the communication. This practice can shorten your sales cycle in the new year.
- Track your sales by stage and by lead source
Track your sales by stage and watch as your revenue increases. Most of us improve our performance and you will too when you track your sales by stage. You also will learn why some prospects don’t buy or where in the process your prospects fall off. Perhaps, they were not good prospects, or perhaps, a change to your sale process is needed.
Track your sales by lead source and you will know which business sources are right for you. Perhaps, it’s time to become a leader of the local chamber because 30% of your business is generated through that group. What if you became Chair of the Membership Committee or a corporate sponsor? Evaluate where you get your business and invest where it is most fertile.
- Add your CRM to your phone
Have you ever had to say to a customer via phone, email, or text, “when I get back to my computer, I can get that for you.”? You have the information whether it is an invoice, status update, or a document in your CRM which is on your laptop. Waiting to get back to your desk adds an unnecessary task to your list of tasks at your desk.
In the new year, set up access to your CRM from your phone. There are a few CRMs that have an app that can be downloaded so you can access your account. If your CRM is online but it does not have an app, you can always access it from your mobile phone browser and set it as an icon on your phone’s home screen. Either way, when you have the ability to access customer information from your phone to answer a question, you are saving yourself time and your customer is receiving more attentive service.
We will go so far as to say that if you are using a CRM that can only be accessed on your computer, you may want to consider upgrading to a CRM that allows you to access it from your phone. If this is the case, we are happy to set up a demo of X2CRM so you can see how it works on mobile.
Conclusion
It is the goal of every business owner and salesperson to build revenue and be more efficient so you can sell more with less effort. This begins with building on your current momentum and using your CRM to its greatest extent. Consider our recommendations and let’s make the upcoming year successful!
