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Turn It Up Tuesday: Tips from Insightly to Take Your Business to 11

Welcome to Turn It Up Tuesday, where we bring you 4 weekly tips—a tip on running your business, a tip on using Insightly CRM, a tip on improving your sales, and a tip on improving your life. Enjoy this week’s tips!

 

	Take Your To-do List With You
	It’s easy to get stuff done while seated at your desk. Emails, voicemails, and proposals are just a few of the many things you deal with while in the office. But, what about when you’re on the go? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a presorted list of things that require your attention – but don’t require the full office environment? Whether waiting for your car to get new tires or standing in line at the BMV, there always seem to be moments when you could squeeze out a bit more productivity. Insightly can help you achieve this goal of enhanced non-desk output. To get started, follow these steps: Download the Insightly smartphone app here and open it. Tap on the “Tasks” option from the app’s menu to view all of your pending to-dos. (If you’ve never created an Insightly task, there’s never a better moment than now!) For additional filtering, consider setting up an Insightly “Project” called “Away” or “Brainstorm.” Link your new project to tasks that could be completed outside the office. (Note: Tasks can be linked to more than one project.) Now, any time you’re on the go, you have access to a list of to-dos that can easily become “to-done.” Important Note: Obviously, distracted driving is never a good idea. Wait until you get to the BMV before using this feature.
	Get More Involved with Blogging
	Your marketing manager is always pestering you to get more involved in the company’s content production. Like anything else, you’re a busy person and have little room for new projects. As has been well documented, blogging is a very effective way to generate traffic to your organization’s website. Search engines love it when you provide helpful, engaging information online. And, unlike paid advertising, a single article can generate leads for years after it has been published. So, how can you get more involved with blogging – without draining too much of your time? Here are a few ideas: Look in your “sent” email box for customer exchanges that could be repurposed into articles. When talking to satisfied clients, ask if they would let your marketing team do a brief interview. Record voice notes while on the go and forward them to your marketing manager for transcription and further cultivation. If you use a support ticketing system, look for common questions and answers to reuse. Forward sales and support documentation to your marketing team to spin into lead-generating content. Ask your vendors or other industry partners if they would like to submit articles. As you can see, in many cases, you won’t even have to do the writing yourself. Your staff is simply looking for help to get the ball rolling. Take a more proactive role in your company’s content marketing today – and reap the benefits in the future!
	Boost Your Motivation with Small Victories
	We’ve all been there. It’s Tuesday, and you’re not feeling much more motivated than you did on Monday. Despite your best efforts, nothing on your to-do list seems to really stand out as particularly interesting. What should you do? On days like this, it can sometimes help to look for small victories. For example, let’s say you really need to get started on a big presentation. It’s due by the close of business, but you just can’t get moving on it. Rather than staring at a blank presentation deck for thirty minutes, put the project aside and find something “bite-sized” to do. Examples on your task list might include: Sending an invoice Answering a customer’s email Pulling a report from Insightly Following up with a colleague on a project’s status Reviewing the day’s new leads Finishing your expense report By checking a few easy things off your list, you might get the momentum you need to tackle a much more complex project.
	Automate Your Sales Teams Monthly Tasks
	Effective sales reps do whatever it takes to make the deal happen. For this reason, many business owners give their sales teams significant latitude in defining their own work schedules. There’s nothing wrong with providing a flexible work environment. However, you also have to ensure basic responsibilities are being met. As a business owner, how can you strike this balance? Using recurring tasks can be a nonintrusive way to remind sales staff of their ongoing duties. Here are a few common examples you might enable for you sales staff: Turn in Expense Reports – Sales reps do more traveling than most employees. As a result, your accounting department may exert considerable effort simply reminding sales staff to submit timely expense reports. Automate this process by assigning a monthly reminder for each rep. Confirm Revenue Projections & Probability – Your forecast is only as good as your pipeline’s accuracy. Expected revenue is typically based on opportunity value and probability, so having your sales reps regularly confirm data integrity can be worthwhile. Circle Back to Stale Clients – Deals go cold for a variety of reasons. Some are no longer interested, but others might just be playing hard to get. Set a task so that your team allocates adequate time to stale opportunities. Do Outbound Cold Calling – If your organization does cold calling, it’s wise to prompt your reps to make time for it. The natural tendency is to focus on “hot leads” rather than sludge through a list of hang ups and rejections. A friendly reminder can ease this tension.

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Would you like to share your tips with Insightly customers? Send them to us! If we use one in our weekly feature we’ll send you a $10 Amazon Gift Card! Contact us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or send us an email.

