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What are the benefits of using a CRM system in the B2B sales cycle?

Better visibility

Before CRM technology, sales reps had to spend time painstakingly compiling data about different B2B customers to determine how and when to contact them. Even having invested this effort, attempts to influence a customer would often still be something of a stab in the dark.

A rep might spend hours nurturing a lead who – unbeknownst to them – never really represented a serious prospect, while other more promising leads were left to go cold. A CRM system gives all members of a team effortless visibility over where leads are in the pipeline at any one time (if at all), allowing them to better channel their efforts.

Efficiency

A key benefit of B2B CRM is that it reduces the sales team’s admin burden. Less time is wasted on pulling together data and nurturing low-prospect leads, leaving them room to patch up newly identified holes in the B2B sales funnel.

As such, all actions are more targeted and offer a greater return on investment, since the element of trial and error is removed. By allowing sales and marketing reps to see exactly when customers should be moved to the next stage of the funnel, B2B CRM also improves sales and marketing alignment.

Data driven decisions through (AI-powered) lead scoring

By allowing sales teams to determine which leads are best-qualified based on their previous behaviour and interaction, B2B CRM can also play an important role in predictive lead scoring. This is the practice of grading leads according to how likely they are to result in a sale.

By linking abstract customer analytics with the actual stages passed through by customers, CRM also offers opportunities for leveraging customer data in a profitable way. It can lift your “sales funnel” off the paper and turn it into an actionable, profit-driving tool.

The overarching goal of B2B CRM

The key objective of B2B CRM is to improve your business relationships. Instead of basing your sales and marketing activities on “best guesses”, as you might have done in the past, they will now be based on clearly defined phases subject to ongoing tracking and observation. This increases the ROI of sales and marketing activities and ultimately acts as a catalyst for growth.

Source: Salesforce.com