I started my business over 17 years ago when the majority of Internet users were still on dial-up, websites were coded by hand and we walked uphill both ways to school in the snow. Ok, so maybe that last one isn’t true, but technology has become easier to use and less expensive to implement than ever. Technology that was only available to large Fortune 500 companies is now available to smaller businesses with much smaller budgets. Technology has leveled the field with regards to sales in many ways, but for now I would like to focus on better tracking and engagement.
It is now easier to track a prospect through your sales cycle with tools like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and marketing automation. As a prospect enters your website for the first time, you are able to track their behaviors even if you don’t know exactly who they are yet. Once they interact with you via your website by filling out a form, you are able to continue to collect what pages they visit, how often and what they download. Through your CRM, you can share this information with your sales team so that they are better prepared when it is time to contact the prospect. This brings us to engagement and personalization.
Now that you know what the prospect or customer is most interested in, you can engage them with the correct information either through direct contact or email. The email can be a one-time message or a series of messages “dripped” to the prospect through your marketing automation software. This technology helps you deliver the correct messaging, at the correct time, and at the correct touchpoint. This provides a better experience for the user and allows your sales team to be more involved in the process of converting the prospect to a customer.
I’m going to dive into marketing automation a bit more in June, so I hope you join me.