Cold calling in 2026: does it still work, and how to do it well
What cold calling looks like in UK B2B now: building a list worth calling, structuring the call, the objections that recur, and what the rules require before you dial.
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Expert Insights: A Deep Dive into Effective Strategies
In today’s dynamic business environment, mastering effective sales strategies is paramount for growth. We recently had the privilege of speaking with sales expert Zalo Perez Herrera, who shared invaluable insights into optimizing sales processes, particularly for businesses looking to supercharge their outbound efforts
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“Sell more SMS” – Statistics and real scenarios to emphasise the importance of SMS in Sales
“Sell more SMS” – Statistics and real scenarios to emphasise the importance of SMS in Sales The potential of SMS In today’s fast-paced world, where attention spans are shrinking and inboxes are overflowing, reaching your clients effectively is more crucial than ever. SMS isn’t just another communication channel; it’s a direct, immediate, and highly impactful tool that can revolutionize your client interactions and drive significant results. General advantages of SMS over other channels Statistic SMS Source Open Rate 98% (VS email around 20-30%) Emitrr, “The Ultimate SMS Marketing Guide With Benefits & Use Cases” et Infobip, “SMS advertising that drives engagement & conversions” Read within first 3 minutes 90% Emitrr, “The Ultimate SMS Marketing Guide With Benefits & Use Cases” et Infobip, “SMS advertising that drives engagement & conversions” Check notifications within 5 minutes 81% SimpleTexting, “SMS Marketing Statistics 2025: Key Insights” Check notifications within 60 seconds 32% SimpleTexting, “SMS Marketing Statistics 2025: Key Insights” Practical Situations Where SMS is the Best Choice for Salespeople: 1. Instant Lead Follow-Up & Qualification: Scenario: A prospect just filled out a “request a demo” form on your website or engaged with a live chat. SMS Advantage: Strike while the iron is hot. Sending an immediate, personalized text message with a direct question or a link to schedule a call capitalizes on their active interest. Why SMS is Best: Companies that reply to inbound inquiries quickly are more likely to land a deal. (Source: Textline, “Textline HubSpot Integration” https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/textline-1626779). The average text is read within three minutes, and has a 90-second reply time, making it far more effective than an email that might be checked hours later. Example: “Hi [Prospect Name], thanks for your interest in [Your Product/Service]! Are you free for a quick [X] minute chat today to discuss your needs? [Your Name/Company] 2. Meeting/Demo Confirmations & Reminders: Scenario: You’ve scheduled a crucial meeting, demo, or call with a client. SMS Advantage: Reduce no-shows and ensure preparedness. A timely SMS reminder ensures clients remember and are on time. Why SMS is Best: Customers are highly receptive to appointment reminders via SMS. 73% of consumers cite appointment/reservation reminders as a top reason for opting into business texts. (Source: Plivo CX, “The Complete Guide to SMS Appointment Reminders in 2025” https://www.plivo.com/blog/sms-appointment-reminder/). Example: “Hi [Client Name], just a friendly reminder of our [meeting/demo] about [Topic] tomorrow at [Time]. I’m looking forward to it! Let me know if anything changes. [Your Name/Company]” 3. Sharing Time-Sensitive Offers & Flash Sales: Scenario: Your company is running a limited-time promotion, a flash sale, or a special discount. SMS Advantage: Create immediate urgency and drive quick conversions by delivering the offer directly to their pocket. Why SMS is Best: The immediacy of SMS makes it perfect for time-sensitive promotions. Over 50% of people make a purchase from a marketing text. (Source: Route Mobile, “20 Fascinating SMS Marketing Statistics and Trends for 