Customer Relationship Management systems have been around a long time and the benefits of having all your customer information organised and readily available are obvious. So too are the benefits of streamlining and tracking your internal workflows, including the setup of tasks and task notifications.
However, the recent arrival affordable Marketing Automation functionality is a game-changer for small business. This promises to make a significant impact on revenue and profits to those that take advantage.
Marketing Automation tools together with advertising services like Adwords and Facebook Advertising feed directly into your CRM software allowing you to track lead and customer activity like never before.
With this in mind, we thought it appropriate to list 3 ways a modern CRM system can increase your small business profits:
1) Ensure Leads Don’t Fall Through The Cracks
An automated online marketing system allows you to scale up quickly by using SEO, Google Adwords and Facebook Advertising.
The resulting influx of leads can leave the unprepared in trouble. Good leads that otherwise would have lead to increased profits can easily fall through the cracks.
A good CRM will interface to these services so that lead details are automatically stored. A salesperson is also automatically assigned to the lead together with a sequence of follow up tasks and notifications.
2) Track Customer Activity & Flag When Ready To Buy
A modern CRM will allow you to track leads as they leave and arrive at your website.
You can also track them as they move around the internet. You’re able to attribute a ‘score’ to your lead as they consume your content – read a post, watch a video, or attend a webinar. This score is aggregated and stored in your CRM.
When a leads score reaches a pre-defined level, a task can be assigned to a salesperson to make a phone call. The salesperson will be armed with a raft of activity information to help them close the deal.
3) Use Automation To Guide Leads Into The ‘Buy Zone’
Digital marketing works well when you’re helping potential customers rather than selling to them.
A lead will have a problem that your product can solve. However, many won’t be ready to buy from you until they understand more about the problem, as well as gather information about possible solutions to their problem.
This is where a good CRM excels. It can detect where in the buy-cycle the lead is situated and automatically feed relevant information to leads as required.
For example, if a lead downloads a Resource Guide from your website you can be sure that they are very interested in the related topic. It would be wise not to disclose your complete solution in the Resource Guide. Hold back on some related information and send that information in an email sequence over the next 3 months. This email sequence can be fully automated and requires minimal resources.
Think of it as telling a ‘story’ in 3 parts. The first part is the blog post, the 2nd part is the resource guide, and the final part of the story is the 3 month email sequence.
A good CRM will automate this email sequence allowing you and your sales team to focus on closing deals and increasing profits.
Over time, the lead will see you as a trusted expert and when it comes time to make the purchase, they will choose you rather than your competitor.
