7 Ways Base CRM Improves Prospecting and Sales Processes

Door-to-Door (D2D) prospecting is making a come-back for both B2B and B2C companies. And, it’s no wonder as the spam filters, no-call lists, mobile devices, and defensive gatekeepers become impenetrable for email and direct mail. Even with inbound marketing, someone must contact the prospect to close the deal either by phone or face-to-face.

Prospecting is a critical task for any sales organization, but it’s also one of the most inefficient. Studies show that sales teams can waste up to 50% of their time on unproductive tasks and methods. When surveyed, sales managers and field reps have three major complaints about their sales process:

1. Too Many Tools – When sales teams juggle multiple applications, cut and paste the information, update or retrieve contact data, mistakes happen. Field reps and sales staff lose a lot of time.
2. Incomplete CRM Data – Missing customer information or contact history can be embarrassing and leads to missed opportunities.
3. Questionable Lead Lists – When field reps spend hours chasing low-quality leads, it’s demotivating and causes frustrating gaps in the sales pipeline.

The way out of this lost information quagmire is to use an all-in-one application that is easy for everyone to use.

Increase Efficiency and Accuracy

Base CRM is an all-in-one sales tool that improves overall sales data capture. It helps D2D reps, outbound sales reps, and sales leaders to strengthen three sales metrics, contact rate, lead rate, and close rate.

By simplifying the process, a higher percentage of salespeople adopt the system and stay connected. They enter complete CRM data in less time. For sales leaders, the pipeline becomes highly visible and highlights areas of opportunities for training.

One company using Base CRM is Blue Raven Solar. They are a solar power installation company with offices in ten states. Managing sales teams across the country and getting field reps to get on the same page was a monumental task. Tyson Peschke, Blue Raven’s co-founder chose Base CRM to organize their sales force and processes.

He said, “Base came in and tackled a very tough customization and implementation, and the results are stunning. And, even better, our sales and operations people in the field actually like using it! Base is our flashlight. I’m not sure how we would have made it this far without the tools that Base built for us.”

Here are seven ways companies have trimmed wasted time, increased sales and efficiency by integrating Base CRM with their sales teams.

1. Automatic Lead and Opportunity Scoring

The algorithm automatically ranks individual or business prospects. It uses demographic, firmographic, and channel inputs collected in Base. Firmographics are to businesses and organizations what demographics are to people.

Base compiles both lead scoring and opportunity scoring into “Smart Lists.” Sales leaders can quickly prioritize the best leads for better sales.

2. Sales Leaders Have Actionable Data to Manage Their Teams

Without good data, sales leaders are flying blind. To increase the visibility of the pipeline and processes, Base provides over 20 reports, providing a 360⁰ view of the sales and CRM data.

One of their sales acceleration tools, Apollo, collects millions of data points and provides management with real-time monitoring of “data health” to improve the process. Sales managers can monitor individual reps and see where improvements are necessary.

Base is entirely customizable to any business. And, it integrates easily to your other business systems like Google or HubSpot. Should you prefer to build a custom application, it uses an open API.

3. Enhanced Field Productivity with Mobile Tools and Reporting

One challenge all sales reps face is keeping up with all the data associated with prospecting. Tracking names, dates, appointments, and other information are challenging and time-consuming.  The system organizes users in less time because there is only one app for all their sales and prospect information. Here are some of the advantages:

• Automatically records all calls and emails associated with a prospect or customer.
• Sends emails directly from the contact and deal cards. No going back and forth between applications.
• Mobile and offline CRM access allow reps to enter fresh information in the field and upload it later.
• Full mobility function. No more downtime.

Sales reps can automate much of their daily routine within the Base platform right from their cellphones, minimizing admin tasks and improving productivity.

4. Automatically Fill in the Gaps of CRM Records

One of the most innovative apps within Base is Reach, a comprehensive prospecting, and lead development tool. When field reps come up against an incomplete record, Reach can enrich the record by pulling in up-to-date data for the contact or company from over 50+ options. For security purposes, the company’s administrator controls access to individual data.

Two components streamline the process of record keeping. The first is Reach Prospector, and it lets you build prospecting lists. Simply specify the companies or people with whom you wish to do business and Reach will create lists matching the criteria you select from 12 different filters. You’ll have a highly targeted, ready-to-use prospect list that automatically imports into Base with no need to format CSV files or map data fields.

The second component is Reach Enrich. Like a detective, Enrich can take a piece of information like a URL or email address and turn it into a complete contact record. It updates incomplete CRM records, converting them into usable data and segmented reports. It saves hours of your team’s time from having to manually research and chase down information.

5. Improved Lead Tracking, Management, and Organization

The intuitive Base platform integrates with productivity apps from Amity to Zendesk and everything in between. Once you connect Base with your marketing tools, reps can efficiently manage and nurture a higher volume of leads. No more leads “falling through the cracks.”

Create custom lead capture forms that embed on your website, landing pages, or email campaigns. Lead gen experts love this functionality. Leads automatically populate onto Smart Lists where reps can search and respond in real-time.

Base stores and organizes customized phone scripts and email templates so that reps can respond immediately. It also automatically logs call and email data for future reference.

Sales managers will appreciate the Rep Performance Dashboard where they get real-time access to conversion rate tracking, a rep’s quota attainment, loss reasons, and more. Base has the processes built-in to keep reps accountable.

6. Location Recognition and Tracking Outcome for Sales Teams

The system uses geolocation, so reps have one-touch driving directions to plan the most efficient route for the day’s sales calls. At a glance, they can see all qualified leads and customers in their present area.

Base reports more than an 80% adoption rate across all customers because the streamlined UI for both Android and iOS makes it user-friendly web design created UX for reps. For D2D or any field reps, most activities, communication, and tracking are automatic, saving time and paperwork. Reps can quickly report on the progress of each lead at the end of every appointment.

Managers can access instant reporting including rep dashboards, coaching reports, pipeline, and deal reporting, from any device.

7. Lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

There is a big range in the TCO of any CRM system between companies. To understand the long-term costs, you need to determine factors such as:

• Cost per user
• Time to implementation
• General functionality
• Hidden costs

As your business grows, you require extra data storage, the full functionality of mobile devices, comprehensive reporting, full API access, support, and more. Many legacy systems become expensive over time because additional user licenses and other features cost extra. However, once you’ve implemented the system, it’s hard to start over. It requires downtime, training, implementation, and additional costs.

More than 50% of Salesforce users highlight “high cost of ownership over time” as the thing they dislike most about the Sales Cloud

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Base includes most of the essential functionality sales teams require. They have three sales stacks starting at $45 per month per person. Read more about their packages here.

Their in-house experts ensure a smooth implementation tailored to your sales company’s process and pipeline. Base offers 24/7 live support, and they claim to resolve most customer issues in 24-hours.

Don’t Buy a CRM Your Sales Team Won’t Use

Some of the considerations before purchasing the best CRM for eCommerce are the software cost, features, support, mobile access, ease of use, and integrations. But one of the biggest considerations is team adoption. Sometimes, salespeople can be the hardest customers to convince to try a new system. They are set in their ways and they must be comfortable using it.

In a survey of sales companies in ten different industries that switched to Base, 70% of them report 80-100% user adoption.

Base combines scientific sales solutions with a user-friendly, all-in-one sales platform that works on all devices. If you’re looking to upgrade your sales force, start fresh with a CRM that sales teams have tested and keep using. With over 7,000 customers, they must be doing something right.

You can request a free demo to determine if Base CRM is right for your eCommerce business from one of our certified ERP Consultants.