Traditional CRM vs. New CRM: Which Is Right for Your Business?

The landscape of customer relationship management (CRM) has seen massive shifts over the years, progressing from traditional CRM systems to the emergence of new, more flexible CRM technologies. Traditional CRM is typically an on-premise system primarily focused on customer data management and tracking sales activities, whereas new CRM leverages cloud technology to provide extended functionality, greater accessibility, and more user-friendly interfaces.

Key Takeaways

Here are the key differences between traditional CRM and new CRM:

  1. System infrastructure and accessibility
  2. User interface and usability
  3. Functionality and features
  4. Integration capabilities
  5. Cost implications and return on investment

Table of Contents

  • What Is Traditional CRM?
  • What Is New CRM?
  • Traditional CRM vs. New CRM: Key Similarities
  • Traditional CRM vs. New CRM: Key Differences
  • Traditional CRM vs. New CRM: Which Is Best?

What Is Traditional CRM?

Traditional CRM, short for Customer Relationship Management, is a system that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle. Its goal is to improve customer service relationships, retain customers, and drive sales growth. These systems are typically installed on company servers (on-premise) and are managed by IT staff.

How Does Traditional CRM Work?

Traditional CRM works by collecting customer data from various communication channels, including a company’s website, telephone, email, live chat, marketing materials, and more. The CRM software then analyzes this data about a customer’s history with a company and improves business relationships with customers, specifically focusing on customer retention and driving sales growth.

Benefits of Traditional CRM

The benefits of traditional CRM are manifold. It provides an organized system for storing and retrieving customer data, allows for tracking of sales activities, and gives detailed insights into customer behavior, enabling businesses to formulate effective marketing strategies. The on-premise nature of traditional CRM also gives businesses full control over their data, which can be critical for organizations with stringent data security requirements.

What Is New CRM?

New CRMs, often referred to as modern or cloud-based CRM, is the latest evolution in the field of customer relationship management. These systems, like their traditional counterparts, aim to streamline customer interactions and data management. However, they do so with a host of additional features, greater flexibility, enhanced user experience, and cloud-based accessibility.

How Does New CRM Work?

New CRMs operate on a cloud-based model, allowing for real-time access to customer data from any location and any device with internet connectivity. This type of CRM system integrates with various digital platforms, including social media and other third-party applications, and provides an expanded set of tools such as artificial intelligence capabilities, marketing automation, and more.

Benefits of New CRM

New CRMs offers a number of benefits over traditional systems. They provide improved accessibility, allowing employees to access customer data anytime, anywhere. These systems are usually more user-friendly, with intuitive interfaces that reduce the learning curve for staff. Furthermore, new CRM systems are built to integrate seamlessly with other digital platforms, broadening the scope of data collection and customer engagement.

Traditional CRM vs. New CRM: Key Similarities

Here are the key similarities between traditional CRM and new CRM:

  1. Both aim to improve customer relationship management
  2. Both provide tools for data collection and analysis
  3. Both can automate certain repetitive tasks
  4. Both provide features for sales forecasting and tracking
  5. Both aim to increase customer retention and drive sales growth

Traditional CRM vs. New CRM: Key Differences

Feature Traditional (On‑Premise) Modern (Cloud‑Based / New CRM)
Infrastructure Local servers, internal IT Cloud servers, vendor‑managed
Access On‑site or via VPN Anywhere, any device
Setup & Maintenance Weeks/months, internal IT required Days/weeks, vendor handles updates and uptime
Upfront Cost High ($25K–$50K+ for mid‑sized teams) Low (subscription, ~$25–$150/user/month)
Security & Compliance Full internal control Vendor‑managed with enterprise‑grade standards
User Interface Complex and dated Intuitive and user‑friendly
Functionality Basic CRM features AI, automation, analytics, social integration
Integration Flexibility Limited, custom development needed API‑driven, prebuilt integrations

Here are the key differences between traditional CRM and new CRMs:

  1. System Infrastructure and Accessibility: Traditional CRM systems are typically on-premise, meaning they are installed and run on servers within the organization. In contrast, new CRM systems are typically cloud-based, allowing access from anywhere and at any time.
  2. User Interface and Usability: Traditional CRM systems often have complex user interfaces that can be difficult for some users to navigate. New CRM systems prioritize user experience, featuring intuitive designs that facilitate ease of use.
  3. Functionality and Features: While traditional CRM systems focus primarily on customer data management and tracking sales activities, new CRM systems offer a broader range of capabilities. These might include artificial intelligence tools, social media integration, and advanced analytical tools.
  4. Integration Capabilities: Traditional CRM systems often have limited integration capabilities with other digital platforms. In contrast, new CRM systems are designed for greater compatibility with various digital platforms, including social media and other third-party applications.
  5. Cost Implications and Return on Investment: Traditional CRM systems often involve significant upfront investment for software purchase and installation and ongoing costs for system maintenance and upgrades. New CRM systems, usually subscription-based, can provide a higher return on investment due to lower upfront costs, scalability, and continuous updates and improvements from the provider.

Traditional CRM vs. New CRM: What’s Changed in 2025?

The choice between traditional CRM and new CRM largely depends on a company’s unique needs and circumstances. Factors to consider include budget, implementation timeline, specific feature requirements, IT resources, and data security needs.

System Infrastructure & Accessibility
Traditional CRM systems remain on‑premise, installed and maintained internally. In contrast, modern CRMs today are overwhelmingly cloud‑based, with around 80% of CRM deployments using cloud platforms and 63% of businesses preferring cloud solutions. Cloud CRMs offer instant remote access, real‑time collaboration, and automatic updates—letting companies deploy in days rather than weeks.

User Interface & Usability
Older CRMs often suffer from clunky interfaces and steep learning curves. Newer platforms now emphasize streamlined, intuitive UX that minimizes onboarding friction and boosts adoption rates.

Functionality & Features
Where traditional CRMs were limited to basic customer and sales tracking, new CRMs now integrate features like AI‑powered forecasting, social media lead capture, automation workflows, advanced analytics, and built‑in communication tools. Teamgate, for example, supports in‑app dialing, LinkedIn integration, and lead scoring for highly proactive sales teams.

Integration Capabilities
Legacy CRMs often have limited compatibility. In contrast, modern CRMs boast API‑first architectures with native integrations through platforms like Zapier, supporting unified workflows across email, marketing, support, and finance tools.

Cost & ROI
Traditional CRMs often incur high upfront costs—sometimes $25,000–$50,000 for a mid‑sized deployment—plus ongoing maintenance and IT support. Cloud CRMs use subscription pricing (typically $25–$150/user/month), with lower upfront investment and built‑in updates, yielding faster ROI for many businesses.

Security & Control
On‑premise CRMs afford total internal control—appealing to industries with strict data governance needs. Cloud CRMs, while vendor‑managed, comply with top security standards, offer automatic backups, role‑based access, and continuous compliance updates. Most organizations now find cloud options meet or exceed required security standardsTeamgate+15

Teamgate CRM: Start Your Journey Today

Teamgate CRM offers the best of both worlds, providing the reliable data management features of traditional CRM along with the innovative, user-friendly, and flexible features of new CRM systems. With our platform, you can streamline your customer relationship management processes and drive growth in your business.

Whether you’re a fan of the control and stability offered by traditional CRM or the flexibility and cutting-edge features of new CRM, Teamgate CRM has a solution tailored to your needs. Ready to experience the future of customer relationship management? Request a demo or start your 14-day free trial today!

Related: All-in-One CRM v.s. Dedicated CRMs 

The adaption of stacks had been the talk of the town in the businesses and enterprises for years now. The idea of using stacks has benefited many, and a lot more are still contemplating whether to go for this or not.  This rumination is also shared by the salespeople who have started to focus more on adopting the technological advancements available these days.

The more a business concentrates on the refinement of its sales process, better the results are. To get an extensive sales stack and to move one step ahead towards automation, the understanding of an organization’s sales pipeline is all-important.

Evaluation of Sales Process

A sales pipeline or sales process make it possible for organizations to guide the potential customers all the way till the finalization of the deal. The quality of journey that an organization is providing to its prospects can have a significant effect on its growth. By looking into the sales process with a greater perspective, a successful sales process looks something like this:

  • Lead Generation
  • Lead Management
  • Product Demonstration
  • Deal Closing

Let’s discuss the steps of the sales process in detail and know how we can use CRM strategies with a sales stack. The exploration of these steps is imperative because senselessly adding new tools can make things difficult for you in the long run. The understanding of these steps can lead to the creation of a comprehensive sales stack for the businesses these days.

Lead Generation

The generation of lead can be approached in different ways including outsourcing, 3rd party lead sourcing, and manual prospecting.

It is preferable to select a lead generation strategy that best suits your business. Manual prospecting is beneficial only when a company has got enough time to deal with this.  Sales intelligence software can prove to be helpful in the manual prospecting. Manual prospecting is cost effective but time-consuming.

In case if you have less time but more money, then outsourcing and 3rd party lead sourcing are feasible options where a company can hire freelancers from credible platforms after meticulously picking the high performers.

Lead Management

Lead management is the step where CRM plays its role by efficiently managing the sales process. The CRM is undoubtedly one of the main things that sales stack is about. Although it can be difficult to handle the process, in the beginning, CRM strategies are effective in this regard.

A sales platform that incorporates CRM can tackle with all the marketing activities while taking it along the sales process. A CRM is considered as the keystone for a successful sales pipeline being the major database of all communication.

A sales process needs to make persistent attempts to get a positive response from a potential client. A sales stack itself allows to manage the personalization and automation side by side to achieve a positive response from a prospect.

lead-management-teamgate (1)

Product Demonstration

At this stage, most of the organizations have already started to get responses from the prospective clients in the form of personal meetings, phone calls, and demonstrations. The inability of an organization’s sales stack to manage this high volume of responses can prove to be a nightmare.

