Tag: Business Growth Training

How To Strategically Track Leads and Create Effective Engagements Using Marketing CRM Platform

Finding new leads and acquiring customers that are new is the lifeline of all businesses irrespective of their size big or small. Moreover, in modern times, many organizations think that satisfied customers and referrals are the best sources for acquiring new leads especially when they are using a marketing CRM platform for finding revenue growth. Hence the above-stated fact is undoubtedly a sound principle and is also a marketing strategy to strive for. However, unless you are tracking and measuring the sources of your leads, this tactic is anecdotal and becomes a little more fanciful idea than company lore.

Finding new leads and acquiring customers that are new is the lifeline of all businesses irrespective of their size big or small. Moreover, in modern times, many organizations think that satisfied customers and referrals are the best sources for acquiring new leads especially when they are using a marketing CRM platform for finding revenue growth.
Hence the above-stated fact is undoubtedly a sound principle and is also a marketing strategy to strive for.

The average CRM user adoption among sales professionals is 73% and the average ROI period is 13 months. Click To Tweet

However, unless you are tracking and measuring the sources of your leads, this tactic is anecdotal and becomes a little more fanciful idea than company lore.

Here are a few tips that will help you in your lead tracking activities using easy to use CRM as a business growth technology for your company:

Get the Facts Right

Generally, leads are generated by innumerable sources, such as self-generated leads by the sales and marketing teams, or referrals from employees, vendors, clients, and business partners of an organization. Therefore, without thoughtful plans and campaigns to cultivate and get engaged with these lead sources, it is very natural to lose control what are the lead sources that work best for your organization and has the ability to meet your goals.

Giving some thought to these best practices for lead tracking, we are sure, you will for sure quickly see gaps that need to be addressed as noted below:

  • Primarily, make sure how many leads you desire to generate by source. To take this step further you can set a monthly/weekly goal for your marketing and sales teams for each kind of leads that you want.
  • Next, communicate your lead acquisition expectations to your marketing, sales, and customer support teams. For in case they are unaware of what you are shooting for, they cannot support you or align their daily activities, with what that are needed to meet your set goals.
  • Conduct outreach and create marketing campaigns using a marketing CRM platform for engaging with each lead acquisition groups, through SEO, social media, event marketing, and traditional inbound marketing programs.
  • Finally, buy a business CRM to conduct lead tracking, measure, and analyze your results. Since this is the only way by which you will be able to know your campaign’s success and make you understand if your leads are coming from the expected sources and to the extent that you expect them to meet your company’s needs.

Track and Measure in CRM

Enterprise-level CRM platforms like Salesforce or Salesforce Alternative CRM solutions mostly used by small and medium businesses have quite a few functionalities for tracking and comparing real-time lead results to your lead source objectives.

Here are a few steps that you can follow to set up all the needed elements that can ensure an accurate and meaningful analysis of your lead acquisition skills.

  • Establish your primary lead sources with an all in one CRM Apart from traditional lead sources such as banner ads, trade shows, referrals, and SEO, be sure that you also include marketing campaigns to measure the overall effectiveness of your lead acquisition plans and tweak accordingly to improve upon the end results.
  • Create deeper levels of details for activities that produce a lot of For example, trade show leads can be broken down to names of all the trade shows that forms a significant part of your businesses’ event marketing strategy. Similarly, referral leads can be subdivided into vendors, customers, and business partners once you segment the leads inside your CRM database.
  • Establish your goals by entering the expected numbers of leads that you require from each source.
  • Once you a marketing CRM platform associates every contact and new accounts entered in the software, with a specific campaign or lead source.
  • Identify by lead tracking as proof around your effort, which lead source tracks best from opportunities through to sales.

Takeaway

Therefore if you already know what is a CRM, now applying these best practices will not only help you to find superior control over lead generation skills but it will also aid in improving the effectiveness of your sales and support reps using this business growth training and tools in finding your best and most loyal customers.

