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Sales Process Improvement

Identifying your target audience occurs during the marketing process, but it has important implications for the sales process as well. If the leads you generate aren't relevant, that is, they don't correspond to customers in your target audience, then your sales representatives won't be very effective.

A common mistake businesses make in this respect is assuming their entire target audience shares the same needs. They try to streamline their entire sales process to match one specific type of customer.

A recent Business 2 Community article explains why this doesn't work. According to the article, it's common for customers in the same target audience to have different needs and preferences:

 

"Elite sales teams have a sales process that’s focused on one thing — the buyer. If your process isn’t aligned with how your buyers buy, it will never be effective. A common mistake is to assume that one process fits all. Your market likely has different segments of buyers that have different needs. Some have regimented buying processes, while others may be less refined. All have their own key decision criteria."

 

In addition to identifying your target audience, you should also create buyer personas. These will represent different people and have a certain set of characteristics.

This tactic is especially important for your sales representatives. If they understand the different personas in your target audience, then they'll be prepared to speak to prospective customers. Rather than just having one plan for everyone, they'll have multiple strategies based on the persona a customer matches.

Some businesses inform their sales representatives of their target audience and expect them to take care of the rest. This creates an incredibly hard challenge for the representatives. Rather than describing a vague group, consider creating concrete buyer personas that the sales representatives will recognize. This will help them close more sales.

 

To talk more about your sales process, or anything else, contact us today.

CRM Software

The sales process is one of the largest sources of inefficiencies within the context of business operations. Many businesses lack organization in this area and simply depend on sales representatives to get the job done.

CRM software is a solution that adds organization to the sales process and removes costly inefficiencies. It collects and organizes relevant sales data so sales representatives are more informed and businesses can keep track of their most loyal customers.

By now, CRM software is more of an industry standard than a revolutionary sales tool. Still, some businesses struggle to optimize their software and maximize the results. According to a recent Investment News article, implementing the software is a stumbling block for several companies:

"Even though CRM might be not be considered cutting-edge technology to the truly tech savvy advisory firms, it is still among the stumbling block issues for a lot of advisers and something the technology industry should be addressing, according to John Rourke, chief executive of Starburst Labs."

Just because CRM software is now relatively widespread, doesn't mean that all businesses know what they're doing with it. Similarly, installing the software doesn't necessarily indicate a correct implementation of it.

So what does all of this mean for you and your business? In general, CRM software is a useful tool that can help companies increase their sales and transition to an analytics-based approach. For those results to materialize, however, an expert needs to implement the software and integrate it within the context of the company's operations. This is where most businesses fail, or "stumble."

Fortunately, there's a simple solution to all of this. By working closely with professional advisors, you can implement your CRM software correctly and learn how to get the most out of it. To talk more about CRM software, or anything else, contact us today.

Sales Software

Sales software has several uses within the context of business operations. But whether you're looking for more organization or access to analytics, one of the most important benefits of sales software is its impact on customer relations.

Something that always gets lost in the chaos of the sales process is the buyer's process. A recent Business 2 Community article explains what the buyer's process is and why it plays a key role in developing customer loyalty:

"In the sales process, there’s a buyer’s process. Connecting with the buyer through their process will pay dividends when the actual sale takes place. When buyers feel an emotional connection, it builds the relationship, which builds trust. Companies who understand and apply this see their revenues double, triple, and quadruple, and at the same time, their customers become happier, compliant, and easier to sell to."

Clearly, there's more to doing business than just throwing out numbers and statistics. Customers aren't always comfortable speaking with sales representatives if they don't know their last purchase order, their shipping preferences, or even their name.

Implementing sales software in your company can optimize the buyer's process and improve your customer relations. With sales software as a resource, sales representatives can keep in touch with customers and read up on their order history. This will create a personal connection with customers and will establish a foundation for customer loyalty.

In addition to establishing a personal relationship with customers, sales representatives can also refer to the statistics and analytics provided by the sales software. With this information, they can anticipate order refills based on patterns in a customer's purchase history. By simply sending a timely email, you can bring your customer back before he even considers talking to one of your competitors.

To talk more about sales software, or anything else, contact us today.

Sales Process Improvement

We all know how fast the sales profession moves every day. It is moving faster than ever before. You can go to sleep one night and wake up the next day to see that a competitor has introduced a new product.

It does not matter what part of the business world you are in, what once worked perfectly for you is not going to do the trick anymore. You do not have time to waste; now is the time to push forward and sell harder than ever.

You may be wondering how can you make a big sales process improvement so you can make sure your business is still standing at the end of the year. Here are some things you can do to make this happen.

•Have a clear understanding of what it is that you want to do. 

•After you have determined what you are trying to achieve, set a few goals and give yourself a timetable for completing those goals.

•Understand what exactly all of your customers are looking for. What do they need from your business?

•Always listen to your customers. Listen to them before making any major decisions.

•Incorporate marketing tools that will give you the best chance at excelling.

When you set your mission and your goals, you should certainly stick with them. Set goals that will help your customers and keep them on your side. When you remain productive and active, you may be pleasantly surprised at the big difference in customer response and customer activity. Contact us today for more information. 

When your business depends on making a sale, whether it is a product or a service that you provide, a lot of your time and attention is spent on the process of closing the deal. Sales Process Improvement can help your company spend more time building relationships with your clients and prospects, leading to increased customer satisfaction and repeat business, as well as referrals. One of the easiest ways to improve your sales process is by using CRM (customer relationship management) software.

