Tag Archives: sales

CRM – keeping track of customers

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You may have clicked on this topic because you wanted to know what CRM stands for, or perhaps you know that a better relationship with your customer will help your business. Customers are key to any business; an existing customer is likelier to be loyal and doesn’t need to be convinced to buy as they are already customers. If they are having a good experience, they will tell their friends. Talking to and finding your customers can be expensive, which is exactly what this guide will discuss.

Customer relationship management (CRM) manages a business’s interaction with current and potential customers. It uses data analysis about customers’ history with your business to improve business relationships with customers, specifically focusing on customer retention (keeping them) and ultimately driving sales growth.

WHY do I need CRM?

As a business starts to grow, it is hard to keep track of sales opportunities and ensure anyone in the business can see exactly what is going on with each customer. It is good to know which customers have the greatest opportunity to close a sale and the value of that sale. A CRM solution is a cloud-based software package that helps you sell. Because it is cloud-based, it means that traditionally, only big businesses could afford to buy it; now, small businesses can access the same tools for less. Be sure to read our essential guide on Cloud Solutions.

The benefits of customer relationship management software:
  • Easy access to customer data: A customer relationship management system includes a searchable database that allows users to access client and prospect information, offering them the most up-to-date information on customers from anywhere.
  • Streamlined processes: You can coordinate sales, marketing, and customer support processes. E.g. did this marketing effort result in a sale?
  • Actionable insights on business performance and customer behaviour:  Through customisable dashboards, you can see reports that segment customers, track revenue, and manage marketing campaigns.
    Finding new customers costs far more than keeping the ones you already have.

WHAT are the typical features of customer relationship management software?

  • Contact management: Searchable database of customer and prospect information.
  • Track interactions: Document conversations with customers and prospects on different channels such as phone, email, live chat, or in-person. You might also be able to track the results of marketing campaigns and identify potential cross-selling opportunities.
  • Lead management: Track and manage business opportunities throughout the customer lifecycle.
  • Calendar/reminder system: Create reminders about calls or meetings and synchronise these with the user’s calendar. It can prompt you that it is time for a catch-up and remind you of useful information.
  • Offers: Create special offers for clients who seem to be drifting away or set up and manage events that might increase customer retention.
  • Document storage: Store, share, and manage documentation and paperwork.
  • Segmentation: Divide the customer base into groups based on attributes like age, gender, location, and preferences to create targeted sales and marketing campaigns.

HOW do I choose a customer relationship management software solution?

Types of customer relationship management tools: CRM falls into three areas. Sales automation solutions help users manage inventory, order processing, and sales reporting. Marketing automation solutions help users create and manage marketing campaigns. Customer service software helps track and manage customer queries. Users should assess their customer relationship management system needs and shortlist products that meet their specific needs.
You should evaluate various solutions based on the following:

  • Competitive pricing: Any advantage offered by the CRM software will be wiped out if it’s costing you more than it brings in. Use good quality accounting software to make a few forecasts about how much revenue you might gain. Then shop around.
  • Scalability: Can the software grow and your business grows? Some packages are better for smaller businesses, others for medium businesses.
  • Ease of use: CRM software must be intuitive, or you will never want to use it. Note how many clicks it takes to conduct a basic task and how easy or difficult it is to find the needed features.
  • Support: What support, if any, is included? What hours do they operate? Do they have blogs or best practice examples?
  • Security: With all your customer data in the cloud, you want excellent security. Be careful; you can be fined for customer data breaches in Australia.
  • Integration: How well will this solution integrate with other systems you may have, like accounting, email, calendar, etc.. Be sure to read our essential guides on accounting packages and office productivity.

HINT

A review of what different tools are available can be found here or by doing a Google search. Do your evaluation carefully. Some solutions may offer you too many features. Others have lots of add-on modules with extra functionality, which start adding to the price quickly. Most solutions will offer free trials for you to get a better feel; some even offer the basics for free.

SUMMARY – CRM data quality

Our last call out here is the CRM system is only as good as the data it has, so if it is not used or information is out of date, then it stops being a useful tool.

soft sell is crucial to sales conversion

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The soft sell sometimes gets a bad rap. In an era of aggressive marketing, particularly in the technology-driven e-commerce sector, there is little room for prevarication. One needs to convert, convert, convert – drive sales and grow, in an ever-competitive, ruthless marketplace.

The debate over hard versus soft sell approaches is as old as the hills, but the truth is that our customers are often just as overwhelmed by the whirring speed of overt blanket marketing as we are.

We need to redefine the soft sell. It is no longer its predecessor, the ‘softly, softly’ approach of yore. A soft sell today is a sophisticated, strategic, multilateral machine that builds customer trust and loyalty. It converts browsers to buyers, casual visitors to converts.

