WHY WE LOVE INTEGRATED CRM (And You Should, Too!)

Bombarded with so much consumer data, business owners are facing an increasingly intricate business atmosphere. When customer data is mishandled, not only does the sales process suffer but so does the client relationship. How can one face these challenges while also building an excellent customer rapport?

Integrated CRM Business Systems Enhances Customer Relations

How easy is it to keep track of diverse conversations and engagements regarding a single client using multiple business systems? An integrated CRM provides a location for centralized pertinent data regarding your customers, thus enabling you to optimize customer relations. No more, back and forth between platforms, searching for your customer’s information, history of marketing efforts, purchases and more.

Integrating CRM and automated marketing tools allows both your sales and marketing teams to benefit from real-time statistical data such as:

·       Email Drip-Campaigns (reads, video views, downloaded content)

·       Phone Call Management (recording/transcription, call history)

·       Web page Interactions (number of clicks, pages viewed and more)

·       Workflow Activity (automated actions to enhance customer experience)

·       Events (calendar activity, scheduling, sign-up forms)

·       Social Media Interaction

     It Creates A Personalized Customer Experience

When you integrate your marketing automation system with your CRM’s detailed customer data, it can, not only address clients by name, but also note a birthday, (offering a specialized discount), preferred products (personalize a purchase suggestion), or other important information you define. This information can also be used for rewarding existing customers and targeting potential leads.

It Increases Ability without Increasing Costs

All your client information in one database gives you a better view of how your business is performing, allowing you to maximize your current team’s performance without adding manpower costs to your bottom-line.

Integrated CRM systems save you time, having one location from which you may quickly retrieve information. It saves you money, as fewer team members are needed to update and maintain the database, entering data just once, enabling quick and easy access for those who are authorized and protecting the integrity of your client’s information.

It Connects Your Management and Sales Teams

Project management integration makes critical information visible across your company. It connects management with the sales team giving them a complete view of the customer’s interactions with your organization. Working together more effectively, improves the relationship and morale of your entire team!

5 Benefits of Marketing Automation That You Should Take Advantage Of

Posted on Jul 11th, 2018

Your company is understaffed, underfunded, and overworked. What do you do to solve these issues and become the company you’ve always envisioned?

The key to doing more with less (and enjoying better marketing and sales) is marketing automation. It’s important that you understand some of the key ways automation could benefit you and your company.

Keep reading to learn five of the key benefits of marketing automation!

1. Save Time

The oldest business line in the book happens to be “time is money.” However, it’s still true after all these years, and marketing automation is an amazing way to save time.

Fundamentally, saving time is one of the key marketing automation benefits. Being able to automate things like customer e-mails and social media posts and even client appointments will save several hours each week.

And each of those hours is one that you or your staff can use to focus on the company. This means you’re becoming a more efficient company even as you save time!

2. Better Personalization

Why do you think customers walk away from special offers and enticing e-mails? More often than not, it’s because the offer or message seems cold and impersonal.

Ironically, marketing automation is great for making marketing feel personal once again. You can create different segments of customers and then tailor different advertisements and even entire campaigns towards specific groups.

This leads to higher engagement and improved sales. It’s also an investment in the future, as rising demographics such as Millennials care more about a personal touch than previous demographics.

3. Improved Consumer Experience

The consumer benefits of marketing automation are not limited to personalized marketing. Automation done right also means an improved consumer experience.

Instead of getting random junk e-mail, for instance, you can set specific triggers where customers only get certain e-mails after taking certain actions (such as looking at particular products).

This means that you can target your most persuasive marketing to customers who are already interested, creating a “win/win” for business and consumer!

4. Extending Your Reach

Earlier, we talked about how automating different aspects of marketing could save time. However, it can also vastly extend the reach of your company’s marketing.

After you have set up templates and segmented customers, the automation takes care of the rest. This means, for instance, sending out far more e-mails than any of your staff could ever send out manually.

In this way, you can have it all: create personalized ad campaigns even while growing your consumer base!

5. Lets You See the Big Picture

So far, we have focused on the smaller individual benefits of marketing automation. However, these benefits add up and let you see the “big picture” like never before.

You can pair automation with CRMs and other analytic software to evaluate marketing effectiveness, KPI success, and so on. This lets you see trends as they emerge as well as adapt to changing customer needs.

Ultimately, marketing automation will let you leave your competition far, far behind!

Benefits of Marketing Automation: The Bottom Line

You know how the benefits of marketing automation can help your company out. But do you know where to find the best automation software?

At FunnelMaker, we offer a complete CRM toolbox for you and your company. To see how we can take your business to the next level, reach out and contact us today!

4 Email Marketing Campaign Ideas to Try out Now

Posted on Jul 15th, 2018

Email marketing has been around for years. It has been around for so long that most people automatically delete emails without ever opening them. Yet, this marketing strategy is 40 times more effective at attracting customers than social media.

So how can you make sure your customers and potential leads read the content you have so diligently created for them? How can you increase conversion rates if they won’t read your emails?

Here we provide six email marketing campaign ideas to generate more leads and keep your existing customers engaged. Let’s get into it!

1. Abandoned Cart Emails

If your website has a shopping cart for customers to check out with, there is nothing worse than an abandoned one. Chock full of items, with no clear intention of purchase.

Try sending them an email reminding them about their shopping cart. A friendly little nudge may be just what is needed to get them to buy. And, who knows, maybe they simply forgot they had items in there and you reminded them to get those great products they wanted so much.

2. Lapsed Customer Emails

Along with abandoned carts, there are customers who haven’t been around for awhile. Send them emails about great new products or services you added since they last visited your site.

3. Single Call to Action

Keep your emails clear and concise with a simple and single call to action (CTA). Make sure the purpose of the email is clear; either ask the customer to contact you or make a purchase, not both.

4. Feature User Reviews

If you have customers reviews that are just glowing, be sure to include them in your email marketing campaigns. Customers love to read to what others think and how well they were treated.

5. Reach out to Influencers

Customers shouldn’t be the only target of your email marketing campaigns.

Influencers are a big part of spreading the word about your business. Include them in emails – and it could benefit your business tenfold.

6. Get Creative with Your CTA

Get creative with your CTA. Instead of writing the same old lines like “contact us today,” or “click here”. Try using different words and phrases that drive the customer to the same action, but are less formal and more fun.

As an example, “The Sweet Spot” and “Say Hi!” can be used instead of the same old stale CTAs everyone else uses.

Be Creative with Your Email Marketing Campaign Ideas

If you want to stand out, try new things and get away from what everyone else is doing. This will give you a competitive edge.

Get creative with your email marketing campaign ideas and give customers a reason to choose your brand.

Reach out and say “Hey!” today to learn more about email marketing campaigns and how to best apply them to your business!

5 Most Important Notes to Take After a Sales Call

Posted on Jul 17th, 2018

In his book, New Rules of Sales Enablement, author Jeff Ernst reported that sales reps can spend up to 65 percent of their time preparing post-sales call notes. This figure is alarming because it means that the sales rep is spending over half their time doing tasks other than making phone calls, closing deals or visiting leads in the field.

Integrated Customer Relation Management (CRM) systems are valuable tools for providing a central location for pertinent data regarding your company’s customers But if the initial input is unhelpful, then your chances for a streamlined sales process are at risk.

Sales call notes don’t need to be complicated. The best sales notes are the ones that contain only the essentials of the customer transaction. Consider these sales note practices to help you build a CRM that’s specific and relevant.

Sales Call Notes-Write This Down

These critical note tips can help you keep track of your most valuable customers and point the way to future business with them as well.

Time and Date of Calls

Record the time and date of your phone calls with each customer. This will help you remind your customer of your last conversation as well as track the need for any follow-up. Keeping record of the date and time of your customer calls also helps keep your sales manager updated during your status meetings.

Actionable Follow-up Tasks

Make a note of any actionable tasks your customer requested to remind yourself to get them done. These tasks may include referrals or additional information that the customer might have asked you to send their way.

Business or Personal Information About Your Customer

Keep a record of each contact’s position in the company. Making a note of this will keep you informed on your client’s direct reporting structure as well as who the decision-makers are.

Take notes on personal information your client shares with you such as hobbies, pets or birthdays. You can use this information to strengthen your personal relationships with them. They’ll remember (and appreciate) that you sent them a birthday card or acknowledged that their favorite pro football team won the Super Bowl.

Record Employment Changes for Your Contacts

Don’t forget to note when your previous contacts move on to new companies. They may have been a frontline marketing service rep with their previous company when you first met. If they’re now the Director of Marketing with a new company, you already have a foundation for trust and a head start to bring in new customers to your business.

Prospective Future Sales Information

This information includes all the quirky, unusual comments that may come up during your sales calls. These comments might tip you off to where their actual needs are or whether they’re ready to buy. It’s also a good way to build historical data on your client and what their future needs may be in case a new sales rep takes over in the future.

Next Steps

If you are a sales manager, sit down with your team to discuss the importance of sales call notes and the role they play in building optimize customer relations and increase prospect interaction. Remind them to transfer their sales notes at the end of every workday to the applicable customer’s CRM file. Share an easy system of symbols that they can use to highlight pertinent facts or actions.

For more exciting CRM trends, visit our website to find out what the future holds for sales automation.

7 Benefits of Marketing Automation

Posted on Jul 19th, 2018

Are you doing marketing right?

In today’s digital world, you can’t remain competitive without investing in marketing automation. More and more companies are relying on automation to cut costs and optimize performance. In fact, almost half of all companies are currently using marketing automation.

So, what’s the big deal? Read on to find all about the benefits of marketing automation.

1. Scalable and Efficient

Perhaps the most significant benefit of marketing automation is scalability. Regardless of how large or small your team is, your marketing resources are finite. You have to put these into the best possible use to grow your business.

Marketing automation gives you the power to put every single dollar into good use. By efficient visualization, your team will be able to work better. Moreover, automation software reduces total workload, making it easier to get more things done.

