Year: 2018

How Lead Scoring Benefits Businesses Using Merchant Cash Advance Software

If you are using MCA business and is using Merchant Cash Advance software for your alternative funding business, what should you do next after attracting a high volume of leads? Remember, not all leads are the same, and therefore, separating the good leads from those that are not can be really challenging. This is exactly where if you are using an easy to use Merchant Cash Advance CRM solution like ConvergeHub, solid lead scoring comes into play. According to a report published by APSIS, only 44 percent of companies are presently using lead scoring systems to grow their business.

If you are using MCA business and is using Merchant Cash Advance software for your alternative funding business, what should you do next after attracting a high volume of leads? Remember, not all leads are the same, and therefore, separating the good leads from those that are not can be really challenging.

This is exactly where if you are using an easy to use Merchant Cash Advance CRM solution like ConvergeHub, solid lead scoring comes into play.

According to a report published by APSIS, only 44 percent of companies are presently using lead scoring systems to grow their business.

Just 56% of B2B organizations verify valid business leads before they are passed to Sales- MarketingSherpa Click To Tweet

Therefore, before it gets too late you as a user of MCA CRM software should maximize this methodology and leverage your alternative lending business from your competitors by unveiling meaningful insights to improve your sales processes and your funnel.

In fact, lead scoring is a time-honored process, which most often exceeds expected benefits such as sales productivity and effectiveness, increased conversion ratio, and measurable ROI.

However, even before we delve into how we can build an awesome lead scoring model for your MCA business, let us talk primarily about whether you should have it and if so why.

Candidly, lead scoring is truly a tedious process, therefore, it is most essential to determine if lead scoring is suitable for your MCA business, to ensure that you do not waste time, money, and effort dedicated towards it.

Why Implement Lead Scoring in MCA business?

The most intriguing factor about lead scoring techniques is it does not come as a “one-size-fits-all” methodology. In fact, not every business needs an advance lead scoring model for their business. Nevertheless, lead scoring provides your business with a scientific and automated means to rank your leads, in a quantifiable manner, to calculate their perceived value in your organization.

Let us look at an example:

Suppose Jack, an owner of a large departmental store, visits your website. Since you do not know about him yet, he starts from the score of 0. However, as he interacts with your website more his scores increases subsequently. Per say, information about his title (+10 Points), he requests a cash advance demo (+10 points), he is from a large retail outlet (+5 Points). Now, once your lead reaches a certain point (based completely on your individually created criteria), where Jack is deemed sales-ready, it is time to send your sales team to reach out and convince Jack to convert him into your customer, by closing the deal.

The lead scoring technique is most often used with Merchant Cash Advance CRM software for improving the sales process, align marketing and sales, prioritize leads and lastly for creating higher quality conversions.

Now, to determine if lead scoring is required for your cash advance business, here are some questions you should consider as a user of MCA CRM platform, which aids in implementing the lead scoring methodology.

–Do you have a very high volume of leads flowing in from several channels, than your sales team can follow up within a specific time?

– Do you have enough information in your MCA CRM database for lead scoring?

–Do you have a particular content from a lead nurturing strategy, which needs to be delivered to a lead at a specific time in their buying journey?

–Do you feel that your sales processes can be more effective and efficient than what it is now?

If your answer is affirmative for all or most of these above-mentioned questions, then we would readily recommend that your alternative funding business organization is ready to start with a lead scoring system.

Otherwise, we would suggest you to primarily focus on generating more leads, establish an SLA (Service Level Agreement) between your marketing and sales teams, and collect and track the right information from your forms and website.

If you do not have enough leads to start lead scoring for your business, do you know ConvergeHub offers FREE LEAD GENERATOR Tool, which is a free lead generation software that you can easily download from ConvergeHub website?

Implementing a lead scoring methodology is extremely difficult to do manually (using spreadsheets) as a lead’s activity can change every day. Therefore, you need Merchant Cash Advance software or online lead management software, like ConvergeHub, which has an excellent lead management system to implement the modeling we will discuss below.

Basic Framework of Lead Scoring Setup

According to SiriusDecisions, 90 percent of B2B (Business-to-Business) companies are applying lead scoring. However, on the other hand, only 40 percent of sales reps have said to have found value from it. Although various factors can contribute to the failure of this remaining 28 percent, we are sure if you start on the right foot when implementing this system, the lead scoring methodology is always beneficial, especially as your business grows in years and becomes more complex over time.

Demographic Lead Scoring

Primarily, you need to outline what your MCA business needs by identifying your ideal lead. To begin, you need to select the demography based on your lead’s characteristics. Like, who are more likely to purchase your offerings compared to others? Is it small or large enterprises? In what industry/business and in what level?

Using lead capture forms helps you to collect this data. You can easily capture four basic demographics:

  • Job title or role
  • Number of employees or size of the business
  • Industry or business type
  • Department

Assign points based on your ideal lead. For example, for company type, you may assign higher points for B2B and lesser for B2C leads. This also works for the lead’s industry (like retail, small shop, large departmental store, among others) and seniority (like the owner, the floor in charge, sales rep and others).

Behavioral Lead Scoring

The second type of data that you need is how your lead interacts with your website. This process of lead scoring is based on the actions that the lead performs to indicate their interest. While in this behaviors such as opening an email, attending a webinar, or request a demo gets a higher score, similarly unsubscribing from your email list or webinar or canceling a demo request gets negative points and consequentially that lead goes further down the sales pipeline.

Here are some examples of the type of interests you can observe from your leads:

  • Web pages they viewed
  • Emails they opened
  • Content they downloaded
  • Webinars they signed up for

Apart from this, it is also important to consider your leads activity levels before you consider and mark your leads with the help of lead scoring as sales-ready.

Here are some examples:

  • Number of web pages viewed
  • Number of forms completed
  • The typical sales cycle for your company

How to Build a Killer Lead Scoring Model

Now once you have completed your basic framework, you can combine the information found in both these data, to paint a complete picture of your lead.

Note: It is always best to keep a separate and a combine sore of the two data. Because although the demographic data normally remains stable, the behavioral data can always change over a certain period of time. 

As we mentioned earlier that lead scoring is a tedious process, therefore getting your demographic and behavioral data is just the start of the lead scoring process, after which you need to proceed with the following:

  1. Identify your criteria

Now, that using your lead scoring framework you have created a foundation of your Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL), whereby your MQL are more likely to convert into a customer, compared to other leads based on their demographic and behavioral data. To set up a lead scoring process, you will have to assign points or scores as a basis for your lead scoring methodology.

For this, it crucial that your MCA organization to extract insights, use lead intelligence and analytics of your Merchant Cash Advance CRM software, to find the unique attributes including customer base, sales cycles and key differentiators that focuses on your efforts on finding high-quality leads, which results in more conversions.

  1. Assign values

It has often been said by many that figuring what the score should be may be one of the hardest parts of the lead scoring process.

In most of the cases, the threshold for the lead scoring scale ranges in-between 0 to 100 (but you can also set any value as you like).

In ConvergeHub Merchant Cash Advance CRM software, you can easily segregate the leads into three main categories: Hot, Warm, and Cold.

Leads that have a score of over 80 can be considered ‘Hot’, while leads that get a score between 30-80 can be denoted as ‘Warm’, while ‘Cold’ leads should have a score below 30. Although, you can always customize the range based on your company’s individual preferences and needs.

  1. Determine sales-ready score

The main point of implementing a lead scoring process is to identify the leads that are ready to accept your alternative funding services. Therefore, by identifying leads, which are sales ready (with a score in-between 80-100) your sales reps can prioritize whom to follow up with to maximize their time.

According to MarketingSherpa:

When 73% of leads are not yet sales-ready, this is where this process becomes more crucial, as you have to make sure your sales team will only reach out to the lead once the opportunity is right. Since the lead score can change every day, a tool such as an easy to use CRM solution featuring lead scoring updates the score instantaneously based on your criteria.

  1. Test your model

These three steps mentioned above are the most crucial factor to cover while implementing a lead scoring methodology in any business. However as lead scoring models are never sacrosanct or set in stone, it is only by testing in real-world scenarios; you can get a hands-on and more reliable results. So monitor your MCA lead scoring model for a few months and then if needed revise the scoring criteria and the lead scores against each of these criteria by analyzing past leads before finalizing your lead scoring process.

  1. Aim for continuous growth and improvement

A lead scoring model that is based on data collected with the help of Merchant Cash Advance CRM software for the growth of your alternative lending business is a real game-killer.

Always be open for improving, testing, and tweaking your lead scoring model, since although developing a lead scoring system takes time, but its effects can always be improved.

