Over the past few years, B2B and B2C sales have changed beyond recognition. The large-scale digitization of business processes means that an increasing proportion of sales and marketing activities take place online, though the basic business principles have not changed. Good relations remain the most important factor in attracting and retaining customers.
It is of utmost importance to ensure the presence of the brand and branding communication where our current and potential customers are. Only the place has changed – we spend much less time reading newspapers, watching TV or visiting a theme club. Instead, we search for all information on the web. Therefore, responsibility for the quality of the content delivered to the customer on the Internet is increasing.
Sales relations vs. task management
We often perform tens, hundreds, and in the case of larger companies, thousands of activities every month in an attempt to reach the client with a reliable message. The chaos of activities and processes without the right tool can be overwhelming, even for the most organized and substantially prepared team.
We cannot lose the most important thing from sight – the customer perspective. It is a key parameter in sales, which every salesperson and marketer understands very well. If the information the client obtains about us from various sources is consistent and creates a positive image of the company, then such a potential contractor is much more willing to use our services.
Brand credibility is important as, based on research results, more than 50% of customers seek additional information about the company and consult it in their circles before contacting the selected supplier directly. This is why it is so important to maintain multi-threaded marketing activities at different levels. Project management should be an integral part of this process. Without a proper implementation plan, we will not be able to control the particular aspects and elements that form the customer’s perspective.
Business projects vs. CRM
The complete sales process, from the first contact through numerous follow-ups of various types, providing service to a returning customer, sales and after-sales service is a kind of ecosystem. Every customer is different. However, in order to properly serve everyone, target groups and so-called persona are created, i.e. descriptions of the customer’s characteristics, needs and business preferences.
The company has only one chance to make a good impression on the client, hence the need to fine-tune the message to each person and guarantee the best possible experience in contact with the company.
The statistics show that a meeting with the prospect is only the first step on the way to sale. Later, as many as 5 or more follow-ups are necessary to finalize the sale.
Controlling where a customer is in the process is crucial to achieving the goal. The CRM Salesforce system allows you to build customer paths so as to lead him up to the sale along a road that is in line with his expectations, with as little work as possible on the part of the salespeople.
For example, Salesforce will not only notify the salesperson of the need for e-mail contact with the customer, it will also take into account the best hours of potential dispatch, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. and in the evening, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. It will allow to list the tasks to be done, to divide them into smaller units and subtasks, each of which may have a status indicating the level of performance. It will facilitate status monitoring, remind you of the upcoming execution date but also guarantee clarity and transparency by displaying upcoming commitments in a calendar or by prompting you to perform a certain task through messages displayed by your phone. All these elements help ensure timely completion of the tasks whereas customers do not have to ask you to contact them.
The strengths of Salesforce in task management
With the support of Salesforce Partner, it is possible to design your own project implementation process, in which you can decide e.g. on specific interdependencies between implementation statuses.
From the perspective of the person responsible for marketing or sales activities, as well as entire task forces, it is extremely important that Salesforce offers the opportunity to view work-related summaries and reports visualizing progress.
These reports help to make a real assessment of the state of the projects and the deadlines for the implementation of the various stages.
Comprehensive CRM platform, such as Salesforce, also include a communication module inspired by solutions known from social networks (e.g. Facebook), thanks to which project managers can quickly communicate with each other, even in the case of remote work, referring immediately to a specific task carried out with the help of CRM.
Salesforce Chatter allows you to work in closed groups, publish materials and, above all, obtain opinions within the team, by conducting surveys or involving people from other departments in the discussion. Other Salesforce tools support document management by offering the ability to version documents, supervise work schedules, build marketing campaigns and other materials, without which it is difficult to imagine a well-run business project.
The projects we carry out in the company, despite significant similarities, may differ in terms of detailed requirements and specifications. The above described elements of the CRM system can be adapted to these needs, as well as implemented by users in other applications within Salesforce, more fine-tuned to specific needs.
There are situations in which it is worth encouraging users to use predefined e-mail templates in order to contact more customers at the same time. In other tasks, it is necessary to focus on fully automated marketing and use artificial intelligence to automate the process of communication with potential customers. The most important thing, however, is that all these elements are kept in one place, ensuring that users always have a full view of the situation and the history of contact with a given customer.
From the perspective of people working with the CRM system on a daily basis, access to the platform regardless of where they are is also crucial. Salesforce runs through a browser and a mobile app to perform tasks seamlessly regardless of your device. All the data is stored in the cloud and updated on an ongoing basis.
Summary
A good CRM is like a gearbox in a car. Of course, you can always use the second gear when the others are using the highest gear. But is it your goal to reach the finish line last? Similarly, the management of sales and marketing projects is possible without a CRM rich in options and capabilities, but the projects will never gain satisfactory momentum and, above all, they won’t attain the goal.
Salesforce is a product that will guarantee your projects the right acceleration. The tools offered by CRM can be adapted to the requirements of a specific project depending on how numerous the team is, how it works and what values and indicators you want to achieve. Thanks to the variety of extensions combined in a coherent database, Salesforce is a solution that can be applied to both small, medium and very complex marketing and sales projects.
Author
- Product Marketing Manager
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She has been involved in the IT industry and Salesforce for three years. At the moment, she works on business development, generating leads, organizing business events and widely understood product marketing. She supports Craftware’s sales team reaching new customers and building long-term relationships with them. A certified Pardot specialist, a tool for automation of B2B Salesforce marketing.