Scalability is another incredible benefit of marketing automation. You can grow your marketing operations with a relatively small investment in your current automation budget. You can reach the whole world without breaking the bank. This is significant to your long-term growth.

Automation gives you the ability to create efficient campaigns at a massive scale. That way, you can reach customers in remote corners of your market and discover leads before your competitor do.

2. Reporting and Accountability

Marketing automation runs through your entire operations, giving you a clear image of where your team is underperforming. With automation, you have a definite process that is mostly foolproof. You can take a step back and examine bottlenecks and bugs in the system.

For example, if a part of your campaign is converting poorly, you can instantly identify the issue with automation software. This allows you to fix what’s broken and scale up what works best.

Reporting goes hand-in-hand with automation. Every step of lead generation is captured and analyzed for patterns. This gives you a wealth of statistics you can use to fine-tune your operations.

With better reporting comes better accountability. Your staff will be more responsible and you will know exactly where your budget is spent. Marketing automation software has the power to identify the types of customers with higher conversion rates and target them with the campaigns that will produce the best results.

3. Easy to Manage Customer Relationships

Customer relationship management (CRM) is crucial to your long-term success. One of the most profound benefits of marketing automation is how it enables you to upsell and cross-sell without annoying your potential customers.

Upselling is powerful, but if you overdo it, you run the risk of losing customers who will see your emails and cold calls as spam. With automation, you just create a number of automated upselling rules that will work without fail.

Customers who order one product will automatically see relevant offers that might interest them. This is done with zero human input and is based on sophisticated algorithms.

With automation software, your team can also build a CRM database that includes information about your potential customers, identifying key interests to upsell even more.

4. Reduce Marketing and Staffing Costs

One of the more obvious benefits of marketing automation is how it reduces the need for human staff. With software automation able to automate 45% of all human activities, you can safely reduce the number of your staff while increasing your overall efficiency.

With automation software, a single marketer can manage an entire department. This is done by relying on automation software and scheduling marketing campaigns ahead of time. That way, your marketing expert will be able to handle a huge workload and reach millions.

Each automated campaign you set up will be reusable, compounding the value of marketing automation as time goes by.

5. Boost Lead Generation

Marketing is nothing without constant lead generation. Thankfully, automation makes your marketing process more effective, which boosts lead generation.

You can generate leads more efficiently, follow up with them faster, and upsell more without bothering them. With automation, you can instantly squeeze every highly qualified lead before your competitors do.

6. Easier and Constant A/B Split Testing

With automation comes the ability to better test your campaigns to see what’s working. A/B testing is perhaps the most important tool to improve individual campaigns. Your staff will have to split test a campaign a few times before sending it off your mailing list.

A poorly performing campaign can do more harm than good by damaging your reputation. You can’t really know how a campaign will be received without testing. By automating split testing, you can have A/B tests during each stage without extra cost or effort.

By using the test results to improve your campaigns, you will gradually improve performance and boost the efficiency of your sales funnels.

7. Eliminate Cold Calls

Finally, marketing automation frees you from cold calls. Marketing automation makes cold calling obsolete.

Efficient data capture allows you to know which leads are really interested. Automation software will score and prioritize your leads, which will give your staff the power to find new customers without bothering those not interested.

Instead of cold calling, you will get to send emails to highly qualified leads who have expressed interest in your products in the past. This is one of the most powerful tools of modern marketing!

Realizing the Benefits of Marketing Automation

Now that you know the benefits of marketing automation, are you ready to improve your marketing performance? Take a look at FunnelMaker, the #1 CRM and marketing automation software suite.

Here at FunnelMaker, we know that marketing automation is not one-size-fits-all, so we offer you a range of powerful tools to take control of your marketing and supercharge your sales.

Don’t waste time trying to piece together expensive software. Our integrated marketing automation suite gives you the power to supercharge your marketing without wasting time and money. Contact us today to find out how to automate your marketing operations!

Why a Small Business Needs a Contact Manager Solution

Posted on Jul 19th, 2018

Small business owners need an arsenal of tools to boost business and keep the customers rolling in. A contact manager system is one such tool. If you’ve ever heard the expression, “It’s not what you know, but who you know that matters,” you understand the importance of building connections in business.

Building relationships in the professional marketplace is essential to success. But building and maintaining these relationships can take a lot of effort. A contact manager system can streamline these efforts.

A contact manager allows businesses to manage all their relationships and the corresponding data for each. This is all done within the system.

Here are some of the benefits of contact management and how a contact management system can help your small business grow:

A Contact Manager Keeps Track of Interactions

A good CMS or contact management system stores every interaction you have with customers. This includes all emails, phone calls, and meetings.

Logging all this information is helpful when you try to recall conversations that might have taken place months ago. You can also attach important documents to each contact to keep track of them.

Information Is Easily Accessible

A contact manager serves as a central place for storing information. This information can be accessible to all employees within a company or firm.

All interactions are tracked within the system. Details can be added by whoever had the most recent interaction with the customer. Management determines which departments have access to certain connections.

Your sales reps, accounting team, and customer service people can all have areas where they log in helpful updates regularly.

Set Relationships Within the System

Management can update sales information within the system and include specific sales strategies. If there are employees who have strong ties with a particular client, those details can be included, as well. This helps in keeping track of the unique needs and expectations of each client.

Promotes Efficiency

By using all the helpful tools within the contact manager, you’ll enjoy a higher level of organization and efficiency. With a centralized database, you’ll save a lot of time hunting for correspondence.

When all your employees use the same database for tracking information, it’s easier to keep everyone on the same page.

Improve Your Customer Service

One of the reasons many new businesses fail is because they can’t satisfy customer needs more efficiently.

With a contact manager system in place, your customer service reps will be able to access each customer’s information with ease. Today’s CRM systems allow agents to manage and track customer billing information, upload call scripts, participate in live chats and even conduct video conferences.

Boost Your Analytical Data Reporting

Keeping track of your numbers gets complicated as you grow. Your contact manager system can store all your website visits, earnings and company costs. You can also personalize your dashboard with sales goals, customer information and more.

Discover Other Helpful Tools

CRM’s are one of many great systems that business owners can use. Learn more about optimizing your business efforts and becoming a more savvy manager by browsing our website.

Here you’ll learn about the best online tools for marketing and management. Be sure to stay tuned for new articles posted regularly.

How to Get Sales and Marketing Working Together

Posted on Jul 21st, 2018

There are lots of reasons to align your sales and marketing departments. How does 20% annual growth sound? How about shorter sales cycles, lower market-entry costs, and lower costs-of-sales?

While sales and marketing teams historically have waged war, there’s much to gain from their collaboration. But how can a company encourage sales and marketing working together?

Keep reading for a clear path to a more collaborative relationship between sales and marketing in your organization.

Sales And Marketing Working Together: How To Get There

Getting these two teams to work together instead of at odds can seem like walking into a summit to draw up a peace treaty that will change the world. But with this solid plan, you can realize the benefits that come from sales to marketing alignment.

Step 1: Common Ground

How marketing and sales work together stems from finding a common ground within the company’s goals. Both teams want to grow the company. You can help them realize this common ground exists by highlighting their mutual goals to increase:

• Customer base
• Brand awareness
• Profits

When everyone wants the same thing, it’s easier to work together.

Step 2: Meet Regularly

It’s easy to despise a team your own doesn’t have to interact with. When you bring sales and marketing departments together more often, you remind them of the common ground you established in step 1. You also reap the benefit of two different skill sets working toward the same cause.

Before each meeting, make sure everyone agrees on an agenda.

Step 3: Develop Buyer Personas

Both teams need to understand the ideal buyer. Meet together to agree on:

• Buyers’ pain points
• Challenges to selling and marketing to a buyer
• Buyers’ objections

Once everyone understands that they share the same issues as well as the same goals (step 1), you’ll be closer to alignment.

Step 4: Get Social

We’re not talking social media, though all employees should be sharing your brand’s content socially. No, instead we’re talking about inviting both teams to interact socially outside of work.

This establishes common ground unrelated to business, strengthening the relationship between the two departments.

Step 5: Standardize The Hand-Off

If you’re not following current CRM trends, then it’s time to get up to speed. CRM stands for customer relationship management and both marketing and sales professionals should be using this software to complete a standardized hand-off.

Step 6: Mutual SLAs

Service level agreements, or SLAs, should be mutually developed and agreed upon between both teams. Then, they should be shared with both teams, and made public and visible. When everyone is on the same page, it’s harder to argue over how things should be done.

Wrapping Up

Frequently sharing information–in other words, communicating–between both teams is the reason 57% of businesses were able to align their sales and marketing departments.

Communicating common ground, common frustration, and common goals can knit together these two teams in your organization to drive growth and employee morale.

It’s natural to still have questions. If you do, drop us a line. We’d love to help you realize your organization’s potential by getting sales and marketing working together.

What Is Automation in Marketing and How Does It Work?

Posted on Jul 23rd, 2018

You may have heard of marketing automation before, but are unsure of how it works or the benefits that it can provide to a business.

Marketing automation is the process of using a software to automate and simplify tasks that would take a human being a great deal of time and effort. These tasks can vary from email campaigns to social media posts.

Marketing automation can have huge benefits for a business. Businesses that use the right marketing automation strategies can expect increased sales, organization, and max efficiency. A study found that automation could increase sales productivity by 14.5%.

But how exactly does automation work, and why can it produce such great results? if you’re still wondering “what is automation?”, read on. We’ll walk you through exactly how the automation process works and how it can deliver great results for your business.

How Does Marketing Automation Work

In the broadest sense, automation involves submitting data and rules into a software system.

The data that one submits into an automation process will likely vary by business. Very commonly, this data is the contact info of current or potential clients. Sometimes it may be information like their address, age, or birthdate. A good example of an automated task would be a business sending a greeting and coupon to each customer on their birthday. The system is given contact info and a list of birthdates and would take care of the rest on its own.

