The Secret to Closing More Deals (2 of 3 part series)
Maybe it’s the prospect of making customer transactions more personal. Maybe it’s the ability to truly embrace data as a means of informing strategic decisions, or maybe it’s the ability to generate better leads for your sales pros to pursue. All are fantastic reasons to add Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology to your company’s toolkit. CRM is software that allows an organization to powerfully manage and leverage its business relationships.
Once you’ve made that decision, how do you get buy-in from your sales team? They are, after all, the ones who will use this technology the most. If you missed our last email, The Secret to Closing More Deals, the first of this three part series, you can click here to read it.
Among some staff, resistance to change is almost reflexive. The level of resistance does not correspond to how successful they are. A top performer may neglect to have his shared calendar updated, but if you approach him about it from the perspective of why keeping it updated helps others navigate their week better, you can generally get buy-in, if a bit grudgingly.
With CRM adoption, you can frame the discussion not only how it will help the organization overall, but more importantly for your sales team, how it will help them generate bigger paychecks.
Some benefits to highlight that will increase sales team enthusiasm:
- A CRM is going to make your job easier — Where’s that pad with the notes from last week’s meeting? Did I save that crucial customer voicemail? When did that prospect tell me to get back in touch? Your CRM is the ultimate personal assistant, aggregating scraps of data into one customer-centric record that gives your sales team a clear picture of who they are dealing with, even if they’ve forgotten past interactions or they were originally handled by someone else.
- A CRM is going to eliminate guesswork — Is the prospect qualified? Is this product line appropriate? Slicing and dicing data to generate insight is what CRM’s do best. The sales team can have custom reports generated that give them the answers they need without having to waste time pursuing prospects who can’t afford or have no need for a particular product or service!
- A CRM is going to give you more time — Time is money, and a CRM provides a robust layer of organization to everything at your company, greatly reducing time devoted to administrative tasks. Sales team members will have greater peace of mind, better focus, and more opportunity to spend their time selling.
- A CRM will increase sales (and paychecks) — The bottom line and the strongest argument to make quite simply is that a CRM is a path toward greater financial success. This tool, used effectively, will help increase efficiency, improve customer relations, and increase sales.
Ready to adopt a CRM model but unsure how to introduce it to staff? Change isn’t easy – we get it! Why not give us a call and we can help you through the transition to a bigger paycheck.
