How to Make Your CRM Your Most Used Asset and What You Get in Return

In the fast-paced world of modern business, a CRM stands as a pivotal tool, central to nurturing and expanding your relationships with prospects. A well-implemented CRM not only streamlines communication but also provides valuable insights into prospect preferences and behaviors, enabling businesses to tailor their strategies for maximum impact. 

It transforms raw data into actionable information, fostering a deeper understanding of prospect needs and driving sales growth. The importance of a CRM cannot be overstated; it connects a business with its prospects, ensuring sustained growth and success in a competitive market.

In this article we are going over how to make your CRM your most used asset through measuring metrics. By the end of this article, you will know how a CRM can transform your company. 

Measurable metrics 

As one can assume, the first step in making your CRM your most valuable asset is getting people to login. The easiest way to do this is to make your CRM mandatory and have your team report on it. 

There are three metrics you can report on to ensure your CRM is getting used properly. These include usage metrics, data quality metrics, and performance metrics:

  • Usage metrics: how many salespeople are actively using the CRM, and what for. This can include users logged in or not logged in, accounts created by role owner, opportunities created by role owner, contacts created by role owner, etc.

  • Data quality metrics: how accurate the data quality in your CRM is. If the data within the CRM is bad, your sales team is not only less likely to use it, but less likely to fix it. These metrics can include opportunities with a close date, prospect accounts with missing information, accounts with all key fields populated, etc.

  • Performance metrics: how effective your salespeople are using the CRM, its processes, and its strategy to achieve outcomes. Since the goal of a CRM is to make your firm more efficient, metrics to measure this include pipeline by owner or owner role, win ratio for current and prior year, deal type by owners winning, etc.

At the beginning of every week, review activity and opportunity reports as a team. This allows everyone to have insight into progress, and ensures that the data within the CRM stays fresh. If you go to review your own KPIs and find things missing or incomplete, you will know that there is an adoption problem on your team.

Don’t search for leads, be presented

Salespeople have been hired strictly for sales. They should come in with their set plan for the day already knowing exactly who they are reaching out to. 

This is the sole purpose of your CRM: to present your team with leads instead of them searching high and low.

Traditionally, salespeople spend a significant portion of their time identifying and researching potential leads. This process, while crucial, is often inefficient and diverts valuable time from actual selling activities. Studies indicate that 65% of a salesperson's time is spent on tasks other than selling, including lead research.

A well-utilized CRM system is a treasure trove of efficiency. With instant access to prospect data, you can easily understand needs and identify the right moments for engagement. When a salesperson knows exactly who to reach out to and when, they spend less time sifting through data and more time in meaningful interactions with prospects. This is what will ultimately drive revenue and growth for your team.

How your CRM transforms your company

CRM systems hold the key to unlocking the potential of sales teams by reducing the time spent on researching leads. By providing salespeople with ready-to-use, high-quality leads, CRM systems enable them to devote more time to active selling and engagement. 

This shift not only enhances the efficiency of the sales process, but also contributes significantly to the growth and success of the business. A well-implemented CRM system will transform your firm’s sales process in several ways.

  • Efficiency in Information Retrieval: CRM systems centralize prospect information, eliminating the need for salespeople to dig through files or old emails. This one-stop solution ensures that all data is readily accessible, saving time and effort.

  • Targeted Outreach: CRM analytics enable sales teams to predict and identify the most promising leads. This precision ensures that their efforts are focused and effective, rather than random attempts to connect.

  • Automating Tedious Tasks: CRMs will automate mundane tasks like scheduling follow-ups and managing contacts. This automation allows salespeople to concentrate on what they do best – engaging with prospects and closing deals.

  • Streamlined Communication: By tracking all interactions, CRM systems help sales teams deliver personalized experiences. This fosters better relationships and trust, crucial for successful sales.

Salesforce App Integration

The truth is, in order to have your CRM present you with leads, you still have to have accurate and up-to-date data within it. If you're worried about this, no need to worry. Our Salesforce app integration feeds our Marketplace data directly into your Salesforce instance. 

Our Salesforce app integration provides a full complement of accounts and contacts across all fundraising channels while keeping it updated in real time. The following data will be integrated with your Salesforce:

  • 13F Filings and Holdings

  • Searches

  • Private Fund Performance 

  • Form D Filings

  • Manager Presentation Decks

  • Job and Role Changes

  • Fundraising News

  • Public Pension Fund Investments

The Salesforce Integration App has a user interface that is custom built for a fundraiser, keeps data up-to-date, and brings important data feeds directly into a user’s Salesforce instance. It’s not just an option; it’s a necessity for any investment management firm aiming to excel in fundraising. 

The Marketplace Salesforce App Integration is the all in one solution to getting your team to implement, customize, and use your CRM successfully. Request a demo here!

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Written By: Morgan Holycross, Marketing Manager

Morgan Holycross is a Marketing Manager at Dakota.

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