Other helpful automated tasks may include automated reply emails or sending weekly newsletters. They can also include personalized recommendations, social media posts, and much more.

You can see how instructing the system to do these sorts of tasks can save a business loads of time and mental stress. It can make a business more efficient at every level.

Can Automated Marketing Work For You?

There is a common misconception that only large companies should use large-scale automation. It’s true that large companies with huge clientele rely on marketing automation to manage their large target audience. But in some ways, automated marketing can be even more helpful for a smaller or local business.

Small businesses likely already have their owners and employees juggling many responsibilities. Marketing automation can follow up on leads and garner new customers that small business owners might not have had the time to pursue on their own.

Software automation can give small businesses the chance to ditch repetitive administrative work. This allows time to focus more on expanding their business profile. Time is always the most valuable resource for a burgeoning company. Automated marketing can produce that resource like nothing else.

What Is Automation Doing For You

Marketing automation can provide more impact, freedom, customers, and sales for a business. It can give its employees more time to focus on what they love. It’s one of the most powerful tools available in today’s small business toolbox.

So what is automation doing for you? Check out Funnelmaker’s many features and see how an automated software could change your business today.

How Automated SEO Software Can Improve Your Rankings

Posted on Jul 25th, 2018

Staying at the top of trends for your business’ digital marketing strategies can be a real pain.

Search engine optimization (SEO), for example, is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Yet SEO remains one of the most important aspects of your strategy.

People are always looking for corners to cut, and automated SEO software is a perfectly viable way to get to where you need to go with ease.

If you’ve been wondering how SEO automation is possible and what it can do for you, we’ll dig into specifics here.

Why SEO Is Still Important

First crucial question to ask: is SEO still important?

Search engine optimization has technically been around and thriving since the dawn of the internet–or at least search engines.

People have been trying to crack the code of search engine algorithms for decades. The reality is that many experts agree that SEO still works.

It’s a workable solution for your digital marketing strategy and will continue to be for a long time to come.

How Automated SEO Software Makes Life Easier

While SEO automation tools may not do some of the more important tasks for you, such as creating better content, it can certainly make life easier.

It’s hard to deny how difficult and confusing SEO can be, though.

If you take the task upon yourself, you need to constantly keep up with the ever-changing rules of search engine algorithms. Keeping up with the best tactics and methods is a chore in and of itself.

Hiring SEO-trained employees can be expensive as well. Maybe you’d rather not sink most of your budget into hiring a team of SEO professionals and would rather see what SEO automation software can do for you.

This kind of automation, while not completely free of human touch, can do a number of things for your business.

Manage and Analyze Backlinks

It’s incredibly beneficial to you when other websites and companies link to your website or content. It would be nearly impossible to keep track of all of them, though.

Automatic SEO can keep track of all backlinks and analyze the page ranking of the backlink source itself.

Keyword Generation

Another part of SEO that is often a timesink is researching keywords.

Keywords are sort of the “bread and butter” of SEO. Automated SEO software can easily generate keywords and phrases that you need and even evaluate their difficulty based on your competition.

Page Rank Monitoring

SERP is sort of an end goal here. It’s difficult to know how well you’re doing if you don’t have sight of the goal itself, though.

An SEO automation platform provides a great way to keep track of your own page rankings and determine what’s working and what isn’t.

Without this valuable metric, all of your hard work (or that of the automation software) is for nothing.

Staying On Top of Digital Marketing Through SEO Automation

Search engine optimization still requires a human touch. For example, automated SEO software can’t create crucial content for you, but it can certainly make it easier.

If you have more questions about SEO automation or want to see what FunnelMaker can offer your business, feel free to contact us right away!

3 Benefits of Having an Integrated Marketing Campaign

Posted on Jul 27th, 2018

Customers are looking not only for great products, but also for great services as well. An integrated marketing campaign will be the difference between an average and an amazing customer experience. Unfortunately, companies are falling short because of a segmented business approach.

In a 2016 survey, only 44 percent of respondents said they had an integrated marketing system. This means the rest were not as efficient as they could have been. They probably had to spend more money to boost their performance or productivity.

Most importantly, though, the quality of the customer’s experience is sure to suffer. This is because different segments of the company won’t be sharing data with each other. Moreover, it will be harder to innovate if no one knows what other departments are doing.

Keep reading to learn how an integrated marketing approach can make a difference.

Benefits of an Integrated Marketing Campaign

Marketing plans help small businesses capitalize on selling opportunities. These plans analyze the environment and create ways of targeting customers. Even so, these plans may fail if they are not based on an integrated marketing strategy.

Here are three benefits you can get from an integrated marketing campaign:

1. It Brings Consistency

In the business world, being consistent earns a customer’s trust. Many companies struggle with their marketing because their messages clash. Customers see one message here and a different message there. This leads to confusion and uncertainty about buying.

Moreover, unclear and incoherent messaging makes your company look disorganized. That does not bode well for your sales.

With an integrated marketing plan, your messaging will be clearer, relevant, and consistent. It will show customers what you want them to focus on. For example, you can make them focus on new product announcements or a call to buy something.

2. It Streamlines Your Approach

Unplanned marketing is inefficient and ineffective as a business approach. Integrated marketing fixes this by streamlining your approach across multiple channels. You will have a uniform message, which, in turn, reinforces your company’s goals.

Plus, every employee will understand their role because of the company-wide communications. All the client and targeting information will be available through the CRM system. This ensures the customer receives consistent service no matter who is serving them.

Integrated marketing also shows where most customers are getting their information. Are they focusing more on online or offline messages? Are they active on social media? Which platforms are they using the most?

With this feedback, you can tailor your message to where it will be most effective.

3. Saving Money

Any company that doesn’t manage its cash flow is bound to fail. Few things can use up cash flow money than a poor marketing plan. Thus, your every step must be productive and cost-effective.

Using an integrated marketing strategy can save you money in redesigning marketing collaterals. It can also save money on poor ad or messaging placements.

Learn More About CRM Marketing Automation

An integrated marketing campaign pools all your company’s abilities into satisfying your customers. You are able to measure the effectiveness of your processes and the performance. Plus, you can track customer satisfaction. You can use it to find solutions for common customer complaints.

Contact us to learn more about CRM marketing automation.

Can a Marketing Automation Platform Create a Better Customer Experience?

Posted on Jul 29th, 2018

Most believe that marketing is the necessary evil that customers deal with to find out about your brand. But, with a marketing automation platform, you can use your marketing efforts to offer a higher quality customer service experience.

Here we outline details on how marketing automation benefits both customer experience and marketing, and how marketing automation platforms make the most of your marketing efforts.

Tthe data received from the platform can help you give a better customer experience that is proactive, not reactive.

Can a Marketing Automation Platform Make a Better Customer Experience?

Using a marketing automation platform gives your clients a better customer experience through specific targeting. The platform gives you automatically organized data on every person who clicks through your ads.

You are able to obtain their social media accounts, emails, phone numbers, have access to how much they spent, and know what they bought.

This allows you to create detailed and specific email and ad campaigns for your exact demographic.

You can reach every mom between the ages of 25-35 who use both Facebook and LinkedIn to let them know about your new children’s line or your nanny services.

This is the powerful marketing and customer service that serves up only what is applicable to that audience.

The Customer Service Age We Live In

This is the era of the online shopper. More customers are abandoning brick and mortar stores for the ease and convenience of the online experience.

In this immediate gratification society what customers want is also changing. It’s not enough to answer the demands of some disgruntled customers after the fact.

Customers expect businesses to be proactive in their responses. An overwhelming 87% of customers to be exact.

Send out a product you realize has a glitch? Reach out to every customer who bought the item before they know it.

Launching a new product? Target the exact people who it would sell to with your ads.

A proactive business response is not possible without a way to track detailed information about your clientele. This is where the marketing automation platform comes in.

By having every one of your customer’s demographics, social media accounts, emails, and more you can truly be proactive. You can find exactly the people who will benefit most from your message.

This means more potential sales, happier customers, and more effective marketing budget spend.

Marketing Automation Is The Way To Go

To compete in the “I need it now” environment of your average customer today you can’t afford not to have a marketing automation platform.

With its vast data that’s easily accessible, you can skyrocket your business much sooner than in the past. Through targeted outreach your marketing spend will be much more efficient in getting eyeballs where you want them.

Want to find out more about automation and other CRM trends dominating 2018? Check out our blog here to read all about it.

Looking for your own marketing automation platform and not sure where to start? Find out more about our complete sales and marketing CRM ecosystem here to find out if it meets the needs of your business.

5 of the Best Auto Transcription Tools on the Market Now

Posted on Jul 31st, 2018

Looking for a service to transcribe your audio and video content? That’s a smart move.

It’s said that over 80% of Internet traffic will consist of videos by 2019. While to the average person it seems like there’s no need for writing anything down anymore, written content is more important than ever.

Transcribing your podcast, YouTube video, or social media ad is essential to be seen. Even just adding captions to a Facebook ad increases viewer time by up to 12%.

The reason? It comes down to SEO. Search engine bots look for rich metadata. That’s the extra stuff, like captions and transcriptions, you add to your video and audio content.

Don’t have time to sit and write it all out? We’ve got you covered. We’re going to break down five programs that make transcription a breeze!

1. MacSpeech Scribe

Got a Mac? We’ve got the perfect transcription software for you!

MacSpeech Scribe is especially ideal for journalists, those who take notes on the go, and podcasters. It works with .wav, .aif, .aiff, .m4v, .mp4, or .m4a file formats and can handle up to six voices at a time.

2. Dragon(R) NaturallySpeaking 13 Home

Dragon(R) NaturallySpeaking 13 Home is some of the best transcription software on the market. Plus, it’s affordable, costing roughly $60.

There’s no limit to what this software can do. Transcription is at 99% accuracy and captures your text in Word or Notepad format.