While the soft sell comes with risks, so do all sales strategies and the key to getting bang for your buck with any strategy is authenticity. In a crowded market and at a time of consumer fatigue towards insincere platitudes in promotions, you can guide your customers down the sales funnel with marketing content that provides value and builds trust. For those in business for the long game, it’s worth investing the same time and careful consideration into nurturing your customer base for the longer term.

Traditional businesses that have a website and e-commerce in place can sometimes see it as an ancillary, a necessary evil. For most of them, 95% of visitors will leave without engaging. However, if managed well it can be one of the major pillars to your business success and longevity.

You can’t see your website browsers the way you see your customers. They are less tangible than watching the foot traffic in your shop or showroom. If 95 percent of the latter walked in and out of your shop without purchasing or enquiring or even acknowledging, you would be very quickly putting strategies in place to increase customer service, increase targeted traffic, and retain the loyalty of your core customer base. So why not treat your online customers the same way?

Personalisation and segmentation

It is important to not generalise your customers. They are unique individuals, and beyond that can belong to various demographic groups, cultures, age groups and other areas of differentiation. This is important because they want different things from your business or product for different reasons.

In simple terms, don’t send the same email to your entire database. Systems are now geared to allow you to easily send a different message to different people in your database via segmentation and automation. Authenticity and care in your communications are key. Consider culture, language, demographic and the relevant targets of your offering when crafting your automated messaging, use your database wisely – segmentation is critical to relevant communications.

Email marketing automation allows you to send personalised messages (based on segments) automatically, as well as based on any trackable engagements that your customers take. Retailers can create very personalised emails that will resonate with their customers, to the point where selling doesn’t feel like selling, it’s valuable information that relates to their needs.

Give them a destination

Although soft selling via social media is crucial for growing brand awareness and building your audience, a call to action is crucial. There is little point in spending your valuable time and money on content to engage your audience if it contains no pathway or journey for the user to continue.

Encouraging your customers to do something after sharing information with them is known as a call to action. Calls to action might include ‘Click here’, ‘Learn more’, ‘Get started!’, ‘Download here’.

Without a clear call to action, conversions will remain low. If you’ve got somebody who’s already engaged with your content, give them somewhere to go. Content is never more powerful than when it encourages your consumers to act.

Communicate on their terms

Your online presence should let your customers communicate with you on their terms. How do your customers prefer to communicate? Do you have these channels clearly visible on your website? To bridge this divide, consider solutions such as live chat or Facebook Messenger as a chat option, along with a clearly visible clickable phone number on all pages of your website. If your customers are international, you could encourage them to use WhatsApp.

You should also include an email address, since people generally do not like the impersonality of filling out contact forms. Finally, ensure you’ve got links to your Facebook, Instagram and any other relevant social platforms on all of your webpages.

The golden rule here is this: when your customers initiate a conversation, via any of their chosen channels, do NOT direct them to another one. For example, there is no point in using your live chat capability to direct a customer to call a help desk. Utilise available technology to either resolve their query or undertake to return the correspondence directly, within their chosen channel.

Quid pro quo – value for contact

The number one missed opportunity on small business websites is that they do not offer visitors something of compelling  value in exchange for their email addresses. This seems fundamental, but value, perceived or in real terms, is vital in verifying and converting your potential lead.

Not everyone is ready to immediately book/buy from you when they visit your website. They may be ‘browsing’ or are at an early stage of  their purchase lifecycle. They are interested, but not ready to invest in detailed reading or immediate obligatory costs. But an offer that pops up, at the right time, promising to deliver them something of value is more of an exchange, and less of a database trawl.

This looks different for every business depending on your customers’ needs. Give your potential customers something special in exchange for their email addresses. They are already considering your product. How can you educate, inform, entertain, and ultimately convert? It might be free content such as a document or e-book download. It might be an appealing discount on their purchase when signing up to be a potential customer. Whatever it is, in this exchange, you get the email address and can nurture your potential customer with an email sequence tailored to them.

Soft and steady wins the race

It can sometimes feel that a soft sell is a bit like treading water, and not enough is happening. All of these tips and considerations will go a long way to strengthening your soft sell strategy, and remember the customer journey is not always linear, so everything you do to develop trust on your customers’ preferred channels can contribute to them becoming a warm lead.

The tapestry of techniques, capturing the interest and loyalty of those potential customers, and your authenticity and commitment to them, are all part of a sophisticated strategy that, if done right, will reap sustainable rewards. And it’s much easier to implement, when you have the right knowledge, support and digital tools, than you might think.

