Wouldn’t it be nice to have an easier way of maintaining all your customer relations? A lot of salespeople spend a huge amount of time doing administrative tasks and as if that’s not bad enough, most of the information registered doesn’t even get synchronised with all the other systems they use.
A properly designed CRM system helps you keep your sales process streamlined and organised. Having all the customer information in one place allows you to work more efficiently and you’ll find yourself spending a lot less time on administrative tasks, something everyone will benefit from.
Here are seven smart tips on CRM features to free up your time so you can focus on your B2B sales instead.
Let your CRM system be your memory
It’s a real challenge to deal with ten, fifteen or twenty business opportunities all at the same time. Can you keep all the conversations, proposals and follow-ups in your head? Probably not without any technical support to help you along the way. Most of us can only remember seven things (+/- two) at the same time. So, what’s the secret to success?
Use a CRM system as your super memory! You’re in complete control of your deals and the CRM system reminds you if you forget to contact a customer or follow up on a proposal. You decide yourself what you want to be reminded of. Plan future activities and use the CRM system to remind you when it’s time to book a meeting, follow up on a sales call or submit a proposal. With this simple trick, you’ll be able to juggle several deals without risking any of them falling through the cracks.
You get a clear overview of your upcoming work tasks and can swiftly deal with the most critical matters. The schedule view allows you to easily see what you need to do today, tomorrow and in the coming weeks.
Get control with pipeline management
As a salesperson, your job is to drive your sales dialogues forward which in itself can be a challenge. To be successful, you have to keep a close eye on your sales pipeline, or sales funnel as some people prefer to call it.
Pipeline management is a great way of working and it provides a clear understanding of the sales process. It gives you a clear picture of the steps you need to follow to progress forward in the sales cycle.
Take control of your sales pipeline by:
- Focuse on the right customers when prospecting.
- Develop a structured sales process based on an activity ladder.
- Work with qualified leads and opportunities to make sure you always move the customer forwards toward your sales targets.
- Use a CRM system that keeps you up to date on the activities you need to do right now.
An advantage of pipeline management is that it becomes easier to manage several sales processes at the same time while also driving the deals forward. So how do you keep track of what steps you need to take next in each and every deal? By taking control of your sales pipeline and letting your CRM system guide you through every step of the deal.
One single customer card with all the information you need
Don’t waste time searching for information in Excel files and Post-It notes to find out what your colleagues have promised a customer. Open instead that customers card in your CRM system! All your business opportunities and customer information are organised all in the same place. This frees up time for you and your sales colleagues to spend time on what’s really important: interacting with customers in a professional and personal way.
Examples of information you’ll be able to find on the customer card:
- The customer’s contact information and their details.
- The products/services the customer has purchased in the past.
- Any current and ongoing deals and projects with the customer.
- The number of hours invoiced to the customer in the past 12 months.
As a salesperson you shouldn’t have to look around in different systems to find out all the current information about your customers. When you’re able to free up more time by having all your relevant information in on place, you can handle more customers. And the more customers you approach, the more business you’ll generate in the long run!
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Connect several systems and minimise your administration
The best way to maximise your sales is to minimise the time you spend on administrative tasks. Administrative tasks are still an inescapable and important part of doing business but can take a lot of time, as it stops you progressing through the sales process. You can save a lot of time by using a CRM system properly. When you integrate the CRM system with other programmes you use daily, it will save you from entering the same information over and over. Common systems to integrate it with are for example your email client or business system (ERP).
Another way to save time is to add smart shortcuts. If you frequently import company information or set new sales goals, then you can save time by setting up shortcuts for those activities on the CRM home page.
Make calls easier by connecting CRM to your phone system
If your business is using a phone system then it’s a no-brainer to connect it to your CRM system. When a contact registered in the system calls you, the relevant customer card will quickly pop up and you’ll have all the information you need at your fingertips.
You can even call a contact straight from the CRM system. No need to enter long telephone numbers manually or search in your phone’s contact list for the number. This saves you considerable time and won’t distract you from what’s important, the conversation you’ll have with your customers.
Achieve your sales targets by having access to real time statistics
Do you track all your sales targets and data yourself? Manual calculations are also prone to errors and takes a lot of time. A smarter way is to make your CRM system monitor your pipeline. That way you know what still needs to be achieved to reach your sales targets.
Do you quickly need to find out:
- How many sales calls you made last months?
- What’s in your pipeline?
- If you’re likely to achieve your budget target?
- What your hit rate is?
By tracking your sales targets you’ll become an even better sales representative. When you log your activities and deals in the CRM system, you’re only a few clicks away from retrieving statistics on targets and KPIs.
Would you prefer to view the statistics in graphs and pictures? No problems. By integrating your CRM system with a business intelligence tool you’ll be able to set up visual dashboards and graphs with all the vital information you might need.
Let others know when you’ve sealed the deal
No doubt, it’s an amazing feeling to win and close a deal and of course you want to share your success with your manager and your colleagues! A CRM system makes it easy for you to keep others up to date with your sales pipeline: the deals you have closed and the customers you work with. You do this by interconnecting the CRM system to one of your internal communication channels, for example Slack, Workplace or your e-mail client.
You can decide which information you want to share. Some suggestions of what to add:
- Names of people involved in the project
- The customer name
- The monetary value of the deal
Once you mark a deal as “closed”, the system automatically sends out a notification to recipients identified by you. It saves time and allows everyone to focus on closing more deals, plus gives everyone insight into what is actually happening at your company.
Do you also want to maximise your sales?
Now it’s time to get your CRM system to work for you! As we know, the most important factor a CRM system can help you with is to give you control over the entire sales process and your customer interactions.
Take a look at your own work situation: Which work steps can you actually spend less time on? The answer is almost always: Administrative tasks!
Having all the customer information in one place means you can redirect your time and efforts to the areas where you can really add value. That’s the whole idea of the CRM system! A well-structured sales process and a great CRM system is basically all you need to succeed within sales!
Do you want more information about CRM systems and how it can help you gain control over your sales process? Let us show you how we can help you take the next step forward!