A comprehensive sales stack can enable an organization to utilize a cloud-based conferencing system and save the prospects from the trouble of downloading software to get a demo.

The strategies work well with the sales stack by making sure that the scheduled demonstration doesn’t contradict with the organization’s timeline in any way.

Related: GetApp Announces Teamgate as #3 of the Top 25 CRM Apps

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Deal Closing

The closing of the deal is the step when the prospect turns into a customer by committing to buy your product. It is also imperative to have such tools to make this deal closing process convenient.

One such tool is an online invoice template, which enables you to generate professional-looking invoices quickly and efficiently, streamlining the payment process and ensuring a smooth deal closure.

Acquiring tools for deal closing ensures that the prospect necessarily buys what he came for, and any glitches in this step can cause a prospect to move back and refrain from the deal closing process.

A CRM-Sales Stack strategy can ensure that a convenient deal closing experience awaits client. The satisfaction of a client is beneficial in the long run because the revenue of an organization gradually rises with the increased number of customers.

In a nutshell, a Sales Stack provides intelligent insights and makes multi-process management easy for the companies.

If your sales aren’t mobile, they’re static

Modern sales professionals need to be both mobile and connected at all times. That’s where the Teamgate mobile CRM idea came to mind.

Sales professionals need a fully mobile sales CRM to keep them in-touch and connected with their entire sales process. If something changes, anywhere in the sales pipeline, your sales team need to have access to that information, office-bound or not.

By bringing Teamgate CRM to mobile, your sales team will benefit from all of the features and tools that they need to take their sales office with them wherever they go. 

Why a Mobile CRM?

Sales professionals can benefit greatly from having a mobile app for their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for several reasons:

  • Accessibility: With a mobile app, sales professionals can access their CRM data from anywhere, at any time, as long as they have their mobile device with them. This means they can quickly check customer information, update contact details, and track sales progress while on-the-go, without needing to be at their desk or in the office.
  • Efficiency: Mobile CRM apps can help sales professionals be more efficient by enabling them to quickly input data and update customer information while they are still fresh in their minds. This can help reduce the chances of forgetting important details or making mistakes when entering information later on.
  • Improved Customer Interaction: Mobile CRM apps can provide sales professionals with instant access to customer data, allowing them to personalize their interactions and respond to customer needs more effectively. This can help build stronger relationships with customers and improve the overall customer experience.
  • Real-Time Updates: With a mobile CRM app, sales professionals can receive real-time updates on leads, deals, and customer interactions. This can help them stay on top of their sales pipeline, prioritize tasks, and make better-informed decisions.
  • Analytics: Mobile CRM apps can provide sales professionals with analytics and reporting capabilities, enabling them to track their performance and identify areas for improvement. This can help them optimize their sales processes and improve their overall effectiveness.

 Mobile CRM features

Mobile Sales App Teamgate

A mobile CRM sales solution needs to come with all the time-saving tools sales professionals need to keep the sales pipeline flowing smoothly. With Teamgate CRM, our mobile plan is packed full of features to keep your sales team active:

Agendas – Manage all aspects of your agenda.

  • Check to see what’s on, where, and when.
  • Edit the activity as the situation changes.
  • Change the activity owner.
  • View any files attached or associated with the activity.
  • Add or read personalized comments associated with the activity.
  • Check all of the activity’s related contacts.
  • And finally, remove an activity when no longer needed.

Leads – Your leads are the lifeblood of your sales process so they need to be managed with great care. But that’s no problem with Teamgate mobile CRM

  • Teamgate gives you access to your full leads list.
  • It lets you search your entire leads list.
  • Add new leads and change the status of those leads.
  • Email or call your leads directly from the mobile CRM.
  • Check your lead’s location on the map.
  • Review all communication history and attached files.
  • Change the owner of the lead.
  • Create new tasks.
  • Convert your leads while on the road.

People and Companies – Being away from your desk is no obstacle to managing the people and companies who populate your CRM.

The Teamgate mobile sales solution helps you manage your contacts intelligently and gives you all the options you need.

  • Review your entire contacts list.
  • Add a new person/company.
  • Search for persons/companies
  • Edit or change your customer’s status.
  • Email or call the contact directly from your CRM.
  • Change the owner of the account.
  • Check their entire communication history.
  • View all attached files and documents.
  • See all related deals or contacts.
  • Create new related deals as you need them.

Deals – Deals are always to hand with Teamgate mobile CRM.

  • Search your deals list.
  • Add new deals.
  • Change their status.
  • Change the deal owner.
  • Review communication history.
  • See all attached files.
  • Inspect related contacts or companies.
  • Edit or remove deals.

Take your entire sales office on a road trip

Mobile Sales Solution Teamgate CRM

Teamgate’s mobile sales solution means never being stuck for the information you need, even when away from the office.

Whether you want to arrange meetings or take notes, call clients directly from the mobile app, or update your customer’s detail as they change, Teamgate gives you all that power using your mobile phone. Try a 14-day free test drive today before our mobile app is launched in H2 of 2023!

Just what is a sales dashboard, and why do you need it?

As Peter Druker – the father of modern business management – so famously proposed, ‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it’. 

A sales dashboard is a visual representation of your sales data, allowing you to easily track key metrics and identify areas for improvement whilst providing a wealth of information, including:

Sales targets and progress towards them
Sales by region, product, and salesperson
Lead generation and conversion rates
Average deal size and win rate
And much more.

By having all this information at your fingertips, you can quickly identify trends and patterns in your sales data, and make data-driven decisions to improve your sales performance.

But a sales dashboard is not just for sales managers. Sales reps can also benefit from having access to a dashboard, as it allows them to track their own performance and see how they compare to their peers.

In addition to providing valuable insights, a sales dashboard can also help to streamline your sales process. Many sales dashboards come with built-in CRM functionality, allowing you to manage leads, track customer interactions, and close deals more efficiently.

Why Teamgate CRM Dashboards?

The all-in-one Teamgate dashboard solution was created specifically for Sales Leaders, Sales VPs, and Heads of Sales – who need on-demand access to the health of their sales pipeline. Teamgate CRM sales dashboard displays every one of the measurements needed to analyse, understand, and improve the entire sales process, and more importantly – it can be created in seconds.

Teamgate gives you the dual option of both ‘Real-Time’ and ‘Historical Data’ dashboards.

Real-time dashboards give you an up-to-date view of the peaks and troughs of your current live sales pipeline. This gives you the power to react to any urgent situation which may require tweaking or complete overhaul.

Among the different dashboard types, historical data dashboards are precisely what they claim to be, offering overviews of all past activities over selected time periods. With the historical data dashboard, you have to select the metrics you wish to view and use the results to both compare and predict future sales trends.

You Get Solutions

No confusion, no jargon, and no unnecessary information, Teamgate Sales Dashboard gives a clear and graphic representation of the sales pipeline, at any given point in the process.

The sales dashboard – as a vital component of your CRM – gathers all the most relevant information gathered by your sales team, and presents the results in an easily digestible manner.

If you can measure it, you can improve it – so let’s find out how.

Sales Dashboard Teamgate CRM Alt

Teamgate Dashboards: The How

Inside your Teamgate CRM software, there’s a lot of things going on across your sales pipeline. Your sales team are nurturing leads, converting them to deals, closing those deals and recording all the information that it takes to navigate through each stage of the sales process.

Teamgate sales dashboard gathers all this information and returns it neatly packaged in easily understandable bit-sized reports.

These combined reports give sales leaders detailed knowledge of what’s happening in every stage of the pipeline, and they also graphically illustrate of any issues requiring immediate attention – like blockages occurring in the pipeline, or targets not being met.

Other CRMs allow the user to customise their dashboards, at Teamgate we don’t allow that to happen, and for a very good reason.

Teamgate believes that we’re the experts in this field, we really understand what you need to see, and how you need to see it. That’s no arrogant boast, it’s just a fact. We’ve focused a lot of energy on making our CRM software the most results-orientated and user-friendly on the market.

We went a long way to create the ultimate sales dashboard, and then we went even further. We created the ultimate business dashboard, the ultimate sales KPI dashboard, the ultimate sales metric dashboard, the ultimate sales report dashboard, and so much more.

We understand, 100%, that being able to measure means being able to improve.

#1 Goal Management

Business Dashboard Sales Goals

Sales leaders need to be able to set goals and to manage those goals. Your Teamgate CRM lets you create sales goals directly within the sales pipeline and by means of one simple graph – and three simple metrics – to analyse if your sales results have matched those goals, and to illustrate exactly how much those results are worth. It’s not just a sales dashboard, it’s a complete business dashboard.

#2 Sales team performance

Business Dashboard Activity Goals

Want to see what your sales team are up to, and set goals for them to reach? That’s no problem with your Teamgate dashboard.

Your sales KPI dashboard gives you a detailed overview of all of your sales team’s activities – calls made, meetings attended, deals won/lost, closed deal ratios, and a whole lot more. From here you can set goals for individual sales reps, and continuously track the progress towards those goals.

These metrics can be used to identify individuals who may be struggling to reach their goals and the reasons behind this. Measured against the success of your top performers the dashboard can be used, as part of a results-centred incentive, to help nurture individual rep’s selling skills.

#3 Sales forecasting

Sales KPI Dashboard Forecasting

Sales forecasting is at the centre of growing your business. Using the benefits of past sales data, your Teamgate CRM’s sales metrics dashboard gives you a simple visualisation of your sales forecast for the next 7 to 90 days.

