Software marketing helps businesses to efficiently segment, automate and track engagement with prospects throughout the customer lifecycle thus enabling us to better manage and measure the digital relationship of a prospect with our brand, so we can master and refine the process that makes a prospect become a customer. The more we know about a prospect, especially in the final stages of sales cycle, the more likely we are to convert them with timely and relevant content.
For example, CRM databases like Salesforce.com helps sales teams manage relationships with prospects: Have I sent the sales material requested? Did I follow up after not hearing from the prospect? Did I log their response to the material and track edits? Sales representatives are instructed that these types of actions must be logged constantly. Without this data, organizations have no visibility to what is happening with one-to-one communications in the sales cycle and the sales rep risks losing touch and forgetting where they are in that relationship.
Today, thanks to software marketing, businesses know what happens leading up to initial contact with a prospect, have visibility to activity logged by sales representatives and know whether the deal closes or not. However, after initial contact is made what really happens next? How is the prospect engaging with sales? Organizations have little visibility to this part of the cycle from the prospect's point of view. From a sales rep's perspective, how do you continue to interact with that prospect and provide the correct material when needed? What's more, how do you create a process out of it — tried and true with measurements showing success?
Despite follow-ups and attempts to close business with a prospect, sales and marketing teams are still missing one crucial element — visibility. Many organizations are establishing Directors of Sales Operations to measure and streamline the sales process based on the effectiveness of each touch point. There is a growing need for tools that bring better visibility to the engagement of the one-to-one communication between a sales representative and their prospect.
Sales Operations Managers must look at what has worked for marketing automation and implement similar concepts into their sales process for better visibility to prospect engagement. We recommend the following steps:
Digital footprint
Software marketing helps sales teams track dialogue between the prospect and the sales rep. After a phone call or an email, reps enter information into their CRM database. Sales operations tools can take that interaction one step further. With today's technology, sales reps can gain visibility to how prospects interact with the sales documents they send out. Reps can track if the prospect opened the document, which pages or slides they viewed, how long the prospect read the document and if they sent it to anyone else. Implementing tracking on those documents can eliminate the "black hole" that exists after sales documents are sent to prospects.
Distinguishing hot and cold leads
Reps often spend time nurturing a relationship by following up with a prospect weeks or even months after not hearing from the prospect. The hope is that the prospect will remember what was once interesting and reengage with the sales rep. Software marketing helps streamline that process for reps, making it easier to track when contact was made and what information was provided to various prospects.
Now that the early stages of a prospect relationship can be tracked and prioritized, the final stages of that relationship also needs to be nurtured and tracked. Instead of over-inundating prospects with emails and follow up calls after periods of silence, sales tools can show reps if prospects are still interacting with documents and when. It makes following up easier and helps reps better focus their attention on prospects who are actually interested in a contract or sale, as opposed to a prospect that lost interest long ago.
Having the right content at the right time
Software marketing shows sales representatives how easy it is to keep track of actions. Reps can more easily locate, identify and evaluate valuable prospect relationships in their CRM database. Sales operations tools can similarly streamline different stages of the sales process allowing sales representatives to close deals faster. By leveraging CRM data to build a contract or proposal, there is no need to create a new proposal from scratch every time. Also, keeping marketing and sales collateral in one location ensures that documents are correctly branded and easily accessible.
Conclusion
In today’s economy, the marketing landscape for businesses has changed dramatically. Companies that hope to effectively spread the word about their offerings, attract customers, engage with them and ultimately retain them, need to adapt to these changes. Those that fail to do so will fall behind.
Author Bio:
I am Ekta Jain, enthusiast writer and blogger working with Design'N'Buy - leaders in web2print turnkey solutions. I love to write and share tips on various aspects of designing and printing personalized products and ecommerce tools. You can also check more at Twitter .
For example, CRM databases like Salesforce.com helps sales teams manage relationships with prospects: Have I sent the sales material requested? Did I follow up after not hearing from the prospect? Did I log their response to the material and track edits? Sales representatives are instructed that these types of actions must be logged constantly. Without this data, organizations have no visibility to what is happening with one-to-one communications in the sales cycle and the sales rep risks losing touch and forgetting where they are in that relationship.
Today, thanks to software marketing, businesses know what happens leading up to initial contact with a prospect, have visibility to activity logged by sales representatives and know whether the deal closes or not. However, after initial contact is made what really happens next? How is the prospect engaging with sales? Organizations have little visibility to this part of the cycle from the prospect's point of view. From a sales rep's perspective, how do you continue to interact with that prospect and provide the correct material when needed? What's more, how do you create a process out of it — tried and true with measurements showing success?
Despite follow-ups and attempts to close business with a prospect, sales and marketing teams are still missing one crucial element — visibility. Many organizations are establishing Directors of Sales Operations to measure and streamline the sales process based on the effectiveness of each touch point. There is a growing need for tools that bring better visibility to the engagement of the one-to-one communication between a sales representative and their prospect.
Sales Operations Managers must look at what has worked for marketing automation and implement similar concepts into their sales process for better visibility to prospect engagement. We recommend the following steps:
Digital footprint
Software marketing helps sales teams track dialogue between the prospect and the sales rep. After a phone call or an email, reps enter information into their CRM database. Sales operations tools can take that interaction one step further. With today's technology, sales reps can gain visibility to how prospects interact with the sales documents they send out. Reps can track if the prospect opened the document, which pages or slides they viewed, how long the prospect read the document and if they sent it to anyone else. Implementing tracking on those documents can eliminate the "black hole" that exists after sales documents are sent to prospects.
Distinguishing hot and cold leads
Reps often spend time nurturing a relationship by following up with a prospect weeks or even months after not hearing from the prospect. The hope is that the prospect will remember what was once interesting and reengage with the sales rep. Software marketing helps streamline that process for reps, making it easier to track when contact was made and what information was provided to various prospects.
Now that the early stages of a prospect relationship can be tracked and prioritized, the final stages of that relationship also needs to be nurtured and tracked. Instead of over-inundating prospects with emails and follow up calls after periods of silence, sales tools can show reps if prospects are still interacting with documents and when. It makes following up easier and helps reps better focus their attention on prospects who are actually interested in a contract or sale, as opposed to a prospect that lost interest long ago.
Having the right content at the right time
Software marketing shows sales representatives how easy it is to keep track of actions. Reps can more easily locate, identify and evaluate valuable prospect relationships in their CRM database. Sales operations tools can similarly streamline different stages of the sales process allowing sales representatives to close deals faster. By leveraging CRM data to build a contract or proposal, there is no need to create a new proposal from scratch every time. Also, keeping marketing and sales collateral in one location ensures that documents are correctly branded and easily accessible.
Conclusion
In today’s economy, the marketing landscape for businesses has changed dramatically. Companies that hope to effectively spread the word about their offerings, attract customers, engage with them and ultimately retain them, need to adapt to these changes. Those that fail to do so will fall behind.
Author Bio:
I am Ekta Jain, enthusiast writer and blogger working with Design'N'Buy - leaders in web2print turnkey solutions. I love to write and share tips on various aspects of designing and printing personalized products and ecommerce tools. You can also check more at Twitter .
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