2024” https://routemobile.com/blog/20-fascinating-sms-marketing-statistics-and-trends-for-2024/). Example: “FLASH SALE! For 24 hours only, get 30% off all [Product Category]! Use code FLASH30 at checkout. Shop now: [Link]” 4. New Product/Service Announcements (for existing clients): Scenario: You’re launching a new product or service that would be highly relevant to specific existing clients. SMS Advantage: Get their attention quickly for something you know they’ll be interested in, ensuring they don’t miss the announcement amidst other marketing noise. Why SMS is Best: For opt-in customers, this is a highly personalized and direct way to communicate valuable updates. Text messages have an 8x higher response rate than emails. (Source: Retail Dive, “SMS has eight times the response rate of email: study” https://www.retaildive.com/ex/mobilecommercedaily/sms-has-eight-times-the-response-rate-of-email-study). Example: “Exciting news, [Client Name]! We’ve just launched our new [Product Name] – designed to help you [solve a pain point]. Learn more here: [Link]” 5. Abandoned Cart Reminders (for e-commerce/online services): Scenario: A customer has added items to their online cart but hasn’t completed the purchase. SMS Advantage: A gentle, timely nudge can significantly recover lost sales. Why SMS is Best: SMS offers direct, immediate access to the customer. This personal touch can motivate them to complete the purchase. Example: “Hey [Name], you left something in your cart! Complete your purchase now and get free shipping: [Link]” 6. Post-Sale Follow-Up & Feedback Collection: Scenario: A client has recently made a purchase or completed a service. SMS Advantage: Show you value their business and collect valuable feedback for improvement and future sales. Why SMS is Best: Customer service is the primary reason businesses are using SMS marketing in 2025. (Source: SimpleTexting, “SMS Marketing Statistics 2025: Key Insights” https://simpletexting.com/blog/2025-texting-and-sms-marketing-statistics/). Additionally, 47% of consumers share feedback via SMS, rising from 35% in 2024. (Source: EZ Texting, “2025 Consumer Texting Behavior Report” https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2025-consumer-texting-behavior-report-consumers-demand-sms-notifications-and-conversations-302346459.html). Example: “Thank you for your recent purchase, [Client Name]! We hope you’re enjoying [Product/Service]. Would you mind taking 30 seconds to share your experience? [Survey Link]” 7. Quick Questions or Information Exchange: Scenario: You need a quick piece of information from a client, or they have a simple question that doesn’t warrant a phone call or lengthy email. SMS Advantage: Efficient, direct, and non-intrusive communication for minor interactions. Why SMS is Best: Consumers prefer SMS for its speed, delivery, and convenience above all other forms of communication. (Source: EZ Texting, “2025 Consumer Texting Behavior Report” https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2025-consumer-texting-behavior-report-consumers-demand-sms-notifications-and-conversations-302346459.html). Example: “Hi [Client Name], quick question regarding your project: Is [Detail] confirmed for [Date]? Let me know! [Your Name]” 8. Quick Questions or Information Exchange: Scenario: You want to reach out to clients who haven’t engaged in a while. SMS Advantage: A direct, personalized offer can reignite their interest without getting lost in a crowded email inbox. Why SMS is Best: The high open rate increases the likelihood of your re-engagement message being seen and acted upon. 58% of marketers say SMS helps re-engage lapsed customers. (Source: Ecommerce Web Design, “SMS vs Email: Which channel drives better results in 2025?” https://www.fdry.com/sms-vs-email-which-channel-drives-better-results-in-2025/). Example: “We miss you, [Client Name]! As a thank you for being a valued customer, here’s 15% off your next purchase with code WELCOMEBACK. [Link]” Want help with
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AI and sales: how to manage salespeople in the age of algorithms ?