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About the author: Matt Keener is a marketing consultant and President of Keener Marketing Solutions, LLC. Matt specializes in content marketing and strategic planning, having helped numerous Saas (software as a service) companies and other small businesses worldwide. Read more of Matt’s work, check out his book, or connect with him on Linkedin.

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It’s downright frustrating when you feel as if you’re battling one problem after another without resolution in your company. Instead of moving your business ahead, you’re wasting time patching up problems. You need solutions, and a CRM just might be the fix you’re looking for.

Here are six common business problems that having a CRM platform can help solve.

1. Juggling (and Losing) Information

In business, there’s a lot to juggle. From incoming leads to outgoing customers and everything in between, you have a wealth of information at your fingertips. All of it is important, yet organizing it all is a struggle — especially when that information is coming in from various departments.

With CRM software, you can keep everything in one place. When a new lead comes in, a file for that contact is automatically created. As the sales team nurtures the lead, each person can make notes and updates in that customer’s file. When the marketing team needs to understand what’s going in the customer’s mind at the time of purchase, they can log in and view these notes. When the lead becomes a customer, the customer service team can continue to keep track of interactions in the customer’s file.

All of the information surrounding that one customer is stored in one place. Finding, managing, and organizing information instantly becomes simple.

2. Repeated Project Management Blunders

Customers need nurturing throughout their relationship with your business. From before the sale is made to after the product or service is delivered, your customers go through a certain workflow with your company. At each stage, they may be working with someone different in your company. And customers have different goals and different needs at various phases of the buying cycle. Addressing each of these different stages while delivering a seamless experience for your customer requires careful project management.

A CRM helps you stay on task so you never drop the ball (and potentially lose a sale) with your customer.

In your CRM, you can assign tasks to specific people. You can assign deadlines to each of those tasks. And you can use your CRM as a running log of what’s been done and what needs to be completed to keep the customer extremely satisfied with your business. Drill down to the details without losing sight of what the entire customer experience looks like from start to finish.

3. Unbalanced Budget

Is your budget off balance? You might be able to shave some money off your sales and marketing costs, while at the same time gaining more revenue with a CRM. Let’s break it down.

There’s a chasm between sales and marketing teams. These two teams rarely put their heads together to come up with new marketing campaigns or sales scripts. By working out of two separate silos, you’re losing money and customers by not communicating what works and what doesn’t between the two.

While both departments are busy working separately to get to the same goal, your customers are getting confused. Confusion while shopping is a surefire recipe for losing customers.

Bring the sales and marketing communications under one digital roof to bridge this gap. With CRM, both the sales and marketing teams can get access to the communication information they need to make better decisions. It’ll pay off because the customer will start to see consistent messaging, making it easier for him to work with your company.

4. Low Productivity

Ever heard the expression, “what gets scheduled, gets done?”

How about “accountability breeds responsibility?”

A CRM lets you schedule and assign tasks to specific people. It also lets you track who consistently follows through with tasks and who frequently drops the ball so you can hold your team members accountable. The end result? Boosted productivity.

5. Poor Customer Service

Customer service can make or break a relationship with your client list. If a customer feels well taken care of, he’s more likely to remain loyal to your company. On the flipside, poor service can cause your customer to bolt to your competitor.

A CRM platform improves your customer service levels by tracking customer needs in one place. If a customer has a complaint that the tech team needs to address, everything can be managed centrally in your CRM. The customer service agent can get updates on the progress toward solving the problem. If you need to loop in the accounting team to offer a refund, you can do that too. All of the players can collaborate in one area so the customer’s end experience is a good one.

6. Lack of Data in Decision Making

When it comes to making decisions about budget, marketing strategy, or sales cycles, are you shooting in the dark? Or do you have the right data to make informed decisions?

A customer relationship management platform gathers data throughout the sales process, while the customer works with your firm, and after a project is complete. This data can then be taken and put into reports that show why people didn’t buy, where you’re losing customers in the sales cycle, what’s causing your customers to leave, and more. The more data you have, the stronger decision-making abilities you’ll have.

Ready for CRM?

If your business is suffering from any of these — disorganization, high costs, low revenues, poor productivity and customer service, or a lack of data – it’s time to get a CRM system in place. Having a central place to manage all of your customer relationships helps streamline your business and improve the customer’s experience with your company, which ultimately leads to more revenues and growth.

 

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Send Us Your Tips. Would you like to share your tips with Insightly customers? Send them to us! If we use one in our weekly feature we’ll send you a $10 Amazon Gift Card! Contact us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or send us an email.

While there are many reasons to use a CRM, few are more important than increasing sales.

Revenue growth requires a consistent attention to process improvement. To streamline workflows, many companies are turning to mobile CRM applications. Is mobile CRM right for your business? Would using one actually move the sales needle?

