As users of our own software, we like to think that here at CommuniGator we practice what we preach. So, to show that to you, and to give you a better idea of what CRM integration could actually entail for your sales team, we’ve decided to write a new blog. We sat down with one of our sales executives to see how they use it, what the processes look like and the key benefits of GatorLeads and CRM integration.
Meet Charley, one of our Business Development Managers.
Tell us about an average day in your sales team, Charley.
So, we start the day with a 30 minute debrief about who we’re planning to call and when. After that, we run through our CRM activities and see who we need to call back based on past phone calls where we know their ESP or CRM renewal dates are coming up, callbacks, scheduled meetings etc. Then we hit the phones following up with our leads.
After lunch, we spend a few hours cleansing data. This includes qualifying out prospects who don’t match our killer values, finding new accounts to target and updating current CRM accounts if we know someone has left a company or a job title has changed, for example.
How does GatorLeads work with your CRM activities?
With the GatorLeads integration, we have visibility of website hits, when leads last visited our website, page scores and what our leads are interested in directly reported into our CRM. It’s great because it means as a sales team we’re not getting our wires crossed with website visitors and CRM accounts. Everyone can keep track of their own pipeline.
We all update the records from what we learn in speaking to our prospects and a little bit of LinkedIn stalking of course! Things like job titles, what ESP they are using and how long they’re in their current contract for are all things we update. If we have any unconfirmed or generated data we use LinkedIn premium to fill the gaps as to who our contacts are, job titles, industries…etc.
I’m the only user in the team who tends to monitor GatorLeads within the product itself, just so we limit the crossover within the team. I report on the new activity from companies who aren’t on our other CRM lists. Our marketing team dictate the priority lists with their custom reports built into CRM, which are fed by GatorLeads data – net new visitors, hot and active leads…etc.
From there, it’s simply a matter of working the lists to our sales director’s criteria on who we need to prioritise based on the key company values; location, size and revenue.
Why do you think other sales teams should adopt this approach to CRM integration?
Honestly, I think as a medium sized sales team, it’s important that we know whose leads are whose and don’t call the same people. Having all of our data, including website interactions, call records and emails marketing engagement, all recorded in the same place makes our pipeline management much easier.
For me, being able to see everything my prospect has done before I call them, from downloading a whitepaper to which marketing emails they’ve engaged with after that makes my job so much easier. Having all the information under one roof is the most efficient way to run your sales pipeline. At least, that’s what I’ve found.
For more on integrations that could work for your sales team, download our whitepaper: Finding an integrated solution that works for your website.
Better yet, if you’re looking for further advice on getting more leads from your website, have a look at this guide we wrote!