Plus, you can perform other tasks like using social media, browsing the Internet, and writing emails.

3. Rev

Rev functions kind of like Uber. You hire Rev as needed and your transcription is done by a human, ensuring higher accuracy.

The benefits of having a human transcribe audio to the text are plentiful.

• They’re fast, doing files under 30 minutes in as little as 12 hours
• They catch inaudible audio and make a placeholder instead of writing gibberish
• They put time stamps to help you navigate the text

4. Sonix

Sonix is a bit newer to the game but they’ve got tons of great features.

While there’s no bulk uploading available, they make uploading multiple audio files very easy. The editing function is very efficient and they also provide timestamps, making skipping to relevant parts a breeze.

You get a 30-minute free trial and their basic plan – which still covers a lot – starts at $15 per month.

5. Happy Scribe

Do you work with international audio and video? You’ll need a service that recognizes multiple languages and accents.

That’s where Happy Scribe comes in. It was developed by two European students and can be sued with up to 80 languages and accents.

Transcription Options For Your Business

Whether you’re looking to boost your small business or take your YouTube channel to the next level, these transcription services make it easy to turn audio and video into text.

Want to make your life easier? That’s why we’re here! We are your one stop shop for sales, communication, marketing and more!

If you’re ready for real management solutions for your business, contact us today and we’ll be happy to give you a free demo!

Why CRM and Marketing Automation are Better Together

Posted on Aug 2nd, 2018

Your digital marketing strategy is only as great as your tools and strategies. But knowing which strategies and tools to integrate isn’t always clear-cut.

This is especially so when you have new trends developing each year. For example, CRM and marketing automation. These are two terms that are growing in popularity and for good reason – they both help to drive business and speed up growth.

So it makes sense to use the two together. But if you’re not convinced this is a good idea, then continue reading.

Let’s take a look at why you should use the two together.

Take Data Management to the Next Level

Your CRM collects data about your customers. It’s what helps your marketers and salespeople with making the right offers at the right time. And marketing automation tools can use the same data to perfect your digital marketing strategies.

Imagine having a single platform you use to handle all data management. This includes communication, contact, and other data being saved within one platform. This makes everything more organized and quicker to analyze for your marketing automation campaigns.

Boost Your Relationships with Customers

The purpose of both your CRM and marketing automation efforts is to strengthen your relationship with customers. Your CRM keeps track of your customer interactions and your marketing automation tools pave a way for interacting with your customers in a meaningful way.

Without a CRM, it can get confusing knowing what happens after you reach out to customers with your marketing automation tools. It will help keep track of everything so it doesn’t get confusing. The better your insights, the easier it’ll be to convert patrons into loyal customers.

Create Synergy Between Sales and Marketing

If there’s anything for certain, it’s that your sales and marketing teams have the same goal – to convert prospects and sell more products or services. Both teams need the same customer data to meet their goals.

For instance, by integrating your CRM and marketing automation, your salespeople will be able to see where customers are in the buying journey and make the right offers. Then your marketing team can see what type of inquiries and purchases customers made in the past to create highly-targeted automation campaigns.

Create Better Reports

There’s no doubt that technology greatly improves business growth. And this is exactly what you see in companies that implement CRM platforms and marketing automation techniques.

Reports are very important for brands to make the right decisions for their lead generation and customer retention. By combining the data obtained from marketing automation and CRMs your employees can create reports that are more accurate.

The higher the accuracy the easier it becomes to convert and retain.

CRM and Marketing Automation is Key

As you see, these reasons alone make CRM and marketing automation essential to your business’s growth. The integration of the two isn’t difficult to do with the help of an expert. And once you do, you’ll reap the rewards.

If you’re looking for a complete CRM and marketing automation toolbox, then you should check out Funnel Maker. We offer software that’s simple for your customer management and email marketing.

How to Build a Sales Funnel: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted on Aug 2nd, 2018

Are your best-laid marketing strategies still failing to produce the results you crave?

If your conversion rate is not adding up to equal success in company sales, then you may want to re-examine your sales funnel.

The term “sales funnel” is one that is often thrown around in the business world, but it’s a concept that’s not always understood.

If you haven’t developed an effective pathway to convert your customers, perhaps you need a refresher course on how to build a sales funnel.

Creating a professionally crafted sales funnel can turn low conversion rates around, and help you to achieve results with minimal effort. But, first, you need to know how it’s done.

Read on to learn how to build a sales funnel that really works!

How to Build a Sales Funnel: A Beginner’s Guide

Building a sales funnel doesn’t require rocket science, but it does require at least a basic understanding of what one is and a plan of how to carry it out effectively.

Even if you still aren’t exactly sure what the term “sales funnel” really means, we can help.

First, let’s start with the absolute basics. Then, we will get down to building a sales funnel that gets your real results.

What is a Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel is the pathway that turns prospects into committed customers. Like a funnel, it’s wide at the top and narrow at the bottom.

At the top of the funnel, are all of the potential consumers within your market reach. At the bottom of the funnel are those consumers that you have converted to profitable customers for your company.

The funnel itself outlines the marketing strategies which you used to accomplish the resulting customer base.

Obviously, the more effective your sales funnel is, the larger your remaining customer base will become.

So, what’s the trick to building one that effectively turns out committed customers?

Well, it’s important to construct a plan that really works. But, if your current plan leaves room for improvement, don’t worry. We’re here to show you how to turn yours into a funnel of opportunity that will result in sales success.

Steps for Building a Successful Sales Funnel

Even beginners will be able to achieve success by following these simple steps. Soon you’ll see your efforts begin to produce results if you are willing to follow this fail-proof guide.

Step One: Create Awareness

The first step is to make potential customers aware of what you have to offer them. The way you do this is by engaging the consumers in your market.

This is an essential step because it is the way you are going to get consumers to notice your business.

There are several ways that this can be done. But, one of the most effective ways to broaden your net is through content marketing. This includes high-quality blog content, images that capture your audience, catchy headlines, and effective promotion.

Through carefully constructed content, you will present a problem to your audience. And, you will show consumers that you can provide them with the solution.

Step Two: Create Leads

Once you have made consumers aware of your products or services and how they can be used to solve a common problem, then it’s up to you to gain interest in what you have to offer.

This is the middle process that creates leads, or potential customers, and transforms them into sales.

Again, you can use content to link consumers to information that serves as a reference to your capabilities. For example, you might link to successful case studies, or you might link to a video which demonstrates your product’s effectiveness. You could also link directly to a product or service, the testimonies of satisfied customers, or to positive customer reviews.

This is basically where you provide additional proof to your customers as to why it’s necessary that they commit to your business.

During this phase, you should create a list of potential contacts that are in the market for whatever you are offering.

Step Three: Turning Contacts into Customers

Hopefully, by this point, you have used every opportunity to create a list of potential leads that are prime for conversion. For example, you may have used your website to create a “contact” list.

Now is the time when you will contact those consumers who have shown an active interest in your business. And, with some skill and luck, you will be able to sell them on your business.

If you choose to contact potential customers, then you should research the best practices for closing a deal. Know what to look for during a sales call. Be prepared to answer questions that they may have and be able to refute any foreseeable arguments that they may have.

Need Help Creating a Successful Sales Funnel?

If you need help creating an effective marketing plan for your sales funnel, we can help.

Today, many successful companies rely on expertly designed marketing software to learn how to build a sales funnel that gets results and gain business.

Our software is created to help you convert your audience into sales success. It provides key insights that will lead you through an effective sales funnel model that helps you boost your bottom line.

If you feel like your efforts are not producing the results you want, our software could be the missing piece to a winning marketing strategy.

Are you ready to build a sales funnel that really works?

Contact us today to find out how our sales and marketing software can be used to help you effectively convert consumers into customers!

Top 5 Best Marketing Tools for Automated Marketing

Posted on Aug 4th, 2018

In 2018, over $200 billion was spent in media marketing and advertising. This number is only expected to grow, reaching over $250 billion by 2021.

Marketing is an essential task and skill for any business wishing to grow in the United States.

Thankfully, you can rely less and less on your marketing skill set. Automation has reached the marketing sector and there are a myriad of tools at your disposal.

Keep reading to learn the top 5 best marketing tools for your automated marketing campaign.

What is Automated Marketing?

Automated marketing utilizes software platforms and technologies to market online. The tools allow you to reach multiple channels and automate repetitive tasks so your marketing budget can go further.

The benefits of automated marketing include lower costs, minimization of human error, higher productivity, and boosts in revenue. When you spend less time on repetitive marketing tasks, you can instead focus on growing and improving your business.

5 Best Marketing Tools for Automated Marketing

Here, we’ll share the 5 best marketing tools for automated marketing.

1. Automated Emails

At this point, nearly everyone has an email address. So what better way to reach customers than directly in their inbox? Certain tools allow you to send segmented, automated or even personal emails directly to potential or loyal customers.

There are several platforms that allow you to send anywhere between 1,000 to 12,000 emails a month, and others where you can send up to 200,000 emails a month!

2. Analytics

Analytics are incredibly important in marketing. You want to know what works and what doesn’t. To grow your business, finding a platform that tracks website, email, and marketing analytics is vital.

It will show you where your website traffic is coming from, what customers are interested in, and how long they read/browse. Analytics should help you build the foundation of your marketing campaign and can highlight your top-performing content.

3. Mobile Marketing

Just like an email address, nearly everyone has some form of mobile device. Because of this fact, mobile marketing is a growing trend. Mobile marketing is an automated tool that reaches audiences on smartphones and tablets via websites, email, SMS, social media, and even apps.

Succinct, eye-catching mobile ads are a great way to reach more customers.

4. Social Media

Automated marketing can allow you to schedule a time for a social media post, and sends reminders when someone on social media mentions your brand. This allows you to post, tweet, and even respond to customers directly.

5. Content Marketing

Content marketing allows your website or business to appear at the top of search engines due to posting relevant, informational content.