← Blog Managing a sales team in the age of AI Artificial intelligence is shaking up the practise of commercial management. Algorithms are entering the daily lives of sales teams, promising to increase their productivity and performance. The Holy Grail for all sales management ? Not that easy. Because AI can also destabilise the troops if it is poorly implemented. Therefore, it’s successful integration requires in-depth managerial support. How to prepare your salespeople for the AI era, without stripping them of their business expertise ? How can we make them allies rather than opponents of digital transformation ? Elements of response for managing the sales force in the age of algorithms. The challenges of developing AI in sales The integration of AI is profoundly transforming the daily life of salespeople. No more long hours manually combing through customer data or painfully segmenting the prospect base. AI automates these tedious tasks to allow the seller to concentrate on his core business: customer relations. Thanks to machine learning algorithms, salespeople now have ultra-personalised recommendations for their customers. No more sending generic marketing campaigns hoping to hit the mark. AI finely analyses purchasing data, deciphers customer journeys and suggests the most relevant offers for each profile. Artificial intelligence also optimises the processing of incoming leads. The most promising prospects are automatically qualified and routed to the appropriate salesperson. Enough to increase conversions, by systematically addressing the right people to the right potential customers. Finally, AI transforms CRM as a true digital co-pilot of the seller. Gone is the frustration of under-exploited software, from which we cannot extract the essential marrow. AI enriches the CRM with functionalities according to field needs, to make it a true everyday ally. In short, AI is revolutionising the sales profession. However, such upheavals can also destabilise existing teams. Hence the vital importance of in-depth managerial support. The main advantages of AI in marketing intelligence AI applied to marketing and sales offers spectacular opportunities for optimising sales performance. Concretely, what innovations does AI enable ? Ultra personalised marketing automation AI allows to create fully dynamic and personalised marketing campaigns thanks to the machine learning algorithm. Concretely, the latter will analyse in real time all available customer data (age, location, purchase history, interactions on the website, etc.). It will then determine for each customer the most relevant message, the right sending timing, the preferred channel (email, SMS, mobile notification). Each prospect and customer is thus offered a tailor-made journey, instead of receiving generic campaigns. This mass customisation results in an explosion in engagement rates. The customer receives the right content, at the right time, on the right channel. Automatic CRM enrichment The new generation CRM is no longer satisfied with information entered manually by the salesperson. Thanks to web scraping and the integration of social network APIs, each customer file is automatically enriched with relevant data gleaned online. The salesperson thus has a 360° vision of his prospects and customers. Changes within the company, appointments, industry news, verbatim on the networks… so much valuable information to personalise your approach and your arguments. No more silo vision, make way for increased customer knowledge. Automatic lead qualification AI makes it possible to instantly qualify each incoming lead thanks to predictive scoring. In practice, an algorithm will evaluate each prospect in real time according to predefined criteria: activity on the website, socio-demographic data, level of engagement, etc. Each lead is automatically assigned a score reflecting its commercial potential. Only prospects deemed very promising are routed to the sales representative, avoiding any waste of time on lukewarm leads. Machine learning even makes it possible to refine this scoring over time. The more the prospect interacts, the more the algorithm improves to better evaluate the probability of conversion. Ultra fine targeting of prospects The algorithm of look alike profiling identifies prospects within a database with profiles similar to the company’s best current customers. By analysing a large number of data (age, location, interests, web searches, etc.), the AI identifies the prospects with the most common traits with loyal and high-potential customers. Objective: address these profiles as a priority to maximise the chances of conversion. It’s Tailor-made on a large scale. Tailor-made product recommendations AI carefully analyses each customer journey to determine the most relevant products and services to recommend to each person. Using machine learning, the algorithm identifies correlations between past purchases, site interactions, socio-demographic profile, etc., and deduces the suggestions most likely to interest each customer. Result: ultra personalised recommendations at scale, for maximised additional sales. Enough to considerably boost commercial productivity, provided that the teams are involved in the transformation. How to prepare sales teams for the use of AI ? The arrival of AI in the daily lives of sales teams represents a small revolution. To avoid any rejection, it is essential to carefully prepare salespeople for the use of these new tools. How to do it ? Follow the guide for smooth adoption of AI by your sellers. Involve salespeople through participatory workshops Engaging salespeople is key to successful AI adoption. Rather than imposing turnkey solutions, it is essential to co-build this transformation with the sales teams. With this in mind, the first step consists of bringing together salespeople to jointly identify the most relevant use cases of AI in relation to their daily lives. Via participatory workshops, sellers are encouraged to express their irritants and their needs. What time-consuming tasks could AI relieve them of? What personalised recommendations would they need ? What new features would make them more productive ? This bottom-up approach makes it possible to prioritise technological solutions which will be developed tailor-made, as close as possible to the expectations of the field. It also promotes the support of salespeople,who become actors and no longer just recipients of AI. These workshops are led by sales managers and IT/digital teams. They enable a fruitful dialogue between the two populations, streamlining the future adoption of co-constructed tools. Train salespeople in new AI tools The pitfall to absolutely avoid:
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How do you draw up an effective sales prospecting plan?