If targets are not being reached as expected, the dashboard helps highlight stages of the pipeline where you may need to deep-dive and take the steps needed to relieve blockages.

#4 Win Ratios

Sales KPI Dashboard Win Ratios

This simple Teamgate dashboard breakdown helps you to identify and correct actions which need to be taken in order to close a deal successfully.

Armed with the knowledge of your win ratios at each stage of the sales process you can then take the necessary steps to rectify and improve the stages which are not living up to their promise.

Using the Teamgate dashboard the process couldn’t be simpler. Select a period of time you wish to analyse and instantly receive a metric outlining the movement of all won and lost deals throughout the pipeline. See the number of opportunities you need to win one deal, plus the number of leads you need to win one deal. One of the most important metrics in your whole sales process.

#5 Top Loss Reasons

Sales metrics dashboard Loss Reasons

Not closing deals can be the most frustrating part of the sales process. If your deals are not closing, you’re going to want to know exactly why.

Thanks to your Teamgate dashboard you get an easy-to-interpret overview of the most common reasons why deals are being lost in your pipeline.

When sales reps are entering loss reasons into your CRM software it all combines to create an overall picture of all won and lost deals and guides you towards taking corrective action, instantly.

If you have an issue with dissatisfaction in your product, pricing concerns, more persuasive competitors, or any other regularly occurring reason for a loss, your dashboard analysis lets you move swiftly to counter the problem.

#6 Activity Feed

Sales metrics dashboard Activity Feed

Think of your Teamgate dashboard activity feed as the crystal ball that lets you see inside the heart of your entire sales process.

See, and understand every activity, action, and movement within the pipeline and complete the bigger picture using all of the components and metrics that you have at your disposal.

Using the information that you have in front of you in your dashboard, you can join easily join the dots between all actions and their reactions. You can also quickly identify your top personnel across different markets, in different geographic locations, and across various time frames.

And most importantly for any sales leader, you quickly get to understand if sales targets are being met, and if not, why not.

Teamgate Dashboards: The Why

Teamgate dashboard is the simple, and understandable visual expression of all the information in your CRM. This information is compiled in layouts you can instantly ‘read’ and ‘understand’. A vital array of tools for sales leaders to fully understand the complete sales model on a moment-by-moment basis. Gathering all the information needed to make a presentable, accurate, up-to-date, and actionable sales report is no easy task, and takes a lot of time – time you could be spending selling.

So if you’re ready to elevate your sales performance with the most comprehensive, yet easy to use dashboard solution, contact Teamgate today for your free trial.

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What is Make?

Make is a seamless Teamgate CRM integration which automates and manages repetitive tasks that are killing your precious sales time.

To put it simply; Make is the simple online hub that gets your apps talking to each other, and performing a multitude of vital tasks every hour of every day – even while you sleep. And, it’s fully customisable to work EXACTLY the way you want.

Set the tasks you want Make to perform – manage contacts, send automated emails, track projects, manage your lead gathering – while you concentrate on the real important stuff – selling.

Triggers, searches, and actions explained.

The means by which Make connects your CRM apps, and removes those tedious tasks, can be broken down into three main categories.

Triggers

A trigger is an event which occurs in your CRM and causes a response from the Make Teamgate integration. This trigger could be as simple as creating a post on Facebook. Once you post to Facebook, Make performs the required next step. This next step might be as simple as sending a Slack notification to selected recipients.

Other examples of activities which could spark a trigger might be: When a new file is uploaded to your CRM; when a new product is created in the products list; when a new person is created; when a new lead is created; when a new event is created; when a new company is created, or when a new deal is created. In fact, the possibilities for triggers are endless.

Actions

As part of the CRM automation, a Make action does one single job and then passes the result to the next stage of the process. The process of sending the Slack notification about the Facebook post, to a specified recipient is the action carried out.

An action could also be any of the following scenarios; deleting a specified person; deleting a deal; deleting a product from the product list; creating a new product; creating a new event, task, call reminder, appointment, or note; creating a new lead, or deleting a lead; delete an event; create a new company or create a new deal; create a new person, or even delete a specified company or file.

Searches

So, according to the Make, CRM task you’ve automated, creating a new post on Facebook was the trigger; sending the Slack notification to a specified recipient was the action; and the act of selecting the person to receive the notification is the search. This recipient could be searched for, and selected using the following criteria; ‘Send notification to all people working in X company’.

Just like the ‘working in X company command’ the Teamgate Make integration can use a variety of search scenarios, such as; list all teams by given parameters; list all products by given parameters; list all deals by given parameters; list all users…; list all leads…; list all companies…; list all companies…; list all files…; list all people…; etc.

How about some Make examples?

As has been said, with the possibility of thousands of CRM integrations with thousands of independent apps, the bounds of CRM automation are limitless.

Let’s try to think of the process in the form of everyday life.

It’s morning and you need to go to work, but first you need to search for your car keys. Once you’ve found your car keys you need to take one key from the bundle and give it to a family member to have it copied. You now need to leave the house, enter your car, stop to fill up with gas, and make a phone call while you’re waiting. Once back en-route to work you discover that roadworks have forced you to take a detour, you ask your GPS navigator to work out the best route. Finally you get to work.

The whole process doesn’t just involve getting from A to B but involves a sequence of various components – triggers, searches, and actions – to complete the desired process as efficiently, and as quickly as possible. That’s the Make Teamgate CRM integration.

But, in case that little analogy wasn’t enough, some practical examples for sales professionals might be as follows:

E-mail – When you receive new leads and enter them in your Teamgate CRM, Make will automatically add these new leads to a selected MailChimp list.

Internal – Every time you win a new deal on Teamgate your Make CRM integration will send a customised or pre-defined message via Slack to a selected group, or individual.

Pipeline management – Create Asana projects automatically from new Teamgate CRM deals. Each time a new deal is created in Teamgate Make will create a new specified project in Asana. CRM automation simplified.

Marketing – Create Teamgate deals for new Intercom users. On every occasion a new user is created for Intercom, Make will create a new lead directly within your Teamgate CRM.

How Make makes your life easier

Why go looking for multiple solutions for existing problems when your Teamgate Make integration has the means to resolve all of these problems, from one ‘always on’ resource?

Create the integrations you need – by means of Make and the applications you use and trust. Simplify countless time-wasting tasks and processes, and get the results you want, in the way you want.

Your Teamgate Make CRM integration might just be the best thing that ever happened to your sales process. 

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When you begin to research sales tools, you’ll probably come across the term “sales tech stack.” A sales stack is a group of software used to make the lives of the sales team easier. This group of tools, comprised of software and apps, makes the sales process more efficient. In this post, you’ll learn how to streamline your processes and the best products to do it with. 

To determine the right tools for your company’s sales stack, start by looking at your sales process. Examing each step of your sales process allows you to pinpoint the tasks you can automate. Find out what activities your reps spend too much time on and aim to cut or reduce them. Although everyone’s sales process varies, you can start with a general outline of tools:

  1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Your CRM comes first because it’s the foundation of all sales activities. Your CRM is a living record of all sales and marketing activities within a company. CRM software manages relationships with customers, keeps you focused on the right tasks, and speeds up sales cycles.
  2. Automation. Make sure you’re up to date on which sales activities you can automate. You can now use software for email, prospecting, website chatbots, content management, and reporting.
  3. Scheduling. Part of getting a prospect to agree to a sales call is making it as quick and painless and possible to set one up. That’s where appointment scheduling software comes in. Back and forth with customers on a mutually agreed upon times can slow the sales process. Scheduling software allows customers to choose from pre-approved time slots with one click.
  4. Presentations and Demos. There are two main components of a successful sales call. One is the platform that allows you to “meet” the prospect. The other is the software used to share visual information. You’ll want a communication platform + a presentation software. To make a good first impression, these tools should be user-friendly and reliable
  5. Contract Management and E-Signature. Use these automated tools to close deals by sending and receiving contracts. You can also use them internally for offer letters and nondisclosure agreements. The key feature is the automated reminders sent to customers who are in the middle of contract negotiation or have yet to sign the contract. These tools keep agreements organized and can speed up the sales cycle.
  6. Internal Communication. Communication amongst the team is just as important as customer interactions. “Inbox 0” is the new goal as companies attempt to declutter their emails. Reps need to be able to relay information instantly and effortlessly.

Despite the learning curve of any new tool, sales productivity will increase in the long term. The time spent learning the technology upfront is well worth the time saved on manual admin tasks. 

These product recommendations are a great place to start:

1. CRM

 

 

–Teamgate strikes a balance between price and quality. Their interface is visual and simple which will make for easy adoption. 

–Salesforce has been around since 1999 and is now a top choice for big companies. Their solution is oriented toward larger organizations which makes it a pricer option.

 2. Automation

–Appollo.io.  I used them when they used to be Zenprospect. Rebranded as Appollo, this tool is great for prospecting, lead generation, outreach, and sales intelligence. This all-in-one platform saves sales reps time on their most important sales activities. 

–Reply.io. Like Appollo, this is a SaaS product that automates one-to-many outreach. It handles sales, PR communication, or account management.

3. Scheduling

–Calendly eliminates phone tag and other back and forth communication by allowing prospects to schedule an appointment with you by selecting times that you pre-approved. This also gives you more control over your schedule by only displaying the blocks of time you’re able to take calls. 

–Appointy. Although Appointy has the same function as Calendly, this scheduling software has more device options available. You can use Appointy on Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone/iPad, Mac, and the web.

4. Presentations

–Prezi has been around for quite some time. I used them for college presentations, which speaks to its user-friendliness. Think of Prezi as PowerPoint, but chock full of rich features. It makes presentations more eye-catching with animations, fonts, and templates. This is a great way to present your sales deck in a fun, engaging way. 

