Saves time - Check!
Saves money - Check!
Minimizes work loads - Check!
Yeah, yeah - you've heard it before. A CRM system is the be-all-and-end-all of qualified lead generation and online marketing. But, will it pick up the dry cleaning? Because that's when you'll finally sign up, right?
CRM Systems Offer Exciting & Unexpected Advantages
While it won't pick up the dry cleaning for you, we do think other surprising and exciting advantages make CRM systems worth looking into.
Here are 6 of the features we found surprising - and, we admit, they also support the spiels you've already heard about time, money and minimal work loads...
- It does the data entry for you. Nobody becomes a salesperson because they're passionate about data entry. Yet, life in sales and marketing can mean hours upon hours of manually entering client contact information and copious notes repeatedly into different platforms. Making a mistake means potentially losing a prospect. With the best CRM systems, you can sync existing data with the CRM - so fields are automatically populated for you. Can you hear the strains of the Hallelujah Chorus in the background, or what?
- It finds qualified leads for you. Just as your clients go online and search to find you, your CRM system can be very search-happy when it comes to finding them. A CRM system can assemble a complete database for you - based on sales-relevant information from companies around the country. Now, all you have to do is use detailed searches to find "good fit" companies and make a connection. It's qualified lead generation at its finest.
- It will make you psychic. Okay, not really. But your prospects will feel like you're psychic. When you contact them, you'll already know what they're thinking or worrying about. How? Because the CRM system will let you know that Bob the Builder just downloaded This eBook and That Whitepaper, allowing you to start the conversation about This or That, rather than stuff Bob the Builder already knew or wasn't interested in anyway.
- It never forgets. If you're good at your job, it's impossible to remember every client, every prospect, where they're at in the buyer cycle and what information they have/need/want - all at the same time; there's just too many of them. CRM, on the other hand - is a smart, remembering machine. It sends leads and prospects all the right content, at all the right times - and makes them think it was you (sneaky sneaky CRM). If it's time for you to reach out personally, your CRM system will send an alert. How can you not love that?
- Keep the deal closing steadily. The boom cycle is awesome; the bust cycle is not. Keep yourself off the manic sales train by choosing a CRM system that keeps you informed regarding which stages have too many opportunities at once, and which stages are lagging. Now, you can balance your energy between prospecting and nurturing active leads, based on the CRM system's findings.
- It celebrates your successes like a mother. Mothers save the evidence of every single one of your accomplishments in chronological order and can retrieve that third-grade, straight-A report card in a flash to embarrass you in front of a new crush. So, too, can your CRM retrieve any piece of amazing content you used to seal a deal, close a sale or qualify a lead in the past (an action that studies show eats more than 50% of sales reps' time).
You'll be surprised at how qualified lead generation and steady sales flow never felt so good - and all it requires is a little faith in CRM.