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Sales Lead Definition With Examples – For Generating New Leads On The Go

Generating sales leads is one of the most critical aspects of every company’s marketing and sales process. This is because finding promising leads and thereafter converting them into loyal customers is an important part of any company’s workflows, ensuring that their business continues successfully, Therefore if you are interested in knowing the sales lead definition with example and how they factor into the sales process, primarily you need to know what they are and how businesses find them from the marketplace.

Generating sales leads is one of the most critical aspects of every company’s marketing and sales process. This is because finding promising leads and thereafter converting them into loyal customers is an important part of any company’s workflows, ensuring that their business continues successfully.
Therefore if you are interested in knowing the sales lead definition with examples and how they factor into the sales process, primarily you need to know what they are and how businesses find them from the marketplace.

You don’t close a sale, you open a relationship if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise. - Patricia Fripp Click To Tweet

So let us look over here at different types of sales leads and after that discuss some of the effective lead generation methods which can bring more sales revenue to your business and, consequently, profits within a very short time.

What are sales leads?

A sales lead is an individual or company that has the potential to become a paying customer.

Therefore leads are prospects at the earliest stages of becoming a loyal customer.

In fact, leads are people or organizations that have expressed interest in the offerings of a brand by undertaking some sort of action, which can be clicking on a link or filling out a form.

Hence to turn a lead into a customer, businesses must first contact the lead and then provide information and data about their products or services to close the sale.

There are in general three types of leads which most of us have learned in our business growth training that includes:

  • Cold leads

A cold lead is an organization or an individual who practically knows nothing about your brand or your offerings.

It can always be that a cold lead may not have shown any specific curiosity or interest in your offerings yet- but still, they could be a perfect fit as your consumer.

Hence in order to appeal to the cold leads, the members of your sales team must remain extra careful not to overwhelm them with information, but rather present a concise introduction of your brand and your business and provide them a low-risk opportunity to interact with your offerings.

There are several businesses that purchase cold leads using professional lead generation services from the marketplace that meet geographical and demographical criteria and thereafter exert considerable efforts to persuade the lead to become their customers.

  • Warm leads

These leads are the entities that have demonstrated some interest in a company’s offerings but have not yet expressed any desire to make a purchase.

Now warm leads that you have in your easy to use CRM software’s database, might respond to a brand’s social media post or have filled out a form to receive more information about a certain offering that your company sells in the marketplace.

Warm leads can also be those who are interested in a company’s brand or mission but have not made any commitment to support the company monetarily or people who have contacted the company in the past or have responded to the company’s general marketing efforts and so have the potential to become customers with a relatively small amount of effort.

  • Hot leads

Finally, the hot leads (the most sought-after leads for any business) are individuals or companies who have expressed a positive desire to purchase a certain offering that you sell in the marketplace.

Now hot leads, in general, are well-informed on the product and services sold by your company, they are also agreeable to the price.

Hot leads are mostly consumers who have received a recommendation for your brand, conducted in-depth independent research, and have decided to purchase on their own.

There might be also hot leads in your sales CRM software’s database that might have originally been cold or warm leads that were effectively converted by the sales and marketing teams.

For the hot leads mostly the only effort required by the company is closing the sale and completing the transaction.

Where can you find new leads?

Now that you know the sales lead definition with examples here are several effective and time-tested methods that businesses use to find and generate leads.

Therefore as one of the best vendors of CRM for small and medium business and startups, here are some of the best lead generation practices for SMBs.

1. Website

The most basic tool that any business need for lead generation is a website that effectively features your company’s mission, vision, pricing, and offerings.

Actually, websites are landing pages to which all other lead generation tools and methods are redirected.

Now the website of your company should present your brand’s offerings in a way that must appeal to a wide range of customers.

Most importantly the website should also request the visitors to input their contact information as soon as they arrive at the home page.