–Zoom. There’s a ton of conferencing solutions out there but Zoom seems to be the preferred tool right now. It’s easy to sync with calendars which is key for setting meetings. The recording feature makes it a favorite for those who want to play meetings back later on.

4. Contact Management

–HelloSign and DocuSign. Throughout my sales career, contract management software has been one of my top tools. The auto-reminder feature saved me from hounding customers to return signed contracts. Having my contracts organized meant always following up and never dropping the ball. These two brands do pretty much the same thing. While DocuSign integrates with more programs, HelloSign seems to integrate with programs that are more relevant to today’s sales teams such as Hubspot, Dropbox, Google Drive, Gmail, and Evernote.

6. Internal communication

–Slack is the market leader when it comes to internal communication platforms. What I loved about Slack at my last company was the search ability to go back and look at old conversations. As a sales team, we’d have group discussions where we shared customer questions and objections. As new reps joined the fast-growing team, they were able to search for their questions within the Slack archives. Also, instant communication was helpful for the field reps that worked in satellite offices across the country. Instant communication helped our sales team seem unified despite being a national company. 

–Hangouts Chat lives in Gsuite which is convenient for companies using Gmail. While Slack has more features, Hangouts is easier to learn and use.

 

Businesses remain in existence because they continue to make a profit. And they continue to make a profit through revenue from sales. And they grow sales through good people, lots of hard work, and, yes, technology.

And here’s the thing about technology. It is continually evolving and allowing organizations to improve their business processes, especially their sales functions. From data access to AI, to mobile, to social, e-signature and more, sales processes from beginning to end have been transformed. Companies that choose to embrace these new technologies will maintain a competitive edge.

Here are some of the most important technological advances, and their uses, that are transforming the sales process.

Data Analytics Tools

Oceans of data are out there for the gathering, but until recently there has been no way to gather unstructured data and then structure it in ways that make sense and allow businesses to make smarter decisions. Relative to sales, companies can have customer histories and purchasing behaviors charted and reported; they can gather information on those demographics that will make the best sales leads; they can even target individual customers based upon all of this information. What was once a human labor-intensive process is now streamlined and “served up on a platter” for the taking. Here are a couple of examples:

  • As soon as a customer enters the Amazon website, AI tools begin working. As a customer browses products, all is recorded. When a purchase is made, immediately that customer is introduced to products that others like him have also bought. He has become one of a pool of customers based upon current and even past buying behaviors. 
  • Banks use AI to categorize their customer bases and to analyze the loan products that have been most popular with those segments. They look at past behaviors and use AI to predict the types of loan products that will be most popular in the future, even down to what seasons of the year such products may be most in demand.

Any business can be like Amazon and banks, using the current big data gathering and analytical tools now available. If only for the lead generation potential, AI should be totally in use.

 

Customer Relations Management (CRM)

source

 

Research shows that it is far more profitable for businesses to keep current customers than it is to convert new ones. And even when new customers come on board, establishing quality and satisfactory relationships with them is key to keeping them. 

So much of customer service can be automated today, it is a wonder that any business is not using the technology that will do this. It totally streamlines and improves account management.

  • First, there are tools to segment customers and potential customers based on where they are in a sales funnel. Personalized and segmented emails can be sent out automatically, from a simple thank you for an order to specials for loyal customers, and much more.
  • When consumers have common questions about products or services or commonly asked questions, such as how to return a product, there is no reason for humans to respond. This only slows down the process and frustrates the customer (can we say sitting on hold forever or waiting for a return email?). Businesses should be using chatbots infused with AI that can provide immediate responses, saving the company money and keeping consumers happy.
  • Complex and larger issues (angry customers, for example) can easily be routed to a human for resolution, if companies will use the tools they have access to.

 

Social Listening

 

source

All companies know how important social media platforms are for connecting with their customers, for generating leads, for spreading their brands, and for developing relationships. 

Indirect marketing is a key function of social media. Consumers rely on one another for recommendations. And every happy customer a business has on social media becomes a brand ambassador with his community.

But even more is the social listening aspect of brand and customer management. There is a myriad of software tools that will alert a business any time it is mentioned on social media, providing time, place, and actual comments. This allows a company to address any issues or negative comments, as well as respond to and express appreciation for positive mentions.

 

Searches/SEO

 

Just as social media should be monitored so should search engine. Optimization is a key goal for ultimate sales. Using highly efficient tools to research those search terms that are the most popular in a business niche and ensuring that those terms are imbedded in all copywriting improves SEO. Small businesses especially need to be aware should be very mindful of their copywriting efforts, as Google algorithms are watching closely. Content must be fresh, unique, and provide real value. Any business can use available technology to identify critical topics and write about them in engaging and compelling ways. 

 

Globalization and Localization

 

Sales is now a global function, as consumers over the world have access to the web (especially through mobile devices) and the ability to purchase products from anywhere. Businesses should move into this global market, and to do so their websites and other content must be localized for foreign audiences. While this was once a laborious procedure, again, technology has simplified and streamlined this process. Machine-generated translations have become much more sophisticated, and pros who can provide these services can be found at Pick Writers, a translation review site that evaluates the performance of the top translation agencies. 

 

Geolocation and Retail Sales

 

How Technology is Transforming Businesses and Their Sales Processes
source

This technology is perhaps the most exciting for lead scoring, qualification of leads, and/or targeting potential customers where they are physical. When consumers use their mobile devices for searches or to look for products on a specific website, the location of that device can be identified in real-time. This allows for:

  • Location-Based Marketing: A company can be notified if a consumer is in close proximity to one of its retail stores and then send out push notifications with offers or coupons, or even an event reminder, such as a storewide sale going on right now.
  • Micro-Moment Sales: Red Roof Inn uses a combination of airline information and push notifications to grab customers in the moment. When a flight has been canceled, and consumers are on their mobile devices, they receive notification of the location of the nearest Inn and a special rate promotion. This is an example of what has come to be known as micro-moment sales – again, taking advantage of where a device I located in real-time.
  • Geo-Targeted Ads: Companies can now target specific countries, regions, cities, and even zip codes to decide where to best place their ads. Google AdWords, for example, has a feature that provides income levels of consumers based upon zip codes. This gives retailers a sense of the qualification of a target audience for products they are selling. But it also allows companies to send ads to those who live within a certain number of miles within one of its locations or for locations of consumers who are potential customers.
  • Improving the customer experience. Taco Bell has targeted specific audiences and has pushed the concept of ordering food in advance for pickup. It uses a chatbot to take those orders and make recommendations. But it also geo-targets that customer’s location, so that it can estimate the time of arrival, ensuring that the food is hot and ready upon arrival.
  • Identifying Actual Customers, in addition to devices: This may sound a bit creepy to consumers, but the technology is now available to identify actual people to devices that are “tracked.” Retailers can then personalize a targeted ad in real-time, especially if that consumer is visiting the website of a competitor.

 

Technology is sweeping the world of business, and certainly sales. Only those brands that keep up and use these technologies as they come to pass will keep a competitive edge in the market place.

As we move even further into the digital age, we need to recognize the almost-universal effect that our technology is having on our businesses. Otherwise, we may find our organizations left behind. Even though we can count on technology to constantly improve, the only thing keeping individual companies and businesses from falling behind is the willingness to improve as well.

 

In the chilling 1978 movie Halloween, Sheriff Leigh Brackett remarks to the teenage babysitter Laurie Strode, “It’s Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good scare”.

Cue the knife-wielding madman.

Unlike that classic chiller, the one thing that shouldn’t send shivers up the spines of CEOs and Sales Directors – at Halloween, or any other time – is choosing the right sales CRM software in order to streamline and commercialize the sales process.

Despite the facts and figures, which prove the worth of on-boarding CRM technologies – for instance, employing CRM software can improve customer retention by over 25% (nothing scary about that) – many CEOs and sales directors are still afraid of things that go bump in the night.

So, what are they most afraid of? And, what are the silver bullets which CRM software like Teamgate can provide, not just to protect your business, but to ensure that it survives and thrives, even when the zombies of failure and bankruptcy are on the prowl?

Monsters under the bed

Sales Management CRM Monsters Under Bed

Sales managers are an easily spooked lot. The slightest tremor in the sales graph has them searching for monsters under every bed.

But that’s a good thing. Keeping on top of every problem, either real or imagined, helps keep the sales process finely tuned and always ready for the unexpected. And that’s exactly what Teamgate can help you to do.

However, no matter how effective any CRM might be, the act of on-boarding a new sales CRM, or migrating from an existing one, can force sales managers to face a whole host of fears, real or imagined.

In fact, Teamgate has invested a lot of time conducting a far-reaching survey into just what are the most common fears held by CRM users, and prospective CRM users.

  • The fear of change – including on-boarding
  • The fear of sales robots removing the human element
  • The fear of importing reams of new data
  • The fear of learning new procedures
  • The fear of data security
  • The fear of new technologies
  • The fear of expense
  • The fear of lack of support

That’s a lot of fears.

The right weapons for the right demons

But, just like the vampire-hunter or dragon-slayer in any scary movie, once Teamgate became aware of the dangers we designed the weapons to fight them.

The fear of change – including on-boarding

CRM Software Onboarding

Some people lock their doors tightly, turn on all the lights, and never peep through the curtains after dark, that’s their way of fighting their fear of the unknown.

However, salespeople are sales-driven, they possess a need to be out there in the daylight, keeping up with trends and sales techniques, and are forever watching how their competitors are stealing an edge. Salespeople are vigilant.

Because of this, smart sales professionals are realizing that Teamgate is a vital part of the future of successful selling.

