How To Keep Your Sales Pipeline From Stalling

Editor’s Note: This is part of an ongoing series on digital integration, cutting-edge technology from Commercient. Our goal is to help modernize your business and improve sales.

Keeping the sales pipeline full of potential buyers willing to buy is a key challenge of any B2B business. Unlike B2C businesses, selling to the consumer, B2B sales cycles tend to be longer, and require a bigger investment. This can lead to the excitement of some managers, but resistance in others. Then, the deal is lost.

If you’re a salesperson or a sales manager, you know this all too well. Keeping a dynamic sales pipeline with leads moving through the buying cycle until they become customers is your main goal. How can you achieve this?

Technology is here to help. Yes, the phone still works, and still will. One-on-one conversations, when possible, help to connect with potential buyers in a more personal way. These tactics have a huge trail of success, and if you add cutting-edge technology into the mix, imagine what you can accomplish.

Here are some ways to leverage technology to keep your sales pipeline from stalling:

Get Technology Involved in the Current Sales Process

What process does any potential customer follow once they get in touch with your company? They decide to get in touch through online forms on your website, calling or answering your phone calls and agreeing to meet with you – in person or virtually – they become a lead to be nurtured.

Without technology, it’s easy to lose track of how those leads are doing in the buying cycle. Did they close? Or were they lost? Why? How many touchpoints and follow-ups did they receive?

According to a recent study, only 50% of leads enter the sales funnel to buy. If the process, or “funnel,” is too complex, and it requires extra effort from the potential buyer, they’re less likely to convert.

Technology helps businesses to keep track of all these aspects and more. The sales team and managers can analyze what’s going on in the sales pipeline, and discover which changes are needed to be implemented for a sales process that works.

Take Advantage of CRM Features

The use of a CRM system is very important in the sales and marketing world these days. There are different CRMs (Customer Relationship Management software) for companies of all sizes and price ranges.

For example, Salesforce Essentials and Zoho CRM are two of the most commonly used among small- and medium-sized businesses. Other companies leverage Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and more.

Although a CRM offers powerful features to keep a better track of every lead and customer, businesses sometimes use it as a database. Make sure the chosen CRM has the features your company needs, and encourage your team to take advantage of all of them.

How can all of those features improve your sales pipeline and current process? That’s a question your sales team should ask to make the most out of the system, and the investment it requires.

Integrate Your CRM and ERP with Commercient SYNC for a 360-Degree View of Sales

Your ERP and CRM systems might be robust, but when they work together, they can take any business to the next level. Watch this video to see how. Some of the tangible benefits a company receives from data integration apps such as Commercient SYNC include:

• Modernizing your sales system with data integration: How much time would salespeople save without having to deal with double entries and scattered information between two systems? How can you improve the attention customers get with their needs? And what about enhanced analytics and data for better decision making? Data integration allows to modernize your sales system and increase efficiency.
• Putting technology to work in your favor: The sales process is constantly evolving, especially now with technology in the mix. CRMs, ERPs, and data integration apps such as Commercient SYNC help them all work together nicely, and even AI and Social Media. Technology is here to help you work faster and smarter.
• Keeping customers happy: Once the sale is closed and the lead becomes a customer, the process is not over. In fact, it’s only starting. Their value increases the longer they stay working with your company or buying your products, so you want to keep them happy. How can this happen? With better access to information for your team, having all that data available without having to ask Accounting or other departments, or rely on an internal network. This can cause unnecessary and often costly delays. Instead, integrate both systems to automate repetitive tasks, like data entry, so your salespeople can provide a better service to potential and actual customers.

If you’re ready to keep your sales pipeline from stalling and make data and systems work for your business, contact Commercient today to discuss your needs.