If you want to grow your business, you need prospects. You need to be able to store and access information on those prospects. You need an effective way of knowing when to follow up with each one, what was said at your last meeting, what they’re interested in buying from you and who they currently buy from.
Do you follow up with your clients and your prospects? Here are some rather worrying numbers that we found. On average:
- 44% of salespeople give up after the first No
- 22% of salespeople give up after the second No
- 14% of salespeople give up after the third No
- 12% of salespeople give up after the fourth No
- 92% of salespeople give up after the fourth No
This means that to grow a successful business and bring in new clients, you need to keep following up. In order to do this, you need an effective way of storing and accessing prospect information, as it is your personal IP.
In short, you need a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, to prompt you to make the next follow up call or send the next email, rather than letting that prospect slip through the net.
Did you know that 60% of prospects will say No at least 5 times before saying Yes? This means that you need to keep asking and not give up too soon. When you look at all these statistics, it means that a mere 8% of salespeople are getting 60% of the business. Are you one of the people who keep following up?
What can a CRM system really do for you?
Firstly it will allow you to keep your vital information to hand, allowing you to quickly re-establish rapport with a prospect on the next call or at the next meeting. It will keep you organised and systemised so that anyone within you business can access the information they need. This is especially important if one of your sales team leaves; their replacement will need to easily be able to see the progress that has been made with existing prospects. All the information needs to be stored on the system and not in the head of your sales people.
Secondly, a CRM system enables you to build lists of prospects and segment them, so you can send out marketing communications to specific groups, about specific products or services. You can use your lists to encourage prospects to become clients; you can use them to keep clients by offering them extra value on a regular basis. A simple of example of how we do this at Sales Growth Expert is by using a CRM system called Capsule which is connected to MailChimp, which we use for sending out this newsletter. Capsule keeps MailChimp up to date and we can segment the list for different messages.
Which CRM system is best for you?
There are many systems available and the one you choose will depend on your business and what you really need it to do. Think about how much you want to spend on and how many people will need access to it.
This article lists nine features of CRM systems that all businesses need. Here are five top tips from Julia Blake, my own systems and processes coach. Julia specialises in supporting SMEs with systems and processes that free up their time so they can focus on their businesses.
The other good way to find the best CRM system for you is to ask for recommendations from people you know and trust.
If none of that works, or you’re still not sure of the best way to move forward, contact me and tell me what you’re looking for. I can help you understand how to use a CRM system to improve your sales growth. I’ve helped a number of clients to implement CRM systems and improve their sales and I can help you do the same. Call me on 07740 290 506 or click here to email me.