Digital sales are the new normal.
Web content, targeted social ads, and online communications are nothing new. In fact, many companies have gradually adopted digital sales strategies since the early 2000s.
As digital sales became more data-focused, traditional sales methods couldn’t accommodate this information. Complex sales processes couldn’t be properly recorded and analyzed in spreadsheets, and post-it notes were no longer an effective reminder for follow-up emails. As a result, businesses needed a solution to manage their pipelines.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the single source of truth you never knew you needed. It enables your teams to be more productive in managing their tasks, communicating with customers, and collaborating with other departments.
But how exactly does a CRM improve sales?
This, along with other questions, will be answered below.
Why does CRM become more and more indispensable?
1. 88% of sales reps believe they need to anticipate customers’ needs (99 firms)
In today’s economy, solely monitoring national and international market trends isn’t enough. 88% of salespeople feel they need to combine this knowledge with the ‘insight selling’ technique—a method where ‘insight’ information can help to understand prospects better.
This includes doing the following actions on a CRM daily:
25% of sales representatives check the customers’ communication history, 21% analyze the purchase history, 20% look at the competitor activity, and 15% observe the staffing changes.
2. 78% of customers expect consistent interactions across departments (Intercom)
Customers want to be supported by a unified team, not by one that works in silos.
To ensure every department is on the same page, a centralized sales management tool must be implemented. This way, when a customer orders a product, for example, sales can quickly align with logistics for timely delivery, and the customer service team can answer any inquiries.
This workflow cuts down internal coordination and improves customer satisfaction levels.
What are the benefits of using CRM?
3. Adopting CRM can boost sales by 29%, sales productivity by 34%, and sales forecasting accuracy by 42% (Review42)
Businesses need the right tool to deliver extraordinary results, and CRM is created to obtain just that. As a sales enablement tool, a CRM empowers salespeople to be more productive by offering prominent features, such as sales process automation, data visualization and analysis, performance reporting, and customer data management, among others.
4. CRM can cut down the sales cycle by 8-14% (Nucleus Research 2015)
The sales cycle length may vary from business to business, but one thing is sure, every organization wants to have the shortest sales cycle. Adopting a tool like Pipeline CRM can help reduce the sales cycle by 8-14%. How? Many CRM solutions offer automation workflow and emails/campaign tracking features—allowing salespeople to move faster in contacting prospects whenever they see a proposal being opened. They’re pursuing hot opportunities, not cold leads.
5. CRM significantly improves customer retention and satisfaction by 47% (Capterra)
CRM doesn’t only help attract new customers, but it also maintains the already-acquired ones. 47% of the surveyed businesses agree that CRM helps them increase customer retention and satisfaction, 45% see an increase in sales revenue, and 39% feel that CRM opens up more opportunities for upselling/cross-selling.
6. For every dollar spent, CRM pays back $8.71 (Nucleus Research 2014)
In 2014, every dollar a company spent on CRM returned back $8.71. This ROI increased 1.5 times compared to the 2011’s CRM ROI of $5.60. This outcome didn’t only apply to large enterprises using giant CRM pipeline management solutions but also to small organizations using smaller point solutions.
7. 55% of CRM users see an ROI in six months or less (G2)
Forecasting the 1.5 times CRM ROI rate for every three years, we can assume that in 2023, CRM will pay back $30.48 (or more) for every dollar spent. And the fantastic news is that businesses can recoup this profitable investment in just six months or less.
How do businesses use CRM?
8. Calendar management and email marketing are the two most used CRM features (Capterra)
You can manage your calendar and emails individually, but this is counterproductive. CRM works as a hub that integrates calendars, emails, and other sales/marketing software so you can easily see what needs to be done and what tasks can be automated with a CRM.
9. Social media integration is the most desired CRM feature (Capterra)
Social media presence has become increasingly vital in sales. It has become a reliable place to learn about, and attract new prospects. Unfortunately, sales reps still need to use a third app to gather social media contacts. This lack of feature, however, may soon change as many sales CRM tools have started offering a limited social integration feature and branded it as “Social CRM.”
How Pipeline CRM Improves Your Team’s Workflow
Another interesting sales CRM statistic is about the tasks salespeople think they spend too much time doing. On average, 38-42% of the surveyed sales reps agree that discovering a customer’s needs, researching competitive activity, creating follow-up tasks, and reviewing pipelines take considerable time (Testimonial Hero)
Now, imagine if you can reduce these administrative tasks using an intuitive sales CRM solution like Pipeline CRM. Here are a few examples of how our tool can maximize your time:
- Automatic recurring deal – set up specific sales steps on auto-pilot when certain criteria are met.
- Advanced visual reporting – create customized charts to compare your team’s performance, predict future deals, view patterns of successful deals, and more.
- Multiple pipelines management – accurately track multiple sales workflows for your different processes, products, and services.
CRM is, without a doubt, a worthy investment for your business. It isn’t just a tool that boosts your sales team’s performance but also your customer satisfaction level and your business profits.
Join 18,000+ users who have recovered their investment in Pipeline CRM and earned more since then. Sign up now to get a 14-day FREE trial.
Check out our free CRM handbook.
Sources: 99firms, Intercom, Review42, Nucleus Research 2015, Capterra, Nucleus Research 2014, G2, and Testimonial Hero.
