Introduction

In our previous paper, we addressed a simple CRM performance strategy that fits small businesses that don’t have expert analytical resources available.  In this article, we address sales and marketing performance improvement strategies that rely heavily on CRM and data integration systems.  We will add performance strategies for firms that provide field service leading to sales in our next article.

“The primary reason they miss the mark in helping companies increase revenue is that CRM systems are too often used for inspection… rather than creating improvements in the sales process. Front-line sales professionals and managers rarely find the majority of these capabilities useful in winning more business for the company.”

Scott Edinger, 2018 HBR

Visualizing the funnel as a process

This is the first step in applying more sophisticated reporting tools. Each sales funnel has a unique set of key performance indicators (KPIs) and should have well-defined indicators and data elements.  For example, clearly-defined result codes for each step in the process should be entered with a “drop-down” style user interface. From my consulting experience, the importance of the these definitions cannot be overstated.

Reporting with business intelligence

Building a local business intelligence (Bi) process is a recommended next step. Business intelligence tools are a excellent way to build insightful KPI dashboards.  We recommend using best-of-class solutions and there are many excellent choices. This type of reporting is done at the salesperson level and shows individual sales funnel performance.  It is important that reporting clearly shows each salesperson’s performance at each step in the funnel.

The local Bi process provides a solid base for best practices and coaching. Like most of us, salespeople value best practices that have been successful for others in their organization.  Highlighting practices used by your top salespeople and making these available where and when it’s convenient for your salespeople is a home run.  One example of this approach is to make short videos readily available on the salesperson’s mobile apps.

Providing timely and insightful reporting to the sales coach will result in better and more meaningful conversations. Sales coaching is an underutilized performance improvement strategy requiring visibility and tools to succeed. This leads to improvements in skills and expectations for sales coaches.

Why mobile is a key enabler for this strategy

The benefits to this approach are substantial. However, the implementation takes significant consideration to provide the right tools at the right time to the front-line to succeed. We recommend using mobile apps to connect the front line with more information and valuable feedback regarding how they are doing versus their peers.

In Summary

CRM systems capture information that can describe the sales process as a funnel.  This is useful in breaking down the components of the process and to establish  best practices and coaching that provides a clear system to improve over time.  Mobile provides individual and team reporting as well as link to best practice presentations by top salespeople in the company.

 

We offer a free 30 minutes strategy session to find out how much your business can save,
click the link below to schedule:

Schedule a free strategy session