12 % greater efficiency in Sales due to integrated CRM processes

A combination of time consuming manual work, bad data and poor quality leads mean many Sales teams are frustrated with their CRM system. So how can they improve this situation? By integrating CRM processes. This article will explain what this means and what benefits it can deliver. 

Many companies have yet to master digitalisation and are currently stuck in a moderate to a deep digital crisis. The key here is to establish data driven processes. Improved, accurate and enriched data leads to a complete view of both customers and prospects helping you to eliminate data silos and provides an efficiency boost and the ability to automate processes.  

This data-driven approach should be top priority in Marketing and Sales departments. After all, it’s simply not possible to develop a target market without a solid database. However, data management has its own set of pitfalls and the processes certainly don’t work smoothly at all companies. Stressed out with excessive workloads, while also underestimating exactly what is involved, many teams continue to copy data across manually from one system to another on a daily basis. Not only is this time consuming for everyone involved, it can also cause companies to lose sight of what really matters: activities that deliver growth.  

The road to greater efficiency in Sales starts with establishing integrated CRM processes.  Manual data entry is eliminated and teams can see a complete view of customers and prospects. 

Read on to discover how you can integrate your CRM processes in three steps.

1. Identifying leads 

Generating high-quality leads is key for Sales teams. The IDG Report determined that 61 % of Sales and Marketing Directors consider this to be one of the greatest challenges. Another issue of concern is data quality. According to Salesforce, 91 % of data records are incomplete, while 70 % are no longer correct after just one year. This reflects the situation being faced by businesses globally.

To identify the right leads, Sales teams require a data set they can rely on, where all records are correct and complete but also enriched with additional information. Once this has been established, they can use the information to create a 360° view of both customers and prospects. This 360° view includes all correct information on the target company, such as direct telephone numbers to the decision-makers, timing information (triggers or intent data) and risk indicators. The Sales teams then have all the information they need to contact the right companies at precisely the right time. 

In practice, companies often use a sales intelligence platform to qualify leads, such as D&B Hoovers from Dun & Bradstreet. The platform is backed by a comprehensive database with information on companies worldwide. This facilitates a detailed and pinpoint search for customers that goes far beyond a sector code and actually identifies those companies that are currently showing intent. 

2. Standardised onboarding 

Many businesses ask themselves the question: how can I get data into the system, while ensuring that it is both accurate and complete? Onboarding new companies in the CRM system is the answer here. If this is not secured at an early stage, the downstream sales process becomes laborious and inefficient – inevitably leading to lost time. Employees then need to spend longer first locating and then bringing together the information or waste time on correcting errors. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The following section explains what the onboarding process should actually look like. 

1. Standardised onboarding: The focus here is on getting the data records into the CRM system both completely and correctly.
2. Avoiding duplicates: A check first needs to be performed to determine whether there is already an entry for the respective company. This can be achieved through use of a unique ID, such as the D-U-N-S® number from Dun & Bradstreet. If a data record on the company in question is already available, this existing record can then be updated with the latest information. 
3. Enriching data: Onboarding focuses on enriching newly created data records with the necessary information including master data for segmentation, risk information or compliance data. 

3. Data management 

If 100 % of data records are both correct and complete in the CRM system as things stand today, only 30 % will be both correct and complete in one year’s time. Salesforce expects more than two thirds of all data records to become incomplete or obsolete every year. This demonstrates that many companies are still struggling to maintain their data quality at a high level.

Poor data quality means businesses cannot identify high quality leads and contact them at the right time. Harvard Business Review states that it costs ten times more to correct a data record that contains errors than to enter it correctly from the outset, leading sales to be become demotivated by poor data maintenance. 

The key to maintaining high data quality at all times lies in automation. Seeking to manually update a database with thousands of entries is simply an impossible undertaking. However, connecting the CRM system via an interface to the data universe of a data provider like Dun & Bradstreet solves this problem. All changes, such as changes of address, new telephone numbers or personnel changes in the management team, are incorporated in the CRM system both regularly and automatically – ensuring that the data quality never drops off over time. Additional information, such as risk indicators or compliance information, is also automatically added to the CRM system. 

The benefits of integrated CRM processes are high

Automating or integrating CRM processes can lead to improved efficiencies.  “Experience from our customer projects has shown that sales efficiency saw a 12 % increase,” comments Thomas Mavroudis, Director Sales & Marketing at Dun & Bradstreet. In other words, companies can make more out of their limited resources and enjoy a key advantage over their competition. 

And it’s not just efficiency that increases. The positive effect of digitalisation and automation can also be felt in many other areas. Mavroudis: “Our customers increase sales by 10 % and the number of qualified leads by 50 %. At the same time, lead qualification costs are reduced by 62 %, while data management costs also enjoy a 20 % reduction.” 

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