Teamgate is easy to on-board, easy to learn, and easy to use – in fact, Teamgate has been ranked by Capterra as the No. 1 ‘Easy-to-use CRM software’ on the market. This simply means that your sales team can be up and selling more proactively and more productively in no time.

The fear of removing the human element

Another great fear is that CRM software will take over the sales process from humans.

That’s not true. Teamgate works in tandem with experienced sales professionals, using a huge range of time-saving tools, features, and integrations to streamline and simplify the tasks that once ate into a reps’ valuable time, letting them get on with the business at hand – selling.

The fear of importing reams of new data

Whether on-boarding a CRM for the first time or migrating from an existing system the security of your raw data is of paramount importance.

Your data is the source material behind your entire sales process and needs to be protected against all the ghosts, ghouls, and bogeymen that might be out there. That’s why Teamgate is built on the principle that the security of your data is our major concern.

Also, we’ve designed several flawless systems to help you import your data – from multiple sources – simply, accurately, and quickly, directly into your Teamgate CRM, ready for you to get to work immediately and stay productive at all times.

The fear of learning new procedures

The age of complicated software is dead – or at least it should be.

CMR users demand simplicity, functionality, and a flawless user experience.

Salespeople sell, that’s what they’re good at. Don’t waste their time expecting them to be technical wizards or software sorcerers, they need to get on with their job, using tools that are intelligent, supportive, and highly functional.

Teamgate has designed a practical user interface with the customer in mind. With nothing to be scared of and everything in plain sight, there are no surprises hidden in any dark corners. The lights are on at all time.

In fact, if something is even little unclear, Teamgate users have access to full personal training and backup, as needed. By means of free trial periods, personalized online demonstrations, and top-end customer support only a call away, nothing scary is waiting to jump out at you when you’re not expecting it.

The fear of data security

Sales CRM Teamgate Data Security

In some scary movies, the plot is driven by the main character having their identity stolen. Having your data compromised is never good, something we can all identify with.

That’s why Teamgate has the security of your data as a core principle. You’re never going to have to wake up in a cold sweat with the nightmare scenario of your data being lost down some endless pit to oblivion.

Teamgate value your data and that’s exactly why all our customer’s data is constantly backed up in multiple high-security remote data centers. Teamgate adheres to strict security protocols which are maintained to the highest international standards.

The fear of new technologies

In the same way as gigantic robots, cyborgs bent on human annihilation, and brain-eating machines might cause a flash of panic with the nervous, emerging technologies are a constant cause of concern for salespeople everywhere.

It’s important for modern sales professionals to stay abreast of such technologies which are constantly shifting the goalposts and finishing lines.

Ever-changing social media trends, CRM integrations, new website interactive procedures, AI, and augmented reality are a daily reality. Omnichannel worlds and virtual assistant are becoming the norm. We are experiencing interactions on a daily basis which were not even imagined five years ago.

But, don’t worry. CRM software like Teamgate is ready and prepared to take on all of these innovations and put them to work for you. Our technical engineers will ensure that you have access to the most innovative technologies – technologies that will sharpen and focus your sales process – and all without you noticing or having to worry about them.

The fear of expense

Your business mentor advises that you need to onboard a CRM solution to drive your sales forward. Unfortunately, your bank balance doesn’t agree. Enough to cause a shudder along the spine of even the bravest of mortals.

Teamgate can allay those fears with a selection of price plans that are both transparent and affordable. Start with the price plan you can afford – on a monthly basis – and work your with up with a fully scalable CRM with a fully scalable pricing structure.

The fear of lack of support

Sales CRM Customer Support

Just like in the scariest of scary movies, when something goes wrong and you’re in a tight corner, that’s when you need a hero on your side. Someone who cares enough to prise you out of any sticky situation. Someone who knows exactly what to do.

Teamgate has those heroes, the customer support team. The ones who are always there to answer any questions, allay any fears, or guide you through a troublesome moment. The Teamgate customer experience doesn’t end when the sale ends, our aim is to nurture customers for life, not just for a one-off experience.

No more tales of the unexpected

In the world of sales, there might be things that go bump in the night, and there might be moments when the unexpected happens, but that’s exactly when you can rely on Teamgate to come to your aid.

Whether it’s helping to gather leads, minutely managing every stage of the sales process, using intelligent analytics to comprehend sales metrics and predict for the future, or helping your customer experience team to follow up on all accounts, Teamgate is ready for the challenge.

Are you ready to let Teamgate help you fight your demons?

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If you read this it will make you rich beyond your wildest imagination! Seriously.

Yeah, right…

If only we could make promises like these on our company landing pages and content pages, we could sit back and watch the leads pour in. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. There is no magic wand, there is no abracadabra, and there are no three wishes.

Landing pages and great content (along with your sales CRM) – which really connect with people in a language that interests them and excites them – is a sure-fire way to make your audience sit up and take notice.

If you can manage to engage them, entertain them, answer their unique concerns, and create an urge for them to take action, you’ve gone a long way towards casting a very potent magic spell.

But what is great content, how do you go about creating that content, and how do you engineer landing pages that make people want to click through and beg for more?

Let’s see can we answer some of those big questions.

Great website landing pages and damn good content

Landing pages

Go to your search engine and ask the question, ‘What are landing pages?’

Wow! Fifteen million possible answers, it must be really complicated. But here’s the thing, it’s not.`

A landing page definition – according to Hubspot – ‘…is a website page that allows you to capture a visitor’s information through a lead form’.

In layman’s terms, a landing page is a web page that instantly creates interest, compelling the visitor to put their hand up, and ask the question – by means of a landing page form – ‘Please sir, can I have some more?

Good content

landing page examples checklist

Content is everywhere. On a daily basis, most of us are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of content every day. But not all of it is good, in fact, some of it stinks.

The content that tends to really stop us in our tracks is the content that appeals to us for some reason:

  • It stands out among the noise
  • It strikes a chord
  • It answers a need
  • It entertains or educates us
  • It touches us in an emotional and personal manner

And if that content is good enough, it can make us act in a desired fashion.

Great content, together with intelligently designed landing pages are the gateway to smart engagement and lead gathering. And your sales CRM is the vehicle to push that process.

How to create a great landing page?

When creating a website landing page the first question you need to answer is – What do you want the visitor to do once they get there?

Usually, your landing page goal is to have the visitor freely offer their contact information. But, in order to do that you will need to offer something of value in return.

Your website landing page best practices checklist:

  • Solve an industry-relevant problem
  • Offer valuable advice or education
  • Entertain in a topical manner
  • Provide free downloads – white papers, case studies, etc.
  • Elicit an emotional response

Great landing page examples are usually built using the following principles:

Simplicity – Your landing page needs to be simple, without distractions, irrelevant information, or non-essential links.

Advantages – Focus on the advantages of your product or service and how it can benefit the end user. It’s these advantages which may just help to solve their pain-points and resolve their queries while giving you an advantage over your competitors.

Action – Your aim was to bring visitors to your site with a set goal in mind. In order to reach that goal be certain that your content is exact, on-point, and offers benefits to the reader. This is your call to action so make it count.

landing pages examples principles

Quotes – If you have satisfied customers don’t be afraid to use their quotes and testimony on your landing pages. Your visitors are looking for genuine answers and those answers don’t come any better than the words of a happy customer.

Be nice – Try to develop a friendly voice when creating content for your landing page – it shows that you’re not trying to hide anything, or baffle them with technology. But remember to stay professional and offer real value rather than just banter.

Data is good – If you have ‘stand-out’ data to back up your claims, don’t be afraid to use it. If there’s a reliable source for the data use it. There’s nothing potential customers like more than irrefutable and shareable data.

More simplicity – Try to put yourself in the place of the person who’s just landed on your website. Guide them through the process in the easiest possible manner. Offer them signposts, making their journey towards the call to action as painless as possible.

What is great content and how to create it?

No matter what story you want to tell as part of your inbound marketing strategy you can be sure that somebody has already told it. But, what makes your story stand out from the crowd is how you tell your story and the voice you decide to tell it with.

Creating content is not so difficult. Creating content that stands out is. How are you going to make yours stand out?

The process

Landing Page Examples Process

Firstly, you can create the content yourself, you can hire an agency, or you can build your own in-house marketing and copy creation team – it all depends on your budget, your company size, and your ambitions.

Regardless of who creates your content, the process is the same.

  • Get to know who you want to address
  • Create an ideal-buyer persona
  • Understand the buyer’s needs and concerns
  • Understand how the buyer wants to meet those needs and concerns
  • Address these needs head on
  • Offer value from your content – never assume that people will read just because you’ve written
  • Create the content with the audience firmly in mind
  • Decide which tone of voice you wish to use

Creating the ‘voice’ of your content

There are four main types of content ‘voice’ – the ‘voice’ being the value and the message behind the content. The four main types are as follows:

  • Emotion – This type of content is designed to change the playing field of your industry and how people really feel about it. Emotive content doesn’t necessarily educate, but aligns an emotion with your content, regardless of what that emotion is; joy, satisfaction, fear, positivity. For example, the arrival of a new time-saving sales tool or feature might announce, ‘Salespeople be afraid, there’s a new kid on the block!’ A headline that at first glance might appear threatening turns the content on its head to announce a ‘benefit’ for salespeople.
  • Authority – Authoritative content aims to held as the highest value to your audience. Your content sets you and your business as being the voice of authority on a particular topic. Your content is not there to sell directly, it exists to raise your profile as a go-to source of information on a topic.

Authoritative content is more difficult to create – ‘10 killer sales trends for the next 12 months’ – it has to be infallible, offer definitive proof, and fact-driven predictions. If your content proves inaccurate your credibility and your ability to attract a future audience is in grave danger.

