Sales and Marketing Forum

What Makes for the Best CRM?

Customer Relationship Management (or CRM) is back! What a difference a few years makes. Not too long ago, surveys were reporting that 70-80% of all CRM initiatives failed. That was yesterday. This is today. While CRM implementation results leave a lot to be desired, it is amazing what can happen when best practices and best features are leveraged to build a successful system.

In our experience the critical items are as follows –

Ease of Use \ Adoption - Is the system easily used by salespeople in the context of the tools they are already comfortably using to do their jobs effectively. Traditionally this means seamless integration with Microsoft Office and Outlook - Email Tasks and Calendar?

Customization - Can the system (i.e. imports, data fields, reports, workflows) be easily configured by an internal business analyst (with a little training) and not be dependent upon an application developers for updates and maintenance?

Automation - Does the system have a set of built in tools (Business processes, Workflows) which can intuitively be used by an internal business analyst to template repeatable business processes?

Full Customer Life Cycle - Do the features \ modules of the system provide a ‘cradle to grave’ approach to appropriately handle your approach to Marketing (Awareness), Sales (Acquisition) and Service (Delivery) for your solutions?

Reporting - Can the system easily generate reports from the data captured which allow you to make the best business decisions today with the available information?

Flexibility to deploy \ Integrate - Does the system have the flexibility to be implemented in various deployment models to match your business and technology – SaaS \ License, Cloud \ On-Premise. And do these implementation approaches leverage the ability to use the system in an integrated manner with your current technology investments?

We hope that you can use this review when evaluating the best CRM system for your business.

For more information on integrating marketing, sales and customer service to drive the greatest lifetime customer value, please contact us at info@bb2e.com or visit us at www.bb2e.com

QR Code - The end of the Business Card Scanner?

How many of you have a mountain of business cards waiting to be scanned or
manually entered into your contact database? Data entry is the most significant issue
with CRM / SFA systems to work effectively. Sales people will just not enter data, period.

A QR code on every business card or appropriate document / email can help solve this issue.
A QR Code is an encoded image with information, i.e. vcard, which can be read by a phone app.

I-NIGMA - http://www.i-nigma.com/CreateBarcodes.html is just one of several standards
based QR Code generators and readers. AT&T states that this is software the most widely
supported from phone device and operating system. Check your own phone specs.

Step One – Generate a code (image) for your vCard. (See Above link)
Step Two – Copy and paste the code onto any document / business card.
Step Three – Download a QR Reader to your phone. (See Above link)
Step Four – Open the app on your phone and take a picture of the image on the document.
Step Five – Save / Synch to your Contacts.

After initial set-up, it takes less than five seconds to get a card saved to your database.
This is a huge issue for every sales person and anyone who has to manage multiple contacts.

Let’s create a groundswell so that every business card will have a QR Code in the very near future.

For more information on integrating marketing, sales and customer service to drive the greatest lifetime customer value, please contact us at info@bb2e.com or visit us at www.bb2e.com

Quantity vs Quality – Lead Scoring a potential early solution?

Pipeline Activity Metrics are critical i.e. Calls, Appointments, Proposals - sales is somewhat of a “Numbers Game”. Yet smaller firms in leaner times with more focused sales operations need early indicators that sales people are working the right deals. The firm must be very careful with effective sales resource utilization to ensure the profitability of marketing and sales operations.

The success metrics of working the ‘right deals’ are represented by – Faster sales cycle, Higher revenues, Lower cost of sales, Higher Profitability and Greater Lifetime Customer Value. We all want this! So what is the rub.

Traditionally - Marketing and Sales are not compensated on these metrics and thus quantity often wins out over quality. Yet as we change our compensation focus on these metrics we often shoot ourselves in the foot by being too selective too late in the process. We need to reach a balance between quality and quantity. By providing an indicator as early as possible in the process helps everyone manage themselves more effectively.

Initially it is Marketing and Sales responsibility to get on the same page to define what target segments and the related data elements in these sub-segment defines a good lead. Historical data captured by a SFA / CRM tool is critical to understanding which deals best aligned with successful Marketing, Sales and Service processes. Additionally, as the deal progresses through the sales funnel additional data elements should be collected which further qualify the deal.

