Music to My Ears Is sales not a musical or music to your ears? Data might be why! Are you doing it wrong? It's an intricate dance that few companies master! I'm all for making it your own and putting a bit of flavor or spin or two in it, but you need to know the basics. "Kiss" (Keep It Simple Stupid) is not a bad idea.
Connecting you to business opportunities in markets around the world as quickly and efficiently as possible should be a priority for your sales and marketing team, especially during challenging times. Are your leaders taking advantage of the virtual market? Is the Sales Operations department looking at ways to lower cost and maintain quality while increasing revenue? Do they have a process in place? If not, start with data integrity.
Data Is King
It is no secret Marketing and Sales leaders need accurate data to implement significant change and make a tangible difference. Data is a baseline for lead generation efforts and real-time sales forecasts. Our polls have shown up to 40% of marketers and 64% of sales feel the lack of accurate data is the biggest obstacle to closing a deal. It also impacts the sales team's ability to provide a precise forecast by effecting lead conversion rates.
If the team expects 33% of the prospects will convert into a lead, but 25% of the opportunities never received your email, they will fall short of the goals.
Quality Matters While there is generally a reason why a particular CRM brand has come to be widely recognized in an industry, it is not always because of its superior performance. Companies are often mistaken to assume that the reason for that is the quality of their product and not the size of the budget. Brand recognition comes down to product marketing, financial backing, and timing. Well, known is not often best!
More Than A Name Today, companies must look beyond the name and check the product features, capabilities, and functionality themselves. Don't let yourself get taken in by marketing claims. Evaluators should also review complaint sites like the BBB and look for patterns of complaints and how the CRM provider handles them. There are many instances where clients trusted the marketing claims an established CRM provider but were unhappy with the software and customer service once they started using it. Remember, to make sure you are playing music, your sales and marketing team likes so they can dance with your customers into success.
By Marvina Case, TaskSuite
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