Using CRM Triggers & Auto-Reminders

Sales teams often have to navigate a variety of sales journeys with their customers. Since no two customers take the same path to find you, teams have a lot of communications to keep tabs on.

With all of the communications to keep track of, it can be easy to get lost in a sea of leads. Missing crucial steps of the sales funnel can have a negative effect on the customer experience and the potential sale.

If there are opportunities to replace manual steps or add reminders in your sales process you should take advantage of them. CRM systems help sales and marketing professionals navigate the different steps of a sales funnel through the customer’s unique journey. Features like triggers, automatic touchpoints, and email templates keep sales teams organized and on track during the sales process.

Triggers

Triggers in your CRM can significantly improve the workflow for your sales teams. A trigger designates an action that initiates subsequent actions in sales or marketing workflow. Common uses of triggers center around emails, website traffic, forms, and anything else that’s a part of your lead’s contact actions.

Think of a trigger as any action your lead can take by engaging with your business online, and your CRM is what takes that action and tells your sales team what next action they should take.

Since triggers are heavily rooted in the actions that customers take, they heavily support inbound marketing strategies. When your customers are coming to you, as opposed to outbound outreach, it requires sales teams to be that much more mindful of their actions. The goal is not just to respond quickly, but to respond more efficiently. With triggers directing your sales team to the next steps they need to take, it takes out the guesswork for them and they can focus on making a meaningful interaction with the lead that moves them further down the funnel.

For example, when a prospective customer requests a demo from one of your landing pages the trigger can change their status from inquiry to lead and direct the salesperson to set an appointment. Sales teams can not only act faster, but they can tailor their communication based on the landing page they engaged with.

The ability to customize triggers in a CRM to fit a company's sales process is crucial. While workflows are similar across industries, there are those that are unique or specific to a business, that will need to be created. Opportunities are often missed when businesses don’t take advantage of the customization features their CRM has to offer. 

Triggers help both the customer and sales team members maneuver through the sales process at the pace and the path that works best for their journey.

Touchpoints 

In addition to the actions from the triggers, sales teams also have a variety of touchpoints with their leads throughout the sales funnel. Some of these touchpoints will be a direct result of a triggering action by a lead. Touchpoints are interactions between businesses and customers that occur during the customer's journey. They can include demonstrations, follow-ups, and even marketing emails.

These touchpoints are the moments that shape the customer’s experience and ultimately can influence their decision to do business with the company. Missing or failing to maintain deliberate touchpoints can cause sales teams to lose sales. Touchpoints keep your business in the front of your customer’s mind and give sales teams the opportunity to engage in a meaningful way.

There are some touchpoints that can be automated while implementing your CRM. You can set up automatic follow-ups, emails, even share testimonials of satisfied customers. This allows sales teams to touch base with their leads without extra time or effort. What’s important is that you determine what touchpoints need to happen manually and which ones are beneficial to automate.

You hope that customers will buy on their first shopping experience with you, but most sales are made after five or more contact touchpoints with a customer. Automating some of those touchpoints with your CRM can ensure your team is supported throughout the customer journey.

Templates 

Email templates are a great way to support your sales team in addition to automated touchpoints and triggers. CRMs offer the ability to create and manage templates for emails, texts, and other communications. They can save time, reinforce company branding, and support marketing initiatives. 

Having a variety of templates in your CRM for your team's communication can be a time-saver for your sales teams.  Replying quickly to inquiries boosts your chance of engagement. Sales teams should strive to respond to new inquiries within thirty minutes of receiving them. With templates for expected touchpoints and specific products in your CRM, your sales team doesn’t waste time crafting entire messages or searching for the right thing to say.

You can also ensure your company’s branding is being reinforced through email templates. It’s nearly impossible to view every single communication as they happen in real-time. With email templates, you can have peace of mind knowing that your sales team is communicating through high-quality, consistent responses. Creating templates for common questions, inquiries for products and services should be requirements for your brand.

Marketing and product managers also benefit from email templates. They can use them to communicate about new products, features, and upcoming customer events. Your CRM should offer the ability to customize templates with capabilities like changing or adding photos, links, and other content to support any type of template you may need.

These different features of your CRM are useful on their own, and even more powerful when utilized together. Using the data from your CRM you can create intentional triggers and combine those reminders with email templates, either sent manually or as an automated touchpoint. These improvements in your workflow can increase your sales team’s response time through the CRM, ultimately increasing your sales.