Three Reasons Your Business Needs A Clear CRM Strategy
Small businesses all over the world engage in CRM, whether they have a formal strategy or not. CRM, or “Customer Relationship Management,” is defined broadly as “one central place to organize all the details of your leads and customers” [1]. Centralizing this data and providing easy access allows companies to maximize sales opportunities. Every business has lists of customers. The problem is they don’t have a strategy to use that data and keep customers moving through the sales funnel. Without a clear sales strategy that utilizes CRM, most small businesses are missing out on building relationships that maximize sales. Here are three reasons your business needs to focus on CRM today.
Obsess Over The Customer
Jeff Bezos, the well-known CEO of Amazon, has stated in the past that the key to Amazon’s success was “obsessive-compulsive focus on the customer as opposed to obsession over the competitor” [2]. Your small business might have all the ingredients to be the next Amazon, but until you truly understand the people who both buy from you and who decline to make the purchase, you really cannot unleash your company’s potential.
A CRM system helps you remember to reach out to leads. It helps remind you to give your top customers a call to say thanks and pass along a promo code. It also helps provide insights into who didn’t buy. Were there characteristics that abandoned leads shared? If so, these insights can help you adjust your advertising and landing pages to filter out the bad leads so you can focus on the good ones.
In short, a sales strategy focused on an “obsessive-compulsive focus on the customer” mantra gives you ideas and insights that the competition may not have.
Make Your Sales Staff More Productive
With all the knowledge that the right CRM system can provide, sales staff are likely to be much more productive. One study noted that salespeople at a business with a CRM system are 30% more productive than those without one [3]. Instead of fumbling around for contacts, finding old leads, and wasting time on less productive errands, your sales staff can be laser-focused on the right clients.
A CRM Is The Foundation For Your Great Sales Strategy
This heightened productivity makes it easier to execute your sales strategy. Let’s say your goal is to go from $1 million in revenue to $2 million. There are at least two ways to accomplish this. Either you double your sales at the same average transaction amount. Or, you can choose to chase sales that have higher dollar values. A CRM system lets you determine that. Do you have enough leads that doubling your transactions is feasible? Do you have enough high-paying clients that you think you can target them for higher sales volumes? Were there any top-tier clients that got away but you now believe that since it has been a while, they might reconsider? These are all sales questions answered by your CRM.
In conclusion, having a CRM system and sales strategy are symbiotic. The CRM data guides your sales strategy and a great sales strategy cannot exist without the underlying CRM. If you want to be growing your business to new heights, it’s imperative that you get the right plan in place. Of course, if you want an expert opinion on how to boost your business, we can certainly help!
References:
[1] https://www.hubspot.com/growth-stack/what-is-crm
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-jeff-bezos-success-customer-obsession-2018-9
[3] https://www.nimble.com/blog/to-use-or-not-to-use-a-crm-system/