This article was included in the December 20th, 2016 issue of the LACRM Newsletter.
Every customer starts off as a lead, so you always want to make sure that you have as many good leads as possible in your sales funnel at any given time. After all, the more leads you have, the more customers you are likely to end up with! Being aware of the number of leads you have in your sales funnel helps you know potentially how many sales you can close in the next few months, and maintaining a high number ensures that they don’t dry up down the road.
Kevin Albrecht, Sales and Marketing Manager at Red Elephant, spends a lot of time on the phone with his leads because this keeps them moving through his pipeline and ensures that new leads are being qualified every day:
“Most sales are not made on the first contact. If you’re not getting on the phone to frequently make sales calls and touch base with your leads, all the work that you are putting into product development and marketing is wasted. You don’t notice this right away if you’re off the phones for a few weeks, but a couple of months down the line, your leads will start to dry up.
Because of this, we try to be as consistent as possible when it comes to scheduling time for calls, and ensure that we keep track of how many calls we’ve made or emails we’ve sent someone. This way we know the best time to follow up with people, keep better track of our leads, and ultimately, increase our overall revenue.”
-Kevin Albrecht, Sales and Marketing Manager at Red Elephant
How can the CRM help?
The CRM keeps a log of all your past interactions with any contact, which lets you make better follow ups, since you know when you should call and what you should talk about during each call. However, the CRM not only helps you keep track of these interactions, but also lets you keep an eye on how your sales funnel looks. You are always able to see the number of leads you have in each stage of a process you are tracking right on Your Workspace, and through your pipeline reports. This way, you can get a general idea of what your next few months are going to look like, and whether or not you need to increase your lead generation efforts!
Tip to try: Take a closer look at the number of new leads you have coming in (i.e. your lead volume) every week or month as needed. You can do this by looking over the number of prospects you have in the first status of your pipeline(s). This number is valuable because it is a good predictor of what your future weeks will be like, and because a low lead volume suggests low future sales, you want to ensure that you (and your team) are aware if this number makes any sudden dips.
Paying attention to your lead volume lets you keep your finger on the pulse of your business, and regular follow ups with your contacts makes sure that this number stays high -- potentially giving your revenue a nice boost! As always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions!
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