1Stream: Five ways CRM can help your sales team close more deals

When you give your sales team the right tools to effectively and efficiently manage clients and build a relationship with them, you positively impact your bottom line. 1Stream’s smart CRM is specifically designed to do just that and has helped transform organisations across various sectors in Southern Africa, which understand the value of building meaningful connections with their customers. Here’s how our smart CRM solution can help empower your sales team:

1. Everything they need in one place

Sales teams are under continual pressure to do more, faster. An effective CRM platform means all information related to clients and sales is securely stored on one platform that can be easily accessed, anywhere at any time. 1Stream’s innovative CRM platform removes the guesswork for your sales team by utilising world-class technology to manage customer experiences and drive sales from one centralised, omnichannel platform, allowing your team to stay on top of the details. It also acts as a safeguard for contact lists, sales activities and opportunities, cutting out the risk of data being lost or no longer being accessible if a member of the sales team leaves your organisation.

2. Know your customers – and know what they want

Over recent years, people have come to expect personalised service and engagement with brands. When you add a personal touch, you show your customers that they matter to you and that keeping them satisfied is a core value of your business. Because our CRM platform gives your team a complete overview of every engagement with your customer – whether that is via a phone call, message, email or chat – the team can immediately understand, resolve, meet – and even anticipate – a customer’s needs. It also enables your sales team to communicate with clients on their preferred platform. These meaningful connections are the cornerstone of customer loyalty – and it is highly likely that these loyal customers will recommend your company to colleagues, associates and friends, helping to grow your customer base. Numerous studies show that retaining customers is far more cost-effective than acquiring new ones – the Harvard Business Review puts these figures at anything between five and 25 times cheaper. These customers are also more likely to try your company’s new products and services – all translating into more sales and an improved bottom line.

3. Get support from the whole organisation

The CRM doesn’t just empower your sales team, it ensures that every staff member, from customer service to the receptionist, can access customer information immediately to deliver next-level engagement. Any time that a client-facing staff member engages with customers translates into opportunities for sales. Having a centralised CRM means that all team members – not just your dedicated sales staff – can immediately know more about the customers they are interacting with and can maximise every opportunity to cross or upsell and market new services. Equally important, the CRM empowers your entire team to wow customers by delivering an informed, personalised service without customers having to repeat their requirements or concerns. The CRM enables organisations to take an integrated collaborative approach where knowledge and resources are shared rather than being split into silos.

4. Less time on admin, more time on selling

Some sales teams are resistant to utilising a CRM, fearing that it will increase administrative tasks and merely become a matter of checking boxes so that their manager can monitor them. With 1Stream’s CRM the exact opposite is true. Because all information is maintained on one easy-to-access intuitive platform, the sales team has immediate access to data that is updated and correct, cutting down on time spent cross-checking info and creating tasks from scratch. Much of the data is automatically collected and collated empowering your team members to focus on what they do best: sales.

5. Monitor and adjust approaches

Being able to measure a sales team’s efforts is imperative. It allows you to see what is working, what isn’t and what needs to change. It also allows managers to ensure team members are acknowledged and rewarded for their efforts. The CRM keeps track of all sales activities, campaigns and customer engagements and delivers thorough reports and overviews for review. It helps you to understand your customer better and deliver a targeted strategy and response so that your efforts are reflected in your sales numbers.

An effective, efficient and intuitive CRM platform is the most important tool for your sales team members to know and understand their customers, to service and anticipate their needs – and most importantly, when it comes to the bottom line, to help them close deals and keep customers coming back for more.

To find out more about 1Stream’s smart CRM and how it can empower your sales team, contact [email protected]