Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has grown more than ever in the last few years as it has a lot associated with the interaction with the customers and business today. CRM helps businesses keep a record of their clients with all the details necessary for the business to proceed. In most B2B operations, the business expects the other business to know them by their name, their brand, and the smaller details about them such as the conversation they had over their last phone call. Customers get frustrated when the business does not provide their weekly newsletter as they promised, or the monthly product update. If the business is small with a handful of clients, updating the details of the customers would be easy. However, as the business grows, there would be a greater number of clients whose details could not be simply noted down and searched for when needed urgently. This is the place where CRM plays a crucial role and helps out businesses in managing the record and details of the customers. Apart from managing the data of the customers, CRM also helps in lead generation, and revenue growth by increasing the sales of the company. CRM helps to build better relationships between the client and the business, and when clients could get personalized attention from their brands, it creates a better marketing strategy that would boost sales of the product and services of the business.

What is Conversion Ratio or Conversion Rate?

The percentage of people who take the desired action is known as the conversion rate. This action could be buying the product or service, signing for the newsletter, software, webinar, proposal, etc. Hence, if you have 200 signups for your software in a month out of the 600 visitors, the conversion rate would be 33% This rate of conversion could be useful to assess the effectiveness of sales and marketing tactics as it shows how well a particular action is performing. If your conversion rate is only 1%, it may mean that you should reconsider the object/thing and try improving it. When you calculate the overall conversion rate from the first point of contact to a done deal, it would help you locate where exactly the conversion rate decreases and what you could do to increase it. Now that we have understood what it is, let us understand how CRM could increase the conversion rate and increase sales of the company.

How does CRM increase sales?

CRM helps many businesses to generate leads and convert their potential customers into long-term clients. It eases the work of the sales team by managing the data of the customer which helps them to build a rapport with the client. Here are a few ways of how to use CRM to increase the sales of the business.

1. Data-Driven Leads

Sales of the business increase only when the salesperson knows the leads that they are talking about. It is always important to understand the leads which you sell. A lead which contains information or data which could be used to persuade visitors to become a client is called a data-driven lead. Leads containing data such as the customer’s name, phone number, email address, etc are not enough to close the deal with a client. Here is where CRM would be really helpful. CRMs would help the sales team to generate a streamlined and controlled pipeline which allows them to clip significant information like the name of the company’s leads, etc. This information aids the sales representatives to comprehend the lead in a better way. This allows better communication between the sales reps and the customers as they could persuade the customer more efficiently and increase the sales of their products and services.

2. Qualified lead generation

Organizing leads is one of the most important tasks that would increase the conversion rate of the business. When unqualified leads are put on top of the purchase funnel by the sales and marketing teams, it would not lead to any purchases. CRM helps to move all the leads that would be potential purchase/sales with a definite purchase. The CRM software could determine the qualified leads by collecting accurate data. CRM uses the scoring technique where the marketing and the sales teams have their own parameters that can score leads. These parameters are visited the downloaded content, opened mail, pricing page, clicked on the link,, etc. The marketing reps qualify the leads based on the score obtained and send them to the sales team. The sales teams add scores that are opted for a used or demo of the trial version of the product.

3. Workflow with Structure

Working with a structure is always one of the most productive and effective ways of working in a sales team. A team that does not use CRM to maintenance tasks that need to be completed, finds it difficult to follow up the data. CRM allows the sales reps to maintain a record of the follow-ups, reminds them to make demo calls, updates the data after the calls, and give the team members the option of making notes on calls. The sales team can have structured and timely communication. Various tasks are also alerted by the CRM to manage tasks and time and creates an automated and structured workflow. CRM also allows the user to create email campaigns that would help in lead generation and nurturing leads. It also adds calendar links to schedule calls; if the lead responds, it also moves leads to demo calls and brings regular alerts on follow-up tasks, etc. When sales reps have a proper structure to work with, the productivity of the team increases significantly.

4. Monitoring leads interactively

When the business ends up with warm leads, they should be in constant contact by sending them timely emails and analyzing their web-behavior. A good CRM must offer the scheduled and canned emails which would be sent to the warm leads on regular intervals. The CRM would also analyze their web behaviors by monitoring and making a record of them. Real-time notifications would also be sent to the sales reps so that they are proactive in tracking their warm leads. A CRM that could keep track of the leads that would make them their future clients will boost the conversion rate alarmingly. When more leads turn into clients, there would be more revenue generation and expansion in the business by the enhancement of sales of products and services.

5. Collaborating Instantly

The marketing and sales team of any business works day in and out. They attend seminars, webinars, demos, client meetings, etc. Just because they are not present in the office, it does not mean that they are not working. They have a lot of actions to take and tasks to complete as the leads are waiting for them and their lead conversion is often at stake. CRM solves this issue by providing mobility to the sales team as it is on-the-go and readily accessible from most smartphones. This is one of the biggest advantages of CRM as mobility allows sales reps to contact leads or team members instantly. Calls, emails, scheduling meetings, and many other features are provided by the CRM.

6. Constant communication with the sales team

CRM allows the sales team members to coordinate with each other which helps the team to be on the same page and keep everyone informed with the latest information. This significantly reduces senseless mistakes that may make your business look unprofessional. This type of communication, for instance, may provide the leads to be contacted twice by the different members of the same team. CRM systems stores all the relevant information and shares it across the team, so that everyone is alerted about the progress of the sales, and no unnecessary work is done.

7. Tracking the progress of sales

Any business would want to know how well the product or service is performing in the market, and whether there has been any growth in the business. CRM enhances the productivity of the team and also helps them to track the performance of the team members and the sales of the company. CRM keeps a close eye on the sales cycle and helps you fix the flaws in the business to improve your sales. CRM can supervise each stage of the process and tell you what is working and what is not, and what needs to be done to fix it.

Conclusion:

Customer Relationship Management software has always been a great tool for businesses to grow in the market. Small businesses have had huge conversion rates after the adoption of CRM software. CRM could increase the sales of the business by making significant changes in the way the data of the customer is stored and how sales reps can use the CRM to access the data. At the end of the day, CRM makes the work of sales reps easier and helps them perform productivity at their work, which allows them to give their best in their job and generate and follow leads. With many CRM features explained above, we can understand how CRM is a crucial tool that aids in the growth of the business. Try SalesTown CRM today that has all the features useful for Sales Representatives and move your business ahead with increased conversions.

Manjunath Chowdary

Digital Marketing Consultant