To have an effective campaign, measurement of success is critical. This is why categorizing leads and keeping track of your interaction with them is important. This activity is called a sales funnel.
Example:
You are calling a list and categorized it into 4 type of industries:
Automotive
Retail
Real Estate
Coaching
After calling them you recorded the following results:
From the chart above we can make the following conclusions:
All categories are equally likely to engage in conversation (80% Contacts Made/Leads)
Automotive customers are most likely to accept a sales demos (88% Demos Set/Contacts Made)
Looking at an overall success rate (Sales Closed/Leads) we can conclude that the highest chance of closing a sale is with an automotive category.
When strategizing which leads to work, in the example above, we would be prioritizing automotive leads because we have to make fewer contacts to close a sale. If we were to purchase those leads, then on per lead basis, automotive category would be worth more to us because we need to purchase fewer of them to make most sales.
If our target was to get 2 sales, then our second best option would be real estate leads. We would need to make sure we get 28 (14*2) leads for our campaign in order to hit our quote.
Having this statistics is a very useful way to plan a sales campaign strategy.
There are also coaching opportunities that can be tracked from a dashboard. If we are executing these sales through a script, we can make an attempt to improve closing ratio by changing the script (or content of the marketing campaign). Record how the ratio changes by changing components of the script. Keep the changes that seem to improve closing ratio.
To keep records it is important to get organized. If you are dealing with a small amount of leads then tools like excel can be utilized.
However, when dealing with large volume of leads and multiple contacts within a company, a proper CRM is required.
While there are many solutions out there, we recommend the Less Annoying CRM for small sales teams or sole proprietorships. It is one of the most affordable solutions that has all major tools required to properly keep records of the sales funnel.
CRM will enable you to easily set up a new lead in a an organized matter:
Please note how the form allows for "Background Notes" this is a very simple, yet powerful tool. When dealing with tens or hundreds of prospects details like what are the primary concerns or key dates tend to fade away. CRM will help to keep those details in the spotlight. It is also important to keep personal notes about the prospect to establish a more personal relationship.
You will also be able to track where your lead has come from. Just like in the original example where automotive category was the most efficient, you want to identify the most efficient sources of your leads.
Finally, with each interaction you will be able to quickly select what has happened during the call. All lists are custom and you can add more fields if you feel like certain interactions are not represented in the generic field.
All your leads will be organized. In the dashboard of CRM you will be able to select future actions which will populate on your calendar. As you start your day, CRM will present you with the tasks and appointments for the day.
The most important attribute of the CRM is ability to see your funnel. How many active customers do you have? How many prospects do you have? How many prospects are at a discovery stage vs contract negotiations? All this can be tracked easily by CRM. CRM can also tell you what is your revenue outlook based on what you think your success rate at closing a sale. If you are professionally selling CRM is a must. Less Annoying CRM offers a free trial, no credit card required. We strongly recommend that you try it to see the difference it can make in your performance.