There are several methods you can attract visitors to your website which includes email marketing or ensure that your website appears in the search engine results by using effective SEO techniques that can make your brand show up on the first page.

The technique used for website lead generation, in general, takes the form of a pop-up that greets the visitor and asks them to type their email address into a field after which once the company receives the visitor’s email address they send the visitor a series of follow-up emails that contains more detailed information about their offerings and also invite the lead to contact customer support if they have any other questions on their mind.

2. Social Media

Another most effective tool that is used nowadays for the generation of leads is social media platforms.

This is because, creating a company profile for services like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram provide opportunities to businesses for promoting their brand and offerings to millions of users on the internet.

However, to generate leads using social media platforms, you need to post contents that are relevant to your brand on a regular basis and thereafter invite viewers to interact with your company.

You can share polls, quizzes, contests, and giveaways on your social media platforms that can, not only keep your followers engaged but also set your brand apart from other competitors in the marketplace.

Now the ultimate goal of all social media activities will be to direct your brand’s followers to your business website or any other landing page where they can purchase your offerings.

As a leading vendor of Salesforce Alternative CRM tools, we have found that promotions like online discounts, free trials, or free of cost shipping and installation can help to persuade leads found in social media to be a customer.

3. Customer Referral System

Finally one of the other effective types of lead generation is a customer referral system, whereby companies provide incentives to their existing customers to refer their brand to their family, coworkers, friends, and relatives.

Now, this is a highly effective and beneficial lead generation tactic since over here the potential leads are more likely to trust a recommendation from their known ones and so these leads are mostly “hot leads” which are low hanging fruits that are easy to close and so are cherished by most companies.

Takeaway

Even though there are many other ways to find leads for your businesses, nevertheless these three tried and tested methods have bought revenue for most B2B and B2C companies.

However, it must be remembered that any lead generation strategy needs patience and time and also a whole lot of A/B testing to get to a situation where it puts your brand to find more leads.

So be wise with your marketing efforts and do not be lured by shady lead generation techniques that promise to find your business excellent leads from the marketplace.

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COVID-19 And Ways To Enhance Experiences In Customer Lifecycle Journey During This Pandemic

All of us want to treat our customers and prospects the best we can, which is more true during this pandemic when businesses are forced to wade through unchartered waters and face these turbulent times. Hence over here as one of the most popular vendors of easy to use CRM tools in the marketplace with thousands of customers using our cloud-based CRM platform, here are some of our observations that can make your brand’s customer lifecycle journey a more meaningful, productive, and a pleasant one even in these troubled times. Now even though there are several advices that you can find online about creating the perfect customer journey and customer experience, nevertheless as your brand’s customer lifecycle journey needs to be carefully managed especially during these trying times, following these four effortless practices consistently is sure to bring your business unforeseen success and growth.

All of us want to treat our customers and prospects the best we can, which is more true during this pandemic when businesses are forced to wade through unchartered waters and face these turbulent times.

Hence over here as one of the most popular vendors of easy to use CRM tools in the marketplace with thousands of customers using our cloud-based CRM platform, here are some of our observations that can make your brand’s customer lifecycle journey a more meaningful, productive, and a pleasant one even in these troubled times.

65% of companies start using a CRM system in their first five years of business - Capterra Click To Tweet

Now even though there are several advices that you can find online about creating the perfect customer journey and customer experience, nevertheless as your brand’s customer lifecycle journey needs to be carefully managed especially during these trying times, following these four effortless practices consistently is sure to bring your business unforeseen success and growth.

1. Send follow-up messaging to one sender

Always remain sure that your business processes align with the requirements of your prospects and customers.

We all are of the same opinion and agree to the fact that businesses are nowadays keen upon deploying business growth technology solutions like easy to use CRM tools that can help automate processes that can increase employee efficiency and productivity- which is of course a brilliant move.

Nevertheless, businesses must primarily take into account the CX and the buyer’s journey when they are ready to build a process even before automating their workflow.

