11 Best Practices for Using CRM Telephony to Drive Sales

Telephony has gone digital. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services are typically more affordable than traditional landlines, and the industry is growing rapidly. In North America, VoIP is growing so quickly that it is expected to have 40% of the market share by 2025, according to GlobeNewswire.  Worldwide, it’s expected to grow at a rate of  17% by the same year. Sales teams are also finding that using telephony in conjunction with a CRM solution increases calling efficiency significantly, converting more leads and closing more deals.  CRM telephony seems to be the wave of the future in sales. 

Also a cost-effective solution, there are several reasons sales teams tend to implement VoIP into their sales processes. But, how do you do it? We’ve gathered 11 best practices to help you use CRM Telephony to drive sales.

11 Sales-Driving Best Practices for CRM Telephony

1. Use the Right CRM

Selecting the right CRM is of the utmost importance. This will determine the amount of data sales teams have access to. This data offers a great deal of insight into prospects and customers to help sales teams engage with them easily on sales goals. CRMs that offer a 360-degree contact view will optimize each interaction and, ultimately, increase conversions.

2. Integrate with Your Telephony App

You also want to ensure that your CRM has an open API and can integrate with third-party telephony apps. Make and receive calls in the same location you access all of your customer information for a seamless experience.

3. Collect the Right Data

Make sure your CRM will allow you to collect, store, and access all of the relevant information you may need to have well-informed sales calls. Utilize an AML Sanctions List to streamline the process and ensure compliance. The right data may differ for different organizations and industries, however, here are some examples of data that you will want to ensure your CRM can collect:

• Job title
• Level of seniority
• Internal department
• Number of employees a company has
• Annual revenue
• Industry segment
• Geographic location
• Website browsing history
• Social media activity
• Past buying behaviors
• Interests
• Previous support requests
• The content they have consumed

Having the right data on the person you’re calling before making the call will ensure you can engage them on a personal level.

4. Use Auto-dialing to Increase Productivity

Auto-dialing features that are offered by some CRMs can be highly effective at increasing productivity. To accomplish this, you’ll need to filter out the list of leads that you want to reach out to based on specified criteria. Then, you can activate an auto-dialer, and the system will place a call to each person on that list, in order, without you having to click to dial each one, saving you significant time.

5. Pre-record Voicemail Drops

Implement a CRM that includes voicemail drops to save yourself time and energy when making calls. Voicemail drops allow you to pre-record voicemails for different scenarios, such as new leads, follow-ups, or check-ins, for example.  If no one answers, you simply click the voicemail you want to leave, and it drops it into their voicemail box. No need to leave a new voicemail each time.

6. Leverage Call Scripts

If you have a need to stay on script, you can use on-screen call scripts to ensure your sales team stays on message. You can also use them with both new and seasoned sales reps if you have a particular campaign that revolves around specific talking points. With the ability to call within your CRM, you’ll have the script right in front of you while conversing with prospects and customers.

7. Record Your Calls

Assuming you have chosen the right CRM and integrated a solid telephony app, you should have the ability to record your calls. Typically, this is done with a simple click of the mouse when the call begins. A recording is stored in the CRM, and you can go back to review it if there is anything you need to recall from the conversation. All of the call recordings for each contact are automatically stored in the contact record.

8. Review Call Recordings to Improve Your Approach

Call recordings can be very helpful when training new reps, particularly if they are not familiar with telephony apps. Sales managers can also review call recordings and identify areas for improvement. They can also review them to identify what the rep is doing well and give them recognition for their good work. Reviewing call recordings allow managers to bring new reps up to speed quicker, so they can close more deals in less time.

9. Take Notes While on the Call

When everything takes place in the same system, you can also take notes while on the call. Anything important that you need to remember can be jotted down as you speak. Following the call, all the notes you took are automatically added to the call log for that contact. This saves you considerable time after the call and ensures you don’t forget something important from the conversation.

10. Leverage Automated Follow Up Emails

A good CRM with telephony integration might also offer the ability to automatically send pre-drafted follow up emails once a call is completed. It’s one of many post-call automations available to users with more advanced CRMs. With a single click of the mouse, you can send one of the various emails you have pre-drafted.  This can save you time and ensures your follow-up emails are timely and always on message.

11. Control the Conversation

When you’re on a call with a prospect or customer, you want to be in control of the flow and direction of the conversation. Consider how you will handle potential pitfalls. Outline the talking points you want to hit on and keep driving the conversation back to those. You can easily do all of this when you have the contact data at your fingertips, right on the screen in front of you.

Conclusion

By leveraging CRM telephony, your sales reps can make more calls in less time, have more engaging conversations due to the massive amount of insight in front of them, and dramatically increase their calling productivity. Many sales reps feel they don’t have enough information before making a call to convert. This can be a thing of the past when you leverage CRM and telephony to drive your sales calling efforts.

Agile CRM offers CRM telephony that will allow you to take customer interaction to the next level with industry-leading telephony capabilities and third-party integrations. As an all-in-one CRM solution, it can help your team execute on the best practices outlined here and take their sales to the next level.