Sales prospecting is one of the most important phases in the sales process, but also one of the most difficult. To do this, you need to follow an effective sales prospecting plan.
Statistically, almost half of all salespeople say that prospecting is the most difficult part of their job.
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30 tips to increase your qualified appointments
← Blog 30 tips to increase your qualified appointments It’s true that closing a deal is the most exciting and important step in the sales process. But you should know that there’s no chance of reaching this stage without having recorded an initial meeting with a potential customer. That’s why, if your sales team is struggling to get appointments with prospects, it’s important to review your prospecting strategy to achieve a better conversion rate. When is the best time to ask a prospect for an appointment ? What attitude should you adopt to increase your chances of getting a positive response ? How can you take advantage of technology to improve the effectiveness of your prospecting campaigns ? We’ve put together a list of 30 useful tips and tricks for increasing the number of qualified appointments and potentially closing new sales. Let’s find out together ! 1. Set a clear goal before you start As with any business project, it’s important to have a clear goal in mind before getting started. Source : Humaprise Group In the current context, the objective may seem unique and fairly obvious : to succeed in getting the prospect to engage more fully in the conversation. However, qualified appointment setting should revolve around two objectives : The first short-term objective is to obtain the prospect’s approval to book an appointment. And a second objective is to close the sale. When, during your first interaction with a prospect, you rush to reach the ultimate goal (closing the deal), there’s a good chance you’ll miss the second goal. That’s why it’s important to clearly define your objectives before you start. 2. Getting to know the prospect Generally speaking, the primary cause of failure in sales appointment setting lies in serving the same template phone script or e-mail to all prospects. Of course, we agree that the content you deliver to your prospects should contain similar elements and calls to action. But for a more impactful message, you should try to personalise your content just a little, depending on the recipient. This way, the prospect will feel more concerned and be more inclined to give a sincere “yes” to your request for an appointment. But for this to really work, you need to gather a minimum amount of information about the prospect. To help you do this, you can : Check your LinkedIn profile: Here you’ll find information about his work and his interactions on the network. Source : Chacun Sa Route Google him: The search engine may return important pages on which his name is mentioned. This will help you discover their motivations, personality, values and other useful information that you can use to personalise your message. Visit your professional website: If the prospect has a website, this would also be an excellent way to find out more about his company by visiting it. 3. Target the right prospects You can put together the best team of salespeople to make new sales appointments for your company. But when you don’t target prospects who are genuinely interested in your products or services, the campaign is likely to be in vain. So once you’ve defined the objectives of your appointment-setting campaign, it’s important to define the profile of your target audience too. Source : Guarana Marketing What industry do you want to target? For what type of business are your services best suited? Think about it carefully and build up your company’s ideal customer profile. 4. Write a catchy script Although a good salesperson needs to be able to improvise, it’s always a good idea to have a well-written script ready. The script serves as a kind of roadmap, so that your sales reps don’t have to think too hard about what to say to the prospect and when. As a result, they’ll be better able to listen to prospects and adapt their script to their realities. 5. Look after your voice In business, appearance usually counts for a lot when it comes to attracting the other party’s attention and consideration. But since in a phone call, the prospect can’t see what you look like, you’ll need to take care with your voice to sound more professional. Indeed, when a prospect picks up the phone and hears a voice that’s too high-pitched or shaky, it can sound less professional. What’s more, even if you have a deep voice, speaking too fast or having a shaky voice can give off a certain uncertainty. It’s a good idea to record your voice so you can listen to it again and find out how to improve it for a better presentation. 