Harry Hectic owns HH Consulting, an engineering firm. 3 years ago, Harry employed 3 salespeople and 4 engineers. Harry had a great reputation but hated making sales.
The sales team used sticky notes, spreadsheets, and handwritten lists to manage tasks, prospects, and clients. At times, everyone was a lead, or no one was.
Everyone agreed that follow up was inconsistent and, in fact, sales had sagged.
Harry’s Dilemma
Harry was precise as an engineer and, otherwise, disliked regimen and structure. He was afraid to change the way he did business and did not know next steps.
Mary, a lead salesperson, asked about a CRM to help them organize, track and engage with clients and prospects. “We need one place where we keep a contact’s history,” she said. Harry smiled and agreed.
Next Steps
“We don’t need the most expensive CRM, like those used by big companies,” Harry said. The team agreed to list their needs:
- One place to keep notes, tasks, emails, and quotes.
- Prospect tracking.
- New prospect campaign.
- Segmentation by contact type.
- Standard emails sent by each salesperson.
The team began its CRM review.
CRM Landscape
CRMs come in all sizes and shapes. HH’s team identified several platforms that made sense and selected one. How did they make their choice?
“The key factor was the vendor who configured its CRM to meet our needs and trained us in how to use it.”
The other platforms provided no upfront support and no ongoing, monthly support.
CRM Strategies
Within 30 days, HH’s data was loaded, and the CRM was configured. Training started, and the team learned how to use the CRM to its advantage.
The vendor suggested several lead management strategies:
- Rank prospects from A to D.
- Allocate sales rep time to A&B prospects and clients
- Engage Harry only on A&B prospects and clients.
- Track and segment prospects. Trigger outreach and internal sales rep reminders.
Harry was in awe and agreed.
What Was the Impact
3 years later, Harry is in awe and is smiling?
Here are some of the impacts made possible by the CRM’s powerful capabilities:
- Sales and client retention have increased 20% in each of the last 2 years.
- Mary, promoted to VP of Sales, runs a team of 6 salespeople.
- Prospects are ranked A to D, by need, authority, budget, and timeline.
- Harry meets only A&B prospects qualified by each rep and focuses on clients service and relationships.
- Prospect outreach is triggered by preset criteria. and sorted by rank, company size, and job title.
Now, the sales team spends its time with A&B prospects and clients, increasing HH’s sales conversion rate.
“We were lucky,” said Harry. “We found the right vendor.”
Harry is no longer hectic!
He found the right vendor and CRM
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