The importance of Client Relationship Management (CRM)

This week has just flown by and I guess this is a strong indication that we are in the throws of Mad March. Today I will share some of my week in the life of a fractional sales leader which includes what I have been doing during my working day, as well as my daily exercise routine.

During this past week in my world as a fractional sales leader some of the areas that I have been working with my clients on is reporting and dashboards in CRM and selling when the team behind you are at capacity.

But first my week of exercise which has gone well this week, with my recent niggles with my knee and shoulder almost behind me. I have continued to manage my 25 sit-ups each day and resumed my planking for 60 seconds. I did manage some cycling too of about 55km’s and walking of about 25km during the week.

Anyway back to some of the sales work that I have completed during the past week.

1. Reporting and dashboards in CRM

I am fortunate to be working with a couple of clients at present that respect and rely on CRM. In this case HubSpot. The reporting and dashboards that can be created and used is quite remarkable. In one of my clients we are measuring activity levels (calls, meetings, emails) against our top performing clients as well as the effort we are putting into underperforming clients. This helps ensure the effort is put in the right direction.

Something else important with reporting is which clients are performing and which ones are underperforming in terms of sales revenue or other metrics that you may have.

There is absolutely endless data and metrics that you can apply in CRM to understand your client mix, not to mention your leads. We have also divided clients into priority 1, 2, and 3, where 1’s are our most loved and engaged clients as determined by revenue and some quality scores.

2. Selling when the consulting team are at capacity

How often have you won a deal and been so happy in the office until you turn around and see the people in the team who are going to have to implement and deliver your sold solution with their head in their hands shaking with stress?

I have seen it myself. You must not be distracted by things you cannot control. You must keep focused on selling and setting realistic expectations with your clients. Often a client doesn’t need to be Live with the solution as quickly as you may hope or think. They may want to take plenty of time so this gives your consultants a better runway. But whatever is happening after the sale and out of your control must be left to others in the business to manage. Your role is selling.

I’ll be back next week with some more stories from my week in the life of a fractional sales leader

Exercise stats for this week:

Bike = 55km - stable

Walk = 25km – stable

Situps = 809 days in a row

Pushups = was 66 days in a row, now paused for another week at least.

Planking = 5 days in a row.

Client satisfaction = Excellent

Learn more here: youtube.com/@Steve-Victor