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How to boost productivity with your CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a must-have for all businesses big and small in today’s market landscape. There’s just no way to deliver the experience that customers expect nowadays without one. 

CRMs have many benefits which impact the profitability of your business in specific ways. But, best of all, each one contributes to your workforce’s productivity.

Here are some ways you can boost productivity with your CRM. 

Task and workflow automation

A cartoon robot automating tasks

We’ve spoken before about how we at Pipeline.so work remotely, and a huge part of what makes that work is the fact that we can automate tasks.  

Repeat tasks are always going to be a part of sales. They’re essential in order to keep track of what’s going on and what stage people are at in the process. What’s not inevitable is that they take up a lot of your sales reps’ time. 

Here are a few examples of where automation can boost your team’s productivity.

Nurturing emails

Sending the right messages at the right time is one of the best ways to keep prospects moving along the pipeline until they become serious opportunities. It’s an important and delicate part of the process—but that doesn’t mean it has to be time-consuming. 

Automation allows you to create nurturing sequences that appeal directly to lead at whatever point in the customer journey they’re at. 

Deal ownership

The experience for the lead or prospect as they progress through the pipeline should be seamless. But that’s easier said than done.

It’s not uncommon for the prospecting to begin with one person then, when the lead has been qualified, they’re passed to another. When they officially become an opportunity, they then may be the responsibility of the most senior sales person on the team. 

This passing of ownership can easily turn into promising prospects falling through the cracks.  With a CRM, you can swiftly and easily pass ownership of a deal from one person to another. 

Following up

One of the most important parts in any sales process is following up. Statistics show that not only do 60% of customers say “no” four times before saying “yes” but an incredible 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up call.

Following up is essential for any sales professional. But it doesn’t have to be time consuming. With automated workflows, you can easily follow up without having to do any extra work, saving time and boosting productivity. 

Lead scoring

Another time-consuming aspect of sales is simply figuring out where to focus your efforts. There’s no point spending a substantial amount of time on a single deal unless you’re relatively confident they’re going to convert. 

But how do you know where to dedicate your valuable time? Well, that’s where lead scoring comes in. By automatically assigning numbers to leads depending on predetermined criteria or behavior, you’re better able to judge where to focus your efforts. 

Tool integration 

Cartoon man adjusting a gear with a wrench

These days, it seems like there’s a tool for everything. Which is really fantastic! The problem is everything can get a little confusing. Between managing all the different passwords and accounts and having information from one tool that you need in another, it can be very hard to keep up with it all. In the end, it doesn’t just harm your employees’ productivity but it also means that mistakes are much more likely to happen. There are two ways that CRMs can help you with this. 

In-built capabilities 

Firstly, if you invest wisely, many of the third-party tools you use will no longer be necessary. Take the email automation tool Mailchimp for example. If you have a CRM with built-in automation capabilities, you suddenly don’t need an outside tool for the job. 

The fact is that CRMs are very powerful pieces of software and many of the tools you currently use are included in the suite. When choosing a CRM, it’s always a good idea to make a note of your current tech stack to find the best platform for you

Connecting tools

If your CRM doesn’t have all the capabilities you need or you simply prefer your third-party tool, you can always connect the tools. Integrating tools is generally quite easy to do with the help of automation tools like Zapier and, is guaranteed to boost productivity with your CRM.

Data centralization

A cartoon man sitting on a stack of servers

It’s amazing how quickly your documentation can become overwhelming and disorganized if you don’t have a proper system in place. Nothing wastes more time than just looking for that one file you’re sure you saw just the other day… 

It’s not just files, though. Literally all data needs to be easily accessible to ensure seamless internal processes. Everything including proposals, quotes, contracts, and email templates needs to be right at hand. 

CRMs are literally created for internal organization and data storage. Any platform worth its salt should have the ability to store data and ensure every member of your team has easy access to it. 

Labels and filters

One of the ways that CRMs ensure your data is always organized is through labels and filters. By simply putting a label or filter on contacts or other relevant information, it suddenly becomes extremely easy to find what you need, exactly when you need it. 

For example, you can create filters for: 

  • Deals that are older than three months
  • Lost deals
  • A particular salesperson’s deals

Literally any way of separating the information so it’s of use to you is possible, then you can share the views and reports with your team to get better insights into what’s going on. 

Boost productivity with your CRM

Whatever way you look at it, CRMs are productivity-boosting machines that have revolutionized how business is done. It’s quite simply like the difference between having a horse and a Ferrari. 

If you are interested in finding out more about the many ways that Pipeline.so can maximize your team’s productivity and unlock the next level of business growth, get in touch with us today!

 

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