Lead scoring is a process of rating a lead on these initial data elements as the lead is identified and at each sales stage it progresses through to determine the best fit moving a deal forward in the defined marketing and sales process.

Additional details and documentation on Lead Scoring can be found at Eloqua -http://www.eloqua.com/resources/

For more information on integrating marketing, sales and customer service to drive the greatest lifetime customer value, please contact us at info@bb2e.com or visit us at www.bb2e.com

2010 Key Sales Trends

My guess is that no one wants to relive last 18 months of sales data.
However, some reports are necessary just to see where we have been
and try not to re-live history. CSO Insights - Sales Performance
Optimization Study Overview is out and available on our website.

The study overview shows:
- Significant decline in sales quota attainment from 58.8% - 2008, 51.8%- 2009.
- Win rate reduced to 46% which was second lowest in study history.

Cost cutting was utilized to maintain some levels of success:
- Lead generation spending did not keep pace with sales
- Sales training reduced 13%
- Sales optimization tools tabled

Positives -
- Time spent selling increased 43%- 2008, 47% - 2009

Our general comments on the past 18 months are 'back to the basics'.
- Build relationships and processes concert with customer buying patterns.
- Support sales with the appropriate resources required to attain goals.
- Measure and compensate sales based on realistic understanding of above.

Additional sales report details and documentation can be found at
CSO Insights - http://www.csoinsights.com/

For more information on integrating marketing, sales and customer service
to drive the greatest lifetime customer value, please contact us or visit
www.bb2e.com or info@bb2e.com

Is Customer Service the New Engine of Growth?

Executives are paying more attention to customer service in an effort to increase sales and gain market share in the economic recovery. Customer service can be a growth engine for a company in a world where marketing dollars and credit is constrained.

Where marketing and sales budgets are being cut, customer service might be the most effective area for increased funding as the economy recovers. Customer service should dedicate more of their efforts to the customer segments considered most lucrative and bolstering customer service operations in an effort to retain customers and sell higher-priced services. Opportunities to pitch related services, cross-sell and up-sell rather than rushing off a call may be the best way to gain growth and revenues.

Also service representatives might be better coached on expanding relationships with customers. Call-center agents might focus less on resolving calls quickly, and more on building customer loyalty. More loyal customers will spend more money.

For more information on integrating marketing, sales and customer service to drive the
greatest lifetime customer value, please contact us or visit www.bb2e.com or info@bb2e.com

Is raising capital so different from sales / business development?

Does developing a qualified pipeline of prospective funders differ
greatly from developing a qualified pipeline of prospective customers?

Granted there are different profiles, needs, methods of access and pricing. However, these are still the same 4 Ps an effective marketing / sales operation manages daily. A firm would have to address these very same issues if they were moving to a different product / service or territory.

In fact, the opposite may also be true - the more sales people saw business development as capital raising the more diligent they would be towards partnering with the most appropriate customers to grow their business.

In sales, we often say that it is easier to get new sales from existing customers than to attract new customers. Thus, it is also true that to attract capital it is easier to access people who you know and trust you, your services i.e. customers to become investors. We should all start with the premise that all qualified customers also have the potential to be investors.

This joint approach to raising capital and sales / business development may be the most sustainable strategy to meeting both goals.

For more information on targeting the right service for the right market please contact us or visit www.bb2e.com or info@bb2e.com

The Holy Grail of Social Networking ROI

The Holy Grail of Social Networking ROI is establishing a direct connection between an individual’s posting / response activity on a social site to specific leads in your contact database.

i.e. Joe Smith and others are identified in a firm’s contact database. He and others in a market segment are targeted with a defined message based on their profile i.e. uses Linkedin Groups interested in CRM issues. A social media message is posted on a LinkedIn CRM Group. Joe responds with specific CRM comments. Those comments are tracked and linked back to Joe Smith in the firm's contact database. Joe becomes an initially qualified lead based on his responses.