6. Always ask for the prospect’s availability When you contact a prospect by phone to ask for an appointment, don’t rush into unpacking your sales pitch. Always be sure to ask at the start of the conversation whether you’ve come at the right time. It’s a bit like knocking on an office door : it’s always a good idea to ask the person if it’s a good time to talk. The scenario is much the same with a phone call. After all, you’re contacting someone out of the blue, so you can’t rule out the possibility that they could be in the middle of a business meeting or customer service call. Source : Isarta That’s why you need to make sure you don’t interrupt his activity by asking him if he’s available for a quick chat. This shows you respect him and his schedule. If he’s still in favor of continuing the call, make an effort to pay close attention when he speaks, so that you’re aware of his difficulties and expectations. In the event that you receive a “no” to continuing the call, don’t immediately take it as a failure – it can happen even with an interested prospect. In such a situation, it’s important not to force the issue – you won’t get anything out of it. Instead, respect their availability and ask if you can call them
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9 ways to boost sales with artificial intelligence
← Blog 9 ways to boost sales with artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence, which used to be kept under wraps, is now finding its way into every aspect of marketing and sales. Algorithms are boosting customer knowledge, optimising actions and boosting sales results tenfold. However, in this technological craze, companies must be careful not to fall into a dehumanised approach, since the human factor remains the guarantor of a lasting customer relationship. In this article, discover 9 concrete applications of AI to increase the sales process. As you read on, you’ll learn how these technologies are transforming salespeople’s work to boost results, while reinforcing the human-centric customer approach. 1 – Chatbots Now a must-have AI solution, chatbots automate exchanges with customers on digital channels. Thanks to this technology, the most frequent queries receive an instant response, without requiring the intervention of an agent. The chatbot understands the questions asked thanks to natural language processing (NLP), and responds according to the data in its knowledge base. The most relevant answers have been defined in advance by the marketing and customer service teams. The chatbot then selects the appropriate response based on its analysis of the customer message. This automation of simple, recurring queries offers multiple benefits : Saves time for the customer, who receives an immediate response, 24/7. Reduced workload for customer service teams, who focus on complex requests. Improved customer satisfaction thanks to instant processing. Personalise responses by refining algorithms according to customer profile. Many sectors are now adopting chatbots to improve digital customer relations : In e-commerce, a chatbot on the website informs visitors about products and facilitates the purchasing process. In banking, it interacts with customers via the mobile app to provide account balance or block a card. In telecoms, it notifies users of their consumption or the evolution of their package. In the tourism sector, they chat on social networks to recommend activities or answer practical questions. With chatbots, the customer experience becomes more efficient in many sectors. This AI technology optimises exchanges across all channels for 24/7 accessible customer service. 2 – Highly personalised recommendations Product recommendation algorithms use artificial intelligence to offer each customer the most relevant references according to their tastes. This extreme personalisation boosts sales by facilitating the discovery of new, adapted products. The recommendation engine exploits data such as products already consulted or purchased by the customer. It identifies their preferences and determines which references are likely to interest them, from a vast catalog. AI goes even further, analysing customers’ overall behaviour. It detects correlations between products that would escape the human eye. In this way, the engine is able to suggest items that match the customer’s expectations, even if there is no obvious link with their habits. Fine-tuning recommendations for each customer profile offers multiple advantages: Extremely personalised user experience on the website or app. Easier discovery of relevant new products. Conversion rate boosted by offering references in line with needs. Additional sales by encouraging the purchase of related products. This ultra-personalised recommendation technology is successfully used by Amazon, Netflix and Spotify, among others. Whatever the sector, AI paves the way for tailor-made suggestions for each customer, to increase the average shopping basket. 