A growing trend is SEO marketing, where publishing answers or articles on popular topics make your website or blog appear at the top of search engines.

Final Thoughts

Automated marketing can help you reach more people than ever. The technology from automated marketing platforms allows you to directly reach customers and can save you time and boost sales.

To start reaching more customers, check out the 5 best marketing tools for automated marketing mentioned above.

For more tools to help improve SEO, marketing, and grow your business, visit our blog today.

Email Marketing and Marketing Automation: What’s The Difference?

Posted on Aug 5th, 2018

Have you heard the rumors that email is dead? Don’t start ignoring your email marketing just yet. This rumor has been floating around the marketing industry for years, but it has yet to be proven true.

Email is still the number one digital channel for return on investment. In fact, the Data & Marketing Association reports that 54% of marketers say that increasing email engagement is their highest priority. If you’re focusing on email marketing but need help navigating the options available, you’ve come to the right place.

Many business owners and marketers struggle to understand marketing automation. How does it differ from email marketing? How do the two tactics relate?

Read on for answers to these questions and more. We’ll explore email marketing and its limitations. We’ll also explain how marketing automation may be better suited to reaching your goals.

Email Marketing vs. Marketing Automation

Before we get into the detailed differences between these two marketing tools, let’s cover the basics. No business is too small to engage in email marketing. Countless platforms allow companies to send scheduled emails to their audiences and track metrics like:

• Open rates
• Click rates
• Bounce rates
• Unsubscribes

Marketing automation is robust. With automation software, marketers can send emails, display customized content on the web, and get deep engagement metrics. Automated marketing requires a heavy lift up front and continuous monitoring and optimization.

Most companies start off with simple email marketing strategies. Some move on to marketing automation as their business grows, while others may find that email marketing is all they need.

The Benefits of Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most popular marketing tactics used by businesses worldwide. It’s affordable, and the ROI is impressive. The Data and Marketing Association has found that email marketing yields an estimated ROI of 4,300 percent.

Marketing through emails allows you to take your advertising to a more personal level. You can send newsletters, thank you emails, introductory information, and offers directly to your current and potential customers. You may use your customer database software to help segment your audiences to send specific information to certain groups.

Many email platforms also allow you to run some basic A/B tests. You can experiment with different subject lines or send times and see what produces the best engagement rates.

While setting up and executing basic email marketing doesn’t require a heavy lift, you may find that you’re looking for something more.

Where Email Marketing Falls Short

With basic email marketing, there is little space for personalization. You can only group your audiences based on data you can easily pull from your database. This limits how detailed you can be in your messaging and how well you can tailor the message to the individual.

Plus, all the segmentation you can do must be done manually. Segmenting lists can be time-consuming and requires great attention to detail. You’ll need to refresh your lists as your database evolves.

It can also be difficult or impossible to track revenue to your email efforts. Once someone opens your email or clicks a link in it, you cannot monitor what they do next. The metrics you collect through email marketing are static.

Without deep metrics and analytics, it can be hard to identify quality leads accurately. Your sales team won’t know which leads to contact. This where you lose time and money as you must work harder to achieve your goals.

Marketing Automation Fills the Gaps

As mentioned earlier, automation is much more robust than email marketing. Automated marketing not only fills in email marketing’s gaps but expands marketing and tracking capabilities beyond just email. The ideal tool can manage and track engagement from email, your website, paid marketing efforts, and more.

Marketing automation allows you to track activity and gather data, so you can effectively nurture your leads through automated, customized paths. Your basic system may include:

• Landing page design and development
• Unique website visitor tracking
• Lead scoring
• CRM integration capability
• A centralized database
• Data reporting and analysis

If you decide to invest in a more comprehensive software, you may have access to even more tools. Experiment with dynamic content generation, mobile and responsive design, and multichannel campaign management. Ultimately, your marketing automation system should help create the best possible customer experience.

Are You Ready for Marketing Automation?

Automated CRM marketing can help you engage your prospect appropriate to where they are in the buying process. You can guide them through a customized path to the next stage and continue to nurture them to success. The right tool can track engagement along the way and provide valuable reporting data throughout the process.

Your company should be well-prepared if you want to experience all the benefits automation can offer. First, consider the pricing. A small business may pay as much as $800 a month, while a larger enterprise can pay up to $3,000 month.

Marketing software should be an investment in your company. Make sure your website, email tactics, and other essential marketing platforms are in optimal shape. You want a strong foundation before you invest in a sophisticated and powerful tool.

Also, consider the capabilities of your marketing team members. Ensure you have a knowledgeable, motivated team to manage a robust automation system. Many companies perfect their email marketing, then start with a light version of automated marketing before moving on to their ultimate tool.

Make the Right Decision for Your Company Right Now

There is no clear distinction of which system is better for marketing. It all depends on your company’s needs. You must identify whether basic email marketing or an automated system can best help you meet your goals.

You may be content with email marketing for now. You can plan to invest in an automated system once your business hits a certain growth point. As your needs evolve, you can invest in additional tools to help your business thrive.

If you’re looking to create an ecosystem of marketing and sales tools for your business, we can help. Sign up for a demo of our software for more information. You can also browse our blog to learn more about the benefits of marketing automation, how to improve workflows, and more.

3 Ways to Save Time on Marketing Tasks

Posted on Aug 6th, 2018

As a business owner, you have a lot of things to do every day. Things that take up time and energy, leaving you stretched too thin.

One of the most time-consuming aspects of running a business is marketing. But there are business tools that can help with this.

Automation is the best way to do this. It helps you cut those marketing tasks down into manageable pieces and offload some weight from your shoulders.

Feeling uncertain? Here’s how marketing automation gives you more time to work on other parts of your business.

Social Media Posting

Keeping your social media accounts up-to-date goes a long way in staying relevant. You’ll stay at your customer’s fingertips, keeping them engaged with your company in a way that no other method can achieve.

Maintaining a social media account can be a job in and of itself. Not only do you need good content, but you also need to publish that content at a constant and regular interval.

Marketing automation tools can handle this all for you. Your social media will keep your clients engaged while you work on other aspects of your company. Not only will it free up time, but it will also ensure your social media accounts are of the highest quality.

Nurture Your Clients

Lead nurturing is an important task that no business can ignore. You want to keep your clients thinking about you and your business. You want them to understand that you care about their continued support. But this kind of interaction can take up a lot of your time.

Automation can help you schedule and plan out the sending of multiple emails to your clients.

Instead of spending hours on this task yourself, you can have the tool do it all for you, as well as the actual sending of the emails. It can make the entire process more organized and streamlined.

Add a Personal Touch

These days, you need to go the extra mile to present your company as something more than a means to sell the customer a product or service. Customers want to feel special and listened to. They want to feel a strong connection with your business.

One way to achieve this is to add personal touches to all of your interactions. Automation can take this time-consuming task and make it a viable strategy that ends up saving you hours of work.

You can get those vital personal touches with every email you send, helping your customers to feel valued. Once you have the initial automation code set up, you won’t have to worry about it again.

No Longer Will These Marketing Tasks Soak Up Valuable Time

These marketing tasks will be a breeze if you take advantage of automation. You won’t have to spend hours of your day doing the same tasks over and over again if marketing automation can do it all for you.

Words like ‘automation’ can sound intimidating if you don’t know much about it. But worry not, for these invaluable tools can be easy to implement into your business strategy.

If you’d like to learn more, please contact us at any time!

The Top 5 Most Used Marketing Automation Platforms

Posted on Aug 10th, 2018

Although marketing automation began in 1992, it wasn’t until the mid-2000s it became popular. Since then, the industry has grown from $225 million to $1.62 billion.

Marketing automation allows companies to increase company efficiency and watch their revenue grow.

If you’re trying to take your marketing strategy to the next level and are looking for the right platforms, this guide is for you.

Keep reading for 5 of the best marketing automation platforms worth investing on.

1. Marketo

Marketo is one of the most popular marketing automation platforms. It allows for customers to combine all of their data and personalize interactions using analytics, automation, and adaptive engines.

Their customers like Marketo because it provides a full service of features to facilitate automation. Marketo starts at $1,195 a month it’s not the cheapest but not the most expensive.

If pricing is an issue for you, there are several plans to pick from. For example, they have a basic plan that only uses the most basic tools.

Customers looking for more advanced features can pick from the pro or elite packages.

2. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a tool that facilitates email marketing for small businesses.

This tool is widely used by business who are new and want to get familiar with email marketing. It helps them stay organized and choose from over 100 mobile-optimized email templates.

Businesses will benefit from this service and be able to more customer email addresses using multiple platforms.

3. ExactTarget

Users love Exact Target because it’s able to target communications through a variety of channels.

While other tools focus on emails, ExactTarget goes a different route. This tool focuses on mobile app notifications and other message platforms.

ExactTarget allows you to create the ideal content to reach the exact audience you need to reach.

4. Eloqua

If you’re running a big enterprise, then Eloqua is just the one.

Although Eloqua starts at $2,000 a month, the services it provides match the price tag.

Businesses who have technology vendors and those using CRM integration can benefit from Eloqua.

Eloqua provides a cloud that uses a type of centralized canvas for marketers to take advantage of such as mobile, web, email, social, and so much more.

5. Hubspot

People have a love/hate relationship with HubSpot. This software is extremely effective because it does a little bit of everything but only on the surface.

Since Hubspot is known as the inbound marketing software, it offers many tools for an all-in-one approach. It aids businesses with many tools such as sales, marketing, CRM, and more.

For customers who can’t decide if they should commit to a HubSpot, they offer a free plan. The free version offers dashboard visibility and access to all of the scheduled appointments, contracts, and track your performance.

Marketing Automation Platforms: The Bottom Line

There you have it, 5 of the best marketing automation platforms that can help take your business to the next level.

If you’re ready to take your CRM and Email Marketing to the next level, FunnelMaker is here to help. Visit to learn more about us or check our pricing to find the right package for you.