Therefore, involve your sales department and check in monthly or every fortnight to make sure everything is working fine, since behavioral lead scoring needs to be reset over time, to identify scores that need to be redefined according to the behavioral data of the leads, which can change over a certain period of time.

How Best Sales CRM Software Plays A Vital Role In Building Your Sales Strategy

Best sales CRM software can help your business grow by managing several sales processes, starting with lead scoring to creating long-term customer relationships. In a study done by Aberdeen Group in 2010 revealed that, many of the fastest growing organizations use Customer Relationship Management technology to turn more sales leads into revenue. In the same study, it was also shown that 63% of organizations, which has very high annual growth rates, from sales leads, use best sales CRM software technology for their success. Here is how best sales CRM software helps in the growth of your organization.

Best sales CRM software can help your business grow by managing several sales processes, starting with lead scoring to creating long-term customer relationships.
In a study done by Aberdeen Group in 2010 revealed that, many of the fastest growing organizations use Customer Relationship Management technology to turn more sales leads into revenue.

In the same study, it was also shown that 63% of organizations, which has very high annual growth rates, from sales leads, use best sales CRM software technology for their success.

63% of organizations, which has very high annual growth rates, from sales leads, use best sales CRM software technology for their success- Aberdeen Group(2010) Click To Tweet

Here is how best sales CRM software helps in the growth of your organization:

Sales Planning

Easy to use CRM software can provide you with an overview of your projected sales targets for a specific period of time. This can help you plan marketing campaigns using the forecasted data and prepare your sales teams for an increase or dip in the volume of sales in your business.

You can also use the information retrieved from your CRM database, to manage sales territories more efficiently. Best sales CRM software allows your sales managers to view the schedules of your sales reps out in the field, along with the potentials of various territories, so that you can decide upon entrusting the right members of your sales team to the locations where they are most needed, which results in optimizing your sales team’s performance.

Improve Lead Conversion

Best sales CRM software like ConvergeHub CRM and others helps to shift the focus of your sales reps (from other mundane tasks) so that they can spend their time more in selling. The data gathered in the CRM database of your best sales CRM software can also help in finding deals that have not yet been closed, monitor sales quotas, and develop strategies to shorten sales cycles resulting in the generation of faster revenue.

Best sales CRM software solutions can also track incoming leads and after assessing them, distribute the leads to the representatives most likely to close the sale. Easy to use CRM applications can also help to foster efficient collaborations with your employees in sales, marketing, support, and accounts by coordinating tasks among your employees.

Build Customer Relationships

Maintaining relationship with existing customers is just as important as acquiring new ones. Easy to use CRM platforms can store detailed information from each interaction with your customers. Customer information stored in the CRM database also helps in anticipating the customers’ needs, which helps in providing personal customer service that aids in creating loyal customers.

In fact, best sales CRM software solutions can manage sales processes as well as monitor and develop your long-term customer contracts, by sending automated reminders for renewal of your services.

Track And Analyze

Best sales CRM software like ConvergeHub also enables you to track lead data, so that you can easily calculate the returns on your investments in lead generation and in marketing campaigns on an ongoing basis. This helps you to see, which among your lead sources are generating the most revenue and adjust your strategies according.

Easy to use CRM even lets you access data for each of your leads individually, which is always a valuable asset for your sales teams.

According to us, the sales analysis aspect of any best sales CRM software helps in monitoring the overall health of your business by proactively monitoring sales pipeline management, creating accurate forecasts, effectively manage the budgets and intelligently allocate resources to meet your company’s revenue goals.

Pricing And Order Fulfillment

Best sales CRM software, especially CRM platforms like ConvergeHub that allows QuickBooks CRM integration free ensure accurate pricing and quotes, by capturing customer order, confirming availability of the products and expediting order fulfillment.

According to SearchCRM, the main purpose of best sales CRM software is to:

“Provide employees with the information and processes necessary to know their customers, understand and identify customer needs, and effectively build relationships between the company, its customer base, and distribution partners.”

Conclusion                                                  

Therefore, in a brief, most easy to use sales CRM solutions are created to help sales and marketing teams succeed. As when the information that these customer relationship applications collect are applied as an essential part of the sales strategy, it helps to benefit the organization as a whole, in terms of revenue generation and growth, by determining which marketing efforts and sales strategies are most effective for the development of the company.

The Future Of Cloud Based CRM Systems: Intelligent, Integrated And Data-Driven

The time of an intelligent, integrated cloud based CRM systems has come, and it is one of the fastest growing categories of enterprise software solutions today. Right from startups and SMBs to big global enterprises, marketing and sales teams are adopting easy to use cloud based CRM technology to acquire new customers, retain the old, enhance customer experience, and find new customer-centric data driven insights that are paving the path for strategic changes in their companies.

The time of an intelligent, integrated cloud based CRM systems has come, and it is one of the fastest growing categories of enterprise software solutions today.
Right from startups and SMBs to big global enterprises, marketing and sales teams are adopting easy to use cloud based CRM technology to acquire new customers, retain the old, enhance customer experience, and find new customer-centric data driven insights that are paving the path for strategic changes in their companies.

Now as these new CRM technologies are rapidly evolving to meet the newfound strategic goals of businesses globally, Big Data, Analytics, Business Intelligence (BI), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and machine learning are the new technological foundations of the present days fast growing CRM applications, in the market.

The global CRM market is predicted to achieve a 13.7% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) through 2021- Gartner Click To Tweet

Investing in cloud based CRM systems, startups are presently focusing on how easy to use CRM solutions are capable of providing new insights into improving the customer experiences, increase customer retention strategies, and accelerate new product development based on the needs of their customers.

In a recent analysis done by CrunchBase on CRM startups, it shows that the majority of the CRM vendors are investing in advanced analytics, machine learning, Big Data, and AI technologies.

To substantiate this claim McKinsey notes that the total annual external investments in Artificial Intelligence technology globally were between $8 Billion and $12 Billion back in 2016, with machine learning attracting 60% of that investment, and the same figures are on a rise.

Quick Stats

  • According to Gartner- 56% of all easy to use CRM adoptions will be cloud based CRM systems, starting from 2017.
  • According to Gartner- The global CRM market is predicted to achieve a 13.7% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) through 2021.
  • AI will be the primary catalyst of the cloud based CRM’s growth over the next 4 years, which is going to be supported by BI, analytics, and machine learning technologies, as cloud based CRM buyers will focus more on the addition of emerging technologies that cater to more efficient customer experiences.

Businesses of all sizes are now struggling to remain on the same page with their customers as the customer’s preferences as to how they are learning about their required products and services and when they are buying are changing constantly.

In other words, nowadays the customer’s psychology is fundamentally at a flux, and it exceeds the boundaries of simple demographics, or even customer segments, which ranges across B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-Consumer) enterprises.

Therefore as the dynamics of the customers across all segments are changing fast, with customer experiences winning over mere transactions, getting response from any channel a customer chooses to interact with the brands, and for rendering intelligent and responsive support, modern cloud based CRM systems need to change their technology if they are going to meet these customer-centric goals.

Modern cloud based CRM systems need to find greater precision in focusing on the customer needs, predict and quantify their behaviors. In addition to this, today’s CRM platforms should also be capable of recommending or suggesting potential strategies and tactics for sales and marketing teams that should deliver results.

Customer Intelligence is the King

The better the insights, marketing data, and customer-centric knowledge-driven decisions, the more effective every marketing statistics and tactics will be. As we all know by now, that when strategies in sales and marketing are built on the foundations of customer insight and intelligence, customer experiences improves.

Positive customer experiences create loyalties, builds trusts, fuel repurchase, which consequentially lead to higher CLV or Customer Lifetime Values.

Nevertheless, this chain reaction behind customer-centric growth can only begin when the sales and marketing teams in any organization are well aware of what their customers are expecting, why they are expecting, and how their organization can deliver the offerings that will exceed the customer’s expectations.

Therefore as we predicted earlier in this blog, Big Data, AI, machine learning and analytics are the future of cloud based CRM systems, because they are being used nowadays to redefine the path to exceed customer expectations and drive in more revenue.

Hence, the days of the traditional CRM systems and its strategies for treating every customer, in the same way, are over.

In the present times- Customer Intelligence is now the King.

With greater contextual insights, predictive accuracy offered by customer intelligence of when and where to sell delivers measurable results. For marketing managers and their teams, one of the greatest challenges they encounter is in quantifying their contributions to their businesses’ growth. Therefore, with the modern technological developments in CRM technology, machine learning, AI, and analytics all these in conglomeration will provide the marketing managers and their teams an opportunity to measure how their strategies are driving profits and sales, as well as how they are contributing to their organization’s growth.

