Chart 1, below,👇 shows the challenges leaders in companies face with their sales tool. And when we talk about challenges, there are quite a few!
Let's focus on the 3 most encountered challenges. These are the ones, in red, in the graph. For the colorblind they are the bars that are dark gray 😜.
Let's clarify, this data comes from a survey of CRM leaders who are either:
- Business leaders;
- RevOps experts;
- Sales leaders;
- Marketing leaders;
- Customer experience and customer service leaders.
Chart 1: Top challenges for CRM leaders
challenge #1 - Growth slows down and crm software is needed
At the time of writing, the economy is slowing down and many fear a recession. Another one!
Personally, this is the third recession I have experienced. I am not an economist, but I predict that this recession will be followed by an economic "boom", which will be followed by a recession, which will be followed by an economic "boom", which will be... In short, you have understood that the economy is a cycle and that it is necessary to be prepared for it!
Paradoxically, when the economy is going well and it's going great, companies don't start enough innovative and important improvement projects due to a lack of time (!?!?). On the other hand, when the economy is going down, uncertainty is at the forefront, fear takes hold of us and financial ressources decrease. Result: projects are put on ice!
What an incredible dilemma...
Since the process re-engineering that began in the early 1990s, it is notable that:As you know, technologies contribute, under certain conditions, to improve the performance of companies. Let's face it, our companies suffer from a lack of innovation, which is itself caused by a lack of vision from our leaders.
- Presidents do the work of Vice-Presidents;
- Vice-Presidents do the work of Directors;
- Managers do the work of supervisors;
- Supervisors do the work of field staff!
This new reality is serious, as it directly impacts the ability of companies to develop a vision and the resulting actions to address the pitfalls, as well as the changing needs of customers!
Remember that:
- a President is expected to have a long-term vision and actions that will have an impact in 5-10 years;
- a Vice-President, a vision and actions that will have an impact in 3 to 5 years;
- a Director, a vision and actions that will have an impact in 1 to 3 years;
- a Supervisor, a vision and actions that will have an impact in 3 months to a year;
- employees, a vision and actions that will have an impact in the current quarter.
Do you recognize yourself in this description? If so (the minority of companies), great.
Continue to improve your company structurally to better deal with the issues, including the cyclical ones in the economy, and be better equipped to deal with the next recession.
For the rest of us (the majority of businesses), roll up your sleeves or you will continue to be buffeted by the economy (and other changes!) and your revenues will continue to fluctuate. Don't forger, there are even some subsidies, resources and organizations to help you out.
Don't do what 99% of businesses do by making excuses not to act. The economy is slowing down... You have more time... Take action!!!
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America
challenge #2 - Sales and marketing costs are rising while crm is underutilized
The sales and marketing costs of generating leads and turning them into customers are clearly increasing.
It's getting harder and harder to reach prospects to fill the sales funnel. I know some of you won't like what follows, but sales is a "game number." In effect, you need a certain number of leads in the sales funnel and fewer will convert to a customer. With historical data, this comes down to a simple mathematic calculation.
In a world of hyper solicitation, we have to differentiate our message and compete for the attention of prospects in the hope of converting them into customers. If you are not supported by technology, this laborious work will require more human resources which will inevitably increase your costs.
No surprise, to control this cost explosion, a CRM software can help you. I invite you to read this very interesting case from Alcumus Cognibox. Through automation using the HubSpot CRM platform, this company has:
- increased its revenues by more than $1M;
- reduced its customer churn rate from 22% to 9%;
- accomplished this without hiring more employees.
challenge #3 - Expenses are too high and a thoughtful implementation of a crm software reduces them
As seen above and with the experience of Alcumus Cognibox, a good CRM software can help reduce operating costs by automating processes. But automate what? How do you automate? What to prioritize? That's where a RevOps expert comes in to help you avoid the pitfalls associated with a digital transformation project.
A RevOps expert works with the following "3P" model 👇:
In a very simplified way, this model allows the RevOps expert to understand the roles and responsibilities of everyone, map your current processes, and map your technology tools. This allows him to identify processes that can be optimized and consolidate technology tools with an integrated CRM platform.
According to Allego, on average, companies reported wasting $313,000 (!) on sales tools that have not been fully adopted by sales reps over the past two years.
In summary, the crm software is essential but the use you make of it is paramount
- The status quo does not enable change, only will, vision and action do.
- Integrating a CRM allows you to automate sales, marketing, experience and customer service departments, and therefore reduce expenses.
- Automating allows you to reduce ⬇️ your operating costs and increase ⬆️ your revenue. That sounds awfully like an increase ⬆️ in profitability 😜.
Leveraging a CRM software does indeed allow for clear processes, standardization, data collection, sales team alignment, and a clearer view of the past, present, and most importantly the future of your revenue.
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