Hence as one of the most popular vendors of Salesforce Alternative CRM platforms, we would advise that businesses should limit the number of automated emails that they send to their customers and prospects during these troubled times.

That means, brands should not send multiple emails from different sales or support reps with inconsistent messages to the prospects and customers since doing this can easily get the recipients confused and annoyed and thereby even delay the buying or resolution process considerably.

2. Ask, discover and listen

The basic goal for any business is to make revenue by satisfying its customers.

If you are working in sales, your goal is identical. Whereby you need to enquire for information, send a quote, and thereafter set up a meeting with the prospective customer or schedule a demo for conversion.

Similarly, if you are looking after customer support activities then again your goals remain the same since over here you even need to satisfy the customer by reverting back to a tough question or crack a problem for your customers.

Therefore, during this pandemic, any employee and representative in businesses should remain well-equipped with the right knowledge and tools to help their prospects and customers.

They must also primarily listen to what they are being told by their prospects and customers since most people are in a habit of not listening when they are talking- so be quiet, listen and then comprehend your customer’s needs.

It is also a good practice to always repeat what you have heard from them back to your callers since that can make sure of a mutually agreed-upon understanding between both the parties involved in the interaction, which help decrease miscommunication that can result in a delay in finding the right resolution or the best answer to the customer’s issues.

3. Ensure continuity while resolving the issues

Even though it might sound simple apparently, but it is not easy to find out what your customers or prospects need and get it to them consistently every time.

We say this every time in our  business growth training and ideas, as the path to any resolution can be really challenging, complex, and complicated, and hence everyone in your business must see it through.

For example, in response to an issue may be the person who first responded to the problem might not be the person who has the answer and so was unable to resolve the problem at the end. Nevertheless, the first person in the chain should always remain responsible and act as an interface with the prospects and customers to see that their problems are solved by someone more efficient and knowledgeable in the team. This is because it can always happen that the first person may have to hand off the prospect to another representative to help them find the necessary solution.

But even in situations like this one, it is absolutely important that a three-way introduction is required before the handoff occurs between the inquirer, the first contact, and the person thereafter entrusted to take over the pending responsibility for solving the issue.

4. Remain empathetic and timely in your approach

Finally since during this COVID-19 pandemic times, your 6-hour or 12-hour automated response providing time might not be the perfect or the desired solution for your customers, so remain timely in your approaches while solving your customers’ issues.

Always remember that any world-class CX and a positive customer experience in the customer lifecycle journey through a brand depends a lot on those who take care of their consumer’s pain-points, challenges, struggles and are dedicated to making their customer’s life better by using innovations and creativity while resolving problems faced by the prospects and customers during these troubled times.

This is because going by what we always say as one of the most popular vendors of easy to use CRM solutions if your business truly apprehends the problems faced by your consumers, you will soon understand that one solution never fits all, and so in order to provide a world-class customer experience businesses must make use of appropriate timings in order to respond according to the individual customer’s needs to increase customer satisfaction of their brands.

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Business Growth Training: Why Inbound Marketing Is Required For Lead Generation In Startups

The most challenging task being a marketer is to bring and engage customers on your businesses’ website. Therefore if you want to find success in terms of your business, you must find out better ways to build trust with the audiences visiting your website and thereafter convert them into leads. What Is Inbound Marketing? According to Wikipedia: “Inbound marketing is a technique for drawing customers to products and services via content marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and branding.” Hence, in the present time, with the stellar rise in SEO, digital marketing, and social media platforms, companies are progressively using inbound marketing strategies to boost the consistency of their customers and generate more leads from their websites. In other words, inbound marketing nowadays as a business growth training is the best way to attract, engage, and delight your potential customers which helps in adding value to your businesses’ productivity.

The most challenging task being a marketer is to bring and engage customers on your businesses’ website, which is why we want to discuss on this topic as a part of business growth training in this blog.