This approach is very similar to the Email marketing ROI model which has gained significant industry acceptance. The main difference is that responses to email messages are directly traceable back to an email address and easily linked to a contact record in a database. Current text analytics now allow us to gather very specific social networking posting data which can be pulled into a CRM and linked to contact records.

Other less defined methods of measuring quantitative Social Networking ROI are -

SEO rankings - Enhanced search engine visibility leading to greater site traffic
Tools - Google Analytics,. Feedburner

Traffic site – Increased visitors to your site
Tools - Web Trends, Google Analytics, AidRSS

Co-Registrations - Signups
Tools - Website contact forms / Email newsletter registrations / White Paper download / Demo sign-up

Conversions / Sales – Revenue
Tools - eCommerce

For more information on closing the critical the loop in social networking ROI please contact us or visit www.bb2e.com or info@bb2e.com

Sales Process vs Relationship Development

We often hear the phase “People buy with their heart—then justify it with their brain" or , “Value comes from the relationship versus the value proposition”.

 

From these statements it may appear that the process of selling can be boiled down to being liked or relationship management.

 

Yet building a trusted relationship can be as complicated a process as validating any value proposition.

 

A sales process is effectively communicating what each party needs during the sales process and each party delivering on that need in every stage of the process.  Through a series of these communications and delivery events, a level of expectation is built between buyer and seller. If I do this.. than this occurs.  The ongoing reinforcement of these behaviors builds expectations throughout the process which leads to credibility and evolves into trust. 

 

During this process, the buyer is also building a trusted expectation that the delivery and service of the product will be similar to the experience during the sale process.  He transfers this expectation of trust from sales to delivery.

 

It is the process of reinforcing these trusted expectations which builds relationship that is inherent in every stage of an effective sale process…

 

Please visit us at www.bb2e.comor www.nextiersales.comfor all your marketing and sales resources.

A Salespersons Budget for Fluctuating Revenues

There is no better approach to dealing with tough times than maintaining a robust pipeline. For most sales persons, the anxiety of managing a budget is more difficult than just putting in the extra effort to maintain this pipeline.  And after all that is what we are good at.  “Take care of the top line and for the most part, the bottom line will take care of itself."

 

However, right now, understanding and controlling your budget and cash flow is more important than ever. In fact, proper management of your finances can mean the difference between success and failure. But it's not an easy thing to create an operating budget for a salesperson whose revenues fluctuate month to month.

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We suggest that you:

1)     First manage your expenses

a) Determine your variable costs

b) Establish your fixed expenses

c) Project your break-even revenues required to cover these costs

2)     Forecast revenue

a) Review past revenue trends

b) Create forecasts based on what will change

c) Best case worst case scenarios

3)     Use your financial planning tools regularly

a) Build a budget and use it with other tools

b) P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash flow

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So even if you have done everything you possibly can to build and maintain that pipeline, having a CPA or other financial advisor help you prepare a realistic and effective operating budget in light of fluctuating revenues is a great idea. 

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Please visit us at www.bb2e.com and www.nextiersales.com for all your marketing and sales resources.

Prudent spending may be the answer to new sales!

Our most recent post discussed cutting marketing and sales expenses with a surgical approach that targets fat rather than muscle and scrutinizes these expenses based on a return-on-investment (ROI) approach.

 

However, effective spending should also be seriously considered where it makes most sense when positively affecting revenues, reducing costs of marketing/sales while maintaining or increasing overall program effectiveness.

 

While this advise may fly in the face of today' tougher economic times, an economic slowdown may squeeze a company’s bottom line, but the cause generally can be traced to the top line of the financial statement, i.e., lower revenues.  As a company cuts expenditures to preserve the bottom line, it diminishes its resources. These diminished resources lead to further revenue declines. 

 

Appropriately allocated resources is the goal.  Any new expense on a tool or approach which can help with the better or more appropriate allocation of sales and marketing resources to their highest utilization is a fiduciary responsibility of the firm.

 

Please review additional articles on CRM, Internet Marketing and Marketing ROI at www.bb2e.net/resource.htm