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GÖKÇE EMER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, GET GOLDEN VISA
A s the business development director of a company focused on lead generation through digital assets, I know that small businesses often face the challenge of creating an efficient sales and marketing funnel with a limited budget. In our own experience, we used to manage high sales volumes as a small team and deal with changing lead volumes depending on market cycles and the programmes we’ re offering. At some point, we realised managing the data manually in old-school Excel format was not possible anymore. So, we decided to implement a CRM system a few years ago.
As the first step, we defined our step-by-step sales funnel with the team. It was essential to understand the stages that lead our clients to a close and identify the critical points where we typically lose a client. It helped us clarify where to focus our attention.
When selecting a CRM, defining the needs of both your sales and marketing teams is quite critical. Do you need tools to manage listings, focus on email marketing or streamline calls or meeting scheduling? As an example, scheduling meetings was a time-consuming
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IT WAS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTAND THE STAGES THAT LEAD OUR CLIENTS TO A CLOSE AND IDENTIFY THE CRITICAL POINTS WHERE WE TYPICALLY LOSE A CLIENT. task for our team. So, we made sure our CRM could handle this feature effectively, helping us save time and allowing the sales team to focus on what really matters.
Another important factor was avoiding a CRM system that would be time-consuming. We couldn’ t afford to spend extra hours feeding data into the system,
// so it was essential that our CRM could automate as much as possible. We explored demos from various CRM providers, spoke to companies with similar structures and chose the smallest package that fit our needs. We didn’ t act as perfectionists at that stage. We integrated only the most crucial and time-consuming tasks into the CRM first and started testing it immediately.
Starting small, we could test the system’ s efficiency before making any huge commitment. Our needs evolved with time and we added more features and tools to the system. We also planned workshops to review our processes, sales strategies and marketing and sales materials to increase efficiency.
As a director in a millennial company managing a high workload with a small team, I can note that small and medium businesses can maximise CRM ROI by defining clear goals, starting small and ensuring the CRM grows with your needs. Automating the data entry, integrating necessary tools and optimising processes over time will lead to increased efficiency and better use of your resources in the long run. �
WE COULDN’ T AFFORD TO SPEND EXTRA HOURS FEEDING DATA INTO THE SYSTEM, SO IT WAS ESSENTIAL THAT OUR CRM COULD AUTOMATE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
Intelligent SME. tech
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