  • Solution – In order to offer your audience value, solution-centered content is designed to offer solutions, answers, top methods, listicles, and valuable ‘how-to’ information to your audience. This type of content is best used for connecting with new audiences and serves to establish your voice as being reliable when it comes to finding resolutions to needs and problems.
  • Advertising – This is time for you to blow your trumpet, to shout from the rooftops about the quality of your product, about its benefits, and about how your life is not worth living with it. But, the main concern with advertising content is that people will soon get tired of hearing that trumpet being blown.

Advertising content is best used sparingly, when you really have something to shout about, and tends to work best as a driver of sales, instigating trials and subscriptions, and generating leads.

The four main content types listed above as best worked as individual solutions, so try not to mix one with another – content eliciting an emotional reaction shouldn’t also shout about the miracles of your great vacuum cleaner’s ability to work its way into tight corners.

Be clear with your message, and know exactly who you are trying to reach.

Teamgate CRM landing pages and great content – the Dream Team

Landing Page Examples

A great CRM, content that hits home like a missile and landing pages that make audiences take action are an unstoppable sales combination.

Teamgate sales CRM gives you just that combination by means of a series of intelligent tools and features designed to make your website a lead-capturing magnet.

Using your website and WordPress lead capture, instantly create user forms – templates provided, and NO technical knowledge required – which drive leads to your CRM.

Again using your Teamgate CRM software drive traffic to the great content you’ve created on your website, once there the CRM will help you entice them on-board, take action, sign up for a trial or demo, or participate in whatever strategy you’ve aligned for their arrival.

The combination of CRM landing pages and great content can be your greatest weapon in the ongoing sourcing of new and valuable leads.

Everything changes, including content

Don’t just think of content as being the fluff that fills your web pages. Use the content creation methods described above; couple your content with your CRM and proactive landing pages; and get ready to watch the leads come flowing in.

But never rest on your laurels when it comes to content creation and your landing page forms, just because they worked once doesn’t mean they’ll work every time.

The market is forever evolving, fashions are forever changing, and software keeps on developing; try to stay abreast of trends, new outlets for your content, new methods of content delivery, and new ways of storytelling. Keep your CRM scaled and up to date with the tools and features that will help you deliver your content exactly where the audience is waiting.

And most importantly, give your audience what they want, when they want with, and where they want it. 

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Between 2013 and 2019 global smartphone traffic will have increased tenfold; that’s an extraordinary figure. Not only do more people have smartphones, but usage is rocketing too (see the infographic below).

Mobile CRM Teamgate

This increase is largely due to the improved capabilities of smartphones. Smartphones can do more than ever before; experiences are becoming crisper, more engaging, and easier. In short, people are being drawn to their phones more and more. A cursory look around the street, restaurant or next bus you’re on will attest to this.

Whilst consumers reap the benefits of the capabilities of their smartphones, businesses across the globe are slow to catch up. Of course, mobile phones are used in business, but predominantly for specific functions – email being number one. Making presentations, writing reports, and working with data is still mainly seen as an activity for a PC; the emergence of mobile CRM has changed the landscape of how business people work ‘on the move’.

Mobile CRM is the future

Mobile CRM is becoming less of an extra feature and more of a fundamental role in the toolbox of successful sales reps. Research by Innoppl Technologies concluded that 65% of reps who have adopted mobile CRM hit targets and this drops to 22% for those that haven’t.

There are many ways mobile CRM improves sales performance. Let’s take a look at three critical areas:

  1. Improve the data you capture
  2. Improve preparations
  3. Increase usage

1. Improve the data you capture

Sales reps are attending a lot of meetings. Especially those in the field who are hustling from meeting to meeting. This means that follow up is often left to the end of the day or, at best, lunchtime. Any sales rep will say that meetings can easily merge together and key information can be lost.

By deploying a simple to use mobile CRM, sales reps can update their notes in between meetings. Adding notes straight after a meeting is proven to improve detail, follow up quality, and sales. A strong contact management feature will enable your salespeople to keep track of all communications with their prospects and enable better visibility in tracking their customer relationships.

Mobile CRM sets your salespeople up for success; automatically logging communications with a prospect, including emails and calls, as well as allowing updates ‘on the move’ so your contact’s information is always updated. Every piece of data captured is logged on your CRM, reducing the likelihood of contact management errors resulting in poor decision making.

2. Improve preparations

The best salespeople are prepared; they have a clear plan for each meeting and use critical information to their advantage. It helps to go into the meeting understanding the below:

  • What is this prospect’s pain point?
  • Who does this person need to convince?
  • Who are their competitors?
  • What did I promise last time we met?
  • What product are they currently using?
  • What character does the prospect have?

Your sales reps can input information in-between meetings, but they can also access it: mobile CRM gives sales reps access to key information on the move. Whether they are sitting in a meeting room or waiting for a prospect on the train between meetings, being able to access little key snippets of data is crucial in optimizing meetings.

Using lead management allows your sales rep to plan activities ahead of time, as well as hone their sales strategy. A well built CRM organizes key aspects of the rep’s workflow, so they can focus on converting that lead into a sale, rather than the behind the scenes admin work.

3. Increase usage

Good sales reps are always thinking of an angle – and not just in office hours. Whether they’re in the shower or shopping, if they have an idea mobile CRM makes it easy for them to quickly and easily log it. If someone sits down at a desk, pulls out the laptop and logs on it feels very much like work, but two minutes in the mobile CRM is quick and doesn’t impinge as much on their day. Giving salespeople this level of access to key information is sure to make them use it more and resent it less.

To gain the benefits of a CRM, salespeople need to use it. If you can get sales reps engaged with data it’s proven to make them more effective: remember, 65% of reps that adapted to mobile CRM achieved their sales quotas. A key advantage of mobile CRM is that it provides your salespeople with a quick, easily accessible way to make use of their sales pipeline data, meaning they can take action when faced with new opportunities rather than wait until they’re back at the office.

The future of mobile CRM

The CRM market is set to grow and change and mobile will be a key part of that. Businesses are starting to realise the power of using mobile CRM so expect growth driven by:

  • Smartphone capability
  • Companies using cloud-based CRM
  • Overall growth in the CRM market
  • CRM vendors focusing more heavily on mobile

So when you’re building for CRM request for the proposal then make sure you include mobile CRM as one of your requirements.

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Hello? Teamgate’s SmartDialer calling

In case you didn’t know it, there is one simple solution to the burdensome tasks of cold calling and Telemarketing. That’s the much underutilised Teamgate-SmartDialer CRM integration

Let’s be blunt.

Cold calling and telemarketing are difficult enough tasks without making them any more difficult. When reaching out to your prospective customers, land-lines are no longer the preferred, or sensible solution.

What sales and marketing people really need is one, simple, go-to solution to manage all of their calling requirements. The Teamgate-SmartDialer CRM integration is that solution.

SmartDialer lets you call directly from Teamgate – no manual entry, no chasing phone numbers – plus, you have access to all of the other relevant information to hand as you make your calls (location, age, company, position, etc.).

Internet calling

In addition to other lead sourcing and marketing practices, Teamgate’s SmartDialer integration adds an extra and hugely valuable dimension to cold calling and telemarketing. But not just that, Teamgate’s SmartDialer can be used for every stage of your sales pipeline, from lead sourcing right through to customer service.

What’s not to love? 

Why cold calling shouldn’t be the poor relation

Telemarketing and cold calling are often considered the poor relations in the sales family. They are usually viewed in one of two ways; a complete waste of time and money; or the rock on which a company’s sales are built.

Whatever your views are, it’s a fact; people have developed a thick skin (and a sharp tongue) towards cold callers and telemarketers, and are less inclined to engage in random sales banter – with random strangers.

Plus, cold calling can be an expensive means of lead capture.

But remember, it still has a vital place and needs to be taken very seriously. A cold calling or telemarketing campaign can return better value for spending due to the personal nature, and the one-to-one customer nurturing element of the medium.

However cold calling still faces some problems which need to be tackled:

  • Time wasted accessing the right phone numbers to call.
  • Missed calls can cost you valuable sales.
  • No access to conversation records unless the notes from the call are comprehensive.
  • Your sales team have no access to call discussions.
  • Because of the increasing challenges of personal and privacy regulations, cold-calling has become far more selective in the sourcing of the prospective customers.
  • With cold calling comes a lot of manual note taking; comments on the call; follow up calls planned; additional information sourced, and all the other information required to take the sale to the next stage.
  • Time wasting – if you’re not talking to the right person, you’re wasting time. If you talking to the right person but using the wrong sales script, you’re wasting time.
  • It is often difficult to ascertain the success rates, clear results, or statistics – calls made, and outcomes reached.

But that’s where SmartDialer and Teamgate can help you to overcome these concerns.

Solution

It stands to reason that if you have to engage in the practice of cold calling and telemarketing, isn’t it better to come armed with the best tools available?

Tools like SmartDialer are even more effective when combined with AI cold calling softwaref, which helps identify the right leads and improve call timing. Learn how AI cold calling is changing the sales landscape.

Teamgate’s SmartDialer integration is ideal for cold calling and telemarketing. It’s the single, unified communication solution providing you with all the very best tools and features needed to reach beyond the old practices of cold calling.

At Teamgate we spend a lot (a LOT) of time engaged in calling and telemarketing, so we know, first-hand, the problems and just how to solve them. Over the years we’ve seen how sales techniques and sales methods have developed from outbound to inbound.

We have always tried to adapt the Teamgate CRM to these constant changes, and the evolving needs of sales and marketing teams. We have seen the problems, and we have designed the tools and features to remedy them, smarter, and faster.