3 – Predict sales using statistical models AI predictive sales analysis enables accurate estimates of future sales volumes. Statistical models make robust projections based on past data and market trends. These complex mathematical models incorporate multiple parameters. They take into account historical sales over several years to identify trends. New market share gains are also taken into account, as well as the constant evolution of demand and buying behaviour. The impact of seasonality is also taken into account, with sales of certain products fluctuating according to the time of year. Marketing and sales actions planned for the coming months are projected into the estimates. Product launches and discontinuations also influence projections. Finally, the overall economic situation and its repercussions on the business sector are analysed. The combination of all these parameters makes it possible to establish solid forecasts thanks to the power of AI. Accurate sales forecasting offers the following advantages, among others: Anticipate stock-outs and shortages by adjusting production and supply levels. Optimise team sizing to absorb anticipated peaks in activity. Adapt individual and collective objectives to anticipated trends. Allocate marketing and sales budgets to periods of maximum impact. Adjust the supply chain by alerting suppliers to future needs. As you can see, predictive sales analysis using AI improves anticipation in many areas. Companies can look ahead with confidence and optimise their operations accordingly. 4 – Automatically target high-potential customers Automatic targeting algorithms identify the profiles in your customer base most likely to buy your products or services. AI determines the prospects with the best potential to optimise sales actions. The targeting engine exploits the behavioural data collected. It analyses each customer profile in detail: Interactions on the website ; Purchase history ; Reactions to marketing campaigns ; etc. It deduces a propensity score, reflecting the likelihood of purchase or conversion. Profiles with the highest scores are automatically integrated into emailing, social selling or online advertising campaigns. Lower scores are worked on with “churn” algorithms to retain prospects before they leave the site for good, for example. Optimising sales targeting with AI generates multiple benefits. Lead conversion is boosted by targeting mature and advanced profiles in the sales funnel. Sales productivity is boosted as teams focus exclusively on very high-potential leads. Acquisition costs are also reduced, as only relevant prospects are targeted. Thanks to this refined targeting, the conversion rate increases throughout the entire customer journey. Last but not least, ROI on campaigns is significantly improved thanks to the precision of targeting made possible by algorithms. Thanks to automated targeting, teams can concentrate their efforts on high-potential prospects and customers, for greater efficiency. 5 – Segment your customer base finely Intelligent AI segmentation automatically partitions the customer base into homogeneous groups. Each segment presents common characteristics and behaviours. This tailor-made segmentation makes it possible to personalise sales
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Pipedrive & Onoff Business integration: Boost your productivity!
← Blog Pipedrive & Onoff Integration: Boost Your Productivity Today, more and more companies are choosing a CRM in order to manage their data and customer relationships in a more efficient way. And as they go through this digital transformation process, sales teams and customer service agents will need, at any moment, to get in touch with customers and prospects via phone conversations. Therefore, integrating a CRM with a phone system is extremely useful for both teams. But concretely, what is a CRM and why should you integrate it into your call center software? Discover everything you need to know in this article as well as the CRM integration solution developed by Onoff to improve your customer relationships and your teams’ productivity. Onoff-Pipedrive integration: Improve your productivity by integrating Onoff into Pipedrive The Onoff-Pipedrive integration allows you to centralize all your company’s phone operations in a single work environment to increase your sales and customer service teams productivity, and thus remove certain repetitive or time-consuming tasks. Concretely, this is how the Onoff-Pipedrive integration may be beneficial for your company: Take advantage of the customer card feedback to provide a personalized business phone greeting Whenever one of your agents receives an incoming call from a prospect or a customer, his or her information coming from the CRM is automatically displayed on Pipedrive’s interface. Then, the agent will be able to quickly find out more about the customer and provide a more personalized greeting by calling him/her by his/her own name or by mentioning the name of his/her company. Call in 1 click (click-to-call) from your Pipedrive interface Do you ever get tired of dialing a customer’s number before calling him? Thanks to the Onoff-Pipedrive integration, you can now save time and make calls with just one click or click-to-call. Find your business calls history for a better monitoring The Onoff-Pipedrive integration also automatically allows you to record any phone calls, SMS and messages left in the voice mailbox directly in the contact’s