A business starts with a hope of success and prosperity. And “business failure” is not that you think about when you start the business. Though it is one of those harsh realities in the present business world. You might have heard en number of startups and businesses not being able to compete with their competitors for various other reasons. There were mistakes which you committed without even being aware of them. Have ever tried to analyze them? Or did you just blame the en number of strategies you tried over your business?
Though online CRM software is widely used by many business firms to enhance their business activities and increase revenue, there is still an argument over “whether or not to use CRM”.
Customer Relationship Management is an approach in order to manage the company’s interaction with the current customer. It is one such management process in which the companies can maintain a good relationship and stay connected to the customers. In turn it also improves the profitability of the company. This tool is an online software which helps you to keep a track on the sales activities as well as the customer interactions, thus known as an online CRM software.
Joanne Correia, Gartner research veep, says “CRM will be at the heart of digital initiatives in coming years.” Studies on online CRM implementation shows that cloud-based CRM is on the rise, representing 40% of use, but at the same time there is a rising number of CRM failure which is the cause of major concern towards the abstract mindset about cloud CRM implementation.
According to a new study by Merkle Group Inc, online CRM software integration currently have a 63% fail rate. This CRM firm surveyed around 352 senior-level, U.S.-based executives regarding their company’s CRM initiatives and their feedback regarding its initiatives. The findings show that medium and developed organizations are 50% more likely than small scale organizations to use CRM process management effectively and held it responsible for its business revenue and overall organisational growth.
In fact, according to the study, CRM initiative fails majorly due to lack of clear understanding of customer expectation (53 percent), lack of proper management (43 percent), lack of executive sponsorship (38 percent), and CRM not being dealt as a priority product (38 percent). These studies overall claims a CRM failure rates between 47% and 63% for new CRMs for multiple industry solutions.
Read our blog – Why Every Business, No Matter the Size, Should Use CRM Software
An established sales process results for the success of sales CRM software as the sales process cannot be independent of each other. It is obvious that your business cannot compromise on sales but you can surely find ways to improve your sales management. Sales representatives are always loaded with administrative tasks, managing pipelines, following up sales and generating sales reports etc. Enable your sales representatives with the right sales tool that is, the online CRM software and also provide good sales trainings. It is not just beneficial to the sales reps but you can also get a clear picture of what your sales reps are doing, how are going with their daily activities and how much are they contributing for the success of your organisation.
Read our blog – 5 Reasons you need to keep your CRM upto date
You might be doing well with the help of an online CRM software, or if you are planning to make use of an online CRM software in your business, it is necessary to know about the mistakes which may ruin the CRM and your sales process.
1. Loaded pipelines
A CRM application provides a sales pipeline which is an extensive visual display of the opportunities at different stages of your sales process. It helps you to keep track of every deal as and when it moves through the sales pipeline.
But if your online CRM is loaded with pipelines, it can be a challenging task to collect the relevant data and get an overall outlook of the sales. You can differentiate the leads by their sources if there are too many pipelines. Custom fields will help you to differentiate leads instead of creating a new pipeline.
2. Involvement of excessive steps in each pipeline
Basically in a sales cycle, the main agenda of sales person is to rely on the stages which promotes close of deals. During the sales cycle there are a series of phases which occur during the selling of product or service. The main stages of sales process are-
- Leads
- Appointment
- Qualification
- Presentation
- Objectives
- Sale
- Referrals
These stages are the basic stages of a sales process but the prospect customers do not act the same as that of your qualified customers. Knowing which sales stage is required in your sales CRM pipeline for the customer is the initial step to move. Few customers may require 3 stages i.e, first interest, meeting and agreement. Thus, do not exceed more than 7 basic steps of the pipeline as it may result in dilution of the process and you may not get effective information from the stages of the pipeline.
3. Failing to utilize custom fields
It’s important to get the advantages of custom fields, as they play a vital role in distinguishing and classification leads. The custom field attributes provide valuable insights into resource allocation, providing a clear understanding of where your attempts should be directed. By gathering a comprehensive illustration of your target groups, regions, and other associated aspects, you can analyze your entire sales performance and figure areas for improvement or further paying attention.
Understanding your productiveness in particular target groups allows you to make informed decisions about resource allocation. If you find that gaining the latest clients is a rare occurrence, it signifies that you may not have recognised the appropriate market yet. In such cases, reanalysing your strategy and paying attention more on profitable regions becomes beneficial.