How Teamgate’s SmartDialer can solve those problems:

  1. Your lead sourcing has already identified potential customers who have been entered into your Teamgate account. You can now simply make – and receive – calls directly through Teamgate sales CRM.
  2. Missed calls are listed and recorded along with the customer’s profile. This can save you valuable time and money, it can help you reschedule missed calls, and, it can also help nurture your leads by displaying your willingness to interact in a timely manner.
  3. You can record and playback all of your online phone calls. This can help you clarify any situation, it can help you learn where you may have made a mistake, and it can help improve your calling technique. Plus,  Teamgate’s SmartDialer integration let you store unlimited call records and history.
  4. Make and record call-specific notes directly within the customer’s Teamgate profile card. Notes can then be shared with sales colleagues allowing them to keep up to speed on individual communications.
  5. Sales managers – and sales individuals – can track the number of calls made, and evaluate the effectiveness of those calls.
  6. Recorded sales calls can be used for training purposes, allowing salespeople to hone and improve their sales pitch, and learn from their errors.
  7. The integration’s call logger lets you see all call history; incoming and outgoing calls, call owners, plus recordings and playback.

All of the above features are invaluable for sales managers who need to access a fuller, more complete picture of the whole sales process; call effectiveness; calls made and received; call techniques; assessing the value of cold calling in comparison to other methods; and, help when planning future sales strategy.

What to do next

Even if cold calling or telemarketing is only a fractional part of your sales strategy, we’re pretty sure that you still need a really smart calling solution.

Teamgate’s SmartDialer – the ultimate sales dialer – is easy to set up and can have you calling more successfully in no time. With four or five easy steps you’re ready to start calling smarter, and more productively.

If you think this is the solution for you why not sign up for a FREE Teamgate trial today. You have nothing to lose, and perhaps a lot to gain.

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Visi žino, kam darbo vietoje naudojamos naršyklės, teksto redagavimo įrankiai, elektroninis paštas ar susirašinėjimo programėlės. Galbūt kažkada viso to ir atrodė šiek tiek per daug, ar net dabar yra bumbančių „man viso to nereikia“, tačiau šiandieną didžioji dalis kompanijų be patogių naujausios kartos įrankių jau nebeįsivaizduoja savo darbo dienos. Ir jei didžiosios dalies jų reikalingumą galima suprasti iš karto, yra dar viena kategorija įrankių, kurių naudą ir būtinumą įvertinti prireikia laiko.

CRM, ERM, CMS, SCM. Girdėta, bet..? Daugeliui šių trijų raidžių programų pavadinimai sako tiek pat kiek institucijų trumpinimai ar tri-raidės agentūrų iškabos. Todėl prieš pradedant rinktis tarp daugybės, ir pasak jų gamintojų – geriausių, programų, pirma išsiaiškinkime kas tos pardavimo procesams valdyti skirtos programos yra. Tikriausiai populiariausia abreviatūra – CRM (angl. Customer Relationship Management) – tai klientų duomenų bazių valdymo programos. Jos tarsi didesnės, greitesnės, brangesnės, užrašų knygutės ir elektroninio pašto versijos. Pastarieji tavo turimi įrankiai iš dalies jau vykdo tam tikras CRM funkcijas – kaupia klientų duomenų bazę, tavo susirašinėjimą su klientu, bendravimą su kolegomis, o tavo užrašų knygutė pilna pokalbio metu padarytų pastabų. Visa tai – informacija, kuri tau būtina pardavimo metu.

Tačiau tikroji CRM užduotis – ne tik saugoti ir padėti patogiau naudotis šia informacija, tačiau ir padėti tau lengviau atrasti jungtis tarp skirtingų informacijos dalių ir taip pagerinti pardavimų kokybę. Tikroji paslaptis slepiasi po „R“ raide pažymėtu žodžiu – relationship – CRM turi ir gali tau parodyti santykius tarp visų tavo duomenų bazės dalyvių. Sujungti žmones iš tos pačios kompanijos, su kuriais kalbėjo keli darbuotojai, parodyti tau žmogų iš tavo komandos, kuris kažką pažįsta iš tavo kliento pusės, lengvai sugrupuoti visą tavo ar tavo kolegos bendravimo istoriją su konkrečiu asmeniu – tai tik kelios CRM užduotys, kurios padeda pamatyti bendrą vaizdą, the big picture.

Žymi rinkodaros komunikacijos specialistė Jennifer Burnham, dirbusi tokiose kompanijose kaip Adobe Systems ir Apple – relationship – svarbą yra nusakiusi taip: „(…) galbūt CRM ir nesulaukia tokio didžiulio darbuotojų susižavėjimo ar nesukuria tokio bendrystės jausmo kaip socialiniai tinklai – Facebook ar Twitter – tačiau savo prasme ir galimybėmis bet kuri CRM sistema yra pagrįsta žmonėmis ir jų santykiais, tereikia mokėti tą išnaudoti“. Tad tokia ilgoka įžanga. O dabar pereikime į antrą dalį.

Tad kada ateina metas išmėginti savo pirmąjį CRM?

Atsakyk į šiuos klausimus „TAIP“ arba „NE“:

  • Tau reikia, kad tavo kontaktai būtų organizuoti pagal rinkas, grupes, kompanijas, veiklos sritis.. etc.?
  • „Paieškos“ funkcija Excel dokumente tau nepateikia pakankamai informacijos?
  • Tavo duomenų bazė atnaujinama nuolatos?
  • Neturi įrankio, kuris kokybiškai ir kiekybiškai įvertintų tavo vykdomus marketingo kampanijų rezultatus?
  • Pradėjote naują rinkodaros programą, kurios tikslas – susirinkti kuo daugiau būsimų klientų?
  • Norite matyti savo ir kolegų suplanuotus susitikimus, naujus “šaltus kontaktus”?
  • Norite analizuoti ir ekstrapoliuoti pardavimus?
  • Suvokiate, kad galite įvertinti efektyviausias savo pardavėjų sritis, bet nežinote kaip?
  • Norite lengvai numatyti ateities pajamas ir suvokti, kas jų sugeneruoja daugiausiai?

Jei į bent vieną iš šių klausimų atsakei teigiamai, CRM tau reikėjo jau vakar. Tokio, kuriame valdytum kontaktus, stebėtum ir lengvai atnaujintum pardavimų procesą, turėtum pardavimų istoriją, visuomet matytum išsikeltus tikslus, o pardavimų analizė taptų tavo nauju mėgstamiausiu skaitiniu. Kaip žinia, rinkoje pasiūlymų yra daugiau nei nemažai, tad štai pora esminių patarimų, nuo kurių reikėtų pradėti, renkantis savo pirmąjį CRM.

Pirma, įsivertinki visas alternatyvas. Iš jau anksčiau atsakytų klausimų, akivaizdu, kad tau reikia kažkokio sprendimo, tačiau nepasiduok madoms ir reklamoms – išsirink sprendimą, kuris geriausiai atitiks tavo lūkesčius. Pasikliauk asmeninėmis patirtimis ir būtinai išmėgink bandomąją versiją ne tik vienas, bet ir su visa komanda. Vis daugiau gamintojų siūlo kelių dienų ar savaičių bandomąsias programos, kurios padeda geriau suprasti, ko tikrai reikia, kas veikia ir kas patogu.

Taip prieiname ir prie antrosios dalies – CRM įsigijimas yra komandinis sprendimas. Tai negali būti tiesiog dar vienas pirkinys, po kuriuos pasirašė vadovas ar buhalterija. Tai turi būti nauja darbo sistema ir naujoviškas darbo proceso organizavimas, aktualus visiems – nuo aukščiausiojo iki žemiausiojo lygio specialistų. Tik tuomet CRM atsiskleis visame savo gražume. Juk kas iš to, jei juo naudosis tik vienas pardavėjas, net ir toks protingas kaip tu, tiesa?

If Mark Twain was a salesman, he would definitely advocate the new Teamgate & Slack integration. He once said that “to get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with” and we couldn’t agree more. In the fast-paced society, one often doesn’t have time to stop, appreciate winnings, and share the good news while they’re still relevant. Luckily, we live in the 21st century and technology is at our fingertips – let’s use it to spread the good news!

By now, you most probably know that with Teamgate you can improve communication with customers, boost your sales and implement set goals. But how about letting people know about the success? Traditionally, you could organize a status meeting and gather a group of people in a room. But we all know how busy work schedules can be. You’re lucky if everyone’s at your meeting few weeks after a deal was closed successfully. However, the good news is the most exciting while still fresh.

Fortunately, we know a way to keep your managers and teams up-to-date with your Teamgate activity, even if they don’t have an account! All you need is to use Slack, a multi-device team collaboration platform. Connect an integrated CRM solution to share instant, automatic notifications when deals are won. A few simple steps and your communication is improved significantly!

Related: 5 Most Important Sales Metrics You Need To Focus On Today

How does it work?

To be able to set up this integration, you will need the most powerful, yet free, app integration platform – Zapier. With this platform, you can connect various products into one solution to use them on a daily basis. So, you need to connect Teamgate with Slack over Zapier using easy selection steps inside the platform.

Create a new channel on Slack, e.g. #DealsWeWin, and make sure to invite the entire sales team, as well as other interested parties, to join the channel. Now, when everybody, including the Teamgate Winbot, is there, real-time notifications about winning deals will be pushed and the good news shared on the channel. You can setup the notification message yourself – include details about a customer, deal size and value, sales reps, etc. It is even possible to add more sophisticated messages and use them to congratulate your sales team member for doing a great job. Because they deserve this, right?

