Jolly Distributors had a problem. They grew quickly and now struggled to keep up. With a team of 15, including 5 salespeople, they grappled with lead generation and lead management.
The Team
Ann Jolly, CEO, ran marketing and sales and Mike Jolly ran the warehouse and fulfillment. The salespeople had geographic territories, attended events, and managed existing accounts. The team was drowning in a sea of mismanaged leads and missed opportunities.
We’re Spinning Our Wheels
Jolly’s pain points were familiar:
- Leads fell through the cracks. The sales team did not track prospects.
- Follow-ups were inconsistent and some prospects were neglected.
- Salespeople wasted time with uninterested prospects.
- There was a disconnect between marketing efforts and sales results, with no clear ROI on their marketing spend.
“We’re spinning our wheels, Ann,” Mike sighed. “Our team is working hard, but we’re not seeing the results we want.”
The Turnaround Plan
All 15 employees were involved from defining needs through implementation of recommendations focused on lead generation and lead management.
The team agreed to:
- Implement a CRM to track leads by stage using its sales funnel.
- Use a Lead Qualification Framework to prioritize and rank leads.
- Allocate more time to A&B prospects and visit them in-person.
- Automate Initial Follow-ups segmented by prospect rating to ensure immediate engagement.
- Create a Lead Nurturing Program that engages leads at each stage of Jolly’s sales cycle.
- Define their ideal prospect by defining their ideal client.
- Evaluate lead sources to ensure they are networking in the right places.
Ann was proud and knew generating more qualified leads would make lead management easier.
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Implementation Journey
“The 3 most critical ingredients for success were team involvement, the right CRM, and the right vendor,” said Ann.
The vendor translated needs into CRM automations, segmentations, and sales funnels and delivered comprehensive, continuous training during the first 30 days.
The sales team used BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline) to rate their prospects and began seeing the CRMs impact.
Measuring Success
One year later, here are the CRM’s impact on Jolly’s results:
- Lead response time decreased from 48 to 2 hours using automation.
- Conversion rates increased from 15% to 25% as salespeople focused on A&B prospects.
- Qualified leads increased by 40% as salespeople focused on their most effective lead sources.
- Customer Acquisition Costs were lower by 30%.
- Sales Cycle Length was reduced from 60 days to 45 days.
- Revenue grew 35% over the prior year.
Jolly went from feeling overwhelmed to having a clear, effective process.
The Ripple Effect
The Jolly team recognized the importance of its vendor who made sure everyone got up and running. The vendor made the implementation easy, and the CRM’s impact rippled through the company.
Ann added, “We’re building better relationships with our clients as we’ve improved our responsiveness, and our team is excited to close more sales with less follow up fatigue!”