Most of the CRM solutions in the market today are cloud based CRM systems.  Since cloud based systems are capable of maturing rapidly and provide a solid foundation for the next generation of application developments. In fact, APIs or Application Programmer Interfaces that most modern CRM software solutions rely on to create real-time integrations helps in linking and bridging platforms and applications, accelerating the breadth, depth, and stability of modern cloud based CRM systems.

In a recent study done by McKinsey & Company, it has been found that businesses using cloud based CRM systems can capture greater revenue growth with APIs to integrate enterprise systems.
In other words, in CRM systems, APIs are the fasteners that make greater customer intelligence possible. Since APIs helps to integrate systems together and develop a valuable system of records that can easily reflect customer preferences, while at the same time create strategies for a successful sales growth.

API Integrations Are Designing The Most Valuable CRM Apps Of The Future Days

All businesses big or small striving for keeping their existing customers, and at the same time attract new ones, faces the constant challenge of staying on the radar of their customer’s preferences. Since customer preferences change over time, therefore, using outdated CRM applications are no longer pertinent to the sales and marketing teams depending on CRM and its features to catch the attention and win customers.

Hence, the future of CRM today is defined by new and agile application interfaces that can be customized for each sales reps and marketers by adding or changing fields in minutes, according to their varied needs.

The cloud based CRM system of the modern times no longer takes weeks or months to modify a CRM system’s dashboard or its workflow, since they can be easily modified and changed quickly by the system administrators using a cloud-based platform.

Therefore, the flexibility of customization of cloud based CRM systems to match how marketing and sales team works, rather than the other way round is one of the main catalysts that welcomed the adoption of cloud based CRM solutions and is fueling its continuous growth.

In fact, APIs are one of the main technologies that facilitate cloud based CRM platforms to flex its functionalities and respond to the sales and marketing team’s needs.

Moreover, the growth of AWS (Amazon Web Services) has also dramatically shown how APIs contribute to the development of an entirely new business model, fueling a level of analytics-driven insights for businesses, previously unknown to the users of CRM platforms.

According to a recent article published in Forbes, it points out that APIs are most essential for defining and customizing GUIs (Graphic User Interfaces) that improves the contribution and usability to improve customer experience since APIs creates the links that cloud platforms rely on to integrate easy to use CRM and other enterprise software applications.

The CRM’s Future Is a Highly Integrated One- Because the Cloud Has Won

In the present times, APIs are already beginning to become more customer-centric in their designs, which allows for greater versatility and flexibility in designing entirely new GUIs, process steps, workflows, and screen designs, which over time will redefine the nature of cloud platforms in the days to come.

Nearly every cloud based CRM providers today like ConvergeHub and others have integrated enterprise-grade APIs (some more mature and scalable than others) that signals the future of the CRM technology’s road map across all businesses.

We are all extremely apprehensive that these new APIs will become customer-centric in the coming 3-5 years and will have a strong focus on orchestrating a wide variety of data-rich applications, databases, and system of records.

In other words, cloud platforms are helping APIs to become more customer-centric by providing reliable and scalable integration frameworks and technologies.

Looking Ahead

It is presumed that in the near future a more integrated, contextually intelligent and aware cloud based CRM applications will enable sales and marketing teams to define their strategies with superior precision while measuring the results achieved, better than it was ever before.

Therefore, briefly, cloud based CRMs like ConvergeHub will continue to outmatch overall enterprise growth in software, as with a superfluity of technologies at hand, the future of cloud based CRM is the brightest among all other enterprise level cloud-based software solutions in the IT world.

How AI and Easy to Use CRM Solution Can Change the Future of Sales

In the present times, several companies are proactively using both easy to use CRM solutions and AI in forms of groundbreaking ways to escalate their businesses. For an example, if you are watching Netflix, an AI (a recommendation algorithm) will undoubtedly be used for you to help you decide what to watch. Similarly, while shopping in Amazon your decision about what you might wish to buy is also influenced by an AI (through an association algorithm). Even if you ever wish to call an Uber, an AI (a location algorithm) is used to find and quickly book a car in your vicinity. Now, this same type of AI algorithms can also be used to empower any company’s business strategy or decision-making process, to help businesses to make better business decisions. Here are a few specific areas where AI algorithm can be ideally leveraged to help companies grow by helping your sales teams to increase their sales and revenue.

In the present times, several companies are proactively using both easy to use CRM solutions and AI in forms of groundbreaking ways to escalate their businesses.
For an example, if you are watching Netflix, an AI (a recommendation algorithm) will undoubtedly be used for you to help you decide what to watch. Similarly, while shopping in Amazon your decision about what you might wish to buy is also influenced by an AI (through an association algorithm). Even if you ever wish to call an Uber, an AI (a location algorithm) is used to find and quickly book a car in your vicinity.
If you ever had a thought about a product or a vacation, and like telepathy, it seems to suddenly appear on your email inbox or on your search page, we can assure you it was also based on an AI (a classification algorithm) that is monitoring your 24 hours online activities.

Now, this same type of AI algorithms can also be used to empower any company’s business strategy or decision-making process, to help organizations make better business decisions.

Companies that have pioneered the use of AI in sales rave about the impact, which includes an increase in leads and appointments of more than 50%- Harvard Business Review Click To Tweet

Here are a few specific areas where AI algorithm can be ideally leveraged to help companies grow by helping your sales teams to increase their sales and revenue:

  1. Providing Sales Teams with Pertinent Insights

Marketing automation in spite of all its technological advancements has its limits, as only a sales rep can finally have a 1:1 conversation with the customers and close a deal.  However, an AI algorithm can help marketing and sales teams by permitting them to make available valuable insights to their colleagues about prospects, throughout the sales cycle. Information about the customers like their preferences, buying patterns, price selections, brand preferences, preferred time of interactions with sales reps and marketing teams provides a positive outlook, since sales professionals can deal with this information and discover relevant and actionable insights.

AI-driven prescriptive sales tools work like a regular easy to use CRM platform with the exception that it is capable of tracking and analyzing billions of touch points and events, thereby identifying areas for constant improvement.

Manash Chaudhuri the CSO of ConvergeHub CRM and a thought leader in AI-driven Prescriptive Sales technology says:

“AI programs can fetch through billions of customer touch points and events to find correlations and patterns that we just would not be able to notice as human beings on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, it might notice a correlation between sending a specific sales campaign to a prospective customer before calling them, which results in a better conversation. It can also notice that sending a weekly follow up email can yield results up to 6 weeks after an initial contact, which are just example of small practices that sales reps might miss, but that can increase their performance over time.”

  1. Price Optimization

Knowing the amount of discount (if any) to be provided to a customer is always a tricky area for any sales representative. But then again no sales rep wants to leave money on the table. In the present AI based business scenario, an AI algorithm can easily tell the sales teams using a best small business CRM like ConvergeHub what this ideal discount rate should be. Ensuring that you are most likely to win the deal by analyzing specific features of past deals that were won or lost on that very product or service to the customers. These features can include:

  • New or existing client
  • Size of the deal in dollars
  • Product specification compliance
  • Number of competitors
  • Territory/region
  • Customer’s annual income
  • Level of decision-makers (influencers) involved
  • Timings of the past sale (e.g., Q1 vs Q3), and several others
  1. Quality and Quantity Leads

Improving lead generation has been the focal point of the buzz around AI. In a study conducted by HBR (Harvard Business Review), it was found that businesses using Artificial Intelligence along with online lead management software platforms for sales were able to increase their lead generation by 50%. Moreover, the lead quality, as well as the lead quantity of AI-driven leads, are superior as Artificial Intelligence has a keen potential of spotting the best targets for inbound and outbound marketing initiatives. Therefore, a large chunk of the longstanding friction between marketing and sales in a company can be eliminated with the growth of AI in sales.

In other words, AI-driven solutions can act as a blessing throughout the entire sales-marketing cycle, turning a magnanimous amount of information in the CRM database into actionable insights.

  1. Manage Performance

Sales managers in all businesses, have to evaluate the revenue pipeline of each of their sales representatives every month, with a vision towards nurturing deals that might have got stalled, or worse, fallen through the crack. Using an AI-powered best small and medium business CRM software platform, managers can now use the dashboard to visually perceive which sales reps are likely to accomplish their sales targets along with the number of outstanding deals that stands a good chance of getting closed.
An AI-powered easy to use CRM solution allows sales managers to concentrate their attention on key sales reps and their associated deals that can help the company to reach its forecasted sales objectives.