5 Reasons Why You Need Marketing Automation Integration

Posted on Aug 13th, 2018

Do you sometimes feel like your marketing and sales processes are a bit disconnected?

Or, as they say, “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing?”

If the answer is a resounding yes, then it’s time you start looking into marketing automation integration. Marketing automation is a great way to make sure everyone is on the same page.

It also ensures that the right hand and left hand aren’t just aware of each other, but are actually helping each other out.

Are you looking to reduce complexity, errors, and expenses for your business? Read on to find out the top 5 reasons why you need marketing automation integration.

1. Improve Lead Identification

Do you feel like your sales team is wasting time chasing down low-quality leads? Are they not spending enough time on high-quality ones?

This is a situation that occurs all too often when the marketing team sends leads to the sales team. Once the sales team receives these leads, there’s almost never any reciprocal communication. This means the marketing team never finds out which leads pan out–and which ones flop.

However, when you have automated integration, you increase levels of communication. This results in better leads for your sales team.

2. More Accurate Lead Scoring

One of the best strategies to identify quality leads is to use lead scoring. With marketing automation, you have the ability to automatically score your leads with various factors.

As an example, how do these leads interact with your website? Your sales team will be able to use this information to pinpoint the top prospects. They can then learn about those prospects’ behaviors and needs before making contact.

This will help tremendously when it comes to figuring out how to approach the sale.

3. Ability to Personalize Marketing Campaigns

Effective marketing is all about reaching the right audience at the right time and in the right way. When you have marketing automation integration in place, you can target specific customers with personalized messages.

Targeting customers with personalized messages is a crucial component to nurturing the leads that are already in your sales funnel.

4. Reliability

Another major benefit of integration is that it’s extremely reliable. This means no more leaving everything up to chance and hoping to avoid human error.

Through automation, you ensure that jobs are done in the correct sequence and that they’re not forgotten about. Any special processing is taken care of, data is inputted correctly, and mistakes are addressed immediately.

5. More Metrics and Reporting

With an integrated and automated marketing system in place, it becomes a lot easier to report financial and forecast metrics.

Reporting these metrics is one of the most essential parts of any marketing campaign. It tells you what worked and what didn’t work. That way, you can improve your next campaign.

Are You Ready to Start Using Automation Integration?

As you can see, there are many benefits to automation integration. Now, the only obstacle is getting started.

Luckily, it’s easy to get a system in place. Drop any questions you may have below or contact us today for more information.

Have a Successful CRM Implementation With These 10 Tips

Posted on Aug 17th, 2018

As a business owner, you’re probably on the lookout for helpful tools. If that’s the case, you should consider implementing a CRM system.

There are many benefits to using a CRM system. These include happier employees, better relationships with customers, and greater cross-selling abilities.

While CRM systems are great, switching to one can be stressful. Luckily, there are ways to get around that.

You need your switch to CRM to go as smoothly as possible so business continues efficiently through it.

Here are ten tips for successful CRM implementation that should help.

1. Provide Training

Before implementing your new CRM system, make sure all employees are well trained. Don’t roll out a program that employees aren’t ready for.

Choose someone who can dedicate time and energy to coordinate and oversee the training. Make sure they know all the ins and outs before they start teaching the CRM to others. This change may seem intimidating and overwhelming to some on the team. It’s important that your team lead has the knowledge and patience to resolve any concerns they may have.

Allow role play and other opportunities for employees to get familiar with the system. Practice makes perfect, so let employees try things out before working with actual customers. This will allow troubleshooting without frustration for customers and stress for employees.

2. Have a Strategy

Implementing a CRM won’t change only one team within your company. Many or all employees will likely be affected in some way. Make sure all affected teams are ready for the change.

Be strategic in planning for this. Get all employees on board and encourage positive change. Don’t just wing it, unless you want to deal with chaos later.

3. Choose the Right CRM

There are plenty of CRM options to choose from, so make sure you choose the right one.

Consider your needs and do some research. Compare systems and consider how they’ll work in your situation.

One CRM will fit better than another, so go with what’s best for you and your customers.

4. Use an Experienced Consultant

If you haven’t used a CRM before, consider partnering with a consultant. Bringing someone in who’s experienced with CRMs could be invaluable for your company.

Implementing a CRM is no small thing, so don’t be afraid to get some help. Making the investment now can save headaches and frustration in the future.

5. Throw a Kick-off Party

It takes a commitment from the entire team when implementing a CRM. Employees love having a break from their regular work, so give them a chance to celebrate. Throw a kick-off party for the launch of your new CRM!

There are plenty of ways to celebrate this big change. Throw a barbecue for lunch one day, or host a fun dinner and allow employees to invite their families.

Whatever you do, make it tons of fun! Implementing a CRM is a lot of work, so help lighten the load by letting your employees have some fun.

6. Plan for Migration Time

You probably have a data storage and organization system. Once you implement your new CRM system, you’ll want to move your data.

Migrating data takes time, so plan ahead! Set aside ample time so you’re finished by your launch date.

Prepare ahead of time and shorten the migration process by going through your data. Delete all unneeded duplicate files. Get rid of personal information for past employees that are no longer with the company.

You’ve probably got some files sitting around that you don’t need, so get rid of them before moving your data. There’s no need to move and keep files that you don’t need.

7. Don’t Rush

When implementing a CRM system you may want to rush. If you feel the need to push through things too quickly, don’t do it!

Changing to a CRM system is complicated enough without missing steps because you tried to go too fast. Take a deep breath and proceed one step at a time. Make sure everything is taken care of properly.

If you won’t make the planned deadline, that’s okay. Simply push it back. It’s better to launch late than to launch before you’re truly ready.

8. Accept Resistance

You’ll probably have some people who don’t like the change that’s coming. That’s okay, just plan ahead for it.

The entire team doesn’t have to be 100% in support of the change. But you don’t want a mutiny on your hands, either.

Do your best to ease employees and upper management into the idea. Involve everyone in positive ways to help them enjoy the process as much as possible. If your team feels prepared and informed the transition will be easier for everyone.

9. Have Guidelines in Place

In order for your CRM system to work the way it should, all employees need to use it properly. Create some guidelines for how employees should interact with the CRM.

Devise a way to make sure all employees are following guidelines. It won’t be very helpful if some follow them and others don’t. Make sure the guidelines are easily accessible to everyone.

10. Be Smart About Timing

Switching to a CRM will take some time, so look ahead when choosing a launch date. Don’t choose your busy season!

Make sure you aren’t rushed by choosing a period that’s usually quiet for your company. Doing so will ease the stress of the change and give you time to troubleshoot any issues without undue pressure.

CRM Implementation Doesn’t Have to be Rough

The implementation of a CRM system is a big deal for your company, but it doesn’t have to be a major trial. Get all employees involved in the change. Help them see the positive results that will come from CRM implementation.

Don’t be afraid to get some help. It’s out there and can be very valuable, so don’t limit yourself to working without it.

Switching to a CRM system may seem complicated, but the benefits far outweigh the efforts to make the change.

Are you still looking for the perfect CRM system? Head to our website to see what we have to offer.

Must Haves For Your CRM

Posted on Sep 7th, 2018

Most Customer Relationship Management systems are geared towards improving the relationship with existing clients and finding potential clients. The average CRM software collects, organizes and helps you manage client information. Whether small or large, many organizations find developing and using a CRM strategy to be beneficial to the management, employees and the bottom line.

An integrated Customer Relationship Management software makes multiple “tools” available within one platform, outperforming the basic CRM. With systems like FunnelMaker, one need no longer search for add-ons to enhance their functionality and usefulness. Does your current system have the following tools and abilities?

Opportunity Management: Tools that allow you to easily identify customer needs and buying patterns and use this information to increase future sales opportunities. They allow you to keep track of leads, prospects, and sales and are usually used for managing longer-lead, higher-value sales.

Email Marketing: Email marketing automation is still one of the most effective means of reaching out to customers. According to McKinsey,  “Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter.” That’s nothing to shake a stick at.

Email marketing automation allows you to employ what some marketers call lifecycle marketing. The appropriate content is sent to the right person at the right time. Personalized messages deliver only the most suitable information for that stage in the sales process.

Email and Forms Builders:

When it comes to email marketing, one size does not fit all. Templates, design, and layout are critical pieces that add to the big picture of your brand. Some email platforms limit you to basic layouts, still others require knowledge of HTML. FunnelMaker EasyBuilder accommodates all types of organizations, no HTML experience required. Save time by placing content with a simple click and drag. Save money by not having to hire design professionals.

Signup forms are an effective way to build an online database of current and potential customers. Adding an email signup form to your website encourages visitors to become email subscribers or group members. Creating a signup form with customized fields allows you to collect just the information you need. FunnelMaker allows you to build Facebook forms that appear on your business pages, making it easy for interested viewers to sign up for your group or email newsletters right from Facebook.

Tracking Contacts: Keeping track of your client’s interactions with your company gives you an insight into future leads and possibilities. Knowing when they click on pages within your website or an email (or links in an email), register for an event, fill out a form, ticket, or survey lets you know their interests. Advanced integrated CRMs will activate cookies and allow the system to know who the visitor is and where to assign the page views within their contact file, noting whether they are considered ‘Hot’ or ready to buy, and who may need more hand-holding.

A good Customer Relationship Management software helps you keep track of your client’s information and important statistics but a GREAT CRM includes the tools that help you drive positive results and success for your organization.

Does Your CRM Do This?

Posted on Sep 13th, 2018

Understanding CRM Solutions

It’s important to understand the functionality included in each CRM software. The most sought-after functions are listed below:

• Sales force automation

Contact and opportunity management, sales forecasting, pipeline analysis and reporting.

• Marketing integration

Lead management, email and event marketing, marketing analytics and campaign management.

• Customer service & support

Trouble ticketing, self-service solutions, case management, customer experience platforms, live chat and surveys.

