Effective salespeople take pride in adding value to their organizations. Over the years, I’ve observed that the most productive sales reps make 80 to 100 phone calls per day. Although many people might consider this a lofty goal, it’s possible with the right systems in place.
Why are sales reps still making phone calls? Because phone calls work. Although effective marketing approaches exist in many forms, many sectors such as software marketing still rely heavily on phone calls. Modern prospectors are smart communicators who use the phone along with social selling. They focus on sales development, which means talking with people who can put salespeople in touch with the right contacts. Reaching the right contact, generating interest, and scheduling a meeting often starts with a phone conversation.
The process starts with marketing
How do sales reps identify 80 to 100 businesses to call? Especially for organizations with a large sales force and a large or diverse market, sales reps should rely on organization marketing teams throughout the sales process. Marketing teams often use multiple communications approaches to develop and drive interest. Teams also should collect leads – for example, by scanning badges at a trade show or capturing contact data from website visits or article downloads – and then enter each lead into a comprehensive CRM solution such as the Microsoft Dynamics 365™ solution.
After the marketing team supplies the sales team with potential leads, the sales team should prepare to make phone calls in order to convert into qualified leads and opportunities.
Phone calls come next
Initial phone calls rarely end with a closed deal. Most likely, the inside salesperson can expect a connection to voicemail or possibly a brief introductory conversation. At this stage, it’s too soon to qualify or disqualify a prospect.
A versatile, effective workflow is critical
A smartly designed workflow such as Dynamics 365 can streamline the process and enable sales reps to be more organized, efficient, and successful. Dynamics 365 provides actionable items and allows users to instantly and automatically set a next call date.
A sample workflow might look like this:
- If contact is not made: Call again in one day.
- If the rep leaves a voicemail: Call again in three days.
- If the contact was too busy to talk: Call again in one week.
Each day, sales reps can pick up where they left off and schedule follow-up calls based on their last attempt at contact. They will see who to call and when to call, and they can work efficiently through a list of prospects and expect to reach a goal of 80 to 100 calls per day.
The right CRM system makes the difference
Dynamics 365 automates manual processes and provides logical ways to organize and track information. With an efficient CRM system such as Dynamics 365, a salesperson can manage information consistently and methodically and can make a high number of calls.
Dynamics 365 provides a consistent and measured approach to qualifying leads and building the sales pipeline. It also provides greater insight into each salesperson’s ability to meet goals and, ultimately, his or her contribution to the organization’s bottom line.
Visit CroweCRM.com for more information about Crowe CRM services for Microsoft Dynamics 365 software. Have a question or interested in evaluating the CRM functionality in Dynamics 365? Contact us today.
Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