According to Shampa Bagchi, CEO of ConvergeHub CRM for small businesses, ‘using AI to uncover trends and correlate data is great, but customer data in CRM is only made valuable when you can take action on it.”

  1. Simplify Tasks

According to McKinsey Global Institute, as AI magically reduces tasks, therefore, 40% of time spent by sales reps on day-to-day mundane and menial tasks such as cold calling, replying to emails and others can be automated by adopting all the present technologies that AI has to offer for the sales teams.
As AI is capable of aiding professionals to commit to their jobs better, especially with the use of analytics and data science.

Embedding AI into CRM database, sales force automation software platforms, and other applications can eliminate a lot of crippling tasks and liberate the sales reps from monotonous tasks, which can uplift their efforts in sales to unprecedented new heights.

Conclusion

Therefore to conclude although AI is never going to be a replacement for sales and marketing in any business, nevertheless it is ‘The’ technology for now, and for the future, which is going to impel sales professionals to a ‘level-up’ in their game.

Al will allow sales and marketing professionals to base their decisions and opinions more accurately based on data (and since data never lies) focusing and unveiling the information trapped in the CRM database, making their choices more precise than ever.

10 Commandments of Customer Success Strategies with an Easy to Use CRM

Gone are the days of the uninformed customer. Today customers hold the cards, not the vendors. Now, you must be wondering what does this means for you and your business. Well, it means that just as your customer’s barrier to try your brand has dropped (e.g., through online signups, free trials, and monthly pricing plans); their barrier to exit has also dropped. Nowadays, customers are only committed to your brand as long as you are delivering value. Furthermore, customers are better informed and tech-savvy than ever before. Here are 10 key learnings we have gathered over time as customer success best practices, especially for small and medium businesses.

Gone are the days of the uninformed customer. Today customers hold the cards, not the vendors.
Now, you must be wondering what does this means for you and your business.
Well, it means that just as your customer’s barrier to try your brand has dropped (e.g., through online signups, free trials, and monthly pricing plans); their barrier to exit has also dropped. Nowadays, customers are only committed to your brand as long as you are delivering value. Furthermore, customers are better informed and tech-savvy than ever before.
Because of these trends, both traditional vendors and technology-based companies using easy to use CRM platforms alike are establishing customer success strategies and programs based on the simple concept:

“Make your customers successful, and your business success will follow suit.”

Below are 10 key learnings we have gathered over time as customer success best practices, especially for small and medium businesses.

By 2018, more than 50% of organizations will redirect their investments to customer experience innovations -Gartner Click To Tweet
  1. The Customer Success Team Is Not The Only One In Charge Of Customer Success

Preventing customer churn is everyone’s job in an organization. Therefore, just like the members of your customer success team, the CEO of your business should greet as many numbers of customers as he/she can and have direct communication with the customers of your brand. Additionally, the salespeople that won the initial contract should also check with their customer base to up-sell and see how things are going, just as the head of your customer onboarding department should also touch base with the customers to make sure that they do not need any new refresher or information on your products or services.

  1. Make Your Customers the De-Facto “Head of Product and Services”

The feedback from your customers on products and services should provide the direction of your offerings. Always make sure that your customers know that their feedback is important for your business and make them feel the power of ownership. This will make the customers feel appreciated and therefore think about investing in your brand.

  1. Contact Structure is Important

All contacts should have an auto-renewal (with a small increase in pricing). Additionally, instead of paid pilots, provide your customers a 14-day trial when they sign up, which will lower the barriers of customer acquisition.

  1. Provide Free Onboarding If Needed

Although you must always try to charge your customers an upfront fee for onboarding, nevertheless, if your customer is not ready to pay then give them a free onboarding anyways. Remember customers are won and lost during onboarding, so make sure that they know how to use your product or service effectively. We as an easy to use CRM vendor have found from our knowledge gathered over time that 40% of those customers that did not receive proper onboarding churns out in 6 months.

  1. The First 3 Months Predicts The Next 9 Months

Your sales and support teams should especially remain in ‘high-touch’ with their customers during the first 3 post-sales months. This is because the customer’s experience in these primary stages, when the customers pay their greatest attention to your product, must necessarily go well. For this, remain especially proactive and attentive to the customers during these 3 initial months.

  1. Not Willing To Adopt Features Can Be Warnings

Remember a customer reaching out to you for help is always a good thing. Therefore, if a customer is not actively making use your product and at the same time not getting in touch with you with his/her questions, or if the customer is not adopting your brand’s new features after their purchase, reach out and make sure that nothing is wrong.

  1. The Rule of 40

If you are a SaaS-based company, (like us) with enterprise level customers, in general, we found that you need one customer success representative for every 40 customers. Therefore, do not overwhelm the customer success team with a ratio far outside 40:1.

  1. Educate The Customer

Make your customer better at using your products and services by providing them continued education, and share with them how other customers are using your tools. Customer feedback driven product road-map makes the customers feel like they have an ownership of the product.

  1. Your Old Customers Are Your Best New Customers

Remember you old customers are the cheapest source of your new customers. Therefore, you should always be exploring new ways to up-sell and cross-sell your current customers and make sure that you are maxing out their interest in your brand.

  1. Make Sure You’re Selling To The Right Customers

Not all revenues are created equally. Therefore, your sales teams need to make sure that the customers they are signing up for your brand are fit for buying your offerings.

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Bringing in sales, revenue, and customers just for mere growth, which then churns out, does not provide any value. Rather it just exhausts your onboarding resources and customer success strategy.

Takeaway

Finally, using a customer success management software like an easy to use CRM solution like ConvergeHub (one that is ideal for the members of your whole organization), can help your team to work better, create a more efficient customer success workflow, resulting in happier customers.

How Doing Business without Online Lead Management Software Can Kill Your Sales

Do you find your CRM or online lead management software as just another software tool for you and your team to log our sales in, but do not really understand the reason for doing it? If it is so, have you also experienced long stretches of low sales, squandered sales opportunities, and unsolicited small errors getting on the way of your sales performances? This is the very reason as to why the benefits of using online lead management software or a CRM solution should never be underestimated by the sales team. There are multiple ways even skilled sales reps miss potential sales prospects when their business does not adopt easy to use CRM software. Here are some of the most common reasons for underperformance in sales.

Do you find your CRM or online lead management software as just another software tool for you and your team to log your sales in, but do not really understand the reason for doing it?

If it is so, have you also experienced long stretches of low sales, squandered sales opportunities, and unsolicited small errors getting on the way of your sales performances?

This is the very reason as to why the benefits of using online lead management software or a CRM solution should never be underestimated by the sales team.

An Easy to Use CRM solution decreases sales and marketing costs by 23% -SmallBizCRM Click To Tweet

There are multiple ways even skilled sales reps miss potential sales prospects when their business does not adopt easy to use CRM software .

Here are some of the most common reasons for underperformance in sales:

  • Incapability to understand the customer’s needs
  • Ineffectual sales performance tracking
  • Too much of time being spent on focusing on back-end support activities and not making sales

How online lead management software works to improve sales

  1. Improve contact information

An easy to use CRM solution provides you and your entire team a complete 360-degree view of your leads and customers, giving everyone in your business access to the same information, and thereby helping them to remain on the same page.

When everyone in your organization access a single customer list, it becomes much more convenient to sort and analyze your lead and customer information. Additionally, an online lead management software solution also aids you to track where your leads are in the sales cycle with opportunity tracking abilities, which helps your sales teams to predict the likelihood of closing a prospective deal.

  1. Better interactions with the customers

A key feature of a cloud based CRM systems is tracking interactions with your leads, prospects, and customers. Being able to keep a log of outgoing and incoming emails, phone calls, visits, and more; allow your sales teams to remain updated with what is going on with their customer relationships. An online lead management software solution helps to keep your sales teams organized, speeds up their follow-up activities, and most essentially improve the quality of their communication with leads and customers. A CRM solution also ensures that no two sales professionals in your organization are approaching the same lead, which makes your sales team more efficient in closing their deals.

  1. Automate mundane tasks

One of the greatest benefits of using a customizable easy to use CRM (like ConvergeHub), is creating end-to-end workflow. With ConvergeHub, you can make your online lead management software work the way you do, and automate several mundane manual processes, such as sending a follow-up email after conversion of a lead, converting estimates to invoices, or even manage your businesses’ inventory.

By customizing your best small business CRM software solution to fit your business, your sales and support teams become more efficient, as they can free up their time, focus on closing deals, and thereby grow your business.

  1. Improve reporting and analytical data

Finding valuable insights into your customer data in the CRM database provides priceless information on what makes your leads get converted at a higher rate and also gives you an in-depth understanding of your customer lifecycle.