In this post, I’ll share four reasons why a mobile-friendly CRM can have a positive impact on sales.

Opportunities Often Develop Outside of the Office

Stop to think about your average day. Unless you work from home, there’s a good chance that a noticeable percentage of your time is spent engaging clients in person.

Without the right technology, it can be difficult to keep everything organized. Your trusty yellow notepad, while better than nothing, has been known to fail you. There have been times when you couldn’t read your own writing. Other times, your assistant overlooked important opportunities when manually keying in data. There’s also the inherent productivity drain associated with transcribing handwritten notes.

A mobile CRM, on the other hand, reduces the administrative burdens of your current process. New contacts, leads, company records, and opportunities can be easily entered (or updated) with a few taps.

Stop waiting until you get back to the office; rather, input new information as you receive it. You’ll save time, minimize oversights, and yield better CRM value.

Meeting Agendas are Already Pre-Built
It’s never wise to show up unprepared for a customer meeting. Unfortunately, you’re a very busy person and preparation takes time. Time that you don’t have.

A mobile CRM can prove to be invaluable for meeting prep. This is especially true if your CRM facilitates record linking.

For example, Insightly CRM allows you to link opportunities to contacts and/or organizations. Instead of digging through emails, documents, and project management systems for a coherent agenda, you could simply pop open the Insightly mobile app. From there, click on the organization’s name and view the associated opportunities. Now you have a real-time list of topics to discuss with customers.

Best of all, there was no extra work required by you!

Customers Appreciate Personalization

You’re in business to make a profit. That’s a given. However, before you can make a profit, you must first build solid relationships with prospects.

Mobile CRM technology can help you achieve this goal by delivering a more personalized experience. In addition to managing basic name and contact details, your CRM should also help you quickly capture and recall important notes. Having the following at your fingertips can lighten the mood and show that you care:

• Names of spouse & children
• Hobbies
• Interests
• Upcoming vacations
• Service anniversaries
• Community involvement
• Pet peeves

Create close proximity to the customer tidbits you need most. You may be surprised by the positive feedback you receive.

Sometimes You Just Need a Cheat Sheet

There’s nothing worse than being unexpectedly pulled into a boardroom full of people – especially when you can’t remember their names.

Avoid this situation by carrying a pocket-sized CRM. Simply pull out your smartphone device, launch the app, filter by company, and browse associated contact records. No more scrambling through social media accounts or calendar invites.

Insightly users enjoy the added convenience of automatic photo matching. The system scours countless social media profiles, associating the person’s online profile pictures with the correct contact record. With Insightly, there’s no guessing which person is which. The visual confirmation you need is in the palm of your hand!

Take a Mobile Approach to CRM

If your current CRM system does not offer a convenient mobile option, it’s time you look elsewhere. Spend time researching which software receives the best reviews on the various app marketplaces. After a few days of testing, you might be surprised at the noticeable increases in productivity and customer satisfaction. In time, these improvements will most certainly lead to a more fruitful sales pipeline.

 

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At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

 

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Matt Keener is a marketing consultant and President of Keener Marketing Solutions, LLC. Matt specializes in content marketing and strategic planning, having helped numerous Saas (software as a service) companies and other small businesses worldwide. Read more of Matt’s work, check out his book, or connect with him on Linkedin.

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There’s a lot of buzz about SEO these days, and while the jury may still be out on the nuances, there’s no doubt that SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, improves your rankings and helps your content get in front of your audience.

SEO helps readers and searchers, a.k.a. your audience and customers, find you when they’re “Googling” (or Bing-ing) a topic you feature. With literally billions upon billions of landing sites on the Internet, you have to tailor your content to move up in the ranks and be sure you’re there

to answer the call! There’s an infinite amount of content on the web. Without SEO, yours will be lost in the shuffle.

With all the talk of SEO these days, plenty of “experts” will tell you ways to “trick” your content or try to use sneaky ways to move to the top of the ranks. Unfortunately, most of these tips and tricks are obsolete before you can even get them into place. The truth is, content is king, and well-written, relevant and quality content is always your best bet. Still, with millions of relevant hits out there, it’s definitely worth it to stay up on the trends you can take advantage of to give yourself a boost.

As we look forward to our marketing goals for 2017, you might be wondering how you can reach your audience more effectively. What are the latest trends and the remarkable things you need to know in 2017? How can you make sure your content is getting out there, being found and read and giving you the highest ROI on your human capital?

Here are the 5 most important areas to focus on in 2017:

1. Focused, Clear and Relevant Content

Google changed the face of web search in 2013, when it ran the Hummingbird update. The update was focused on returning the most relevant and best results for searchers. As Google’s web-crawlers improved their efficiency, they became more and more discerning. Keyword loaded “crap” content was instantly irrelevant, and in many cases, detrimental. Tricks were off the table. Relevancy and quality became the top priority. With each new update, link schemes and other hacks became useless.