Therefore if you want to find success in terms of your business, you must find out better ways to build trust with the audiences visiting your website and thereafter convert them into leads.

Inbound marketing is the primary marketing approach for 74% of marketers worldwide. Click To Tweet

What Is Inbound Marketing?

According to Wikipedia:

“Inbound marketing is a technique for drawing customers to products and services via content marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and branding.”

Hence, in the present time, with the stellar rise in SEO, digital marketing, and social media platforms, companies are progressively using inbound marketing strategies to boost the consistency of their customers and generate more leads from their websites.

In other words, inbound marketing nowadays as a business growth training is the best way to attract, engage, and delight your potential customers which helps in adding value to your businesses’ productivity.

This is the reason why organizations (especially startups and small businesses) in modern times are using various tools to implement their inbound marketing strategies which can help them to enhance their business growth.

Now, before implementing any strategy is most important you should also know about its benefits.

Hence, let us take a look at the various reasons that will help you to understand “Why you need to implement inbound marketing for your business?” and learn it as a part of your business growth training.

Cost-effective

The primary focus of marketing in this digital era is to drive more traffic to the websites and also save a huge chunk of money.

According to research studies it has been found that content marketing strategy costs 60 percent less as compared to other traditional marketing approaches.

Therefore, marketers, these days use content marketing for boosting their inbound marketing approaches for attracting more customers on their business websites and thereby at a far lesser cost than traditional marketing help generate more marketing qualified leads.

In other words, inbound marketing is really a blessing for small businesses as it helps them to generate leads at an affordable price.

Convert your blog into a valuable resource

If you are not able to generate leads and traffic to your website through your content marketing endeavors and are not aware of the reasons, let us help you out to find the desired outcome.

There are primarily two main reasons that your blogs and contents are not finding enough leads.

Firstly there is no back-link(s) in your blogs and secondly, there is less search potential for your content.

Therefore, to overcome these two major obstacles you can use inbound marketing approaches to convert your blogs into valuable lead generation resources.

This is because according to studies done on business growth training it can be said that inbound marketing is the best way to boost engagements, increase customer retention rate, and thereby scale-up business revenue steadily.

Make better marketing decisions

By using inbound marketing tools in startups and small businesses, you can easily analyze all your business practices and thereby make better decisions using an easy to use CRM software solution, like the number of landing page conversions, email clicks, customer interests, and more.

Best business CRM software, when used for inbound marketing practices also helps in analyzing customer journey at each stage of your sales pipeline and thereby helps SMBs to take effective decisions that result in amplifying revenue growth.

Boost your brand awareness and social media presence

There is no doubt that in this era of digital growth, most target audiences for any business remains active on social media websites.

Therefore, if you are thinking of a marketing methodology to strengthen your social media presence to build stronger relationships with your customers, inbound marketing is the tool that helps to create your brand awareness and increase your social media presence that translates to a growth in your ROI.

According to studies it has been found that in more than 89 percent of businesses used blogs in 2019, to engage more customers in their social media websites.

This is because; the higher is your website traffic, the more leads you generate for your business.

Aids in creating customer-focused contents

To build trust and acquire the interest of your prospective customers, you need to provide them with real engaging content, which primarily focuses on the interests and fluctuating demands of your leads and customers.

Inbound marketing when done with easy to use CRM software, helps to streamline all your marketing campaigns and so aids in proving your prospects what they are looking for.

Moreover, when inbound marketing is done with the best small business CRM software it helps SMBs to create customer-centric content and helps businesses to send messages to the right prospects at the right time.

This is because; once you can create contents that are reliable to your audience you can easily remain ahead of the competition and find rapid business growth.

Conclusion

Therefore in a gist inbound marketing strategy when done in the right manner using a CRM for small business as a tool, it not only helps to increase your website search results and generate more leads but also aids in automating repetitive tasks and therefore deliver world-class service to your prospective leads and customers that aids in creating sustainable long-term growth.

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