An online lead management software like ConvergeHub CRM also easily tracks the history of all the interactions your sales reps had with their customers, so that you are able to view, for an example, which are the leads that received a specific email marketing campaign converted to customers at a higher rate than those that did not.

Therefore, using a CRM solution you can easily find out and understand now which emails you should send to convert more leads and as a natural consequence grow your business.

  1. Increase time to make sales

By investing less time on tedious administration tasks in the office, using an online lead management software that has marketing automation capabilities like ConvergeHub CRM, your sales teams can focus a considerable amount of time tracking new leads, forging new relationships and thereby increase sales.

Using an easy to use CRM software solution, your sales team members need not request other employees in your organization to get a purchase history of the customers or reach a customer with outdated contact information, which allows your team to generate more sales.

  1. Create happier customers to encourage returning sales

By having a comprehensive 360° view of all your customers, you can easily view their entire history, making interactions between you and your customers easier.
As better perception of your customer’s needs results in more efficient customer service, that inspires your customers to return back for more businesses.

What should you do?

Therefore, if you find that the sales teams in your small business organization are desperate for perceiving a change in their sales strategies for escalating their plummeting sales goals, try ConvergeHub CRM software today.

ConvergeHub is an award-winning CRM solution for small and medium-sized businesses, which provides an online lead management software solution to startups and SMBs that have requirements as large business organizations but do not have the required budget to spend on several standalone software applications and their integrations for increasing their ROI.

Signs That Your Business Has Outgrown QuickBooks Customer Manager in 2018

In life and in business, it is hard to leave old habits and walk away from what we already know, since it is always easy to tread the same path. Nevertheless, although holding on to routine practices may be comfortable and familiar, but is it always the best way to go? More so, when it comes to new customer management software, it can be specifically difficult to cut off ties with traditional software solutions those that no longer serve your business needs. Now, if you are presently using QuickBooks Customer Manager, you must be aware of what we mean. While QuickBooks Customer Manager has a loyal user base, the platform has not been updated over the years, and Intuit has even discontinued support for this platform.Therefore, even though it may a comfortable and familiar, Intuit’s customer management software, may not help your business to grow. Here are 5 reasons as to why it may be the time to move on.

In life and in business, it is hard to leave old habits and walk away from what we already know, since it is always easy to tread the same path. Nevertheless, although holding on to routine practices may be comfortable and familiar, but is it always the best way to go?

More so, when it comes to new customer management software, it can be specifically difficult to cut off ties with traditional software solutions those that no longer serve your business needs.

Now, if you are presently using QuickBooks Customer Manager, you must be aware of what we mean.

Indeed, QuickBooks Customer Manager was a great platform when it was primarily launched since it allowed the users to integrate QuickBooks Desktop customer data so that you never miss a sales opportunity.

68% of small business owners regret looking back on the first year is that they didn’t spend more time learning about financial management- Intuit Click To Tweet

However, while QuickBooks Customer Manager has a loyal user base, the platform has not been updated over the years, and Intuit has even discontinued support for this platform.
Therefore, even though it may a comfortable and familiar, Intuit’s customer management software, may not help your business to grow.

Here are 5 reasons as to why it may be the time to move on:

  1. You need a more effective way to manage your contacts

Let us just accept the fact that QuickBooks Customer Manager is a pain in the neck. While the best small business CRM should make it easier to manage information on leads, prospects, customers, and sales, Customer Manager, needs a lot of manual work to keep customer data clean.
Per say, even for accomplishing a small action as simple as updating a company address you need to update the individual contacts for each person in the company’s list.

Your CRM should make your life easier. Therefore, using a CRM software like ConvergeHub which offers QuickBooks CRM integration free is an ideal choice under this circumstance, if you are spending hours updating and cleaning up data, and you think it is time to move on.

  1. Your team needs to access customer data on the go in their mobile

Technology in the present times is constantly growing at a rapid pace. However, as Intuit has not updated Customer Manager, it is still stuck in time as a ‘desktop-only’ software. Although, still this software serves its purpose if you need customer information while in office, nevertheless, this is 2018 and you need cloud-based and mobile software solutions for your business’ needs.

In fact, in a research conducted by Innoppl Technologies, it claimed that 65% sales representatives who have started using mobile CRM have achieved their sales targets, while merely 22% of sales reps using non-mobile CRM platforms have reached their quotas in the same span of time.

Remember, your customers rely on you to be flexible for their needs, and therefore you need an easy to use CRM platform that does the same for you like ConvergeHub, which is considered by many as the best QuickBooks CRM for sales teams.

Since, being tied to a desktop application is the farthest thing from flexibility, which can hold your business back in these modern times.

  1. You have reached maximum user access

QuickBooks Customer Manager does precisely what it meant by ‘being held-up’ to your sales teams. By limiting your business endeavors to an upper limit of just four users, your team will without any doubts end up sharing accounts, leading to duplicate contacts and bad data.

Moreover, even if your current sales team is lesser than four sales reps, it is always best to think bigger and make your plans for a better tomorrow. Besides, it is more convenient to switch when your team is small, rather than re-train your sales reps once you have outgrown Customer Manager customer management platform.

Therefore, if you plan to expand the size of your sales team, you need a QuickBooks CRM solution like ConvergeHub that not only grows with your business but also makes your business grow as one of the best CRM for QuickBooks online.

  1. You are trapped in a software platform older than Windows 2000

Let us think back to the year 2000, when Gladiator and Cast Away were topping the box office, and Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP and NYSYNC’s No Strings Attached was the top selling albums on the list.

There can be no excuse in 2018, to still rely on a software that only supports Windows 2000 since if someone tries to sell you a car, phone, or a computer from 2000, would you not laugh them out of the room.

Therefore, adhering to the same logic, should you not be using easy to use CRM software that is compatible with your phone, computer, and tablet.

Using ConvergeHub CRM, which is one of the most popular QuickBooks CRM, helps your sales team to have a full access to your customer and sales info, since using QuickBooks for accounting, and at the same time viewing the customer details, products, invoice and payment information directly in your CRM helps in follow-ups, reminders, customer service and business process automation.

  1. You need a software solution that will support you

Even the best pilot all across the world needs a copilot. However, if you are in the cockpit with Customer Manage, you will not get any technical help, since the software is presently discontinued.

As your small business grows in size, you will undoubtedly need to customize your easy to use CRM platform to suit the ever-expanding requirements of your team, and with that comes the need for support.

Therefore, for better lead management, access to cleaner QuickBooks software, zero double entry errors, data security, automated sales processes, enhanced sales efficiency, empowered customer service, robust marketing automation, and unparallel customer support you need a QuickBooks CRM software like ConvergeHub, which provides you customer engagement that businesses strive for in the present times.

Takeaway

ConvergeHub CRM is rated as the #1 QuickBooks CRM software, which allows you to sync all your data in real-time with QuickBooks Online and relieves the stress of managing customers and leads with an easy to use, and comprehensive user interface.

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So why wait, click here for a 14-Days FREE Trial of ConvergeHub QuickBooks CRM , and find the efficiency of both these software solutions that will help your business to grow, if you are seriously considering having an integrated CRM with your QuickBooks accounting platform.

CRM Database: Tips For Unlocking Secrets Of Your Customers For Business Growth

According to Search Business Analytics, 41% of businesses are currently struggling to tie customer data to business actions. Since there is little use of the information in CRM database if you do not make it work for you. If you are aware of what is CRM, you must be knowing that Customer Relationship Management is all about making the best use of CRM database to discover valuable customer insights about your leads, prospects, and customers and then turn those insights into successful business decisions. This is why CRM software is important for all businesses. In this article, we will look into some of the ways you can use CRM database to unveil your customer secrets.

According to Search Business Analytics, 41% of businesses are currently struggling to tie customer data to business actions. Since there is little use of the information in CRM database if you do not make it work for you.
If you are aware of what is CRM, you must be knowing that Customer Relationship Management is all about making the best use of CRM database to discover valuable customer insights about your leads, prospects, and customers and then turn those insights into successful business decisions.

This is why CRM software is important for all businesses.

15% of a business’s annual profits are misspent owing to bad data residing in their CRM database as CRM data degrades at a rate of 30% per annum. - Gartner Click To Tweet

According to Software Advice, more than 74% of business organizations state that an easy to use CRM software solution allows them to have greater access to customer data. While Accenture confirms that high-yielding businesses (those that greatly outperform over long-term) are 5 times more likely to use the information stored in their CRM’s customer database pitted against low performing businesses.

However, the big question is, what you need to look at to know who your customers are, or what they want, and lastly how do your business benefits from that information?