file, right from the CRM. You can then go back to any contact or transaction/deal and find everything that was previously discussed with a customer. Ready to integrate Onoff into your Pipedrive interface? Request a demo now! As a reminder, what is a CRM? For a clear understanding of the CRM integration concept, we should start by looking at the CRM itself. A CRM, also known as “Customer Relationship Management”, is, first and foremost, a practice involving the use of combined strategies and technologies in order to manage customer interactions in a more efficient way. For this purpose, the CRM will mainly be focused on collecting and analyzing data related to all of the interactions with your customers, from the very first one, to the after-sales service. When we talk about a CRM software, we’re talking about a computer program designed to centralize this collected data in a single workspace for easier access, but also for a better analysis. Source : https://www.lyntonweb.com/blog/bid/57789/crm-integration-what-can-it-do-for-me A CRM software is therefore used to handle customer data such as customer profile details, company sales data and many others, in a faster and easier way. Basically, a CRM software allows you to automatically collect, store and organize customer data from a single workspace. How does the Pipedrive & Onoff integration work? As convenient as a CRM system may be, it only reaches its full potential when it is combined with other applications or software: this is called CRM integration. More concretely, it’s about integrating your company’s customer data with other third-party systems, in a transparent way, to improve the CRM’s functioning. Depending on the company’s profile, the method used for CRM integration may differ from one company to another. But in most cases, CRM integrations require the use of APIs (application programming interfaces). Nowadays, you can find cloud-based iPaaS solutions to automate and speed up the CRM integration process. Why should you integrate your CRM software into your business phone system – Pipedrive & Onoff? Integrating a CRM solution with a call center has many benefits, including providing both sales and customer service teams with real-time access to the customer’s information and call history. With such instant access to information, agents can efficiently respond to speakers’ requests for a better customer relationship. But in more detail, here are the main reasons why your company should integrate a CRM solution to its telephony: 1. Improve your sales team’s productivity The first advantage of linking a professional telephony solution to a CRM software is to improve your agents efficiency and productivity, especially sales representatives. Actually, thanks to the CRM integration, it will no longer be necessary, for example, to dial the number of a customer already registered in the CRM. It will only take one click (click-to-call) to call him. This is an important time-saver, especially if there is a large list of customers to contact, such as during an outbound call campaign. Moreover, the CRM integration allows you to access the telephony features directly from the CRM software interface. Your agents will be able to consult the customer’s call history on the phone, take notes related to the call, consult the customer’s file and do many other things without even leaving their interface. 2. Ensure that your customer service department is well-equipped CRM integration also has considerable benefits for customer care teams. With this integration, when an agent receives an incoming call from a prospect or a customer, he or she can consult his or her file before even picking up the call. He/she will then be able to provide a more personalized customer greeting, either by calling him/her directly by his/her name or by mentioning the name of his/her company. Source : VoIP The agent will also be able to read the report of the customer’s previous interactions with the customer service department to determine if there has been an ongoing request since the last call, without necessarily asking the customer to repeat himself. The customer will then feel welcome with a real sense
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Turnover : how to ensure customer follow up
← Blog Turnover : how to ensure customer follow up The departure of an employee is always a delicate matter and the same goes for a sales person, because of his privileged relationship with customers. Managing this turnover is also important for the customer follow-up. A departure is also important for your company’s reputation: managing it well allows you to maintain your employer brand. As we know, it’s a small world and you are likely to find a former employee with a partner or a client. The phenomenon of “boomerang rehire”, i.e. reintegrating a company for which one has worked in the past, occurs in 15% of cases. A situation that will speed up now that long careers within a company are no longer the rule. According to the Deloitte Millennial Survey 2018, more than 40% of millennial employees plan to leave their jobs