Photo by Lugon Studio
Six solutions to accelerate sales.
Conclusions from sales and marketing research were head-slappers. It showed many global businesses weren’t meeting expectations of online customers.
Increasingly, businesses have been using customer relationship software (CRM) but they haven’t used it for maximum revenue. That was the conclusion from a Velocify study, study “The Impact of CRM on Sales Lead Response.” (Velocify, a part of ICE Mortgage Technology, is a sales automation and lead management platform.)
Those were applicable lessons evem now more than a decade later. Background: The 2014 study concluded that many companies that used CRM were following up on leads via e-mail and phone more effectively than Fortune 100 companies.
But the rub is that the companies are still responding too slowly to prospects’ inquiries – they’re not meeting the expectations of their potential customers. This, of course, means the businesses’ sales opportunity costs are too high.
Worse, considering businesses invested an aggregate of $20 billion in CRM, the study showed 13 percent of customers never even heard from a sales rep.
Even if they got a response, another 19 percent of prospects waited days or even weeks before they got a response.
“There is no denying CRM solutions have made a significant impact on the effectiveness of sales organizations, however, this study provides evidence that CRM solutions alone aren’t enough,” said Nick Hedges, president and CEO at Velocify in a press release.
“This study found a clear gap exists at the initial point of contact with a prospect. Even the savviest of CRM users are letting ripe leads die on the vine by failing to respond, waiting too long to contact an inquiring buyer and giving up too soon,” he added.
Secret shoppers
Velocify conducted a secret-shopper study. The shoppers recorded how quickly the businesses responded by phone and email. The shoppers also tracked how many response attempts were made in the subsequent 22 days.
More on the study’s findings:
— No response – 13 percent of leads received no response of any kind to their online inquiry – not a single email or phone call.
— Slow response via phone – The average buyer wait time for a phone call in response to a sales inquiry was 2 days. Previous Velocify research [2] found that attempting to contact a lead within three minutes of a web inquiry being submitted increases the likelihood of that lead converting into a paying customer by 98 percent.
— Slow response via email – While the average email response time was better, with nearly 35 percent of inquiring buyers receiving an email response in under an hour, previous Velocify research [2] would suggest room for improvement, indicating the optimal time for email follow-up is 20 minutes.
— Lack of persistence – Only 57 percent of inquiring buyers received at least one phone call and one email in response to their inquiries. Previous Velocify research [3] found the optimal number of call attempts is six and email attempts is five. Only 13 percent of leads received close to the optimal number of follow-up calls, receiving between five and seven attempts.
Comparisons:
— Companies that used sales CRM solutions sent email responses on average three times faster than Fortune 100 companies (studied earlier in 2014) and were nearly twice as fast to call up inquiring buyers.
— Sales CRM users were more persistent on average than Fortune 100 companies, making 23 percent more call attempts on average and sending 29 percent more emails on average. As a group, however, CRM users are still a long way from best practices.
— Tech companies performed 60 percent better than non-tech companies in following optimal contact strategies.
— Sales teams using one of the five CRMs included in this study significantly outperformed all other sales CRM users.
ln conclusion, there are six solutions:
1. Qualify and prioritize leads based on behavior and demographics.
2. Automate your follow-ups to prevent losing track of leads with emails, reminders, and tasks after specific actions.
3. Streamline your sales pipeline with astute tracking in real-time, shortening deal cycles and closing more sales opportunities.
4. Prospect for upselling and cross-selling opportunities. Identify your clients who might benefit from complementary products or upgrades by researching their purchase history for maximum customer insights.
5. Strengthen your customer retention planning. This calls for personalized engagement and a complete history of interactions to build trust and increase long-term customer value.
6. Data-driven decisions are possible if you utilize real-time dashboards and analytics. Therefore, refine your sales efforts by tracking key performance indicators such as your win rates and average deal sizes.
Conclusion
Companies need to use best practices in lead response. Savvy customers today want a better buying experience. The companies that provide it increase their revenue and get a stronger return on their CRM investments.
Sales managers need to manage by plugging the holes. Sales reps should be poised to jump on any such leads. And they should be persistent in their follow-up.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are sales-management solutions:
Is Your Company Underperforming in Marketing / Sales? Evaluate Your Culture — If you’re dissatisfied with your revenue, it’s time for an assessment of your culture’s operation. Why? Superior cultures drive business performance. Specifically, two key elements of culture – innovation and responsiveness – have a direct impact on your company’s sales success.
Critical Fundamentals to Build the Best Sales Staff — The crucial question: How can a company develop a top sales crew? Short answer: Start with a premise — if it were so easy then everybody would be doing it. Long answer: Some companies are achieving stellar sales results in complex global situations by adopting best practices.
Sales Management: Motivate Your Staff in 10 Seconds — All too-often when sales managers are busy, they’re task-oriented. Not to be critical, but they’re focused only on what’s at the end of their noses. For effective management and revenue, the trick is to guard against it.
Checklist to Create Cyber Monday Sales Success — In order to celebrate your Cyber Monday sales, you must first create a happy buying environment. That means reviewing your store and Web site to attract prospects and to create happy customers.
“Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops.”
-Thomas J. Watson Jr.
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