• Help desk automation

Trouble ticketing, knowledge management, self-service and IT asset management.

No Time Wasted

With an “out of the box” fully integrated relationship management tool, like FunnelMaker, you don’t have to build the CRM, add-on the dialer, email system, analytics, and take the time to consider all the possible bolt-on features. If you’re wanting to change direction or get a new positive start, then a primary fundamental fully integrated system will put your team worlds ahead of all the others.

Effective Projects Management

By storing up-to-date detailed customer information, recording interactions, phone calls, opportunities and tracking website visits, email reads and video views, your insight into potential leads and forecasting customer needs is greatly enhanced. FunnelMaker effectively helps you manage new and on-going opportunities and keeps your team on track.

Better Customer Relationships

The impact of this obvious advantage can be massive. With FunnelMaker, your team member can have immediate access to the relevant information about your client and their account, allowing them to assist them on the spot. Gone should be the days when pertinent information is only accessible by the personnel in a particular department. Your CRM should serve the user, not vice versa.

Less Repetition – Greater Efficiency

One major benefit of a fully integrated CRM system is the reduced wasted time caused by manually sharing information between various systems and team members. Information is entered into the system once, there is no need to re-key from one system to another. Automated workflows reduce repetitive and mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on more important work.

To support successful business execution, FunnelMaker integrates key strategic solutions that assure quick start capabilities and accelerated operations for managing your business. Transferring data to these select systems for accounting or advanced shopping cart functionality really drives your sales and marketing efforts to higher levels of results.

Does Video Rule The SEO World?

Posted on Sep 20th, 2018

Today’s saavy companies are using video to communicate their value and deliver a great customer experience. The brilliant companies are using a marketing tool that tracks client views and identifies potential leads.

Personalization

Video can add a human touch to automation and help connect your company with customers. According to Brainshark, “Video is a powerful method of communication, and one that continues to grow in popularity.  Engaging video content has become a must-have for today’s brands as they work to bolster their online presence.”

Forrester Research estimates that one minute of online video equates to approximately 1.8 million written words. In addition, HubSpot tells us that 90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text. Statistics show that social media posting which includes videos attracts 3 times more inbound links than plain text posts which leads to more reads, leads and most importantly revenue!

Next Steps

So your video is made, and you’re posting away on social media, what’s next? You can probably track traffic to your website and maybe you have begun to notice an increase in interest in your brand and more revenue coming in. What more can be done?

Landing pages with sign-up forms can build a contact list of interested leads. A great marketing tool can track the actions of those leads, giving insight into conversion as they progress in relationship with your brand. CRM business automated workflows can help keep you in contact and further that connection. More customers means increased revenue, it’s a win-win situation.

Improve your SEO with video

Seo Land shares these tips:

Video integration. The presence of video itself affects the most important SEO ranking factor: content. Video is evidence of quality content, and as part of a media mix on a site, it helps send signals to search engines that your page or site contains rich media relevant to search requests So having video on your site will boost page rank.

Keyword labels. Provide more information to search engines to help identify your videos as relevant to search results, just as you would label pictures and graphics. Including keywords used for text SEO in fields used to describe your video (in titles, file names, descriptions and tags) ensures that the relevance of your video to search results is clear to search engines.

Video transcript. Including a transcript of the audio portion of your video improves its findability and adds further support for its relevance to search requests.

Video sitemap. While information on your video sitemap might duplicate some of the keyword labels used to identify the video, it is a separate process. Video sitemaps are an extension to the general sitemap of your Web property. Metadata that may be customized include duration, rating, view count, age appropriateness, whether the video may be embedded and other useful information.

Host your video on YouTube. YouTube is, on its own, the second-largest search engine in number of search queries. Secondly, YouTube is owned by Google. You can make your own conclusion about what that means, or you can look at this chart.

Optimize videos for load time. Google considers page performance in its algorithm. Page load time affects user experience, which means it affects SEO

Backlink from your YouTube video. While shares and links to your YouTube video won’t count as links to your website, you can create two backlinks from YouTube. Create a YouTube channel and insert your Web page into your channel profile. Also insert your link in the video description.

Social signals. Getting more people to like or view your video is a positive signal to search engines of the value of your content. This will increase the likelihood of your video being found and driving traffic to your site.

People like videos, watch videos, and tend to remember them. Using engaging video as a part of your successful marketing strategy can increase your SEO and your bottom line. Adding FunnelMaker online marketing tool’s automated abilities and real-time tracking features, increases it even more!

Your Non Profit’s Best Friend

Posted on Oct 5th, 2018

Does This Sound Familiar?

“Hey everyone, we’re finally at that “comfortable” fund-raising level, so just sit back and relax!” said no NPO director ever.

Everyone who works in non-profit sector marketing and fundraising knows the heartache of fundraising. However strong your conviction, funding always seems to come up short. Our CRM for nonprofits is here to change that.

FunnelMaker is a strategic contact tool that unites your marketing, crowdfunding, and outreach– keeping your nonprofit connected, at the touch of a button…

Attract Donors

What about reaching out to potential donors? To grow and expand your outreach it’s necessary to increase funds. FunnelMaker tracks website visitors and automatically identifies those contacts who are already in your portal.

Never Miss Another Lead

You can gain information as new contacts fill-in sign-up forms. Workflows notify you and trigger email campaigns to inform and draw in potential donors. You won’t miss out on a penny.

Grow Donor Relationships

Our “Easy-builder” and “Drip Campaigns” give you the power to create attractive email communication that automatically reaches out to your target audience at the intervals you select.

As you place new contacts into your donor group, your drip campaign begins! Your time is valuable; just create emails once and add the right triggers to maintain endless connections.

Custom workflows let you build the perfect email sequences for every type of contact.

Call Management

Non Profit Fundraising Tip: a simple follow-up thank you call can increase subsequent donations by 8.3% compared to a 3.5% when a thank you note is received.

FunnelMaker’s call management system makes calling simple and easy. No note taking necessary– calls are automatically recorded and transcribed within the contact’s record for future reference.

Zero effort, zero wasted time. Easily move prospects, donors and contacts through your donation pipeline without struggling with confusing fields, knobs and dials– we give you complete control over the information you need, who can make changes to it, and even where you see it.

Non Profit Sector’s Biggest Challenges

Guidestar, a 501(c)(3) charity that collects data about nonprofits asked organizers an important question:

What is the greatest challenge your organization faces?

Here’s what they said…

So, whether you’re concerned about:

• Finding the money to accomplish your mission
• Getting the word out about what you do
• Obtaining and/or incorporating the technology you need to accomplish your mission

…Or anything else, FunnelMaker’s customizable CRM system is the solution.

With unlimited user profiles, unlimited emails, unlimited workflows, and one low cost*, we’re the only tool you need to hit bigger goals, faster.

*monthly fee: We base our monthly fees on the number of contacts in your portal, so you can keep growing your team without growing your costs.

SMS Advertising Improves Engagement

Posted on Feb 5th, 2019

More than 77% of Americans have a smartphone; and at least 95% have a mobile phone of some kind.

A lot of businesses already cater to their mobile audiences by using responsive web design and implementing local Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

It’s no wonder that mobile marketing involves more than SEO and website user experience.

SMS advertising can help leverage your existing mobile marketing efforts and engage with your customers in an entirely new way.

Let’s look closely at why you should strongly consider investing in mobile SMS marketing.

1. Instant Customer Engagement

Customer engagement is an essential component of any marketing scheme. Customers who are actively engaged with businesses are more likely to maintain a relationship with that business.

Engaged customers are also more likely to generate referrals, which can help expand your existing network of clients.

Keeping communication channels open with your customers further enables you to engage with them in real-time. SMS advertising offers an instant way to have this customer engagement.

What’s more, most of your customers are likely to have their mobile devices on hand. This is particularly the case for smartphone users, who frequently depend on their phones to check email, browse social media, and find information.

SMS marketing surpasses other forms of digital advertising in this sense. Social media and email marketing can be equally effective, but some customers don’t see emails right away. Others may not have social media accounts.

2. Acquire Feedback

Understanding how your customers think and operate is essential to crafting products and services they are likely to desire. Gaining customer feedback can help you hone marketing strategies and boost conversion rates.

It can be tough finding ways to gather client thoughts, particularly if you have already tried social media surveys or email queries.

Text message advertising gives you a chance to send out surveys to large audiences in seconds. You can ask one-question surveys that require one word or numerical response for faster feedback.

Text message surveys are often less tedious for customers to complete. They also remind customers that you are actively interested in their reflections, a key component of nurturing customer relationships.

3. Mine and Analyze Important Data

The key to a successful marketing campaign lies in its data. Analyzing marketing campaign metrics can help you identify what is working about your current advertising efforts.

it can also give you insight into user engagement, product viability, and more.

SMS advertising enables marketers to analyze metrics that provide insight into customer interest and response. These metrics include delivery and open rates, click-throughs and opt-ins, and conversion rates (the ultimate number).

Analyzing the results of your mobile text marketing efforts can help you segment your market further and target the customers most likely to respond. You will also gain a firm understanding of market interest.

4. Engage Customer’s Effectively

Most SMS advertising delivers more than mere information to clients. It’s possible to elevate customer response and overall engagement with certain messages.

Most SMS marketers, for example, will send out an initial message to first-time clients and request customers to “opt-in” to receiving future SMS messages. This requires an active response from the customer, such as a simple “YES” or numerical input.

Once customers have actively opted into a text messaging relationship with a business, they can receive further messages designed to generate engagement. These include surveys and questionnaires.

But they can also include discounts and promotions only accessible via customer response.

The more a customer interacts with your advertising, the more she is likely to stick around. If she is a lead, she’s also more likely to convert if she is putting in the effort to respond to a message.

5. Bolster Marketing Campaigns

Digital marketing is taking the online world by force. If you already have other online advertising campaigns in place, mobile SMS marketing can leverage these efforts.