Today’s top ranking sites must have content related to their business, the traffic searches and other content on their website. In other words you can’t load up your website with irrelevant content or flood your site with bait for the crawlers. While ranking for a single keyword or phrase isn’t impossible, it’s rapidly becoming outmoded. Even with long-form content and strong backlinks, natural, quality content trumps all.

The good news: It’s better for your site, your audience and your business’s integrity. We’ve all had the experience of landing on a “spammy” link-filled site or a site with content that was barely readable. Much of this content was put in place to fool web crawlers into and force Google rankings. Now that we’ve moved past that, we can get back to authentic content that moves organically through the Google ranks and hits its target audience.

2. Mobile Optimization

If your site isn’t mobile optimized, it’s time to get to work. Over the past few years, mobile optimization has gone from convenient for your audience to absolutely mandatory. In fact, today, more people use mobile search than searching from their PC. Google now favors mobile-optimized sites in their search rankings. So if you want to get to the top, you must be mobile friendly.

Don’t scrimp when it comes to the setup and technical aspects of your site, even if you’re a small business. Your website in general needs to have good technical structure in order to be crawled and indexed. If you’ve got a disjointed website, if it’s hard to navigate, or not mobile optimized, you will move back in the search engine ranks, even if you products are popular and your customers love you.

Your site should be easy to navigate, and have a landing page that tells your mobile customers what they need to know. Local results are key, and are what most customers are searching for. If you don’t show up on local mobile searches your customers might just head to the next town over rather than visiting you right around the corner. Put your NAP (name, address, phone) content right up front, and have a site that’s polished, fast and simple to navigate. Don’t overload your site with pop-up ads, links and content that can slow your users down.

3. Engaging Video Content

A look at the latest stats on video marketing, and it’s pretty clear—video is having quite a moment right now. Users love video. They love to share it, and search for it, and it will drive traffic to your site. Not only has Google’s partnership with YouTube strengthened Alphabet stocks, but it’s changed the way people search.

Video becomes the new way to answer questions. Rather than “Googling” for an answer, people now learn it by watching “Youtube”. Why? Because video is engaging, it’s entertaining, and online video is like an individualized television channel where the user gets to search out and control the content.

If you want to drive traffic to your site, video is a great opportunity to get in front of an audience. Even low-budget tutorials and grassroots video can be a great audience booster. Get your CEO to explain how your widget works, or film your FAQ’s.

Video boosts social media shareability, and audience engagement. Your customers are able to put a face with the business that they love, and video speaks to people in a way that text simply cannot do. If you can add video content to your site, do it right away!

4. Linking Up to Quality Sites

Old links and outdated information won’t help boost your site in search engine rankings. Once again, it’s another spot where quality should be valued way above quantity. While it can be a bit of a scramble to keep every link relevant and fresh on your site, you can boost your chances by using links from reputable sites you’re familiar with, and building in links back to content within your own site.

When you add links to your site, don’t set them to open up in new tabs, even though it can be tempting. Readers find the tabs disorienting and messy, and chances are, it won’t help them stay on your site (in fact, it disables their ability to use the back button to return to your page, so they can get even more lost).

When you curate links, do it carefully and deliberately. Look for content from recent sites, and sites related to your business. For example, if you use the term “run your business” you wouldn’t want to link to a site about running, even if it’s popular. It’s off topic, confusing to your reader and won’t boost your ranks. Instead link to other web content that’s just as high quality as your own content

5. Social Media, Apps and Other “Bonus Content”

E-Books, apps and other pieces of downloadable and streamable content can boost your SEO. Consumers want mobile apps, and in fact, apps now account for the majority of digital media consumption. People access content on apps and it keeps them visiting your site over and over.

When it comes to engaging with customers they want to reach you in a variety of ways. They want to connect with you via social media, they want to download an app and read your e-Book tutorial. Offering a variety of media and content helps you reach a wide range of audience members and connect in different ways. The majority of marketers are using social media to connect and boost their content and SEO.

It’s all about being creative with your content and offering a little something for everyone. It doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming, but it does need to be quality, applicable and creative. It needs to be user-focused, speak to your audience and deliver the message they want and need.

Make it your goal in 2017 to avoid “tricks and hacks” to game the system, and instead to focus on quality content that’s engaging, relevant and fresh. The biggest secret to SEO is that it has to be done in a genuine, authentic way, and there’s really no fast-and-easy way to get around it. Focus on local customers and reaching your target market and you’ll have your most successful year yet!

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At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

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