3 Steps to Optimize Using CRM Software | #AskSwenk | Ep #67

By Jason Swenk on June 24, 2015

Are you using CRM software the best way to track leads for your business? If you are facing some challenges, I can help.

What are the best ways of using CRM Software to track leads and project cashflow?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is HUGE in any industry where you’ve got multiple leads at various stages in the sales process. CRM software is a must in keeping organized and optimizing every opportunity. The best way to use CRM is to create levels and use the levels to get a handle on cash projections.

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Step 1: Create Levels

My agency had four levels in our CRM system for prospects who requested to be contacted.

Level 1 – This level is people we needed to chat with and qualify. Remember to use my NBAT technique to qualify leads quickly. If you don’t know about NBAT, watch this quick video about assessing Need, Budget, Authority and Timing.

Level 2 – These people were qualified and needed a meeting to sell our foot in the door offer, such as a discovery or audit. (More on that in this post.)

Level 3 – Leads at this level were ones in the proposal stage. We had qualified them and established a relationship in levels 1 and 2.

Level 4 – This level was only for the done deal, after we got approvals and sign offs to proceed.

Remember when you set up your levels, these are just for potential customers who ASKED to be contacted. People who enter your system through a lead magnet, should stay in the “lead bucket” until they indicate otherwise.

Step 2: Assign Percentages to Your Levels

For revenue forecasting purposes, we assigned percentages to each level. You can start by using my numbers below and fine tune them once you have a good handle on your own rates.

Level 1 – About 10% of the people in this level will turn into sales.

Level 2 – Roughly 25% in this level convert to sales.

Level 3 – Between 50-75% of these prospects will become clients.

Level 4 – Anywhere from 75-100% will close the deal.

Step 3: Plug In the Numbers

Use the percentages and get a great snapshot of your cash projection. Use this to analyze your accounting systems, accounts receivable, recurring revenue and more.

Grow Your Digital Agency

Once you know how to optimise your cash projections using CRM software, it’s now time to look at the bigger picture of your agency, you can focus on areas you haven’t explored yet as well as struggles you need to focus on to improve your business and then check out how I have all you need to get through these obstacles.

I have covered everything from increasing website conversions, how to implement Facebook in your marketing strategy as well as why building authority to improve your agency is important.

If growth is your focus, I’ve discussed the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell your services to more customers.

You can learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

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