Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Study Measures CRM Solution Effectiveness


When you invest in customer relationship management (CRM) software for your business, you have a list of objectives that you are trying to meet. You may be seeking to measure and identify weak links in your sales process. Your sales team may be complaining that they need better communication tools with the customer service department.

In many cases, pipeline management and driving new business are two of the main factors influencing the implementation of a CRM solution. Connecting leads with the appropriate sales rep and converting that lead into a sale or contract can be a process filled with pitfalls and opportunities for dropping the ball. A CRM solution is designed to help you manage those leads that come in and convert them to buying customers.

An inquiry from sales software provider Velocify led to a study to explore whether CRM solutions aid in businesses converting leads into sales. In order to find out, Velocify led secret shoppers to submitting a contact form through the websites of CRM vendors.

Some important insights resulted from the exercise that may help you identify whether your company is experiencing similar response patterns:

CRM Solutions provide an edge: Companies that use a CRM solution sent an email response to the secret shoppers three times faster than Fortune 100 companies. They were also twice as fast when it came to making a phone call to inquiring leads.

Even companies using a CRM solution need improvement: A mere 20 percent of the businesses using a CRM solution optimized the contact opportunity by calling the prospect within one hour of the inquiry. Thirty-five percent sent an email within the same time period.

Many opportunities are missed: Less than 60 percent of the inquiries received, at minimum, one phone call and one email. The average time for an inquiring buyer to receive a call was sluggish, at two full days.

Tech companies excel at lead management: Tech companies were 40 percent more likely to follow optimal contact strategies when compared with other types of businesses.

A CRM solution will certainly help your company better manage leads, but it is important to measure the response time to leads and the method of response. Losing a lead that has inquired into purchasing from your business is a major gap that can be addressed.

While many companies purchase a CRM solution in order to better manage their existing customer base, it is important to make sure your company is also making a good first impression. An inquiry that is met with a slow, disinterested response is not likely to excite a potential customer about their relationship with your company.

If you are looking for a way to optimize your company’s response time to potential buyer inquiries, talk with Front Row Solutions. With mobile CRM tools that manage not only current customer relationships, but also new opportunities, we can help you turn leads into sales.