Traditional sales processes can be incredibly time-consuming and inefficient. Not to mention how unsustainable they are for long-term, consistent growth. Fortunately, you can employ many different services and technologies beyond traditional means with much higher success and growth rates. One key technological tool used in automating and simplifying these sales processes is CRM or Customer Relationship Management software.
Let’s take a closer look at how a CRM-driven sales process works before diving into the many ways CRM can help your sales and how you can build the best CRM sales funnel for your business.
What is a sales process in CRM?
CRM sales processes work to achieve the same goals as traditional sales processes, but they go about various steps in different ways. Traditionally, a business would need to meet the prospect to which they are marketing their product or service to assess whether they are a good lead. This is also how they determine the best ways to market the products or services to them.
With CRM, much of the door-to-door nature of this process is eliminated. The technology allows the right leads to be advertised so that more sales can be made. This exponentially decreases the fail rate and gives you a much better market to use your resources in drawing in.
How CRM helps the sales process
CRM services can help improve your company’s sales process in several ways. From documenting and automating key steps in the sales process to closely monitoring and tracking progress, quotas, and aspects of the sales funnels, CRM makes the sales process easier and more efficient for all involved.
1. Documenting the process
Keeping track of all the documents and information you need throughout the course of a sale can be tedious and time-consuming–not to mention stressful if you accidentally lose or misplace important information. CRM systems come in handy with keeping track of all your information for you–leads found, sales made, projects tracked–so you don’t have to worry about them.
2. Process automation
A key benefit of using CRM software in your sales processes is its automation to many monotonous tasks. You can use CRM to automate lead management, customer support, messaging and appointment reminders, and several other time-consuming aspects of managing your sales processes.
3. Predicting sales
While CRM has many invaluable elements that help you record past projects and stay on top of present leads, it can also help you predict market trends and future sales.
4. Containing information
CRMs are incredibly handy for storing large amounts of vital data, which isn’t limited to one type. Instead, CRMs have dense data repositories that can aggregate data from countless different sources. All data gathered in this repository are carefully sorted, tagged, and categorized to optimize its usefulness. This means it can keep track of all this seemingly unrelated data until you need it.
5. Tracking your progress
Following up with clients and on projects is a vital part of running your business, but it can feel impossible to stay on top of everything you need to keep track of by yourself. That’s where CRM progress tracking services come in. CRMs can track not only the information you need, but they can stay on top of activities, group tasks, emails, reminders, and much more so that you and your sales team never miss a thing.
6. Quota tracking
Like the progress tracking services CRM provides, it also hosts quota tracking algorithms that allow you to track how many shipments, sales, and products across an easy-to-use system. Granted, in the insurance industry, you may have a lesser need for shipment and product tracking functions, but sales tracking is still an invaluable tool your agency can take advantage of.
7. Salesforce sustainability
CRM takes over many smaller, time-consuming and frustrating tasks that take your salesforce away from more important tasks like gathering new leads and making sales. CRM makes the salesforces more sustainable by sparing them the minutiae and helping them focus on the most important aspects of your business: customer service and sales.
8. Tracking sales funnels
Tracking sales funnels is a key feature of good CRM software. It allows you to measure lead velocity rates, conversion rates, how much time and resources you expend on each step of the sales process, and your opportunity count across different stages in the sales process. This allows you to allocate resources better and determine which areas to focus on to increase your overall sales.
Building the CRM sales process
Building your CRM sales process takes time and commitment upfront, but once you have it running, it will grant you more time to focus on what matters in your business by overtaking the smaller tasks.
Let’s take a look at five key steps in setting up your CRM sales process.
1. Prospecting
One of the earliest steps you need to take when building your sales process from CRM is prospecting your clients. This means you need to set certain criteria and standards that your potential leads need to meet, that want the algorithm to have a subject base to start from when marketing to your future leads. Such qualifications can include location, income, and stage of life.
2. Qualifying
In this step of the process, you use your CRM to filter your prospective leads into the most appropriate sales funnels for their needs. That way, you can market specific insurance offerings to the clients who need and will appreciate it the most thereby increasing your potential sales.
3. Quoting
Quoting services let your CRM system alleviate one of the most common questions from their dockets. Many potential leads will request a quote before employing your services, and determining the appropriate quote for each lead can take up huge amounts of time. Teaching a CRM system how to sort customers’ information to provide them with accurate, automated quotes can be extremely useful in freeing up your salesforce’s time.
4. Closing
Beyond bringing in and hooking clients with the right information, CRM software can also help you close deals. It does this by using carefully curated analytics to improve your closing strategies and make sales while also aiding you in building the customer relationships you need to succeed in your insurance industry.
5. Won/lost reports
After your sales process is over, you can still employ your CRM to find and analyze important data. This data comes in the form of won/lost reports. These reports can give you a more solid understanding of where in your sales funnel you lose the most clients, which kinds of clients are most likely to go through with their purchases, and what your win/loss rates are. These can help you adjust your system and sales tactics to have the highest number of sales and successful leads you can.
Invest in CRM services today!
CRM software is invaluable when it comes to making your business run as efficiently as possible. It frees you and your sales force of repetitive, annoying tasks so you can focus on growing your business through acquiring and catering to new leads and current clients.
For more information about our insurance CRM software and how it can make a difference for your business, contact Better Agency today.