In this article, we will look into some of the ways you can use CRM database to unveil your customer secrets.

Use CRM Database for Personalization

As every customer is a different individual, hence they all have different preferences when it relates to their communication and their buying habits.
According to Digital Trends, more than 73% of consumers choose to do business with organizations that use their personal information to enhance their shopping experiences.

Additionally, according to a report published by Infosys, it has been established that 86% of consumers support the role that personalization plays in their purchasing decisions.

This is exactly where you can use the information stored in your easy to use CRM software, since this platform does not only stores names, addresses, emails, and phone numbers of your customers, but all your other interactions with the customers are also stored in the CRM database.

Therefore, take the advantage of using the customer information in your CRM database, which helps to address your customer by their names and incorporate the information that you know about them to show them that you are interested in treating them individually.

Personalize and shape your communications with your customers in such a manner that it suits the need of each customer individually and see how your customer’s perception of your brand starts to improve over time.

Discover Your Top Customers

As your customers are far from being equal, therefore, some of your customers earn you more profits than others, while there are also many that even waste your time.
According to the Pareto Principle – “80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers”

Hence, if you need to focus on this 20 % of your customers that brings you most of your revenue, your easy to use CRM software provides the analytical tools that can help you to spot your top purchasers by analyzing your CRM database.
Similarly, the CRM software can also identify the customers who are taking up most of your time and are top time wasters- customers that are not vital for your company.

Once you find this information, you can focus and treat your top hassle-free customers, provide them with more attention and uncover more business opportunities with this ever-growing selected few.

Become Trained To Win and Close More Deals

Have you ever thought- actually how you sell?

What are the steps that you unconsciously follow all the way to closing a deal?

More importantly, what are the things that you do to win a sale, and if they are really working?

Now if you start digging deeper, you will certainly start to understand which sales strategies are really helping you to advance the deals and which are those that do not.

However, to do this you need to look into the CRM database.
When every action that you take and every document that you send to the prospect is logged into the easy to use CRM system, you can view the major steps that you have taken in the sales process and the touch points that you have registered with the prospective customer. Data in the CRM platform also lets you understand how long the entire procedure takes, and how much time elapsed between each step in the buying process.

If you find some of the tactics that you have used generated higher closing ratio, or have made the sales cycles shorter, you can make that as a part of your every sales process, and stop doing things that did not.

So CRM database helps in making your sales reps follow successful sales processes ever time they are trying to close a deal.

Discover Upselling Opportunities

We all want to increase our revenue, and the best way to do it is to persuade your customers with products and services that they like instead of just bombarding them with random offerings.

CRM data helps us to anticipate the customer’s interests and needs and offer them opportunities to enhance their buying experiences. This is where an easy to use CRM earns its keep.

Converged CRM software like ConvergeHub (the best small business CRM software) provides a 360-degree view of the customers, whereby it helps you to analyze all customer information in the CRM database and pinpoint what the customer is likely to purchase as per their existing requirements.

For service-oriented businesses, information stored about your customers in the CRM database can also help you to send reminders to your customers before their contract is up for renewal so that you can upsell your customer at the right time.

Reduce Churn

Although there is always a lot of focus on increasing sales, however keeping the customer that you already have from leaving, is less talked about in the business world.

Nevertheless, the loss of customers, or customer churn, can crush your business goals.

According to a study done by Kini Group, it has been found that by just reducing customer churn by 5% businesses can increase their profits by 25-95 percent.

Now, if you evaluate the data in the CRM database between steadfast and broken relations with your customers, you can find valuable insights which can help you to evaluate what is working and what you should avoid in your customer relationship management to keep away from higher churn rates in the future days to come.

Moreover, access to these insights can also help you to resolve customer-facing issues faster and make your customers have a great experience with your brand, just by feeling that their pain-points have been understood.

Conclusion

Therefore, use your CRM database to develop an all-around customer experience strategy.

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Always remember, that the main benefit of having an easy to use CRM in place is to manage the relationship with your customers using information hidden in the CRM database, for now, and forever, in order to increase your sales and grow your business’s revenue.

Do You Think A Cloud Based CRM Solution Will Future-Proof Your Small Business?

It is unnecessary to say that in order to thrive in 2018, all small businesses must remain prepared to utilize the latest technology in hand. Whether it is sales forecasting with the help of a cloud based CRM solution, big data analysis, or even digital marketing and social media, it is technology that holds the key to communicating with the consumers on their individual terms. At that too possibly, in the least intrusive way, so that it provides the consumers a convenient and clear path that eventually leads to a sale.

It is unnecessary to say that in order to thrive in 2018, all small businesses must remain prepared to utilize the latest technology in hand. Whether it is sales forecasting with the help of a cloud based CRM systems , big data analysis, or even digital marketing and social media, it is technology that holds the key to communicating with the consumers on their individual terms.  At that too possibly, in the least intrusive way, so that it provides the consumers a convenient and clear path that eventually leads to a sale.

CRM software returns an average of $5.60 for every dollar spent. Click To Tweet

As modern technology is advancing at a breakneck speed, businesses can often find themselves unable to stay on trend or keep themselves updated on the latest technological developments.

It is true, that it takes a significant amount of money and time to implement a new solution across a company and this is the exact reason we cannot blame small businesses for being so skeptical of adopting smart business solutions when they remain unsure if this technology will stand the test of time. A critical problem that plagues prospective users of CRM solution systems in particular, since Customer Relationship Management has evolved a lot since its inception when the term was coined in 1995.

The Customer Relationship Management Paradox

A CRM implementation is perhaps one of the most complex yet at the same instance most transforming product adoption that a small business organization can undergo. Requiring all departments in the company to cleanse the data before migrating it, train the employees in getting used to the new software, and then most necessarily catch up with the backlogs of the works that have been delayed by the change in the organizational process.

Therefore, it might take some time before small businesses can really start to benefit from the new CRM solution, although it is well worth the sacrifice, especially if they understand that the product adoption is future-proofed.

Once a small and medium business has identified that it needs a CRM system, the primary obstacle it may encounter is whether its CRM solution should be an on-premise or a cloud based CRM system. Now, we know all businesses are different and so it would be an irresponsible act to advise either way. Since businesses should always adopt a product that best suits their individual needs.

Nevertheless, there are clear advantages and disadvantages of both these CRM systems as illustrated below:

Should You Adopt An On-Premise Or A Cloud-Based CRM Solution?

Those businesses having a long history in trade and commerce will surely be familiar with on-premise CRM solutions, which can be installed on local networks and is most commonly developed or administered by a permanent member of IT staffs, employed by the organization. On-premise CRM software platforms are generally unreachable for anyone out of the network, which makes it an ideal CRM solution for small business employees that do not need remote access to the software.

On-premise CRM also aids with security, as only permanent staffs working in the organization gets access to the CRM system.

Many businesses also prefer Capital Expenditure (CapEx) versus the modern day subscription-based model (OpEx) of the software for accounting purposes.

Therefore the decision to implement an On-Premise CRM or a Cloud Based CRM solution, not only lies in the hands of the marketing and sales, or IT and Ops, but also with Finance.

Moreover, on-premise CRM solutions can often be left behind with technological upgrades, since many small businesses may not choose to periodically upgrade their CRM platform due to lack of compatibility with their customized solution, as well as the fear of losing data or the disruption it will cause to the routine use of the software.

Additionally, with the CRM data stored in the local server, which is not accessible from outside the network, this can also create a bigger data risk than cloud based CRM solutions that can be accessed from online portals.

This is because, there are several instances when users are forced to share their customer data in CRM via external communicational platforms or emails for the purpose of networking or sales calls, thoughtless of the alarming fact that this data being sent could be compromised.

This where the real benefits of a cloud based CRM system come into play. Since a cloud based CRM solution is inherently future proof.

With live updates released on a regular basis, online cloud based CRM platforms are constantly optimized, as well as well guarded against all latest cyber threats.

Whether it is an improvement to be done on the user interface, an adherence to be made to the latest General Data Protection Regulation (EU) law, or even for a major product update, cloud based CRM platforms like ConvergeHub and others use regular and subtle updates. Therefore, unburdening the CRM users by guaranteeing them minimal disruption to their work.

Integrations are also made much simpler when the data is stored in the cloud, with several web-based systems making product integration as easy as ‘drag and drop’ functionalities, which is becoming increasingly useful given the value of marketing products and solutions via social media platforms.

Easy to use CRM platforms, especially those that boast of their marketing automation features, should always embrace the cutting-edge modern communication technology for the CRM users to get the most out of sales and marketing. Therefore, small businesses that still use on-premise CRM software that predate the advent of modern social media platforms, often find themselves stuck with outdated marketing strategies, as popular integrations are almost impossible to implement without a major product update.

