Sales status

The sales process can be managed and monitored using a CRM system. The sales process drives the sales pipeline. All sales opportunities can be be categorised by sale value, timing and probability.

• Sale value. The estimated value of the sale based on current knowledge.
• Sale timing. The date the sale will be closed.
• Sale probability. The probability of winning the sale.

Sales pipeline management

Milestones and probability

By establishing a set of milestones and assigning a percentage probability of sale against each it is possible to factor and hence track the value of all sales over time. Thus your complete sales pipeline can be tracked and appropriate sales activity applied to close sales.

An example …

A sale opportunity is identified with an estimated value of £10,000 with delivery in 6 months time. As the opportunity has not been qualified you may give it a probability of 5%. The future value then of this sale is therefore £500.

However, 3 months on:

• You have made a proposal and the value of opportunity now £12,000.
• You are not in exclusive discussion with the customer.
• You think you may be the preferred supplier.

The sale probability is now 60% so the future value has risen to £7,200.

Finally, after 6 months hard work you win the deal, the contract value is £14,000 and you start next week!

Assignment of sales milestones and probability

With a range of businesses out there it’s not possible to give firm guidance on milestone vs. probability.

However, the best policy is to apply your business knowledge to identify a small set of milestones that are clear and unambiguous that relate to progress through the sales pipeline. Follow this with % probabilities at each milestone of closing the sale based on past business experience in winning orders.

How can we help?

We can work with you, using our proven ‘Business First’ approach, to identify and implement a sales pipeline tracking system for your business. To discuss further please contact us.

Using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system will enable you to develop a deeper relationship with your sales leads and customers through targeted communications, tracking actions and modifying your engagement approach based on results.

What CRM options are there?

There are a number of CRM solutions available to businesses at various price points either delivered as an internet based service or run locally. The optimal solution will be dependant on the complexity your customer base, mix of products and/or services and who will require access to your data.

Regardless of solution, flexibility and day-to-day ease of use are key to making your data work for you.

CRM basics?

There are three principle elements to building and using a CRM system:

• Capturing contact data. Designing a contact record to capture the right level and granularity of information to enable targeted correspondence with your customer base.
• Filtering data. Being able to ‘slice and dice’ your information to target individuals accurately with relevant communications. This is where a CRM system releases the potential of the information you have recorded.
• Recording results. Being able to track the results of your communications such that future communications can be based on this ongoing dialogue.

The CRM contact record – some basics

Every business has different information needs however, the basics of any CRM system is to be able to characterise individuals or companies with a series of attributes.

Mandatory data

Some attributes should be mandatory, for example the persons last name or their address post code. Wherever possible dropdown selections, tick boxes and the like should be used as this forces consistency in data entry which makes subsequent filtering much easier.

Consistency of data

Consistency of data is the biggest problem in any CRM system as inconsistent data makes data filtering very difficult (that well known expression of ‘rubbish in – rubbish out’).

For example, Hampshire and Hants are the same county but only the first 2 letters are the same. Filtering to get everyone in ‘Hampshire’ would miss out everyone in ‘Hants’ and visa versa.

Who owns your CRM data?

A strange question possibly, but very important. As your business grows many people will have access to your business data; both reading and entering information. Without somebody having overall data ‘ownership’ your CRM data quality will inevitably decrease which has a direct bearing on its value to your business. The data ‘owner’ has the responsibility of ensuring data quality through audits and staff training.

Finally, as your customer database is your business it makes business sense to guard who has access and the type of access they have to avoid both data loss to competitors and data breaches.

How can we help?

We can work with you, using our proven ‘Business First’ approach, to identify and implement a CRM system for your business. To discuss further please contact us.

To find out more about building customer relationships read our blog on Customer Relationship Management. For more information on email direct marketing see our blog on Email Direct Marketing.

The problem – how to manage your business contacts list?

As businesses we all collect contact details and other information about our customers and sales leads. The question is how to organise and use this information to benefit your business?

Understanding your business relationships

If you understand the business needs of your contacts you will be in a good position to create sales opportunities and build deeper business relationships.

Broadly, your business relationships fall into two categories:

1. Sales leads. Those people who have shown an interest in your business but have yet to purchase from you.
2. Customers. People who have purchased from you. You will be in a good position to develop this relationship further resulting in future sales opportunities.

