A CRM can support business development in every industry, but it may have an even greater value for software companies. Here are the seven ways in which CRMs play a critical job in software sales:
Where does visibility for the marketing team stop? Do marketers know the relative value of a lead from an online form versus an agricultural show encounter? At some point, tracking the value of leads anecdotally no longer scales. A software sales CRM can help identify the most valuable marketing channels by following leads from initial contact to close of sale.
There are many ways to get a client to try out a software product freemium models, trials, or in-person product demonstrations. The right method varies based on the software. For example, an electronic health record system might make the most sense to demonstrate in person, while a cloud-based office platform may be easier to provide as a time-limited trial.
A client demonstration represents one key juncture in the software sales cycle. However, there are always more interactions on either side of a software demo. A software CRM classification can help pinpoint pivotal interactions that transition top-of-funnel leads into sales-qualified prospects.
In a long sales cycle, it may be impossible to ensure a single staff member is available at a pivotal moment for a client. Months after becoming a leader, a client may call back for final proof of a product feature, or to make a last-minute addition to a big contract. Likewise, large organizations may receive initial calls at a call center, distribute folks leads to remote sales staff, then close the sales with a final call back to company headquarters.
The potential value a software CRM can reach beyond the immediate sales staff and managers. Over time, data in a CRM can help expect sales and revenue in upcoming quarters. That information is essential to top-level executives attempting to make smart budgeting and hiring decisions.
In short, a CRM provides business intelligence that helps software companies produce further stable returns
Cloud-based SaaS solutions are more flexible than their one-time-purchase counterparts. That’s because they offer the on-the-fly expansion of features and scalability as business needs vary. For many in software sales, this makes the initial sale of a point-of-entry to potentially lucrative upsells in the future.
In recent years, some of the world’s largest software providers have switched to subscription models, including Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite. From a sales outlook, subscription models change the focus from a one-time purchase to monthly or annual retention.
Industry experts suggest that business-to-business sales look less and less like impersonal, conveyor-belt operations. A more new, nuanced approach requires deep client accepting on an individual and collective level. By employing a software CRM, businesses can increase knowledge on both fronts.