When was the last time you explored your small business CRM and automation software? Once the implementation is complete and your processes are in place, it’s easy to set it and forget it, and miss out on some powerful capabilities.
To make sure you get the most value from your CRM and business automation platform, we’ve compiled a few common software mistakes to keep an eye out for. These four mistakes act as warning signs that you’re leaving crucial parts of your software untouched or underutilized.
1. Partially automating your processes
The first telltale sign you’re leaving software value on the table is if you’re only partially automating your business. This can look like one of two things:
Partial sales pipeline automation
Your sales pipeline is complex, and your small business CRM and automation platform was designed to help you tackle all the moving parts. But far too often, businesses fail to automate every possible step of their pipeline because they don’t realize they can or they forget to account for certain steps. This warning sign is particularly detrimental because it means you and your team are stuck performing tasks manually when you could be saving time with automation and focusing on other aspects of your business.
Pro tip
Carve out time in your calendar dedicated to mapping your sales pipeline. This starts with gathering your team and discussing each step in your buyers’ journey. Then, brainstorm how your current software can step in and take pipeline tasks off your plate. Giving this process the time and attention it deserves will keep you from missing important automation opportunities.
Excluding parts of your business
Another way you could be guilty of partial automation is if you’re not using it in every part of your business.
The beauty of business automation is that it can and should touch all areas of your organization. Here at Keap, we break these areas down into four easy-to-digest parts:
- Marketing (i.e. emails, texts, lead nurture campaigns, lead capture, re-engagement sequences)
- Sales (i.e. pipeline automation, cart abandonment, special deals and promotions)
- Service (i.e. review and referral requests, customer onboarding, surveys, purchase fulfillment)
- Operations (i.e. hiring, employee onboarding, billing, internal reminders)
2. Forgetting to leverage data
The data your small business CRM stores and organizes for you is a goldmine. When used correctly, it helps you create content your audience will respond to, develop better customer and lead relationships, and move contacts through your sales pipeline more efficiently.
However, you could be missing out on these perks if you’re not leveraging your CRM tool and its data in the right way. You might be making this mistake if you’re doing either of the following things:
Not collecting what you need
Are you using landing pages and forms to attract your audience and collect their information? This is how you land leads and get their information so you can nurture them in the most effective way. If you feel like your CRM is lacking the data you long for, it could be because you're not asking for it.
Don’t beat yourself up, though! All you have to do to fix this problem is decide what information you need from leads and perform an audit of your landing pages and forms to see how they align. From there, you can make edits to your current assets so they start bringing in the data you need.
Not using the information you have
If you are collecting all the right things, you’re not out of the woods yet. You have to use that information and put it to work for it to be worth anything. To make the most of this data and your CRM software, segmentation is the way. Our next warning sign will go into more detail of the importance of this practice and how to get started.
3. Neglecting your lists
Storing lead and customer information without organizing it is our third and final sign that you’re not using every part of your small business CRM and automation software.
The solution? Segmentation.
This is a key capability of your CRM and the possibilities are endless. Segmenting your contact lists into smaller, more specific groups will enable you to know your audience better and provide personalized value to every contact.
For example, let’s say you use a form to ask your audience what type of content they’re interested in, and some of them choose social media marketing and others select advertising tips. Once you know who falls into which category, you can segment them into two groups and create separate newsletters for each one, filling them with valuable resources that align with their interests.
Pro tip
Once you have your lists segmented, harness the power of dynamic content to create a unique experience for leads and customers.
Uncover more software possibilities
These are just three of the warning signs that a business isn’t maximizing their CRM and automation software. Of course, there are other software capabilities that we want to make sure you’re utilizing. That’s why we’ve provided a business automation deep dive that details the four pillars of automation and their related tasks.
Read through it to make sure your business is getting the most value from your software, and if you want to take it a step further, browse our tips for maximizing your CRM software’s ROI.
