I have always viewed CRM as being a sales-centric application. On the other hand, I see lead generation as a marketing function. Two different animals with two different sets of responsibilities. However, modern CRM’s, including Nimble which I represent, now address many of the needed functionalities for both sales, marketing, and support.
How many salespeople will use a CRM for lead generation? Unless they are also tasked with marketing, how about next to none. Marketing is typically not part of a salesperson’s DNA, but they will use it as a part of their prospecting process. Nimble CRM does include cold outreach functionalities and there are CRMs that might do both well, generally at a higher price point.
So, while a CRM will not bring you more prospects, it will help you close more of these opportunities. It will support your prospecting efforts. For example, using the Nimble CRM Prospector browser extension, I can discover opportunities anywhere on the web, including social networks, and easily create contact records for follow-up.
Marketing is often a scaled operation. Bring in leads, preferably good leads, and as many as we can. Sales, on the other hand, is about managing fewer but better opportunities. While there are exceptions to any rule, managing sales opportunities at scale is a practical non-starter particularly with higher ticket items.
I speak from experience. I started my B2B sales career in 1977 and 90% of my professional life included being in a sales management capacity. I’ve seen it all. Since I identify as a salesperson, I am keenly aware of their mindsets, their strengths, and their weaknesses.
Elements of an Effective Sales CRM
I’m a simple salesperson so let’s keep things that way. Follow these simple procedures and you will increase your revenues!
Contacts, calendars, and communication – Otherwise known as the 3 C’s. These are the foundation of any CRM. Your contact record becomes your single source of truth including a complete history of email conversations, calendar events, and notes.
As a best practice, it is important to review this information prior to your next engagement as well as to add notes following your last engagement. This sure beats scraps of paper in a manilla folder and, better yet, your contacts travel with you via the mobile app.
Tasks and reminders – Another critical part of customer management is setting tasks and reminders so that you do not forget the commitments that you made to your customers. Some of these tasks can even be automated.
Smart reminders will prompt you to touch base on a schedule of your choosing. This is critical when chasing, for example, target accounts as well as letting your existing clients, your number one source for referrals, that they still matter. Relationships 101.
Prospecting – If you are active on the web, outside of Nimble, take your contacts with you. You can edit records, add notes, schedule tasks, anything with Nimble’s Prospector browser extension. With Nimble’s mobile app, turn business cards into contact records.
Lead qualification process workflows – The key word is process. If you have a proven process for lead qualification (you should!), you will want to replicate it. Why wouldn’t you want to do that? In my experience, failing to properly qualify a new customer is the number one cause for lost deals!
Sales process pipelines – Just as lead qualifications have a process, so does your deal pipeline. Furthermore, if a deal is not moving, the question becomes why? What can we do to move it forward or do we need to move it out?
It’s pretty tough to know if you are going to hit quota this month, or whether or not Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is on the menu … again, without a clear and honest view of your deals in progress!
Sales and forecast reporting – There are a variety of reports that are available. I’m not big on metrics myself, but that’s me. My pipeline is my metric. What’s in there, is it healthy, and are deals moving? The two numbers that I watch most closely are dollars closed and my closing ratios.
Earlier I mentioned that there are CRMs, including Nimble, that will perform both sales and marketing functions. They will generally emphasize one over the other. A salesperson, I want a CRM that emphasizes what I do and Nimble fits that bill!
If you would like to explore whether or not Nimble CRM, my sales training, or Sales Coach Pro might be right for you, please book a free 30-minute Zoom consultation with me by going to my calendar.
To learn more about our Nimble training and implementation services, please visit our Nimble CRM training services page.
I would also be happy to connect you to a marketing professional who I know and trust or to an automated yet personalized and human-to-human LinkedIn prospecting system. Please reach out to me at craig@adaptive-business.com for an introduction!
Craig M. Jamieson
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