Charlie Winston owns a residential cleaning service. She has 15 crews serving 5 zip codes, 5 sales reps, and she was frustrated. She needed to be everywhere at once and hated missing commitments. Yet, sales were flat for 2 years.
Follow Up Fatigue Blocks Sales
Charlie was tired. She attended networking meetings and managed her sales and the reps. Follow Up Fatigue (FUF) had set in. She knew the symptoms:
- Too much time spent with limited results.
- Manual, repetitive follow up.
- Inefficient communications within the sales team.
Yet, FUF, a demotivator, can be overcome!
What Did Charlie Do?
Charlie analyzed her flat sales and focused on solutions. She realized that:
- 80% of sales were in 3 of 5 zip codes.
- Sales reps pursued the wrong leads.
- Follow up was manual and equal time was devoted to all prospects.
She knew that “Same Old, Same Old” was no good. She was concerned that her frustrations were impacting others around her, and knew changes were needed.
Charlie brought her team together. The team expressed similar concerns. Over 2 meetings, the team discussed constructive ways to build sales.
Strategies and Actions
The team decided to:
- Dominate the 5 zip codes before they expanded into additional areas.
- Promote a “Referral Program” delivering a “Free Cleaning” for every new referral.
- Identify residential “street concentrations” and highlight the non-client houses.
- Automate client marketing campaigns based on customer sales behavior.
- Create a sales funnel where reps and Charlie track the pipeline.
- Identify a CRM to support their plans.
The team listened to its consultant who recommended a CRM to automate, segment, track, and support the team’s plans.
It is All in the Actions
The referral program made sense. The reps knew their clients and believed their referral program would be received warmly. The challenge was “how to get the word out.”
“The CRM changed our lives,” said the sales team. Here’s what happened:
- Sales reps introduced the new referral program by phone to their best clients.
- The reps triggered 3 emails over 2 weeks to the “A” clients offering free cleaning.
- Sales reps knocked on doors and delivered flyers to non-clients based on street concentrations.
- Reps focused 90% of their time on 5 zip codes.
- Email templates for routine emails were created to reduce repetitive emails.
FUF was reduced as the CRM did the heavy lifting.
The Bottom Line
“Our cleaning service revenue increased 20% in each of the last 2 years,” said Charlie. Our strategy is working. Our CRM showed us:
- Where to concentrate our marketing and sales efforts based on our clients’ locations.
- How to reach our clients and prospects without straining each sales rep and without breaking the bank.
- How to measure our success.
The CRM showed Charlie and the team HOW TO WIN.
How Can Your CRM Impact Your Sales Results?
