CRM software empowers companies to improve customer relationships and streamline communication from one department to the next. While a CRM is a great tool for lead generation, it’s not a lead generator itself.
Keep reading to explore the following:
What Is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a tool businesses can use to streamline everyday operations and manage relationships between the company, their customers, and employees.
In years past, employees had the bandwidth to keep track of everything they needed on a calendar or organized in files. However, things have changed over the years. Due to advancements in technology, we have a better way of maintaining communication and relationships with employees and customers, overall improving the structure of your business growth model.
Why Use CRM Software?
CRM software is a crucial component of your sales and marketing efforts. While a CRM is often used to house customer information and data, it can also be used to:
- Improve prospect experiences
- Tap into new markets
- Save time and money
- Streamline business operations
CRM and Lead Generation: How Do They Work Together?
While a CRM isn’t a lead generator, it can be used as a supplemental asset to guide leads to the end of the sales cycle effectively.
There are various types of CRM tools and solutions depending on the needs of your business. For lead generation, there are CRM solutions that prioritize sales and marketing efforts so you can effectively manage each lead in the sales pipeline.
Using a CRM for lead generation empowers sales and marketing teams to follow up with the right leads at the right time and productively manage campaigns. CRMs are great tools for tracking lead generation efforts because CRMs have a wide range of dashboard and reporting capabilities that allow sales and marketing teams to see how campaigns are performing.
CRM Steps You Must Follow To Grow Your Business
1. Run an Audit
First things first, it’s crucial to run a complete audit of your business operations. This includes reviewing every process you have in place, looking into the buyer personas of the market you serve, and reviewing your competitors. Additionally, it may be worth conducting a SWOT analysis of your business to identify where your company is accelerating and where it may need some improvements.
After analyzing your business operations, exploring how a CRM could align with your procedures and what it would take to implement the platform is essential. This includes having the budget, bandwidth, and expertise to build out a CRM and train employees on how to use it to your company’s advantage.
2. Outline Your Sales Development Process
After running the audit, you must outline your current sales development process. This includes determining what happens during each phase of the sales funnel and who is responsible for completing each task. Once you understand your sales development process and who is responsible for what, you can explore how a CRM could advance your business growth efforts and generate more leads for your sales pipeline.
3. Define Your Short- and Long-Term CRM Goals
What do you hope to achieve by implementing a CRM system into your lead generation efforts? Defining your short- and long-term goals empowers you to build a CRM solution that yields the desired results. Before implementing your CRM solution, you must consider your SMART goals, which is a goal-setting acronym that stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Creating SMART goals enables you and your team to work towards something, whether it’s increased social media engagement or boosted customer retention. Setting these goals allows you to see what’s working with your CRM platform and what may need to be adjusted for more significant results.
4. Use Data To Improve CRM Performance
Like any other sales tool, technology, or strategy, using customer data is essential because it allows you to see where your lead generation strategy is working and where it may need some advancements. Once you implement your CRM, explore how it has impacted your business growth efforts. This includes your employees’ productivity and how potential buyers make their way through the customer journey.
5. Personalize Prospect and Customer Experiences
For advanced customer service, you must use CRM software to personalize each prospect and customer experience. Customization of materials sent to prospects increases the likelihood of them making it to the end of the buyer’s journey. Sales teams can personalize content for potential customers, including assets that align with them, their interests, and other key differentiators.
6. Automate Tedious Processes
One of the most significant benefits of implementing a CRM into your lead generation efforts is the ability to automate tedious processes. Many sales and marketing teams fear that if they automate processes, they risk eliminating personalization. However, you can have the best of both worlds. Automating tedious processes empowers sales teams to spend more time selling and less time crafting sales emails.
7. Track Campaign Performances
Lastly, CRM software empowers you to track campaign performances and explore what potential buyers engage with most. This allows you to see how effective your lead generation efforts are and what could be done to advance sales engagement. In addition to reports and dashboards, sales and marketing teams can integrate other reporting tools for a more comprehensive business growth campaign.
Key Takeaways
While a perfect CRM setup won’t win you clients, it can definitely get you on the right track. A CRM is essential for a lead to have a seamless transition down the sales pipeline. Additionally, a CRM helps streamline communication between sales and marketing departments to ensure no high-converting leads get left behind.
At Sapper Consulting, our SDRs are well-equipped to use CRM systems to your advantage. Through our sales process, we use CRM to productively move leads through the sales funnel, ensuring you get high-quality sales appointments. To learn how we use CRM for an accelerated lead generation program, contact the business growth experts at Sapper Consulting!
