If you’ve gotten to the point where you have viable sales leads, congratulations! But to turn those leads into actual revenue, you have to manage them well in order to develop real relationships with your customers. And, organizing all of the data you get from your sales leads is key to this process. Here are 7 things you should know about sales tools to organize and boost your sales team’s productivity:
Use existing tools in a new way.
There are many sales management apps out there that you can use as sales tools, but sometimes these programs can be overwhelming to learn and use. For a small business, you can use tools you already use, such as e-mail, in a new way, or just use a few of those sales apps.
Upgrade your e-mail for sales.
This is one everyone can do — there are several tools available to upgrade your e-mail provider which will help you make better decisions and automate tasks that may waste your time. For example, there are programs that will build CRM (customer relationship management) tools directly into Gmail.
Upgrade the apps you already use for sales.
You may already be using an app for your business that has sales functions you just weren’t aware of. Gmail and Apple Mail are great existing e-mail programs with functions that will boost your productivity, which can create more sales down the road since you will be so much more organized.
Keep track of leads in one place.
To keep organized, for example, you could set up a shared spreadsheet within Google Drive with all of your team members so you can share information and track your leads, and also, see changes as they are being made. “Spreadsheets” and “Documents” within Google Drive aren’t the only tools available, however — there are endless other document collaboration tools out there, so do some looking around and experimenting and see what works for you.
Manage social media more efficiently for sales.
You can monitor your company’s social media activity with various web-based tools. These tools might give you a better idea of who is actually using your services or products, and will keep track of your Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Having all of your social media data in one place can help you build faster rapport with your customers in one single place.
Use CRM.
CRM, or customer service relationship management tools, are very popular, and still very commonly used by salespeople. CRM is a great platform for integrating your e-mails, tasks, and calendars into one system to give you the big picture of your sales activity.
Other productivity tools.
There is no shortage of apps and other tools that can keep you and your small business organized and productive. For example, Dropbox, Evernote, and Google Apps are commonly used. Make sure that you aren’t using too many tools that are actually a way for you to procrastinate, however!
Closing:
Finding the right tools requires some research and trial and error. But all in all, sales tools can greatly boost your sales team’s productivity and help you manage your sales leads in a more organized fashion.