The revenue for the Customer Relationship Management Software market is forecasted to reach US$98.84bn in 2025. (Source: Statista)
It is expected that the market will continue to expand steadily with an annual growth rate of 10.17% from 2025 to 2029, resulting in a market volume of US$145.61bn by 2029.
91% of businesses with over 10 employees are utilizing a CRM system, demonstrating its widespread adoption [source: Data Axle USA].
CRM adoption has skyrocketed in the last one decade. This is primarily due to availability of low cost and software-as-a-service solutions. The challenge remains in utilizing the features of the CRM to achieve maximum benefits.
Given below are 4 reasons why companies might not be leveraging the full potential of CRM software:
- Low user adoption: a significant portion of salespeople might not be regularly using the CRM, limiting the value they get from it.
- Data Inaccuracy: Inaccurate or incomplete data is a common problem. Studies suggest that up to 30% of CRM data can be inaccurate [source: Gartner].
- Poor User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX): If a CRM is clunky or difficult to navigate, salespeople are less likely to use it consistently.
- Lack of Training: Without proper training, salespeople might not understand the full range of features a CRM offers or how to use them effectively.
These reasons highlight the importance of strategies to improve user adoption, data quality, and user experience. Additionally, ongoing training can ensure salespeople are equipped to get the most out of their CRM.
In this post, I will use live data and reports to show you how you can use CRM to increase sales for your business.
5 Ways CRM Can Boost Your Sales
Click here to get a copy of the Google Sheets Sales CRM used in this video.
One common mistake most CRM users and salespeople make is not entering all the data in the software. Always in a hurry or being careless, they enter only the mandatory fields.
Watch against this.
To utilize the features and insights, enter all details.
After you ensure that all the fields are updated, make it a habit to check the following insights once a week. Discuss these with your team.
- Lead velocity and conversion
- Status of open deals
- Lost deal report
- Lead source report
- Team performance summary
1. Lead Velocity and Conversion
You need to check the lead velocity – number of new leads generated every month and the time taken to close deals.
In the image above, the company generates about 7 new leads each month. The next step is to check the requirement of new leads to meet your sales goal. This too will be available in the CRM.
In the report given above, the last column “Cum Leads Req” displays the number of leads to be generated each month to meet the sales goal.
In this example, this company needs to generate 16 leads in the month of April 2024 to meet the cumulative sales goal from January to April. This is more than 2X increase compared to their present lead rate (about 7 each month).
Once you know how many leads you need, you need to check the various channels for generating leads (we will cover this in point no. 4).
Related post: How I generate free leads for my business?
2. Open Deal Report
This is one of the crucial insights. Every lead goes through several stages before you win the deal. Every stage in the funnel could kill the deal. Make it a habit to closely monitor open deals, especially deals in the advanced stages.
Delayed follow-ups and missed follow-ups are common reasons why salespeople lose deals.
Review open deals, talk to the respective deal owners and fix the next action for each deal.
3. Lost Deal Report
This report becomes a key insight to improve sales conversion. Hence, it is critical that you seek feedback from each prospect when you don’t win a deal.
I recommend setting up a process for lost deal review. Make a SOP – how to seek feedback from prospects, the questions to ask and a format to present findings in internal review meeting.
This can help you re-open closed deals. At the same time, the learnings help you avoid making the same mistakes in future deals.
4. Lead Source Report
Every business needs to experiment with marketing channels and lead sources and find out what works best for them.
In the example above, Telecalling is the worst performing channel. It contributes 70% to the overall marketing spend, however the contribution to revenue is an abysmal 9%.
Social, PPC and Email on the other hand are giving good results.
Do you know these statistics for your business?
My Google Sheets Sales CRM template provides this unique insight – contribution to spends vs. revenue. Get your copy now.
Remember, the lead mix may change over a period of time. Hence monitor the lead source report consistently and make necessary adjustments to your marketing mix.
5. Team Performance Summary
Check the CRM report to analyse performance for each sales rep – monthly trends, conversion, status of open deals and reasons for losing deals.
This is a comparative report. Check if there is a variation in team performance. If the numbers for each rep are very different, it is an indicator that they are not following a standardized sales process.
Regular sales workshops and trainings are critical to keep them motivated and ensure they follow the defined sales processes and policies.
Conclusion: Use CRM to Increase Sales
The big benefit of CRM is the visibility of everything relating to customers going on in your company. If you want to provide a better service to your customer, you have to be able to manage everything from complaints to sales opportunities.
Roger Cole
There are several key insights available in the CRM if used efficiently. Learn to use data to drive business decisions and success.
Organizations world over and from every industry have demonstrated the successful use of data, systems and technology to boost their growth and revenue.
Don’t be left behind.
If you need guidance on setting up a CRM or if you have questions on how to use a CRM to its potential, please mention in the comments below.