within two years, and less than a third will still be with the company after five years. So how do you avoid losing valuable information and damaging customer relationships when a salesperson leaves? What are the tools that can help entrepreneurs to manage a departure and the actions to put in place from the beginning? Keeping information: a key point To ensure a good customer follow-up, it is important to make sure that the information concerning the customer remains within the company and can be shared. For this, there are three solutions: Conducting a business review ake the time to review each strategic customer before your sales representative leaves. Review the current contracts and the specificities of each major file. Pay particular attention to customer relationships that are not going well. It is important to talk about it and for the manager to take over the file so as not to aggravate the situation. Destress the employee so that he or she does not withhold information is a key point for this discussion, emphasizing that he or she has nothing to lose: it is the successor who will manage the crisis. To this business review, it is useful to add an “exit review.” The moment of departure is a good time to listen to what employees have to say. As part of a constructive listening process, this interview allows an employee to speak more openly and with full knowledge of the small dysfunctions of a company. Many tools allow to manage these exit interviews and analyze feedback: Workelo or Lucca have developed platforms helping to manage the arrival but also the departure of employees. Implementing a CRM A Customer Relationship Management tool is not only a valuable marketing tool to gather data on prospects and customers, but also indispensable for customer follow-up. It allows you to gather in one place all the useful information about a customer. Current contracts, e-mail exchanges, notes: a CRM must contain all the information useful for the recovery of a file. More or less expensive and complex, here is a short list of those you can use. Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics: adapted to large companies, they are the best known and most widely used. Very complete, their ergonomics are not always very simple or flexible. But they connect with many other software used by the different departments of the company. Pipedrive or Zendesk: ideal for beginners, their handling and ergonomics are very intuitive. Less powerful than Salesforce, they are easy to configure. Hubspot or Insightly: two free CRMs for basic functions. Hubspot is an efficient marketing solution that offers a very simple free CRM part. As for Insightly, it can be easily combined with Gmail. Using Onoff Business A salesperson’s laptop is one of his main working tools. Until now, he took all the contacts saved on his phone with him when he left. Now, with Onoff Business, there is no more loss of information and no more changing of numbers. Thanks to its numbers saved in the cloud, Onoff Business allows you to keep all the contacts linked to a mobile number. The service also offers the possibility to assign an existing mobile number to a new phone: your customers will always call the same number to reach your company. Ideal for a good customer follow-up. Managing change It is essential to review the transition with the new sales person. The newcomer must be perfectly familiar with the customer files, even before meeting them. This way, the first meeting will be done on a good basis. You can consider a simulation interview to help your new salesperson to polish his or her speech and prepare for objections. Video training is a good support for this kind of customer follow-up exercise. A dedicated solution such as Vyfe allows you to use video recording to train salespeople. The ideal solution, of course, is to organize a three-way meeting with the customer, the former and the new employee. Announcing your departure Changing contacts can be frustrating for a customer. It is therefore important for a sales person to be careful when announcing their departure. A manager must be able to make his future ex-collaborator aware of the importance of continuity in customer care. During a meeting or a call, the departing employee must reassure the customer, highlight the added value of the person who will replace him or her as well as the maintenance of the quality of service. Showing the involvement of the hierarchy in this transition is also a reassuring element. Choosing the right moment to announce the departure is very important. Ideally, it should be done when you can give your client visibility on the person who will take over the file. Depending on the size and importance of the clients, the announcement should be made to each of them, either face to face, or by a call or an email. Also announce the departure internally and thank your employees for the work accomplished. This is a good way to motivate the remaining teams and to ensure good word-of-mouth about the departing talent. At Apple, people who leave
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