How Sales CRM Strategy Should Be

For any sales team having strong sales, CRM is very important. Not only will it help you to save time, but it will also allow you to manage your workflow and give valuable data insights for your sales team to meet their goals.

Still, many sales teams use the traditional method of storing data. Many of them still use spreadsheets to store and manage prospects’ information. And those who use CRM rarely make full use of a CRM, and the opportunities to attract prospects slip from their hands. 

If this is a common occurrence for your sales team, then it’s time to use a sales CRM strategy, a way to use the sales CRM strategy that, in turn, will increase your team’s effectiveness, save time, and close more deals. 

Make a list of the objectives 

To create an effective sales strategy, the first step is to make a list of the objectives that you would like to achieve. Then, you can better learn what’s the most important thing you need to do and how you should do it. Try to make clear, reachable goals. Vague goals will not lead you anywhere, and it will take you longer to achieve them. 

You can set clear goals by the following three steps:

Make a list of problems that you want to solve 

The best way to do this work is to ask around your team and prospects for feedback.

You can ask your team members at what stage they need help. Like, do they need assistance with admin tasks?

Similarly, you can ask prospects what they think of your sales process. 

Based on the given feedback, you can make a list of what is essential that needs to get first. 

Select problems your CRM can solve

Before you write down any problems, you need to know the features that your CRM offers. Understand the benefits and features the tool provides, and it will be a lot easier for you to figure out different opportunities. 

Some examples are:

• By using the sales CRM, there should be minimum communication between the marketing and sales department. It should also be easier to share data between the two departments by call notes or opening tickets.
• The sales CRM should have a clear view of where each task is, and it should be organized and help you to complete different tasks on one platform.
• The CRM should make your tasks more accessible by integrating with different apps so you can automatically export contacts and reports.

You can create a similar list and see what problems you need to solve first, depending on how the tool can help you.

Create goals on where your problems and CRM features overlap

Depending upon the problem you picked and the CRM can solve, you can make clear goals. 

By having a clear objective, you can have a clear idea of whether you’re using the tool to its full potential or not.

Decide on KPIs

The next step is to select key performance metrics (KPIs) for your goals. You can start by reviewing your goals and asking yourself which KPIs align the most. 

Like, if you need to boost the monthly recurring revenue by 20% in five months. To find out how much potential you’re getting, you need to measure:

• Monthly sales growth: which measures monthly revenue growth.
• Sales target: the total number of sales and sales reps closed in a time period.

You can also ask your sales team for qualitative feedback about their CRM usage or send them a survey asking for their experience. 

Prepare a list of the sales tasks you want to automate

The main advantage of using a CRM is that you can automate admin work that usually takes a lot of time to complete. Automating admin work has resulted in a 53% higher conversion rate and a 3.1% annual growth rate. 

You can also take advantage of figuring out which sales tasks need to be automated. The tasks can include:

• Creating activity reports based on the data entered.
• Automating monthly sales reports. 
• Scheduling emails, meetings, and texts to prospects.

By automating these tasks, sales reps can save time and focus on completing other prospecting work.

Connect touchpoint channels with CRM

With CRM, you can create a seamless experience for different touchpoints where your team and prospects connect.

Find out where and how the prospects interact with your brand

To find out how the CRM can make the touchpoints more user-friendly, you need first to make a list of all the channels where the sales reps interact with prospects. These channels can include social media platforms, chatbots, texts, emails, or phones.

Ask prospects which channels they prefer the most to interact with your brand. You can also send out surveys and, based on the responses, rank the channels according to their preference.

Figure out how the CRM can make those touchpoints smoother

Once you’re done picking up the channel, see if you can integrate it into your CRM. 

Most of the CRMs can connect with different channels, which makes it easier for reps to reach out to the prospects. And they can follow up accordingly and also lowers the chances of missing a text or email with CRM notifications. 

When you find out the touchpoints that overlap with your CRM, it makes it easier to show your sales team how the two systems work together. In turn, the experience in different touch points becomes smoother and more manageable for prospects to interact with.

Make the communication easier with other departments

All the data collected in your sales CRM is also useful for the marketing and customer service departments as well. Similarly, both of these departments will have information that will be useful for your department. That’s why it is easy to communicate better between all the departments. 

To do so, you can allow syncing of the data and integrate the tools of the customer support department.

Build a thorough sales CRM onboarding process

Creating a sales CRM onboarding process is the last step in developing a well-defined CRM strategy for your team. 

You can create training materials for your team so that they can make full use of the sales CRM.

• Build a CRM sales training manual. 
• Make tutorial videos to understand the CRM features better.
• Use your CRM online resource page to learn more about the tool.

All these things will help you to onboard your team members quickly and easily.