Time and time again I hear about sales people refusing to use their Customer Relations Management software for one reason or another. The most common reasons for resistance are old habits, CRM inadequacies and flat out insubordination. I am here to tell you that no matter the CRM tool you choose, you will find “things” you do not like. Think that switching CRM’s will help? Most of the time, not. So, what if I told you that sales experts tell us that sales people that use a CRM daily show improved performance by as much as 25%? Would you get busy now?
Here are 10 key functions that will help you fall in love with your CRM tool.
1. A good CRM tool will help you identify repeatable patterns of success. All to often sales people are successful but they can not repeat the success because they did not track the success. CRM tools help you take ownership of these patterns of success.
2. Experts tell us that we forget 25% of tasks that are considered “important”. Don’t believe me? Think back to a time when you were driving home or riding the train and you realized you had forgotten to call a client or complete a task. Good thing you remembered that task. What about the other 20% that you forgot?
3. Leading data is critical to your success as a sales person. The data about your clients on the front end of the sale cycle allows you to set up for success on the back end. If you use your CRM correctly, you can track leading data and not just closed deals. Owning this critical piece of the sales funnel separates the good from the great.
4. Improving your patterns of prospecting. Using your CRM you can track what emails or voice mails are getting you the desired response needed to book those critical meetings. You first need to start with templates and then you need to track their success.
5. Improve your timing. If you look closely at #4 you can take prospecting one step further by tracking what times you sent an email or left a voice mail. Remember, once you identify a pattern of success, rinse and repeat. Also, some CRM tools allow you to share these success stories with the rest of your team using the CRM.
6. Your day-to-day time management will improve ten fold when you stop attacking tasks randomly and instead block out time to complete the task. Almost all CRM tools allow you to track your calendar and tasks in the tool. Remember, randomness kills your sales process.
7. Deeper research. The data in the tool allows you to stay abreast of all your activity, notes and research. Block out time to complete research on your clients so that you do not have to spend time before each call researching. Most CRM tools will let you save PDF files from LinkedIN as well into the tool.
8. Pay it forward. Have you ever walked into a new sales job and there where no notes on any clients? Keep the CRM current. Enough said.
9. Covering your own butt. Use the CRM to prove that you are an active and efficient sales executive. Very often the sales manager wonders what you are doing on a daily basis. So, show them by using your CRM each and every day.
10. Client data is owned by the company. Gone are the days of the Rolodex. Also, God forbid something happens to you and a colleague needs to take care of your clients… refer to #8. Your insistence that the accounts are “yours” is futile.
Lets end where we began… What if I told you that sales experts tell us that sales people that use a CRM daily show improved performance by as much as 25%? Would you get busy now?
People often ask me what CRM my clients use… I can honestly say that the vast majority of my magazine clients use The Magazine Manger. http://magazinemanager.com .
Fall in love with your CRM tool today.
About this blogger: Ryan Dohrn is an award winning ad sales training coach, a nationally recognized internet sales consultant, international business speaker, IT Sales Training expert and is the President and founder of 360 Ad Sales Training, a boutique internet revenue consulting firm with a detailed focus on ad sales training, internet consulting and media revenue generation. He is also the author of the ad sales book Selling Backwards. http://sellingbackwards.com Sales consultant and business speaker Ryan Dohrn travels the globe teaching media sales training classes and offers detailed coaching help to business owners and media companies looking to make money online.
Contact information:
Ryan R. Dohrn
President/Founder
360 Ad Sales Training and Strategy
Brain Swell Media LLC
http://www.BrainSwellMedia.com
803-867-3769
Follow him on Twitter.com/ryandohrn for daily tips and advice.