How to Best Utilize Sales Technology for Optimal Results

Technology is a sales agent’s best friend. Through the ability to manage customer relationships, conduct market research, and explore the analytics of your business, you can create a sales model that brings you optimal results.

PwC found that 65% of U.S. consumers think that a positive experience with a brand is more influential than great advertising. Technology can help you achieve this positive experience through effective control of a wide variety of variables, creating a personalized and memorable relationship with your customers.

The challenges? Utilizing these technologies to full effect can appear daunting and confusing without a little background knowledge. Here, we’ll outline steps you can take in managing customer relationships, market research, and analytical tech for the best sales results.

CRM

Any sales agent can make use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tech to improve their own processes, but what are these management systems? And why are they useful?

CRMs are software tools that exist as a hub for all your customer data. This software creates a dashboard of useful metrics to aid you in everything from generating leads to managing responses to customer queries. The compiled data on a CRM platform can offer better oversight of every aspect of your business, allowing you to see just what you’re doing right and where you’re going wrong.

In utilizing a CRM for optimal results, you’ll want to take the following steps:

1. Educate yourself on the capabilities of CRM systems. Modern CRMs can do everything from data gathering and analysis to helping you create personalized strategies for a variety of leads. These systems track communication, build lead profiles, and identify resources. Keep up with all the latest innovations in CRMs to define exactly what you want the software to do for your business.
2. Define your metrics and goals. Before you choose a CRM, you should clearly define your priorities when it comes to sales. Are you more interested in generating new leads or retaining customers? Are you looking to personalize each customer interaction, or generalize responses for quicker outreach? You should ask yourself a host of questions to help you define your goals, that way you can avoid common issues with CRMs that might get in your way.
3. Find the right tool for the job. When it comes to CRM software, there are plenty of tools out there you should be using for your sales strategy. Different CRM platforms are capable of different things. BestTechie has found that many businesses prefer Salesforce CRM, for example, because of its compatibility with other useful business applications. Find software that fits the metrics and goals you have defined for your sales strategy.
4. Integrate and reassess. Now that you’ve chosen the right CRM, you need to keep up with the analytics it provides and constantly reassess your sales strategy to boost your numbers. CRM is only a tool. You will need to continue to innovate strategies for improving your leads and conversions. Use your CRM to create a narrative about your customer base, helping you understand their needs and challenges.

Market Research

While some CRMs come with the tools built in to conduct some market research, your ability to study your customer base should expand further than your accumulated data on current customers and leads.

With the right approach, you can research and understand consumer behavior to better understand your intended audience.

1. Conduct keyword research. Keywords are a great way to help you understand client needs and challenges. What are your customers searching for? What are their questions? Keyword analytic tools are available through search engines like Google as well as through plenty of free internet databases. Use them to uncover what niche for your product and sales strategy you might be missing.
2. Analyze broader markets. Perhaps in your keyword research and a look into your competition, you learn there is a customer need that is not being fulfilled by your product. You can analyze markets through data accumulation platforms available online, often through subscription services, to help you analyze new avenues for your sales strategy.
3. Use A/B testing and email surveys. A/B testing, or putting two options of a content piece up for a select customer opinion, can strengthen your sales strategy. It is helpful to accumulate A/B test data to know just where your marketing campaign is going right. Additionally, email surveys to customers can help you build feedback that will inform both your strategy and your product.
4. Improve marketing campaigns based on feedback. Finally, you need to create an environment that is open to feedback and change. You can have the best tech on the market, but if you aren’t listening to what your customers are saying, you will not be able to optimize that tech for the greatest effect.

Analytics

The final tech tool that should be in every sales agent’s repertoire is a data analytics program. Many of these are free and can be utilized in the context of an existing website. For example, you can use Google Analytics to measure the success of your marketing campaign, all within a free, useful platform for data analysis.

Here’s how you can use analytical tools for optimal success:

1. Make use of built-in insights. Many online platforms host their own analytical tools for business pages. From insights available on social media like Facebook and Instagram to applications built specifically for webpage designers like Squarespace or WordPress, you can gather data and see exactly how your audience is interacting with content. Make use of all these tools to help you craft your sales strategy.
2. Segment your audience. The more data you have, the better. Through analytical software, you can set and define your ideal audience by demographic, allowing you to better craft personalized content. Google Analytics and programs like it enable you to build these segments into your dashboard, so you can clearly see who your customers are.
3. Assign value goals. A sales strategy should not blindly reach for an audience, and it helps to assign direct value goals through technology that can help you keep your eye on the prize. By setting monetary goals for your sales strategy, you can better direct your efforts for success. Technology will help you track and meet these goals.
4. Analyze conversion paths. Nearly every data analytics program allows you to see the conversion path of your customers. When a sale is made, you can see exactly how the customer found your business and came through the funnel. Analyze these paths to determine where your marketing efforts have been successful and where they could be more so.

By optimizing the use of CRM, marketing research, and data analytic software, you can craft a marketing strategy that produces the best possible results.

Data and technology exist to help sales agents manage an effective campaign, so use every tool available to you in bringing in sales. The steps outlined here will provide you a good basis for getting started with sales optimization through tech, but an effective strategy always takes constant work and reanalysis.