Managing your business relationships

Communicate with your sales leads and customers in what ever format is most appropriate; email, text, letter, fax, telephone or even face-to-face! The key things are:

• Relevance. Make what you say relevant to their needs.
• Records results. These results will inform you how to continue an ongoing dialogue to grow the relationship.

How can we help?

We can work with you, using our proven ‘Business First’ approach, to identify how best to manage your business relationships. To discuss further please contact us.

For more information on email marketing see our blog on Email Direct Marketing.

A QR or Quick Response code is a code that is readable by camera ‘phones and bar code readers.

Where would you use it?

The pattern contains encoded information provided by you; your website URL, text or some other data. Typically this is added to your website or business card to enable visitors to capture your contact details quickly and efficiently.

This is my vCard QR code. It contains:

• My name.
• Company name.
• Telephone number.
• Email address.
• Postal address.
• Website address.
• Additional information.

The QR code can be used in all sorts of innovative marketing situations from flyers to marketing ‘give aways’ to estate agent for sale or let boards to provide visitors with a website URL or additional information.

What else can be encoded?

In addition to the vCard used above you can create a QR code containing various other pieces of information (this one is a brief description of our business using the Text option). These are:

• Text (as shown to the right).
• Website URL.
• Telephone number.
• SMS message.
• Email address.
• Email message.
• Contact details (vCard as shown above).
• Event (vCalendar).
• Google maps location.
• Wifi login (Android only).
• Paypal ‘Buy Now’ link.
• Social media.
• iTunes link.
• YouTube video.

With this range of options the possibilities are only limited by your imagination!

How do I generate a QR code?

Google QR code of course! There are many websites offering the capability to create QR codes.

Generate or buy a list of email addresses, create an email, blast everybody on a daily basis and wait for results.

The recipients mark your emails as spam and delete them; you derive no business benefit, it harms your reputation and likely you get reported as a spammer. Game over!

Let’s consider the fundamentals …

Build an email distribution list

First your list must only contain people who have opted in to receive emails from you else you and your business will get classed as a spammer.

Some ideas to use in building an email distribution list:

• Via your website where people can opt in to receive regular communications.
• ‘Give to get‘ where visitors provide their email address in return for receiving some specific information.
• Asking existing clients and contacts to subscribe to your distribution list.

Before you build your email list consider how you will want to ‘slice and dice’ or segment subscribers to your list(s) to enable you to target specific groups.

This email list will form a key element of your customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Target your emails and measure response rates

Key to email marketing is:

• Ensure everybody on your list has opted in – absolutely fundamental.
• Get a validated email address – absolutely fundamental.
• Allow people to unsubscribe – absolutely fundamental.
• Target decision makers and make it personal.
• Content should be well crafted and relevant to the recipient.
• Visually interesting and consistent in branding and structure between successive emails.
• Include a ‘call to action’, ideally time limited to generate urgency.
• Don’t make it too long. Include hyperlinks to relevant web pages for further information.

Measure your email response rate

Email campaigns should not be considered a ‘fire and forget’ activity. It is important to measure the campaign response rate in order to feedback into future campaigns.

Response rate measurement can be further enhanced by undertaking comparison testing between different email formats within the same campaign. This indicates relative effectiveness between the various formats and is a very powerful way of improving your ongoing email marketing.

Email marketing and email list manager service

If you bulk send emails use an email marketing service. These services are set up for high volumes and will be registered with internet service providers (ISPs) as non-spammers.

These services also provide automatic recipient unsubscribe facilities as well as email development and response measurement tools like opening and clicks – vital for feedback on how your emails are being acted upon.

Email list security

Your email list is a key part of your business. It takes time (and therefore has a value) to build so don’t loose it or give it away.

Benefits and disadvantages of email marketing

Driving visitor traffic to your website to ‘find out more’ broadens your opportunity to cross sell other goods and services and additionally, aids site search placement ranking.

The disadvantage of email marketing is that it is uni-directional. You are totally reliant on the receiver doing something with the email which is why it is so important to make it interesting, relevant and include a ‘call to action’.

How can we help?

We can work with you to:

• Set up a suitable email marketing service.
• Identify how to segment your customer base for maximum benefit in email campaigns.
• Develop email templates for use in your direct marketing email campaigns.

Additionally, if we build your website we can include an opt-in email marketing sign-up for your web visitors linking to an email marketing service should you require this.

Contact us to discuss setting up your email direct marketing solution.