A CRM system (ACT!, Salesforce, Hubspot) can help ensure that you are giving your clients and prospects more attention, while reducing the amount of time wasted by poor record keeping. By having all the client's or prospect's information in one place, along with your notes, tasks, and status of the deal, you are better able to focus on what you do best: closing the deal.

CRM software can also keep track of the number and type of deals in your sales pipeline, so that your company is better prepared to estimate the value of the sales pipeline, to control your delivery obligations, and to make sure that your customers' needs are met in a timely manner.

Depending on the system that you choose, individual orders can be tracked from lead through sale through delivery, sales tracking will also allow trends and purchase patterns to be analyzed for trends, again to better meet customer's needs and orders. Your company can also use the information to develop marketing initiatives and other forms of business development.

Sales tracking allows each individual salesperson's performance to be evaluated on objective criteria. Keeping this information in one place will also ensure continuity in the face of employee turnover.

Need more reasons to use a Customer Relationship Management system? To talk more about this, or anything else, please Contact us. Thanks.

CRM software can have a powerful impact on a business' sales process. Sales representatives are better equipped with data and information so they can be more effective in their talks with clients. The data gathered and compiled by CRM software can increase efficiency within a company.

Considering all of these benefits, there's certainly an opportunity cost associated with CRM software. In other words, choosing not to invest in CRM software can actually cost a business money. Instead of enjoying the benefits of the software, the company would be staying stagnant while their competitors pass them by.

A recent Business 2 Community article discusses CRM software and explains how a business can lose money by not investing in the software. This perspective also takes into account the rising costs of the service:

“Another built-in benefit of choosing a robust platform at the start of managing associations comes in the form of future savings. Manpower, equipment upgrades, loss of opportunities and allowing your competition to hurdle you add pressure to those deciding to switch relationship database software later down the road. Costs will inevitably grow, constraining business growth.”

CRM software is a long-term investment. Businesses that worry about the initial cost aren't focusing on the long-term benefits of the software.

Another thing companies should keep in mind is how their competition will benefit from the software. Any business that has crucial data about their target market has an edge over their competitors. It may not make a big difference in the first few weeks, but after a few months it will be evident. If a business doesn't want to fall behind in their market, they should focus on collecting data and information about their sales and customers.

Businesses should think of the opportunity cost if they're unsure about CRM software. Choosing to save money now may be a bad financial decision in the long run.

If you would like more information about CRM software, contact us.

It is highly critical for businesses to make their office processes and practices a smooth process. Since it is such an important task, some businesses use sales software as a means to streamline processes in their offices. When a business streamlines certain tasks, it leaves more time to focus on other important duties. You already know how challenging and complicated handling all of the sales tasks can be, and they can all vary. Sales software can make the process much easier for your business. Your assignments can be automated, and your employees can receive a notice or a reminder about when to contact customers. The entire process can be tracked so everyone can determine if any improvements need to be made.

Improving and maintaining relationships with customers can result in everyone's goal being accomplished, which should be making and closing a sale. When your employees are organized and all of the office data is organized, your business will have a better chance of accomplishing your sales goals.

How can sales software from Gold Coast Advisors help your business?

You will not have to spend countless time searching for sales information. With sales software, you can find information quickly, whenever you need it. When you need to find certain notes that you have made, potential sales opportunities, and future appointments, you can quickly find this information just by using the search tool. 
You can easily manage all of your customers. You can have access to a number of important communication information so you can effectively assist your customers when they need help with your products or services. You will typically have this information available to you from the purchases that have been made, or from the point-of-sale systems.
Improve your understanding of the customers. When you have customer information in front of you, you will gain an understanding of what the customers like. When you know what products and services customers recently purchased, you will have a high chance of predicting what other services or products they may want in the future.
When you are able to track your sales, your marketing efforts, and all of the activities of your employees you are giving your business a chance to improve and grow.

Contact us for any assistance or questions you may have about implementing sales software in your business.

Business owners are always seeking new ways of achieving Sales Process Improvement to increase revenue. Often, though, an owner may not have the time to diligently search the latest tools in technology.

Sadly, its the company’s customers who are hurt: they are not benefiting from the transparency and communication derived from software like a proven Customer Relations Management (CRM) platform.  

In fact, a study of companies on a fast-track for growth indicated that 63 percent of those with the highest trending growth (revenue) were using CRM software.

CRM and sales planning…

Instead of numerous sales people working independently in ill-defined territories, CRM software analyzes those silos of isolated information; then, it can produce forecasting reports to help managers assign sales teams to optimize their efforts.

CRM and Lead Conversion…

Forget about the task of assigning all of those incoming leads when they’ve gone ‘cold.’ CRM programs will track incoming leads to provide assignments to productive salespeople.

In short, CRM helps track sales quotas and create sales strategies.

CRM helps the customer 'win'…

Knowing what your customer needs, and when he’s most likely to need it, is the key to exacting more revenue from the best sourcer: your existing customers.

CRM will make customer profiles easy to access remotely on an array of smart devices; this, while managing customer contracts.

Analysis of data…

Leads are not only tracked more efficiently, but the information is readily available to assist sales teams in ‘cross-selling’ by understanding customer needs.

Pricing and order completion…

Instead of sales teams putting customers on hold, or calling them back because they don’t have current pricing data, CRM provides a seamless channel to the latest company information.

What’s more, the orders can be completed via CRM, which speeds up the process and makes for a happy customers.

We work with lots of CRM software, including ACT!, Hubspot, Salesforce and Zoho, making it our goal to know the ins and outs of the programs and the industry surrounding it.

Contact us to learn more about CRM software, and how it can be customized to grow with your business---without starting all over again with new software!