One of the often overlooked benefits of CRM is communicating the desire for relationship with our customers. In the past, making a sale has been based on competition for the quick sale. That is clearly a masculine activity. The single purpose of making the sale has lost its power in the past decade. Today’s customer wants something different. CRM makes it possible to give them what they want.
Today’s Customers Don’t Easily Trust
The internet has done more than place a massive amount of information at the fingertips of prospective customers. It has also revealed the hype and empty promises made by unscrupulous sellers. With tightened belts and healthy dose of skepticism, sales people have to work harder and longer to get a prospective customer to say yes to a product or service.
The difference between the masculine (sell, sell, sell) approach to getting business and the feminine approach (let’s establish a relationship of trust) is huge. Manipulative closing techniques are rebuffed as quickly as a pick-up line at the local drinking establishment. Instead, gather data and use automation tools to entice prospects into a relationship.
Women, since the ice age, have learned to connect. While the men were out slaying the tiger, women raised the kids, kept things clean, gathered grains, picked berries and cooked together. These tasks were only possible because they performed all this tedious work as a community that was in a deep relationship. Creating a connection with prospects yields high returns because it is simply can be efficient using technology.
Today’s Customers Feel Squeezed and Isolated
The pressure to make the perfect decision every time because of budget constraints is real. Every time a purchase decision is made, it becomes an action to be analyzed by everyone involved. The CEO has to answer to the shareholders, department heads answer to the CEO and the entire organization has an opinion about whether it was the right purchase.
Creating time and space to nourish the relationship with prospective clients is a powerful way to promote a transaction. With CRM sales reps are able to bring in the human element and validate the importance of the decision maker. Can gather important data about the company and all the players involved. And can ask questions that demonstrate that they care for more than just an immediate sale. They can remember the details of previous sales and the customer’s preferences. It all results in a deeper understanding of customers on an individual and collective basis.
Prioritize for Efficient Sales
You want the sales reps to be pursuing the most viable prospects. Sorting and qualifying your leads is the most efficient way to keep sales people making money. CRM programs can identify the prospects with a profile shown as the most likely to purchase. When the sales team is focused on a specific type of buying prospect, sales increase.
Since statistics show that less than 20% of sales leads turn into actual sales, a CRM allows you to capture those other prospects and lead them through a buyer path for future sales. In some companies, the close ratio is less than 10%. It is particularly important that these companies use a technique for developing a relationship with customers and future customers. Letting more than 90% of costly leads become wasted is insane.
Even people who bristle at the idea of making their sales process more feminine know that these differences are very important. With shrinking close ratios and exploding costs of each sale, it is imperative that you consider the benefit of an online CRM system. Buyers want relationships. This technology can be what you need to give them what they want.