On the move

I had a conversation earlier this week with a contact who was looking to get more connected. He is very successful salesman, working for a company that is bucking the downturn, but he knows he needs to stay better in touch with the office.

Whilst the web has been with us for many years, and applications have used the Internet for a good while there aren't many smaller business taking advantage of the benefits. CRM applications are particularly suited to using the web but sales people are often reluctant users. Sometimes it's a fear of the technology but most frequently it's a fear of being checked up on.

We are implementing Sage ACT! for his company that will allow them to co-ordinate all activities, keep travelling employees in touch with client activity and give the sales people access to relevant information. All for under £6k! Since their average deal size is around £20k and the average salary is £25k it wont take much to give an early ROI:

• Increase close rate


• Shorter lead to close time


• Reduction in office admin time to support external staff


• Tighter management of new leads


• More accurate forecasting ....

Making the most of every sales opportunity

One of the most common demands we get from new clients is that their CRM system must give them a better handle on new business opportunities.

Top sales people take a long-term view of the sales cycle. They don't get too hung up on any one stage - hitting the phones is just as important as closing deals or sending out proposals. Key to improving the efficiency of many sales teams is to model what the most effective sales people do, then replicate that process across the team. This typically involves identifying the stages that the sales people go through and what needs to be accomplished in each stage. Good sales teams invest in activities that generate sales opportunities and follow each opportunity from start to finish.

Studies of sales managers constantly report that their sales teams don't make enough sales calls to effectively discover and develop sales opportunities. The same studies show that many sales people struggle to manage opportunities as they move through the pipeline.

There are essentially three things to work on when you are managing a sales team:

• Balance the focus between long term and short term results.
• Apply discipline and actively manage the pipeline
• Clarify expectations - set targets and carry out regular reviews.

Easy to say but near impossible to achieve without a CRM system such as Sage ACT! or Sage CRM.

Know who's knocking at your door

Working with a website can be really frustrating. You can see hundreds, if not thousands of hits but you haven't got a clue who your visitors are. Analytics can only go so far in justifying your spend especially if you use PPC advertising. However, you must constantly justify your spend as the web can be a big black hole for marketing budgets.

I have been working with a new system called Trovus Revelations (http://www.trovus.co.uk/) and the results look really promising. In their own words "Trovus Revelations™ shows you exactly who's visiting your site and why. Your clients and prospects are showing you why they are interested in your company. Start a rewarding dialogue with them today."

In the short time that we have been using the system we have certainly identified a small number of visitors that have turned into clients but more importantly are seeing some interesting trends.

Take a look at the system and I would encourage you to start a dialogue with the guys at Trovus - and please tell them that I told you to.

Green shoots

At the risk of being shot down (like business minister Shriti Vadera Telegraph online) is anyone else starting to see the green shoots of recovery?

I hear many more people talking about when (not 'if'') the upturn comes and now seems to be a good time to think about investing in our businesses. I'm not just talking about money, although that helps - a positive attitude is the first step. The much quoted comment by Sam Walton of Walmart applies. When asked what he thought about a past recession he commented "I thought about it and decided not to participate".

Given the magic of technology and the internet it is possible to achieve an increase in marketing output whilst saving money. Combine your CRM system with some old fashioned marketing savvy to generate well targeted and cost effective campaigns. If you don' t have a CRM system, vendors have some great offers at the moment! Looking at previous recessions it seems clear that organisations who invested in marketing towards the end of a recession benefited the most as recovery started.

If you want an interesting take on how to operate in a recessions I would recommend going along to one of the Shirlaws 'Thrive not survive' workshops.

Snow stop play

Why does it always happen - a little bit of snow and the whole south of England grinds to a stop! OK so it wasn't a little bit of snow this time but you know what I mean.

The thing is, work doesn't need to stop (or even slow down) it can go on wherever your employees are - office, home, hotel or on the road. Businesses need to expect more from their systems. Many CRM systems can be accessed securely via the Internet so sales, marketing and customer service people are covered. Take today as an example - I have support being covered from Brighton, client service from Woking and sales from Crawley and Billingshurst. In addition some of our team made it into the office and two are at an exhibition in New York! However this isn't unusual, as we expect this functionality from our system - SageCRM.

If you are reading this and thinking that its all well and good for sales people, but HR systems don't work that way - think again. Our HR systems, breatheHR and HR.net, allow HR people, managers and employees to get access to the system from anywhere. Many of the HR people we help regularly work from home or travel between multiple offices.

How to beat the recession

Sorry, but I guess you know as well as I do that there isn't a way to beat the recession. So why am I receiving so many emails promising recession beating tips? Could it be a marketing ploy?

First, let me apologise just in case we have sent you such an email - one may have slipped through our marketing filter. Gordon Brown has told us from the World Economic Forum in Davos that this is unlike any other recession - the first of the global age. However, I humbly suggest that the way through this one for a small to medium business is the same as the others - hard work, focus on the detail and an injection of confidence.

For a while we need to forget that we are British and talk the economy back into health. I talk to a lot of business people and the over whelming view is that it isn't as bad as it is! In other words we need to stop digging the hole and start building a ladder to get out.

So, in that spirit I want to share with you the view of two successful business people who I greatly respect. One says that the climb back will start April'ish and the other June / July. I want to believe them and can see some early indicators that point in that direction - new leads are up, existing clients are ordering and its getting lighter in the mornings.

Why CRM is even more important in a recession

CRM becomes an even more essential tool in a recession as winning new business gets harder and costs are squeezed. Five reasons why you need an effective CRM system:

Existing customers 1.
You need to be in a position to offer the right product, at the right price and at the right time to existing customers. A well managed CRM system will help with this.
CRM systems are all about collecting and organising customer information. They put you in a good position to win new business.

Existing customers 2.
All customers are equal except some are more equal than others! Use the CRM system to identify which customers are worth the most (profit not turnover) and concentrate sales effort on them.

Categorise your customers by value. Focus on category 1 customers then work on turning category 2s into 1s.

Existing customers 3
How many times have you heard that it costs 7 – 10 times as much to gain a client than it does to keep one? CRM is an essential too to help keep customers happy – it can’t do it on its own though, it takes your input.

How to generate customer satisfaction? Keep your promises and meet their needs. Use your CRM system to remember your promises and record what your customers want.

Make the most of every lead.
Generating new clients still has to happen and a new lead is like gold dust. Manage them more efficiently using CRM and concentrate on the real prospects.

Smaller more agile teams.
Recessions often lead to redundancies but making the role redundant doesn’t make the tasks go away. Use CRM to improve efficiencies, share work and information. Understand and replicate the way that your best people work.

CRM doesnt have to cost a fortune either - we are just implementing a 12 user CRM system that will cost about £250 per month! Even the smallest efficiency will pay for that!