Pipedrive is the Sales CRM weapon of choice for scaling companies. When It was founded in 2010, it didn’t take long for it to take the industry by storm and become the market leader of the pack. The reason for this is that it makes selling simple and salespeople unstoppable; users close an average of 28% more deals after their first year! It is more than a Sales CRM; I would personally say it is a management tool designed to help small sales teams manage complex and long sales processes.
Pipedrive essentially keeps things moving and stops tasks from falling through the cracks. It was founded in 2010 by experienced sales managers that recognised a problem with existing sales CRM software. That is to say, the environment was packed with technology designed to please management. Pipedrive wanted to differ from its competition by making it about the salespeople. After all, they are the ones making the sales, right?
The way that it is designed allows for salespeople to more effectively manage their prospects. They do this by tracking them through the different stages of a sale (also known as a Pipeline) so they are able to convert more of their potential customers into paying clients or customers.
The thing that really sets it apart from other Sales CRM software is its focus on activity. Instead of just thinking about the finish line (the sale), Pipedrive focuses on the actions that get you there. It’s all well and good tracking the pipeline but without taking action, that sale is never gonna happen. Furthermore, Pipedrive ensures that activities remain targeted, ambitious, and realistic for salespeople. It is, therefore, no surprise that this tool is used by more than 80,000 companies around the world, based on its activity philosophy.
It is important to note, that Pipedrive is NOT for managing existing customers. Once the salesperson gets the sale and signs up a new customer, Pipedrive’s work has been done. That is the end goal. For managing existing clients and all of your ongoing projects with them, it might be worth looking into a project management tool such as Click up.
For now, though, let’s take a closer look at the top 3 ways that you can use this Sales CRM to increase your revenue and scale your business…
Sales Made Simple With A Sales CRM
Ultimately, you want your salespeople to sell. You certainly don’t want them using a complicated sales CRM platform that takes days to learn and months to master. Pipedrive has the power of simplicity. Understandably, a leading software review website has rated it as one of the easiest tools to use. And I like things that are easy. Here’s how you can make the most of this handy piece of software:
1. Setting Up The Sales Process
Once you have all of your contacts ready to go (this is super easy to fill in), you can then customise your sales process. It is important to really define what each stage is of your sales process to get the most out of it. You can have a stage for each key milestone in the journey to making a sale. It may look something like this:
- Potential customer
- First meeting arranged
- Individual needs defined
- Proposal sent to prospect
- Negotiating different terms
- Waiting for sale
This is just one example, but you can create several different pipelines for different sales processes or revenue streams. It might look different for brand new clients or affiliates vs. re-connecting with old clients.
2. Setting A Close Time
“A Goal Without A Timeline Is Just A Dream”
Robert Herjavec
It is so important not to skip the part where you set an “Expected close time” on this Sales CRM. Salespeople can use this field to indicate when they anticipate the deal might be closed (or “Won”). Managers are then able to look at the “Forecast” view, and see all of the deals organised month by month based on when it is likely to be won. This is a great way to get an idea of projected sales. Moreover, if there isn’t enough in the pipeline for a particular month, you can readdress it to make sure that it is in line with your sales goals.
3. Utilise the Sales CRM Custom Fields
Custom fields are a great way to add more specific information to your deals, and it then helps with what activities to set. This can include:
- Open text fields e.g. To write the potential customer’s needs and goals
- Numerical fields e.g. How many subscribers does the prospect have on their email list?
- Monetary fields e.g. What budget is the potential customer looking at?
- Time e.g. What is the best time of day to contact them?
Start Scaling Your Business With Pipedrive
The journey that a lead or prospect takes to become a client/customer varies for each industry and business. This sales CRM allows you to define the key sales stages for your business so you can keep track of which stage each of your prospects is at as you lead them towards the sale.
It is available in three plans; Silver, Gold, and Platinum so there is an option suitable for every type of business. In addition, as well as keeping salespeople on task by focusing on their actions, Pipedrive also monitors their performance like a coach. It calculates average conversion rates to indicate how many new leads to get and what activities to complete to meet your targets.
Pipedrive’s easy analytics get your sales process down to a science. Giving your sales team traceability along with accountability means it is the perfect software for any size business. You can just set your tasks and goals and then forget about them; the software delivers outcomes on all levels. Automate and optimise your sales with PipeDrive today.