Is future proofing CRM technology ever truly possible?

While adopting cloud based CRM platforms like ConvergeHub can help to future-proof your small business endeavors, honestly speaking, there is really no way to predict the direction in which technology will go.

However, as of date, cloud based CRM system merely offers us the option of constantly staying up-to-date, providing us with every possible advantage as CRM technology advances with time.

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Nevertheless, to sum up, small businesses that are capable enough to justify the time investment and financial outlay and benefit from the limitless product integration of a SaaS-based software should seriously consider using a cloud based CRM solution, which is also easy to use.
Since implementing a cloud based CRM for small businesses in the modern times will at least ensure future proofing your CRM solution until the next breakthrough in technology- as for what that will be, your guess is as good as mine.

6 Customer Management and Sales Strategies to Knockout Your Competition Flat

As a small business owner, you must be having huge plans for your business. The goals for your startup organization may include providing the best possible offers to your customers, sell more than your competitions, hire highly skilled employees, and someday make your organization be a part of the Fortune 500 company lists. However, regardless of all these dreams, you can only make your imaginations only come true if you employ the best possible sales strategies to beat your completion by using an easy to use CRM solution that helps businesses to gain more leads, find new customers and increase the customer lifecycle by managing the customer and their interactions with your company.

As a small business owner, you must be having huge plans for your business. The goals for your startup organization may include providing the best possible offers to your customers, sell more than your competitions, hire highly skilled employees, and someday make your organization be a part of the Fortune 500 company lists.
However, regardless of all these dreams, you can only make your imaginations only come true if you employ the best possible sales strategies to beat your completion by using an easy to use CRM solution that helps businesses to gain more leads, find new customers and increase the customer lifecycle by managing the customer and their interactions with your company.

Effective sales organizations are 81% more likely to be practicing consistent usage of a CRM or other system of record- Aberdeen Group Click To Tweet

We hope that with the help of these following tips, your business will be on its way to new heights by increasing sales and bringing in more revenue:

  1. Follow Through

This might seem obvious, but following through is often overlooked as your business grows with time. For example, if during your last meeting, you have promised to fax a brochure, send an email, or touch base with additional information, then do it. Remember in sales you are only as good as your words and therefore following through with your promises will give you and your company the credibility you need to secure future sales.
If you know what is a CRM platform, and has adopted one to help your business, using an easy to use CRM software always helps you to remember your commitments just in time, so that the promises that you made to your leads, prospects, and customers do not fall through the crack.

  1. Foster An Ongoing Relationship

Making a sale can be exciting both for you and for your organization. However, things should not stop over here. Repeat business from existing customers by up-selling and cross-selling your offerings, is an excellent way to build and nourish an ongoing relationship with the buyers of your products and services, increasing the Customer Lifetime Value of your consumers. If you are a user of a best small business CRM software, it can easily remind you to call your customers to see how things are going. It can also find out their personal preferences, a few weeks after your sale and then send automated and customized email campaigns to keep them aware of your new offerings as per their respective interests.

At times, the post-sales conversation with your customers does not always need to revolve around business matters. Per say, if you and your customer have a common interest in baseball, gardening, or movies, talking about such out-of-business topics helps in showing that you care for them and that you genuinely appreciated their social activities.

  1. Stick To Deadlines

Let us assume you have a sale going through this Sunday. A customer tells you that the person is interested in buying your goods or services; however, that individual cannot close the deal until next week. What do you do? Do you extend the sale offer to accommodate the customer’s needs?  No. We recommend sticking to your sales deadlines helps in building credibility and heighten the sense of urgency around the purchase decision-making process.
Nevertheless, occasionally this policy can be altered on a case-to-case basis, especially if after looking into the customer data in your easy to use CRM; you believe that the customer will not ask for a sale extension again, as the person has never requested anything as such before.

Therefore, talk to your sales reps about individual situations before taking actions to better understand your buyer’s needs.

  1. Do Not Rush For Referrals

Referrals are one of the most reliable ways to build and grow your business. However, it is important not to ask for a referral too soon. Therefore, before asking for a referral, get a pulse on how your customer is feeling about your brand and your company. Primarily, you need to understand that your customers are overwhelmingly happy with your product or service, and customer support before you request for the referral.

For this, try communicating with your selected customers on the phone a few weeks after the beginning of your post-sales relationship. Ask them how they are feeling about your organization and only if they respond favorably, you may consider it to be the right time to see if they know about someone who may be interested in your offerings.

Never be scared to ask for a referral, you will be surprised to learn how generous happy customers can be.

  1. Practice Active Listening

Think back to the last time you spoke with your best friend. Chances are good that he or she actively listened to how you were doing and subsequently for their attentiveness; you came back from the conversation feeling loved and refreshed.

The best sales reps recreate these same feelings by asking their leads and customers probing questions about their business and then let them tell their requirements in detail.

Active listening on your part makes the customer feel that you care for their needs and is not just focused on hard selling.
Make the conversation meander around what you can do for them and you will likely have a loyal customer, who will remain for a long time.

  1. Be Cordial When Discussing The Competition

Lastly, badmouthing the competition in front of a prospective customer is never a good idea. Although there is nothing wrong in discussing the competitors of your brand with your customer and explaining where your offerings stand tall, nevertheless, try to stay miles away from saying something outright negative about your contenders.
Actually, any sort of backbiting behavior will reflect poorly on you and your organization. Therefore, it is always best to tread the high road and be cordial when discussing the competition in front of your consumers.

Takeaway

We guess, entrepreneurs, small business owners who are users of easy to use CRM software platforms, and sales reps, those who use these tips to knock out their competitors, by showing that they are polished professionals are the ones whom anyone will be proud to do business with.

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Therefore, using these tips along with the best small business CRM software solution like ConvergeHub is sure to get you more sales and thereby help your small business to amass more revenue.

12 Most Essential QuickBooks CRM Buying Guidelines for Startups

Customers are the most essential element of any business. Therefore, it is equally important that we must look after them. Now, if you are busy guessing how you can do that, because it may seem to be a breeze in the beginning, but as your business expands the multitude of your consumer base springs up with time. Therefore, before you decide and square-up upon finalizing your favored QuickBooks CRM software, here are twelve best practices that according to him, small business owners should recognize before purchasing their first CRM solution that offers QuickBooks CRM integration free.

Customers are the most essential element of any business. Therefore, it is crucial to look after them effectively. While managing customer relationships may seem straightforward at the beginning, it becomes increasingly complex as your business grows and your consumer base expands.

According to recent statistics, businesses that integrate QuickBooks with a CRM experience a 30% increase in productivity and a 25% reduction in administrative costs. To help you navigate this process, we present twelve essential QuickBooks CRM buying guidelines for startups, ensuring you choose the right CRM platform that offers seamless QuickBooks integration.

12 Most Essential QuickBooks CRM Buying Guidelines for Startups Click To Tweet
  1. Choose A CRM Vendor That Offers Support

No two organizations require the same functionalities while implementing an easy to use CRM software. This is why, it is so critical that you must select your QuickBooks CRM vendor who is capable of providing you with the right support your establishment needs. Finding the right kind of support for your best CRM software for QuickBooks can be as significant as the functions that constitute the solution.

  1. Think About The Set Up Time And The Ease Of Use Of The CRM

For startup owners and beginners who are in need of implementing QuickBooks CRM for their organizations, the last thing that they want is to face a complicated CRM system that will take weeks to install. Instead, think about adopting a CRM solution that requires limited set-up time and is easy to use for most employees in your organization.

  1. Grow With The CRM Solution

Instead of just adopting a QuickBooks CRM for sales teams , since it does not cost much or is free, ensures that you find a CRM solution for your business that is unlikely to outgrow your organizational expansion. Therefore, opt for a CRM solution that can help your business grow effectively, keep up with your employee performances, and make your organization grow with the program.

  1. Read Reviews On Various CRM Systems

Before you commit yourself to a particular customer relationship management solution, carry out in-depth research on your preferred QuickBooks CRM platform. As, the more information you have on different best CRM for QuickBooks online, the more informed choices you will able to make while purchasing your CRM solution with integrated accounting and invoicing module.

  1. Check If Your CRM Helps Throughout The Customer Lifecycle

Make sure that your selected QuickBooks CRM for sales teams is capable of offering support to every department in your business. Right from Marketing, Sales, Support, and Accounting team members, with what they need to help your leads and customers at every phase of the customer lifecycle with your brand.

Best QuickBooks CRM solutions, not only aids in finding prospects but also helps in turning them into loyal customers and keep them through the long haul, by providing them unflinching services and great experiences.