Monitoring information such as industries, company size, and lead sources provide a specific overview of your sales performance—highlighting aspects of success and areas that may require improvement. This data-driven strategy enables you to strategically allocate resources and, when required, cut losses connected with unsuccessful client segments.
4. Oversight of Converted or Unconverted Leads
In the domain of leads, there are typically three key categories: hot leads, cold leads, and warm leads. Although, when you neglect to monitor the number of converted or unconverted leads, you tend to risk spending excessive time interpreting the dynamics of your sales management. Sustaining clarity in your sales pipeline is beneficial. By performing so, your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can function seamlessly, enabling increased productivity and capability without the complications of confusion or incomplete detailings.
5. Poor analysations
Your cloud CRM software holds all the essential information in a single platform to make things easy for you. But if you are not analyzing the data available on your online CRM software, then you are surely missing out on something!
When the lead enters the online CRM there may be useful information regarding the interest, company size, goals etc of the sales leads. Through the marketing automation, leads can provide information about themselves which can be further used for the sales process. With improvement in the data that can be acquired on the lead, the marketing as well as sales team can make better decisions with the leads in the online CRM system.
The cloud CRM software provides the real inside of complex raw data captured and reproduced for decision making at a single dashboard. The presentations of requisite data in the form of graphical charts, metric analytics and more crisp MIS reports ensures saving of your time and will also help you to measure your business competence in meeting the demands of your customers.
6. You don’t care about won or lost activities
There are 3 types of leads: one becomes your clients, one is who does not want to become your client or you lost contact with them. The other is open leads whom you should have assigned with an accountable person and when the moment should be done. The more you ignore the won or lost buttons, the more time you lose on finding out what’s going on in your sales. CRM will help you only when your pipelines are clear.
Read our blog – Sell Smarter, Better and Faster with Online CRM Software
Tips to follow before and after implementing CRM software
Be well aware of the importance of implementing an online CRM software for your business. You must be acquainted with the pros and cons of the online CRM software before investing into one.
Read our blog – Why You Should Invest In CRM Software
- Know the fact that a CRM application is not “One size fits all”. You will require different functionalities depending upon your industry and size. So before you choose the best cloud CRM software know your requirements.
- You should research as much as you can, read reviews, take trials, communicate with customer service team and then select the software which is meeting all your requirements.
- Do not judge an online CRM software with its face value. Check out its features and test it out! The expert will take you through the usage of the software where you can clear all your doubts regarding its usage. Once you feel that you are satisfied with its functionality, you can get along with the further procedures.
- The necessary processes required for integration are process training and well planned operations.
- Make use of the amazing functionalities offered in an online CRM software, do not consider the system meant just for sales. The trusted vendor of a cloud CRM, SalesBabu CRM software provides multiple functionalities (SalesBabu CRM trends) like – emails,SMS campaigns and PR initiatives, Things to do, Me today, Till date, Team today, Dashboards, What’s new, Birthday dates, Quick create and many more to list, ‘SPEEDOMETER’ and ‘PROBABILITY’ which predicts the effective sales realization automatically, reminders, pending activity visibility, maintain notes and remarks, 360 degree view of contact base and mobile CRM etc…
- Some people love working with new software and new tools. It will be exciting for them to work in a new environment. The employees who have more doubts about the change, make sure that they are provided with proper resources and enough time to get prepared for the new CRM.
- It is essential that your employees use the new CRM in the way that it is intended to be used, not only by the vendor’s standards but also by the business standards. During the training make sure that all the employees are clearly thought about including the new company data, registering the sales and also other important guidelines. All the employees should be able to easily find out how, when and where something needs to be done within the new CRM system
Read our blog – 7 “Must-Do” steps before you buy online CRM software
Conclusion As much as you believe that an online CRM software is one of the best business tools or a business strategy or a valuable asset to the business that helps to enhance your business, you cannot neglect the fact that a poor maintained CRM software can also ruin your sales process. Know what are your requirements are, plan according to your goals and prioritize the user explorance. But, if you are still not working on the mistakes, you may result in ruining your sales process though you implemented a CRM. Make sure that you choose the right CRM to explore its magic!! If you wish to know more about the right CRM software, visit our website https://www.salesbabu.com/ and request for a free demo.
