Converting leads into customers with CRM

How many pieces of content are generated per average customer engagement? You might answer 20 or 50 or even 100, but without the ability to accurately track and manage your sales and marketing campaigns, you are not where you need to be when it comes to nurturing leads and optimizing your sales pipeline.

What’s in a lead
A lead is an individual or business that may, if properly managed, do business with you. They might even turn out to be the most important — and lucrative — customer you ever had.

Unfortunately, while many companies understand what a lead is, they fail to consistently manage and nurture their leads. The following statistics attest to the importance of this stage of the sales process:

  • Half of buyers choose the vendor that responds first. (Source)
  • 79 per cent of leads don’t convert. Number one reason: lack of nurturing. (Source)
  • Five per cent of marketers use a full-featured marketing automation solution. (Source)

Benefits of CRM
While there may be more than one road to efficient lead management, perhaps the most effective is through Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. An effective and efficient CRM solution offers key elements such as:

  • Lead intelligence: providing a clear view of your leads. Data-driven lead management can result in better sales. A more streamlined and controlled sales pipeline comes out of your ability to leverage intricate lead data — converting a higher percentage of your leads into customers.
  • Marketing analytics: putting the process of managing, tracking, marketing, and selling to customers on autopilot. Efficient CRM gives you the ability to create, track, and manage your various marketing campaigns, whether these campaigns involve email marketing, social media, or outbound calls.
  • Better collaboration: driving productivity and the exchange of knowledge. Mobile access gives your team round-the-clock access to customer info, schedules, related projects, and history.

Extended ECM for Salesforce
Every company wants its knowledge workers in marketing, sales, and services to become more agile and productive, and to extract maximum value from its processes and content. However, people are only as good as the information they can gather and assess. OpenText Extended ECM for Salesforce gives companies the ability to pull together all their structured and unstructured information and content, allowing individuals in sales and in areas touching sales to get a clear view of customers and determine what steps must be taken to turn leads into customers.

December 6 webinar
On Dec. 6, join IT World Canada CIO Jim Love and John Klaren, Program Manager, OpenText, as they explore the role of content management as a driver of success. In “Are you managing CRM content along with your salesforce?” Love and Klaren will cover a wide range of topics, including:

  • The linkage bbetweenECM and CRM
  • How efficient content management can improve sales processes
  • The importance of controlling content across your organization
  • Best practices for sales and marketing leaders
  • Managing content to boost sales staff productivity while delivering a better customer experience
  • Salesforce CRM and integrating content

Find out more or register for “Are you managing CRM content along with your salesforce?”

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Glenn Weir
Glenn Weir
Content writer at IT World Canada. Book lover. Futurist. Sports nut. Once and future author. Would-be intellect. Irish-born, Canadian-raised.

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