Article contributed from Liz Ward, co-founder and CEO, Navii: 

Liz Ward is the co-founder and CEO at Navii going digital. With more than 20 years’ experience helping businesses build their digital capabilities, Liz is a committed advocate for tech innovation.

Navii is an Australian government-backed, independent organisation that helps small and medium-sized businesses thrive in the digital economy. The team behind Navii has helped thousands of small businesses in Australia and around the world with unbiased digital advice, courses, one on one consultations and industry training.

Alongside a team of 11 in-house employees, Navii also boasts a wide network of trusted digital professionals, educators, and mentors who are on hand to provide specialised help and advice. Navii is always practical and jargon-free, with all materials written in plain English.  

Website design for subscribers, leads, and sales

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Website design is critical for your business success. When you open a web page, do you read it or do you scan it? We all want instant gratification to quickly find what we want. A well-designed website will engage readers and help you achieve your goals.  This guide will look at why web design is essential and look at what you should consider to get the best result.

Web design can be defined two ways.
1. Referring to the design of the website displayed on the internet and the consumer experience. The experience of viewing the page includes its layout, the content contained and the graphic design.
2. To create and maintain a website using a process of planning, conceptualising and arranging content. Website design uses specialised software and templates combined with human creativity.

WHY should I care about good website design?

The best layouts for sales are deeply influenced by conversion science (study of converting a user’s interest into a sale). This means layouts are critical for marketers who want more subscribers, leads, and sales.

A visitor’s first impression of your website is critical! Layout and design are what influences that first impression.

More than 90% of first-impressions are design-driven. A visitor will form an opinion of your site in less than a second.

A recent study indicates that nearly 50% of all web visitors will decide if your site is worth their time based on design alone.

Colours and graphics contribute to a website’s design. Still, it is the layout that is most important when it comes to user experience and digital conversions.

WHAT makes a good website?

Simple to use – users should not have to work out how to use it
Intuitive – makes information easy to find
Streamline – marketing fluff or clutter is removed
Engagement – convince readers you are worthy of their time
Easy to read – simple text and layout means lazy readers will absorb
Consistency – colours, fonts, and imagery are consistent and on-brand helping visitors connect with you
Responsive – ensures superior experience no matter if consumed on a desktop, tablet or a mobile
Fast – our patience is stretched if a web page takes too long to load

For information on steps to create a website refer to our guide to building a website to boost your brand

HOW do I ensure my website design is effective?

Let’s face it, not all of us are creative, and if we are, we may not then have the skill set to briefly explain a product or service.  The net result is web design takes a specific set of skills that may collaborate with several individuals with different abilities.

Web design has become much simpler with the availability of user-friendly software tools and the availability of template-based building tools.  You have many options to do it yourself or completely outsource the project to something in the middle, like getting some help with some graphics. See our guide on graphic design.

Some key practical attributes of a good website:
  • Use lots of white space to highlight the headline and call-to-action
  • If the visitor wants to learn more, they can scroll down
  • Simple (cut-down) menu that makes finding what you need simple and intuitive
  • Show an example of the solution at work
  • Visitors can understand why they would need the solution, which helps to push the conversion
  • Have a call to action that is static – it’s always prominent, even as visitors scroll down and continue to read
  • Keep the menu static, so readers always have access to other content
  • Ensure the layout is pleasing and easy to read so visitors will be engaged
  • Use clearly marked headings with simple explanations and links for more info
  • Have information to learn enough to drive a conversion based on someone skimming
  • Use words and images that will draw attention
  • At the bottom of a page list out links that make it easy to navigate the site with minimum clicks and scrolling
  • Put essential information above the fold requiring little visitor input (landing page info on screen)
  • Ensure your menu items are simple to understand, and you should have a practical website layout to drive more sales
  • Video can be an effective way to tell a story quickly.  Ensure the video is short and clearly explains a customer benefit
  • Use pop-ups to collect customer data and consider an exit pop-up to reignite interest in your site

HINTS

Good web design is only part of the equation of having a successful business.  If you have a product that no one wants or your pricing is not right, the best website is unlikely to solve this.  For more helpful info see our guide on marketing to grow your business.

You need to be credible.  The design will get you eyeballs, but you will never see them again unless your content is of high quality and relevant to the reader.

Don’t be afraid to use offers. This offer could relate to price, availability, bonuses etc.  There is a reason year after year, retailers use sales to boost sales.

Test your new site.  Ask family friends, business associates etc. to look at your new site and give their frank feedback.  Don’t accept the answer “Good” ask them specific questions.

SUMMARY – Website to drive sales

Having a website and something to sell is a start, but that website must be engaging to attract a buyer to look further and persuasive to help you close a sale.  You can do some simple things with the website layout, content, and graphic design to give your site an unfair advantage over your competitors.