There are many reasons to hate a CRM. See “I Used to Hate CRMs” for examples. Whether you are undisciplined and won’t try or you tried a low-priced CRM, received no support from the vendor, and became frustrated, many reasons exist to be scared of CRMs.
What if you tried a CRM? What might be the consequences? It could be disastrous, or you might actually close more sales with less follow-up fatigue! Why? How?
TechConnect
Sarah Cooper owns TechConnect, a managed services company, that buys leads from “lead gen aggregators” every week. TechConnect has limited resources and Sarah fears that her 3 salespeople won’t follow up effectively with all the leads. Often, Sarah’s team needs to follow up 8 times to make a sale.
Her sales team was diligent but touching all the leads was impossible. In fact, some leads never received a call. The team made dozens of outbound calls, emails, and texts as part of its 8-touch sales cycle, but results were limited.
Running a small business presents unique and daunting sales challenges. The team was frustrated by its results and knew they were falling behind. Sarah convened a meeting to find a solution.
What to Do Next
Sarah met with her salespeople and held a second meeting with the team and its advisors. The group agreed that:
- Many follow-up actions were repetitive, manual tasks.
- The same approach was used for all leads.
- Some leads were never touched due to lack of time.
The team realized that 8 touches per lead, multiplied by 15 minutes per touch and 50 leads per week was 100 hours divided by 3 salespeople meant that nearly all sales time was devoted to follow-up with no time to breathe let alone network.
CRM to the Rescue
The team agreed to find a CRM that included automation, segmentation, and email templates to be used by everyone. The team and its advisors chose a robust CRM.
The CRM allowed TechConnect to:
- Set up automated follow-up sequences that scheduled follow-up emails and reminders, ensuring no lead fell through the cracks.
- Personalize outreach by segmenting contacts by industry, company size, and geography. This personalized approach resonated with prospects and increased engagement rates.
- Manage sales using the built in Sales Funnel to see each prospect by salesperson, stage, and value.
- Trigger automated, personalized messaging and follow up reminders to each salesperson as prospects moved through the funnel.
- Measure results including conversion rates, length of sales cycle, and client acquisition costs.
What Did Sarah Learn
TechConnect’s sales team had immediate success. Sales processes were streamlined, salespeople spent more time on their best prospects, and sales grew by 25% per year in the first 2 years after implementation.
Here is what did Sarah learned:
- Salespeople built closer relationships and closed more sales.
- Personalized outreach led to a 25% increase in lead conversion rates.
- Sales cycle length decreased by 20%, generating cash more quickly.
TechConnect’s success demonstrates the power of a robust CRM. By automating, segmenting, personalizing outreach, and measuring results, TechConnect achieved significant growth.
TechConnect proved that with the right CRM tools and strategies, the sky’s the limit.
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