DealsWeWin Channel on Slack

Added value hides in simple things

For those wondering why this integration is better than tracking winning deals inside Teamgate, for example, using pipelines, insights, dashboard, here’s our argument: with this small feature you can be informed of the same minute wherever you are, with no extra action required. As Slack is a multi-device platform, one can be notified instantly, even on the go, because we cannot live without our smartphones and smartwatches!

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Use Zapier wisely to build different information structures and you will improve your team communication by spreading the good news and appreciating great work. You’ll not only be the first one to do that, you’ll also save precious time spent in status update meetings where, most of the time, information shared is often outdated.

In a nutshell, if you decide to use the Slack integration, you will be able to:

  • Instantly share information about winning deals with a group of people.
  • Build the structure of information the way you want.
  • Improve team communication and reach those on the go.
  • Appreciate the excellent work.

Before every rally competition drivers have a possibility to prepare for it – to write a route book. 

Magical rally process highly depends on how professional are driver’s actions and how well co-driver interprets a road book. In short – driver operates vehicle using co-driver‘s instructions from a road book to reach the goal – team knows, what to expect around the corner. 

Can you win your Dakar on sales? With sales forecast – for sure. 

Forecast? Is it about the weather?

Yes, sometimes it even can be about the weather impact on your business. We are sure, you would like to know what happens to your sales results during a sunny holiday period or a snowy Christmas rush, right? 

Will you be ready for ups and downs? 

“Advanced maths” – you think. 

No, just scientifically tested probabilities and processes. 

Sales Forecasting In Your Sales Race

Sales forecast is more about business planning, definitely not about accounting. Information which you get from sales reports and forecast has to be reasonable, but it doesn’t need to be too much detailed. Forecasting is much easier than you think and much more useful than you imagine. 

Sales forecast will empower you: 

  • To plan your future growths and declines; 
  • To use sale insights for company‘s process management: cash flow, resources/workforce allocation; 
  • To predict revenue; 
  • To prepare for raising capital.

Forecasting of sales is the process of estimating future sales. Precise sales forecasts enable you to make wise business decisions and allow to improve short-term and long-term performance. 

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You can base your forecast on historical sales data, market research information, regional trends, additional personal estimates and even weather forecast! This report allows you to see what your prospective sales are and how they look in comparison to actual sales. 

It still sounds like advanced maths, right? Trying to run a business without a forecast is the same as trying to finish your Dakar without a road book. 

No doubt, that would be much harder. 

Related: How to Stop Being the Second Best in Sales?

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Best practice tools to create right rally road book for your sales – insightful results with right forecast

If you’re still hesitant about forecasting your sales and think that it is not worth investing time to gather information from different reports, we have an excellent solution for you – Teamgate sales forecasting tool. It will empower you to take right insights and actions to reach the goal- finish your sales period successfully.

Teamgate sales forecast reports are based on two types of information: historical sales data and potential planned transactions – sales goals.  It makes sales process simple and understandable. Using sales forecast report in Teamgate CRM you’ll be able to access sales future prospective in a very user-friendly way. 

If you systematically bring together all the sales plans and results using CRM, you will need just a few mouse clicks to prepare your sales forecast for required period, person or product. 

With Teamgate sales forecast you will have visualized „all in one“ diagram: 

  • previous period historical sales results; 
  • planned sales from your pipeline – opportunities; 
  • sales results for current moment; 
  • goal of sales.

Teamgate Sales Pipeline Forecast

Based on historical sales information forecasts show where you will be in end of period, what is very important for sales market insights to ensure your thoughtful actions in critical situations during the period. 

Related: 7 CRM Best Practices for 2017 and 5 Most Important Sales Metrics You Need To Focus On Today

For more information about Sales Forecast solution by Teamgate CRM please check our YouTube channel. 

Don’t be afraid of sharp turn in your sales rally, be prepared for it. 

You can be like professional rally driver with a perfect route book for navigation, because Teamgate Sales forecast report will empower you to be ready to face up the next month or year decade without big surprises. 

We’re ready to tell you more about Teamgate CRM. If you would like to hear more how this solution can empower you to get a 360 degree view of the whole sales process, please contact us or join  our Facebook page. 

Usain Bolt, the 30-year-old Jamaican sprinter, is regarded as being the fastest man on the planet. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist as well as holding the world’s 100m record. According to him, there is a simple rule when you run a distance – the faster you run, the faster you reach the finish line. Being an entrepreneur or a sales representative means that you too will always be part of a competition. As experienced business consultants and sports lovers, we can see the parallels between the experience of running a distance and running a business.

As soon as you stand in the same starting line with your competitors, your secret to success can be an absolutely unique service, a niche market, a commitment to hard work, the best team available, or a well-organized sales process. But when Usain Bolt has been asked about how to be the world’s fastest human, he simply replied: “I don’t want to be the second best”. So, if you have already made the decision to run a business, your choice is clear – you have to be the first one.

How Not to be Second in Sales - Finish Line

Speed up your sales process to be the first one

Time plays an equally important role in both cases: whether running a distance or running a business. A business sales process means specific, step-by-step actions are made in order to close a deal; too-long sales cycles prevent you from making those sales. Unfortunately, there are no precise rules, no clear diagrams or methodologies as to how exactly you should be doing things. However, there are three TOP negative factors (or we would rather say – mistakes) which may delay the closing process:

  1. Poor follow-up

One of the most frequent mistakes sales reps make is poor planning and lack of initiative. At first, sales reps usually think about their own sales steps instead of prospects. It means that the sales team cannot control what is going on with a prospect after their sales steps have been carried out.

Let’s take a typical sales step within a Sales Pipeline named “Commercial offer”. The most common mistake made by sales reps is to send an offer to a client and then do nothing; still expecting to receive a positive response/feedback sometime later. Unfortunately, on the basis of various studies, clients do not read an offer 10+ times in order to make a final decision. In this case, the sales reps loses the advantage of speed as well as the chance to be the first one across the line and sell. Meanwhile, it’s possible that your prospect is dealing with your competitor.

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  1. Delayed evaluation

Each step of the whole sales cycle should be measured by time in order to immediately improve it. Just try to remember how time-consuming the qualification and closing stages are. In order to run faster, sales reps should determine the length of time spent on each stage of a sales process. Furthermore, only these steps which sales reps are able to measure by time should be set in your Sales Pipeline.

  1. Pending deals

Indeed, according to experts, the majority of a sales reps’ time each day is spent on hardly-closed deals. It means that these deals are suspended, or marked as pending, with many explanation tags within your Sales Pipeline. However, if you do not want to be second best again, get rid of it! Your sales reps should start to follow the approach “No more pending deals in my Sales Pipeline!” by focusing on the end results, and enabled-to-close deals.

Empower your CRM software to be the first one

Client relationship management system (CRM) has proven very effective for many sales actions, but it is not enough to simply have it. No doubt – it is an advantage. But if sales reps spend too much time receiving lower-than-expected results, it is time to seriously reconsider your sales process management tool. The robust sales software solution is like your running shoes. You should feel comfortable by using it and the most important – it should help you to win! So, try to count how long it takes for your sales reps to answer the following questions:

  • How long does the opportunity stay in this step?
  • When the opportunity has been moved into this step and how long does it take in the previous one?
  • Which opportunity hasn’t been moved to the next stage today/this week/this month?
  • How long does it take to close an opportunity? Does it fit into your sales cycle timing?
  • What are the bottlenecks of your spent time?
  • What kinds of deals are pending by needing quick attention?

If it takes just a few minutes to understand and answer these questions, it means you are already further on in the sales race compared to your competitors. Though it will take some time you probably need to spend more time in order to reconsider your current sales tools. To achieve best-in-class productivity, sales reps have to realise the need for a really easy to use and understandable Sales CRM tool.

Old Sales Pipeline

Follow the best examples to be the first one

Here at Teamgate, over the last few years, we have had a normal practice to prepare the various sales reports for the sales team, managers, board, investors, etc. As all of these reports are automated, it is easy to show the goals reached, the forecasts, the status of lead qualification, the sales funnels, the sales activities and even more differing insights needed on a daily basis. However, we had one continuing issue which couldn’t be solved during this time. Therefore, we tried to solve this by handling the situation manually and because of this lost much valuable time. Finally, we decided to set a TOP KPI on purpose to make our sales cycle significantly shorter.

During this time our sales reps had been trying to report to the sales director with the status of opportunities, explaining every situation and so on. Believe us – when you are doing this on a daily basis it is a tiresome and time-consuming process. Finally, we came up with a simple idea to show in detail, each opportunity and its movement in a real-time perspective. Since that time we have started to focus more closely on the opportunities at hand.

New Sales Movement Pipeline View

With this absolutely simple decision, we have made our sales cycle twice as fast and all within a couple of weeks. Finally, we started to focus on the minutes instead of days or even weeks.

How to Stop Being the Second in Sales - Photo Finish

Related: 7 CRM Best Practices for 2017

Be the first one who crosses the finish line

To be number one in sales depends on many factors, but you can start by following these prescribed tips:

  • Set up your Sales Pipeline in the way which your prospects would buy.
  • Make sure you are able to measure the time for each of your sales steps. Don’t forget to set the time duration for each step!
  • As your Sales Pipeline should be clear and clean, try to avoid pending deals.
  • Review the movement of your Sales Pipeline. Install a TV screen on your wall with live streaming – it really helps!
  • Split your products or services into different Sales Pipelines.
  • Don’t forget to set goals for win conversion and try to beat 9 out of 9 records!

A free personal presentation: Learn how to win 9 out of 9 deals

Join Teamgate CRM Senior Sales Manager Amber Gintare for a free personal presentation and learn the best practices on how to improve your sales process and close more deals, faster.