  1. Avoid Selecting Just for Big Names

It is natural that you can decide on big names in QuickBooks CRM as their reputation and credibility outreach others. However, always remember as each organization’s CRM requirements are different, so select the QuickBooks CRM tailored to your needs, rather than going for the “biggest names” other companies use and recommend online.

  1. Go Beyond Just Features

While choosing your best QuickBooks CRM for sales teams, pick the right CRM tool by “thinking ahead of just the features” in the software. Instead, look for other important aspects of CRM integration, like the amount of available data storage facility in the CRM and pricing flexibility of the solution.

  1. Go Mobile

In the present times, with more and more people using handheld devices, choose the best CRM for QuickBooks online , which can be accessed seamlessly across multiple devices over the Internet, including Windows Phone, iPhone, and Androids.

  1. Look for Personalization

It is important that your selected QuickBooks CRM is capable of providing the personalization that modern consumers crave. Buy a CRM that can send personalized emails and other individualized bespoke communications, which are based on the acquired customer data. Since doing so can significantly enhance your marketing campaign’s, click-through rates and further increase your revenue.

  1. Find who is accountable for Recovery, Backup, and Data Security

All businesses, be it big or small, can find themselves irrevocably crippled once they fall a prey to security breaches and cyber threats. Hence, it is absolutely critical to measure the security of the CRM software and understand the party responsible and involved for the software’s data backup, and information recovery.

  1. Check Policy for Regulatory and Compliance Requirements

Before selecting your CRM software that offers QuickBooks CRM integration free, make sure that your CRM vendor’s data policy and contact guarantee are compliant in handling customer information, especially, when you are buying a cloud-based SaaS CRM solution for your business.

  1. Consider API Calls

Modern day businesses mostly integrate multiple customer oriented business applications with their CRM. Therefore, make sure that you understand the confines on API calls into the easy to use CRM solution for integrating third-party business applications, other than QuickBooks such as Evernote, MS Outlooks, Gmail, RingCentral, Zapier, DocuSign, MailChimp, and others.

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Takeaway

For more information or for a 14-Day free trial on QuickBooks CRM software, call ConvergeHub the award-winning best CRM software for QuickBooks.

5 Unsurpassable Benefits of Using Cloud Based CRM Systems

A cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is a vital tool for any contemporary sales stack. As your business grows, so does the number of customers and contacts you have to keep track of – which is where a robust cloud based CRM system comes into play. If you have not yet made the switch to a cloud based CRM system (or you have just not made the leap from spreadsheet to using an easy to use CRM at all). You could be letting down your sales teams and slowing down your businesses. Let us now explore the reason why more than 87% of modern businesses function better, with the help of a cloud based CRM system in their organization.

A cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is a vital tool for any contemporary sales stack.
As your business grows, so does the number of customers and contacts you have to keep track of – which is where a robust cloud based CRM system comes into play.

87% of modern businesses function better, with the help of a cloud based CRM system in their organization- Marketo Click To Tweet

If you have not yet made the switch to a cloud based CRM system (or you have just not made the leap from spreadsheet to using an easy to use CRM at all). You could be letting down your sales teams and slowing down your businesses.

What is a Cloud Based CRM system?

A cloud CRM or a SaaS based CRM system, as the very name suggests, resides in that elusive place, which we in the technical term call the ‘Cloud’. Although we cannot view where a cloud CRM dwells, however, we can indeed see and experience the benefits it provides over the traditional On-Premise CRM software platforms.

This is mostly because the positive impact of a cloud based CRM system makes you feel the CRM solution palpable, real, and substantial in its appearance.

For instance, there are several sales teams that rely on ConvergeHub Cloud based CRM solution to streamline their workflow, that includes email outreach, cold calling, managing their contact lists, tracking sales opportunities and activities, as well as optimizing their process of sales.

Let us now explore the reason why more than 87% of modern businesses function better, with the help of a cloud based CRM system in their organization.

5 Benefits of adopting Cloud based CRM systems

  1. Hassle-Free Installation Process

For a small business or a startup to successfully adopt any new robust software, the primary thing is to get it started easily. After all, software that works seamlessly and moves quickly does not make you invest more time or efforts and resource on that application.

One of the greatest causes a business might fence sit and try not to use a CRM, is the imbibed fear that the installation of the software will be complicated and the onboarding of the business solution will be more of a trouble than it is worth its rewards.

Luckily, with a cloud based CRM system, installing the software is a procedure, which is as smooth as a breeze. As in a SaaS-based CRM software, there is no hardware involved in the installation process, you need not even set up your own server, and there is zero maintenance required for upholding the system.

This means you simply do not require an IT team to supervise the installation or data migration procedures since the CRM vendor will take care of all these aspects remotely.

In fact, as long as you have an internet access, getting started with a cloud based CRM system is an easy affair.

Sales teams admire and love cloud CRM solutions, as SaaS-based CRM is accessible from anywhere.

Most cloud CRM software like ConvergeHub and others are easy to use CRM software platforms that are mobile ready, which makes the sales reps access their important information they need about their contracts and deals on the go.

To access mobile cloud based CRM software, all you need is a Wi-Fi connection and the login credentials to connect with the software’s cloud base.

Moreover, since the CRM is hosted in the cloud, it also acts as a lifesaver on many instances, as the customer database in CRM is available 24/7- not just when you are at the office.

Per say, information stored in the CRM database is organized and accessible to everyone on the sales team from anywhere across the globe. Which implies your in-house sales reps can review the same data and information, as the sales reps meeting their clients on the road.

A cloud CRM is also a boon to the sales teams when anyone needs to make a last minute sales call while working remotely. Using this CRM platform, sales reps can quickly get the details they need for an important sales call or check up on a client whether they are on their tablet, phone, laptop or even borrowing someone else’s device.

  1. Ease of Use

Not only does a cloud based CRM system ensures that your customer data in CRM is always there at your fingertips, but is also extremely easy to use.

The process of onboarding is a different experience for every CRM platform, but ConvergeHub easy to use CRM solution, does not involve a steep learning curve. Thanks to our extremely simple onboarding process, our CRM is designed to be up and running within minutes.

Businesses can upload and seamlessly synchronize existing customer data residing in their previously used online lead management software, edit the details whenever they want, and customize fields and reports in the CRM software to fit into their sales processes.

ConvergeHub cloud based CRM system also allows you to easily generate new leads, send cold email campaigns, keep track of existing customer data in CRM and their communications, as well as send follow-up emails for lead nurturing.

  1. Scalability and Flexibility

Cloud based CRM software applications have the ability to keep up with any small and medium-sized business as it grows and thereby support your expanding team.

This agile and flexible nature of any SaaS CRM solution makes it perfect for businesses of any size, including startups looking for a software solution that can match their budget, size, and most importantly goals.

Because cloud CRM platforms can provide unlimited storage space and bandwidth without upgrading the system, cloud based CRM systems are more flexible than those On-Premise CRM software platforms that reside in the local servers.

This increased flexibility of cloud based CRM systems leads to a greater productivity and efficiency across the board.

  1. Integration With Other Apps

Any reputed cloud CRM in the market can be easily integrated into your businesses’ existing workflow. This is a great news, since adopting a cloud based CRM solution, you do not have to invest in software applications that do not cooperate with the services and tools your employees rely on, to do their job well at the office.

Once you adopt a cloud CRM, just make sure that your CRM software is fully compatible with the services your marketing, sales, accounts and support teams use, such as email client, accounting software, telephony applications and others.

Compatibility is a matter of such importance to any startup’s sales stack that we built ConvergeHub specifically to help you integrate our customer relationship management software seamlessly with other applications you use every day, which includes Gmail, Google Drive, DocuSign, Zapier, QuickBooks accounting, RingCentral, MailChimp and several others.

For viewing the full list of all our integrations, you can visit our Integrations webpage. We are sure with our exhaustive list of integrations you will be seeking nothing further anymore.

  1. Cost Savings

Small businesses and startups do not need to invest a lot to get started with a cloud based CRM system. Therefore, switching to a SaaS CRM is a low-risk business venture, with very high rewards.

The services offered by a cloud CRM software can save your sales team’s time and efforts by taking care of data management so that your sales and marketing reps can focus on selling and bringing in more revenue.

Additionally, a cloud CRM like ConvergeHub also requires fewer resources to maintain, so you do not need to hire a big IT team to manage your show.

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Endnote

Therefore, now that you are aware of the benefits of what is a CRM on the cloud, try ConvergeHub the award-winning cloud CRM for small business that helps you to take control of your enterprise.