How to Accelerate Your Sales Funnel with CRM and Real-Time Dashboards

How do you know if your business is consistently finding the right prospects and turning them into good customers? Understanding the movement of leads through the sales funnel has traditionally been more of an art (and a best guess) than a science, but a modern sales and marketing software solution such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement offers amazing tools to transform your strategies and boost your success.

Turning marketing and sales into a science

Nowadays, it’s easier and easier to gain visibility into the marketing process. It’s possible to know exactly who downloaded that whitepaper from your website, or when they opened the article you offered in that email. As gathering information becomes simpler, is your business making the best of the data you have? If you want to improve the success of your marketing and sales efforts, you should be using CRM software to track, visualize, and share information about leads as they move through the funnel and convert into opportunities.

So how do you use a solution such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement to track your funnel and improve your marketing?

Set up customized dashboards for your team members

Modern CRM dashboards make it possible for everyone in your team to gain real-time information about every single lead that interacts with your marketing content. Each dashboard should contain helpful, engaging visuals that are relevant to the user.

A dashboard should show leads as they enter each part of the funnel. For example, somebody downloading a whitepaper can trigger an event in your CRM so they appear at the top of your funnel (TOFU) in real time. That means everyone on your team can use their dashboard to see that new lead and take the next steps. 

Measure the metrics that are most relevant

Using integrated CRM, you can track variables such as the average time for each lead to move downward towards a sale, the average attrition rate of leads over time, and the conversion rates of different marketing strategies.

Automated dashboards based on performance metrics make it easier for everyone in the company to quickly understand trends, successes, and failures in your marketing and sales efforts. This gives you the information needed to focus your efforts and optimize your marketing and sales strategies over time.

Set definitive goals, then check in frequently

Monthly sales goals simply aren’t frequent enough. Set weekly or even daily goals for each of your sales development reps, and show progress towards these goals on your dashboards. For example, you might set weekly goals for each of your team members to move 10 leads from the middle of the funnel (MOFU) to the bottom of the funnel (BOFU) by making a phone call or sending a personalized message to each lead.

If Thursday rolls around and one of your team members hasn’t helped bump a single lead to BOFU, it’s time to check in and see how things are going – have they been assigned to a particular marketing strategy that isn’t working out? Are they distracted by problems at home? Are they feeling unsuccessful and discouraged? Do they need additional training?

Weekly goals make it easy for your leadership team to quickly see which employees are thriving and which ones might be struggling. Armed with this knowledge, you can quickly adjust strategies, troubleshoot, train, or encourage as needed.

Want to learn more about using CRM to improve your sales?

These are just a few examples of how your business can use software such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales and Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement to measure and optimize your marketing efforts and help move leads through the funnel.

Here at OTT, Inc., we use our proven 5-step methodology to assess your business’s needs and find the right software solution to help you succeed. Contact us today to learn more about upgrading your CRM solution and improving your customer experience, beginning at the very top of the sales funnel.