Create a Communications Powerhouse with your Sales Force Automation/Customer Relationship Software

By Mark Friedman
The Velos Group

One of the problems many companies experience is that they don’t have enough qualified leads for their sales force. In fact, in a recent Harvard Business Review survey of over 1,000 companies, the number one 2006 priority was to optimize their lead-generation programs.

The article goes on to state, "For a salesperson, a steady stream of worthy leads is practically nirvana."

Does Sales Force Automation (SFA)/Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have a role in helping solve this problem? Absolutely!

This article will address the role that SFA/CRM software can take to proactively address this important issue.

1. The Company’s Accounting/Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. From these sources, a company can provide products sold information, last order date, etc.
2. Third party databases, such as Dun & Bradstreet, InfoUSA and other specialized databases like the Harte-Hanks Technology database. These databases can provide specific industry, company size, location type and installed technology information. All of this information can then be imported into the SFA/CRM software.
3. Sales Inquiry Qualification. As sales inquiries are qualified, the company gains additional insight regarding the account’s requirements and characteristics. For example, how large is their warehouse, what kind of material handling equipment do they use or how many boxes do they ship each month.

For instance, clients with different product lines have differentiated these groups because they tend to be different demographically – larger companies versus smaller ones, manufacturing companies versus distribution companies, etc. One of our clients has created separate groups for contractors that typically specify their product and end user companies that purchase directly from them. Another identifies reseller partners that sell their products versus end user companies that purchase the products through their resellers.

Customized, Consistent Communication Uncovers

Buyers earlier in the buy cycle Effective and regular communication is critical as companies are increasingly using the Internet to accomplish their preliminary research when they start their buying cycle. The sooner a company can identify a company in the buying cycle, the more chance of success – by identifying the decision makers sooner, influencing the specs and implementing a successful selling strategy before the competition.

Customers and prospects in each identified groups mentioned above have different problems they are looking to solve. They have different requirements that need to be addressed and in many cases they have different buying cycles. We know intuitively that a success story customized for one industry doesn’t necessarily impress prospects in another industry. Companies want to know specifically that you understand their environment and have been successful in providing solutions that solve their specific problems. A company should use this information to consistently communicate customized messages to each of these groups using newsletters and conducting integrated direct mail/telemarketing lead generation programs. Targeted groups receiving information that is customized to their needs and is compelling will increase their response to these communications, which, in turn increase the effectiveness of these programs and increase sales.

Test

Different groups respond to different offers; different companies within the same group respond differently. It is important to test different offers and see which ones resonate better with the companies you are targeting. Tests reduce your costs as they are typically sent to a smaller audience than a full-fledged marketing program. It’s far better to test a direct response concept on a smaller audience and find that it doesn’t create the response you expected than to commit to an expensive program that does not meet your expectations.

It is critical you flag your SFA/CRM software to indicate which offer(s) have been sent to which accounts. This will give you the ability to track the sequence of mail pieces or emails sent to a particular company. By tracking this information and matching it up with response information (see below), a company can analyze the effectiveness of the different approaches used to generate qualified leads and ultimately new accounts.

Track

Use your SFA/CRM software to indicate which accounts have responded to which offers. Make sure you follow a structured Lead Source coding scheme to be able to accurately identify each offer and any variation of the offer. By identifying the program that generated the response, the company can evaluate marketing effectiveness and ultimately, marketing program ROI.

We appreciate our sponsors:

• ActOn Software
  Applied DM Research, Inc.
• CartoonLink, Inc.
• ClickPoint Software
• eti Sales Support
• Event Technologies
• Exceed Sales
• The Hill Group
• ITN International

• Invenio Solutions
• InterlinkOne
• LeadLife
• New Business Strategies
• The Pedowitz Group
• PointClear, LLC
• Sales Benchmark Index
• SalesFUSION

• Sales Leakage Consulting
• Sandler Training
• Validar Inc.
• The Vanella Group
• VanillaSoft
• Velocify
• The Velos Group, Inc.
• Vorsight