How to build a data-driven strategy with CRM

If you have a CRM solution implemented, but you’re not using its analytics capabilities, you should reconsider. While the core of your CRM system is focused on the sales process, using its analytics features may be the extra push your small business needs for fast growth. Treating stats with importance means you can identify problems before they affect your profits and monitor key indicators that will keep your sales process healthy.

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The sales metrics you should pay attention to

Every CRM system will put different levels of statistics available at your disposal. If you want to improve your sales processes with a data-driven strategy, make sure to compare CRMs based on their reporting features. At the very least, you should look for CRMs that present data on the following metrics:

• Win-loss analysis - this kind of report focuses on the pipeline and the overall performance of your sales process. It considers metrics such as conversion rates, average lead lifecycle, and average purchase cycle to fully represent the movement of your leads and the work of your sales reps.
• Conversion rate - this stat shows the percentage of leads that result in sales.
• Average lead lifecycle - this metric shows how long each lead “lives” in the pipeline and in each individual stage (for identifying bottlenecks in stages).
• Average purchase cycle - this provides information on the time it takes for a prospect to move through the pipeline and purchase from you.
• Goal tracking - this group of stats facilitates monitoring targets you set for your sales reps (based on revenue and/or quantity).

How to get the ball rolling

It’s great to understand which reports and features show what information, but it’s not helpful in itself. After all, it’s just data — it’s all about how you use and interpret this info when your adapt your strategy.

Compare CRM analytics features with this interactive CRM comparison tool

 So, what’s a data-driven strategy? Essentially, it’s a roadmap for making your sales process more efficient. Data doesn’t fix problems, but if you know what to look for and where to look for it, it makes pinpointing and fixing problems a whole lot quicker and easier. Here are the first steps for building a data-driven strategy.

Set targets

What do all sales reps have in common? — targets that they need to hit.

Their whole performance is measured around meeting goals, so what can be better than setting and managing these targets through your CRM. Once done, you’ll be able to easily track who’s underperforming and act before it vastly damages your business. Your CRM will show you exactly how far away from or close to the targets your reps are. On top of that, goal-setting is motivating. After all, there’s a reason gamification is so trendy. When your reps can see their “scores” compared to their teammates, they’ll push themselves harder.

Monitor workloads

Now if you do have an underperforming sales rep, you can and should check the distribution of leads and to-dos across your team. If one person has a lot of leads and tasks, and their conversion rate is atrocious, then it screams ‘problem’. The good thing is that this information is easily available, so you don’t need to spend a lot of time investigating. You can quickly check this and reallocate leads to other reps.

Pay attention to lead movement

Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with the amount of leads and to-do tasks each teammate has, but leads are still lost and sales are not converted. Your CRM can analyze at what stages your leads are lost. Having problems at the negotiation stage? You’ll be able to see a sudden drop in movement by looking at the average lead lifecycle at that stage compared to other stages.

Leads getting stuck in the pipeline can also mean a problem in the sales script, for example, so it can be a good idea to check the quality of your reps’ calls. A win-loss analysis can help you figure out your average sale for each purchase, sales conversion, and the amount of incoming leads, thus allowing you to adapt your strategy to the issues you see at each pipeline stage.

Adapt your strategy based on your stats

Building a data-driven strategy with a CRM is much easier than you might think. There are features created to take on the hassle of collecting all data and analyzing it, so that you can spend five minutes and know what the problem is and how to solve it. Don’t be afraid of it. It’s made to make your life easier, not harder. Interested in deep diving into how to use these stats to make decisions inside a real CRM? amoCRM hosts a free monthly live webinar on this topic!