Why Time is Money in Sales: The Importance of Streamlining Your Sales Process
Did you know that the first vendor to respond to a customer inquiry is the one that most often wins the deal? The expression “time is money” has probably never been more appropriate. This is how – and why – you need to enhance your sales process.
Keeping up with digitalisation
With the pandemic as an accelerator, digitalisation has kept a remarkably high pace in recent years according to a survey by McKinsey. In the same survey, a vast majority of the respondents said that their companies have developed solutions to meet many of the new demands placed on them.
We see these trends within sales as well. For sales teams, this is reflected in increased demands from customers to respond and act quickly to enquiries. Customers expect their questions to be answered in a quick and correct way in order for them to make fast decisions.
Want to become a better B2B seller? Get our best advice for success!
Key to profitability
In sales, time is one of the most valuable resources you have. If salespeople spend a lot of time on administrative tasks, they have less time to do what brings the most value – i.e. selling your products, building relationships, closing deals and generating revenue.
Streamlining the sales process is therefore key to increasing profitability. This way, you can get:
- Increased efficiency – By identifying and removing existing bottlenecks.
- Improved teamwork – With a clear view of your processes, you can easily see where you can improve collaboration between departments.
- Fewer administrative tasks – Automate repetitive processes, such as routing leads to the right sales rep.
- Satisfied customers – A smoother sales process also benefits your customers. Happy customers are loyal customers.
Trends for sales reps and buyers
In a survey on LinkedIn, we asked sales reps if they need to send more quotes today to close a deal compared to a year ago. Over half of our respondents answered yes, they must send more quotes today in order to close a deal.
Another trend we see is that the buying process is often a lot quicker today, and at the same time the buyer considers more vendors before buying. This adds further support to the idea that a smooth and quick sales process is essential to get ahead of your competitors.
Suit up
So, if you want to stay in the game you will need to gear and suit up for a completely digital sales process. There are two ways to do this, either you research and handpick your own preferred systems and integrate them with each other. Or you choose a pre-packaged system, which already offers all the tools needed for your processes.
How about a mix of both, a pre-packaged system that also allows for customisation to your business specific reality?
While there are plenty of vendors out there today that offer a range of tools and software, we at Lime have aimed higher. This is why we now can offer you streamlined support for the entire sales process.
Support for the complete process
To truly succeed in selling, you need the right conditions. A set of tools linked together in a system that allows you to push a deal forward in a streamlined process: All the way from creating your leads to finalising your order. This support is exactly what Lime CRM is all about.
With our latest feature Lime CPQ, an important piece of this big puzzle is finally in place. Lime CPQ helps you generate accurate quotes in a quick and easy way. With a CPQ tool, you avoid sending quotes back and forth because they lack information. This takes time for both the salesperson and the customer and can ultimately lead to a loss of trust in you as a company.
Working with a CPQ tool generates positive results, such as increased deal size, accurate quotes and a more efficient sales process.
A way of working
Lime CPQ is a way for your whole company to strive for seamless processes that require minimal effort yet produce high-quality results. The key words for every company’s way of working should be to work smarter and not necessarily harder. A CPQ tool is a natural key player to that strategy.
CPQ + CRM = Magic
Since Lime CPQ is just one piece of the big sales puzzle, the synergistic effect is noticeable when used together with our other tools.
- Use Lime BI to track the performance of your sales quotes, among many other things. With access to analysable data, it becomes clearer how to proceed.
- By integrating your ERP system, all your articles are automatically synced with Lime CRM and Lime CPQ, no manual work needed.
- Connect Lime eSign and get contracts signed in an instant.
Looking for a complete solution for the sales team?
Great customer experiences
Since our goal here at Lime Technology is to enable you to create customer experiences beyond the ordinary, it’s in our mission to empower you with all the tools you need to deliver that experience all the way. For a sales rep, this means tools to empower the entire sales process, including quotation, signing the agreement and seamlessly create the order in the ERP system.
In order to have satisfied customers you need to spend your time and energy on them, and not on administrative tasks. Let every department dedicate their time and energy where they create the most value. A clue: it is rarely on administrative tasks.
Tired of learning (and paying for) different systems? Let Lime CRM solve everything in one place and save you both time and money. Find out what Lime CRM can offer other departments and teams!
No time to waste!
To sum up, let’s end this post the way we started it: Time is money, and this is especially true in sales. A sales rep whose main task is to sell and generate revenue must also have the time and the right tools to do precisely that.
Don’t waste any more time, contact us today and let us help you save time instead!
What are you waiting for?
There’s no time to waste! Let’s find the solution that will help you get more customers and turn existing ones into loyal ambassadors today.