Actually, both. So, what is the relationship between marketing and sales and how do they work together to generate new business? Start with an overview …

Marketing

You might have the best product or service available but without marketing you have no business.

Marketing raises your profile so letting customers know you exist and what you can do for them.

Key to marketing is knowing where purchasing decision makers look and how to make contact with them.

A website supports your business marketing. Visit these links to find out why a website supports your business marketing or to find out why you should have a website.

Our ‘Business First’ approach to website development is geared towards understanding your business and marketing needs.

Marketing generates sales opportunities which transfer to your sales pipeline.

Sales

Sales opportunities, either from your marketing efforts or prospecting existing customers are added to your sales pipeline and some ultimately convert into orders.

The timeline for closing sales in the pipeline varies depending on the type of business your run. Inevitably along the way some sales opportunities will be lost through being qualified out either by the customer or you, lost to competitors or the opportunity just goes away.

The key thing to remember is that if you are not talking to your prospects then they could be talking to your competitors.

Performance Measurement

The third element of any the marketing and sales process is measuring your marketing and sales effectiveness. Through this measurement process you will be able to improve your sales conversions into orders.

NTL (now Virgin Media) installed the first broadband connection in the UK in 2000. Since then the number of connections in the UK has grown to 18.3 million.

In the last 10 years broadband has changed the way we live and work be it shopping, holidays, home working and everything in between.

The next challenge for broadband providers to increase network speeds. Today only people who live in high density conurbations enjoy high-speed internet access. The rest are stuck in the internet slow lane, particularly those who live in rural areas or a distance from their local telephone exchange.

Over 2.75 million homes cannot get broadband of a minimum of 2Mbit/s. Next-generation broadband holds out the promise of even more revolutionary ways of doing things so the imperative is for network providers to deliver high speed internet access to everybody who needs it.

As people increasingly expect ‘always on’ availability to information businesses need to consider how they will respond to the challenge of meeting information consumers demands and doing business 24/7/365.

It’s where people look for information about your business before making contact. It extends your marketing reach and increases business opportunities.

A website is a key tool in marketing your business

• Customers. It may be the first point of contact many people have with your business.
• Marketing. It extends your business marketing reach and allows you to compete with larger businesses on equal terms.
• Business growth. No website represents loss of business opportunities.

Key Points

• It’s where people look for information about your business. It informs them about you, your products and services.
• It engages with clients or customers. It supports your sales by allowing people to engage with you informally before making contact.
• It maintains business focus. It clarifies your business drivers. Underlying a successful website is a clear vision of where your business is now and how it will develop in the future.
• It’s a cost effective marketing investment. You can connect with clients and customers when and where they want.
• It has measurable benefits. Through website traffic analysis, it’s easy to identify which pages or goods and services are popular and what people are searching for.

In the race for new business is your website a competitor or a spectator?

Your website has to deliver 5 things

1. Support your business marketing. Through presenting your business effectively to decision makers.
2. Attract and retain visitors. Through creating search friendly results that promote visits.
3. Display and navigation. Display correctly on popular web browsers and with intuitive site navigation.
4. Content. Content must be interesting and relevant.
5. Call to action! Encourage visitors to undertake a transaction – to buy or contact you.

Consider the following in relation to your website

• What is your website doing? Is it actively promoting your business?
• Is it current? Like traditional marketing material, websites require regular updates to reflect both changes in your business and buying trends.
• Are you converting visitors on your website? Every visitor to your website is an opportunity for a transaction. Is this happening?
• Where do you appear in search engine results? Search engines constantly improve their search algorithms and your competitors improve their websites. Where do you appear?

1985

In March 1985, Symbolics computers of Cambridge, Massachusetts entered the history books with an internet address ending in dotcom. That same year another five companies jumped on a very slow bandwagon.

1997

It took until 1997, well into the internet boom, before the one millionth dotcom was registered.

2010

Today 668,000 dotcom sites are registered every month and the internet is part of the fabric of everyday life where people shop, connect with friends, book holidays, be entertained, learn new things and exchange ideas.

An estimated 1.7 billion people, one quarter of the world’s population, now use the internet. There are 53 billion requests for websites, not just dotcoms, every day, about the same number handled for all of 1995.

2020

By 2020 that figure is expected to grow to somewhere between three and four quadrillion.

Why Invest in a Website?

As has been said before, if you’re a business and you don’t have an internet presence you effectively don’t exist because it’s where people go first to find out about you.