How to use social CRM to simplify your business and increase sales

Fortunately, software/app innovations have drastically improved the way you move customers through the sales pipeline. By using social customer relationship management (CRM), you can simplify this area of operations, increase productivity and generate more sales. Here are some specific ways that social CRM can be utilised.

Effectively engage prospects

Social media is all about interaction and conversation. When you use this type of platform, it's easier to improve the initial interaction and build rapport. That's because social CRM allows you to conveniently see what people are saying via comments and reviews. This way you can capitalise on opportunities as they unfold and are less likely to miss out on prospective leads.

© Jakub Jirsák

When someone meets the right criteria and shows interest, you can engage them and take them through the first phases of the sales funnel. At the same time, you can avoid engaging people who don't meet the right criteria. For instance, KiteDesk, a Salesforce plug-in for intelligent prospecting and social selling, allows you to score connections based on factors like communication frequency and previous meetings to maximise every opportunity.

Efficiently store contact information

If your business has ever struggled with maintaining a database of accurate contact information, social CRM can be a huge help. This type of platform allows you to store the contact information of leads and customers in one centralised location so that it can be retrieved with ease. Because many systems store data virtually onto the Cloud, this streamlines things even more because your entire sales team can access the database onsite or remotely from a variety of devices. When stored on a Cloud, you also don't have to worry about data loss because everything is backed up across multiple servers.

There is also a degree of automation with social CRM, which means a portion of information can be input without anyone having to do it manually. Often, information like names, email addresses, and others can be grabbed and entered into your main database so your sales team can work on more pressing matters. You'll have less hassle trying to manage hundreds or thousands of leads/customers and more overall productivity.

Streamline customer service

In this day and age, people expect great customer service, and providing it is essential to maximising sales. A study by American Express found that consumers who use social media for customer service say "they'd spend 21% more with companies who deliver great service - compared to 13% on average." Social media is perfect for handling customer service because it provides a much more direct avenue of communication between company reps and consumers. Rather than relying on more outdated techniques like call centers or email, your business can take care of customer service essentially in real time.

Social CRM also allows you to manage all your social channels from a single interface so you can follow up on inquiries quicker. You don't have to jump around from account to account, and you can keep close tabs on what's happening. That way you can save time and provide the best possible customer service, so consumers will spend more and bring in repeat sales.

Increase sales/marketing productivity

Due to the host of features and customisability of social CRM, it can be a serious catalyst for higher productivity. According to Nucleus Research, "when it comes to sales people, those using social CRM capabilities were 11.8 percent more productive, with 21 percent citing a productivity increase of more than 20 percent."

Whether it's through engagement suggestions, geotargeting or analytics, this type of platform simplifies the lives of your sales team so they can accomplish the most with the least amount of effort. Tasks that used to be performed manually, such as spending hours searching for prospects, can be done in minutes - this means you'll always have a list of qualified leads on hand.

If your business's sales and marketing performance is less than ideal, implementing social CRM can be a smart investment. By taking a more intelligent approach and letting the software/app do the bulk of the work, you can free up more of your team's time, generate more sales and increase your overall profit margins.