Text message advertising can leverage a promotion you’re marketing on Facebook at the moment. It can incorporate links to a newly released podcast or video. It can even help acquire new newsletter subscribers by funneling responders into an online form submission.

Because SMS marketing is on the low end of intrusive advertising, it can be more successful at generating campaign payoffs.

6. Save Money

Marketers are always looking for ways to save money on advertising. Even though digital marketing offers most businesses a viable and affordable means of engaging with customers, online advertising still constitutes a significant investment.

Mobile text marketing offers businesses a cost-effective means of targeting a large audience. Marketing messages cost businesses between $0.01 and $0.05 per text.

This is astounding in comparison to other marketing channels!

Because SMS marketing can leverage other advertising efforts, it is a financially sound addition to your communications lineup.

7. More Leads

Many argue that we are moving into a digital age that is predominantly mobile. Certainly, the number of current smartphone users–77% of Americans–is a testament to the future of mobile audiences.

Businesses who cater smartly to their mobile users are more likely to gain high conversion rates.

Gain valuable mobile leads by implementing SMS advertising. The beauty of a smartphone lies in its ability to receive text messages and provide access to the internet.

A well-crafted text message, for example, can bring a customer to your website within seconds of delivery. If your site is responsively designed for mobile access, that customer is more likely to linger–and maybe make a purchase decision.

How Can SMS Advertising Benefit Your Business?

Given today’s proliferation of mobile devices, implementing SMS advertising can be your secret to digital marketing success. Sending out text blasts to your customer base can boost the performance of other marketing efforts, including SEO and social media campaigns.

It can also increase customer engagement, a key component of long-lasting client relationships.

Text messages are relatively non-intrusive, easy to respond to, and cost-effective for businesses to implement.

As such, a well-honed SMS campaign can show your clients that you are invested in their opinions. It establishes you as an industry authority eager to engage with clients, wherever they are at.

At Funnel Maker, we love helping our clients craft the marketing funnels that can lead to higher conversion rates. We can help you implement a high-performing text messaging campaign today. Learn more about our mission here!

Call Management On The Go

Posted on Feb 15th, 2019

Focus On Winning!

FunnelMaker expedites the click-to-call process amazingly by combining their Call Management tool with “voice-drop message” and “auto-transcribe notation” features. These added features allow the caller to FOCUS ON THE CONTACT rather than note taking and enable them to render the best possible customer service experience.

Customer service and sales reps in almost every industry have responsibility stacked on top of responsibility! They must make sure the customer is happy, create and renew agreements, conduct product demonstrations/webinars and all the while prospect for new clients. All this needs to be done with the highest amount of productivity and efficiency possible. At FunnelMaker, the CRM does the work and the click-to-call tool is taking reps who were making 30 calls/day to 130 calls/day! Even more importantly, business owners are now getting real insight into the market penetration system.

4 Benefits with FunnelMaker Call Management:

1. Multiple shared access users can use this feature
2. Manage all inbound and outbound calls
3. Review and playback call transcripts
4. Calls are automatically integrated within a customer’s CRM – this way you can modify your clients, as well as your team’s activity and their conversations

Perhaps you currently utilize email marketing as the main method to reach out to your contacts. Email marketing is a necessary and effective way to stay in touch; however, there are times when a phone call can be more effective.

In the article Email Prospecting vs Cold Calling: What’s Best? Livia Stancu, of Inside Sales.com says:

“Phone calls are more effective than email at gathering responses. This happens for a number of reasons, but let’s list the most obvious:

Recent stats show that the average office worker receives around 121 emails per day. In this type of crowded medium, it’s hard to stand out and get someone’s attention;

One study shows that 57% of people who receive a cold email think it is spam without even opening the email;

Phone outreach has a response rate of 8.1% compared to .03% for email.”

The experts at Active Marketing.com advise that it is best to find a click-to-call software that also takes care of the rest of your marketing needs.

“Looking for software can be a daunting task, especially if you do not know what to be looking for. Click-to-call software can be a stand-alone product, but your best bet is to look for marketing optimization and automation software to take care of your click-to-call needs as well as the rest of your marketing needs.”

When staying in contact with your current customer, or reaching out to a lead, whether the method is email, click-to-call, or sms, FunnelMaker covers all your CRM and marketing needs in one easy to use, affordable platform.

Your Ticket To Satisfied Customers

Posted on Feb 22nd, 2019

Today’s business owners are facing an increasingly intricate business atmosphere. When customer data is ignored, lost or mishandled, not only does the sales process suffer, but so does the client relationship. How can one face these challenges while also building an excellent customer rapport?

An Integrated CRM Enhances the Customer Relationship

How easy is it to keep track of diverse conversations and engagements regarding a single client using multiple business systems? An integrated CRM provides a location for centralized pertinent data regarding your customers, enabling you to optimize customer relations. No more, back and forth between platforms, searching for your customer’s information, the history of marketing efforts, purchases and more.

Integrating CRM and automated marketing tools allows both your sales and marketing teams to benefit from real-time statistical data such as:

• Email Drip-Campaigns (reads, video views, downloaded content)
•  
• Phone Call Management (recording/transcription, call history)
•  
• Web page Interactions (number of clicks, pages viewed and more)
•  
• Workflow Activity (automated actions to enhance customer experience)
•  
• Events (calendar activity, scheduling, sign-up forms)
•  
• Social Media Interaction
•  
• Much more!
•  

A Personalized Customer Experience

When you integrate your marketing automation system with your CRM’s detailed customer data, it can, not only address clients by name, but also note a birthday, (offering a specialized discount), preferred products (personalize a purchase suggestion), or other important information which you define. This information can also be used for rewarding existing customers and targeting potential leads.

Increase Ability without Increasing Costs

All of your client information in one database gives you a better view of how your business is performing, allowing you to maximize your current team’s performance without adding manpower costs to your bottom-line.

Integrated CRM systems save you time, having one location from which you may quickly retrieve information. It saves you money, as fewer team members are needed to update and maintain the database, entering data just once, enabling quick and easy access for those who are authorized and protecting the integrity of your client’s information.

Connect Your Management and Sales Teams

Project management integration makes critical information visible across your company. It connects management with the sales team giving them a complete view of the customer’s interactions with your organization. Working together more effectively, improves the relationship and morale of your entire team!

More effective communication means no missed opportunities! What’s not to love?!

How To Implement A Contact Relationship Management Solution?

Posted on Apr 21st, 2020

There are three foundational components to every sale. Timing, meaning each opportunity has a specific projected close date. Desire, which is the key indicator that your prospect or client is as interested in doing business as you are, and, deal definition, which means everyone knows exactly what you’re selling and the terms.

The speed of business today compounds this challenge of fulfilling those three components. At the same time having to think through each team member’s position considering, sometimes hundreds of deal strategies simultaneously makes it almost impossible. What’s more, it’s most likely that 8 out of 10 companies today have no real contact management strategy at all, regardless of the tools they use.

Contact relationship management is more than just three words crammed together to define software. How your team relates to your customers should be defined and not off the hip. It’s created from the top down; it shows that your leaders understand your marketplace and the front-line challenges in winning and keeping business.

A contact relationship management strategy reflects a successful, well thought out delivery of your values to your marketplace and results in winning new clients and retaining customers.

So many people believe that a CRM solution itself can create your “go to market” success by itself. This is never true and those that believe such either fail or produce mediocre results. The company’s that excel in their growth objectives have built a scalable, repeatable and most importantly measurable process that their team executes using their contact management software system to execute and measure progress.

So what are the first steps you should consider when implementing a Contact Relationship Management solution?

Study your company’s value proposition, it’s life cycle and establish the shortest path to a profitable “yes”.

Penetrating any list of targets within your marketplace doesn’t happen with a single touch. While some people will tell you they won their largest account on a single call those successes are one out of ten thousand. Telling your unique story to any prospective target has got to be thoughtful, loaded with intelligent perspective and shows them that you understand their business, needs and wants. As far as lifecycle, imagine selling VCRs in today’s US market. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the VCR’s life cycle has come and gone? Your value proposition to your market must be relevant and your products and services if not young in their lifecycle need to be blended with newer longer life solutions.

Review all of your current communication processes and evaluate their effectiveness.

Update and modernize your communication technology and consider including all tools that bring you up to date. A modern CRM software should be equally capable in marketing as with contact management. Automating marketing and workflows is only as good as the messaging values portrayed. There is no magic to telling a proper story. But automating your story telling is paramount for client retention and attracting new clients.

Clearly define your go to market strategy to your front-line team and what your contact management expectations are.

Defining everything about the Contact Relationship Management process and who’s responsible for what is important. Holding your front-line team accountable is a best practice, the question is, what activity are you holding them too, and why?

In a survey with thousands of respondents we asked, “Is the data captured in your CRM:

• Exceptional Quality
• High Quality
• Moderate Quality
• Low Quality
• Non-Existent

The top two categories returned were Non-Existent and Low Quality with “Non-Existent” as the answer with the highest response. Why would you risk the great responsibility of business development and client retention and let your team enter partial entries or none at all? You wouldn’t!

If you’re considering a CRM for the first time, please understand that it’s all wasted money unless your team actually uses it. My Advice is to modify compensation to drive the proper CRM activity driving them to the shortest path to success.

There are many companies that do not hold anyone accountable in regard to their customer relationship processes. Can you imagine if your accounting department worked the same way? Invoices going out that are only partially complete. Some completely blank, some clients getting no invoices at all, get the picture? Why would anyone run his or her business this way? Define what you want and expect what you’ve defined.

Merging your sales and marketing communication pays off.

The old days where a business development rep was assigned a territory on an excel spreadsheet are gone, yet you can see it everyday. Today your contact manager has to be integrated with your marketing strategy. Find a comprehensive CRM and marketing software like HubSpot or FunnelMaker. Tools like these provide complete visibility and assure sales that they understand what marketing is doing and visa versa.