How Are CRMs Shaping The Future Of B2B Sales?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools have become an integral part of helping B2B companies to run their business, sell and, most importantly, to grow. Competition is becoming more fierce and customer behaviour more sophisticated. The result? It’s harder now than ever to meet customer demands and manage sales all while growing the company.

Fortunately, CRMs are helping businesses to keep track of all aspects of the business in one place. And yet, modern CRMs can do so much more than just that. They are the backbone supporting sales teams to work quicker and smarter to produce more efficient results.

 

How Does A CRM Work?

 

You can think of a CRM as almost like the digital brain of your team. It will keep track of things like who your customers are, the conversations that you’ve had with them and what they have bought.

Most importantly, it gives you an overview of which stage each individual customer is at in your sales funnel so you can guide them in the right direction.

Now when it comes to B2B sales, it’s not as simple as B2C. In these cases, sales cycles are often much longer and several people within the business will make the call on the sale. So having this kind of information thanks to CRM at your fingertips can help you close the deal.

 

How Are CRMs Shaping The Future Of B2B Sales?

 

CRMs are already incredibly useful tools to have, for almost any business really. But with a B2B-specific focus, how will they shape the future? How do these B2B companies stand to benefit? Let’s get into it.

 

Help You Focus On The Right Leads

 

You may be able to generate leads, but they’re not always quite ready to buy. Or, they might not even be part of the target audience that you’re looking for. With the help of a CRM, you can see which leads are worth your time and effort.

For example, the CRM can rank your leads based on certain criteria like their job title, how big are their companies and how often they engage with your content. With this data, you can see which leads are good prospects and which ones could lead to a dead end.

And if you add AI-powered predictions into the mix, you can even identify which leads are more likely to buy in the near future.

 

They Improve The Sales Process

 

B2B sales are not normally quick and very straightforward. Sometimes, they can take weeks or even months to go through and it often involves your sales team speaking to multiple people within the company.

To help you keep track of this, a CRM will let you know who you have contacted and what was said in the conversation, automatically set reminders for you to follow-up and to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

It’s almost like every one of your sales reps having a personal assistant to stay organised.

 

Outreach Becomes More Personalised

 

When it comes to B2B marketing, an ordinary sales e-mail just won’t cut it. Why? Because buyers want to feel like you really understand their needs. 

But with CRM information on hand like pages that they browsed on your website and their job titles, you can tailor e-mails to speak directly to their industry and present offers that will tie in with their interests.

So you’re still selling but more in a way that feels helpful instead of being too pushy or sales-focused.

 

 

Sales And Marketing Teams Can Collaborate Better

 

Sales and marketing are two very different departments with two very different approaches. While they may not always see eye to have and want to do things differently, they can work better together by using a CRM.

It’s a two-way relationship where marketing can see which leads need to be focused on while sales can get insight into which campaigns are working.

And when you have everyone on the same page, it makes the customer journey a lot less bumpy.

 

Everyone Sees The Whole Customer Story

 

On one CRM dashboard, every team member can get the full picture of each customer’s buying journey and where they are in the pipeline.

That means seeing all past conversations, notes on recent meetings and which products they have already purchased. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of guiding customers to the purchase point and helps teams to make more informed decisions on how to reach that point.

 

AI And Automation Is A Time-Saver

 

Most of the modern CRMs now have built-in AI tools which make them even more powerful. They can take over the heavy lifting from your teams by helping you write e-mails, update your pipeline automatically and recommend the best times to follow up.

Moreover, automation can manage the repetitive tasks such as sending reminders which your team doesn’t always have the time to get to or could be needed elsewhere.

 

Unmatched Data And Insights

 

Not only do CRMs store data, but they help you interpret it. After all, what is the use of collecting all this information but not using it?

With reports and dashboards, you can quickly spot which salespeople are hitting their targets, where leads tend to drop off within your funnel and how long it takes each deal to close.

This means that you can see what is and isn’t working and take a more proactive approach to the areas that need improvement.