What is a follow-up system and how do they differ from CRM?
Often, when we come to a client and talk about our automatic reminder service, we are asked the same question: “Do you have a CRM ???”. No, we have a follow-up ...
So, what is a follow-up in the classical sense and what is it for?
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According to statistics, only 2% of sales are made at the first contact of the seller and the buyer. This happens if the client knows exactly what he wants and came to you at the right time and place.
The remaining 98% of sales only happen if you build trust with your potential customers. The client must be sure that he is making the right decision when buying goods from you.
Therefore, it is critically important to take the “next step” - to call, write, remind yourself in time ... That is, make a follow-up .
The good news is that with proper discipline, you can ensure that the following steps are performed with any technical arsenal - from notepads and Excel spreadsheets, to CRM and ERP systems.
The bad news is that these steps will usually have to be done a lot.
In the well-known study of Neil Rekhema (described in the book “SPIN method”), it was mentioned that the Xerox staff, on average, required 48 meetings to complete the transaction, and after implementing the method, their number was reduced to 22.
But even if you are more professional in sales than the Xerox team, you still need 10-15 touches. If all these steps will be done by your company's employees manually, sales will be very “expensive”.
Therefore, in order to reduce the human factor in such a labor-intensive process and reduce costs, Follow-Up systems are being developed and implemented .
They allow you to communicate with the client automatically , to give useful information, to engage in interaction . As a rule, such systems include various communication channels: email - letters, push - notifications, targeted advertising based on activity in social networks, “ringing out” by call center employees, etc.
The result is that the client is surrounded by useful information about your company in the right place at the right time .
Thus, out of the 20 steps that are required in order for a client to gain confidence in your company, you do 80% of the time automatically. The manager is left to manually make only 2-3 touches.
Thus, returning to the question of how the Follow-Up system differs from CRM :
Sometimes these systems are used together, sometimes separately. Some CRMs have simple reminder functions, and Follow-Up has the functionality to track the effectiveness of sales processes.
The need for their application and implementation is due to specific business processes.
Our Invola automatic reminder system in its basic functionality is the simplest Follow-Up system .
It connects to the mail, automatically registers invoices and commercial offers sent to clients and, if there was no response within a certain time, uses these events as triggers and sends a reminder to clients ( automatically or semi-automatically ).
Thereby stimulates the client to take the next step and make a purchase.
● Unlike CRM, the Invola service does not require implementation - they connected to the mail, indicated the triggers and are working. It takes no more than 10 minutes.
If you are faced with setting up and implementing CRM, you understand how much time it takes and how much it costs. If you have not yet encountered, enter in Google "CRM implementation" and see a whole layer of companies that live only through the provision of this service.
Moreover, the introduction of customer relationship management systems is not only setting up the program - it is the restructuring of all business processes of the company. And it does not always give the desired result.
Sometimes yes - investing in CRM pays off within a few months, sometimes it only adds processes to the company. Managers fill out forms and tablets instead of communicating with customers.
As one of our clients said: “ Only implementers benefit from CRM implementation ”
● The second difference - the Follow-Up system is aimed at a specific indicator that is directly related to money (company revenue).
This indicator - the percentage of payment of bills . And you can measure it at any time. Accordingly, see the result of the system
● Real automation
Automation is a rather vulgar concept lately. I'm not talking about everyone, but often in CRM, automation means: “We automatically create a task for a manager, and he performs it” - Where, bl ..., is automation here !!! You also use manual labor.
The difference between the Follow-Up systems, including ours, is that they can work without a manager at all . Independently initiate communication with the customer and perform routine operations in sales.
● Personalization - perhaps the most important thing.
When we replace human communication with an automatic one, your client should not notice this. There should not be a feeling of a robot (at least when you are trying to sell).
In some CRM there are transactional letters. They are sent when the status changes (payment received, goods shipped, etc.). And they are tough. Sent to all. Is always. Equally.
It is suitable for informing. But to receive the answer and engage in communication such letters are hardly capable.
Invola has implemented the following principle to solve this problem: we use different templates as reminders. You can customize them using our “base of templates”, or professional marketers can write reminders just for you. The client will not receive the same letter 2 times in a row.
Plus, we always write reminders as if we are communicating with the best friend, the best customer. Sincere letters respond better.
● The system also keeps track of the client’s response - whether the letter was opened or not, whether it was followed by a link, etc.
Start using the Follow - Up system in your business. Connect to Invola . It takes less than 10 minutes. The first 14 days are free .
Who cares, look at our previous article " Trigger mailings in B2B. These are not only transactional letters "
So, what is a follow-up in the classical sense and what is it for?
A bit of theory ...
')
According to statistics, only 2% of sales are made at the first contact of the seller and the buyer. This happens if the client knows exactly what he wants and came to you at the right time and place.
The remaining 98% of sales only happen if you build trust with your potential customers. The client must be sure that he is making the right decision when buying goods from you.
Therefore, it is critically important to take the “next step” - to call, write, remind yourself in time ... That is, make a follow-up .
The good news is that with proper discipline, you can ensure that the following steps are performed with any technical arsenal - from notepads and Excel spreadsheets, to CRM and ERP systems.
The bad news is that these steps will usually have to be done a lot.
In the well-known study of Neil Rekhema (described in the book “SPIN method”), it was mentioned that the Xerox staff, on average, required 48 meetings to complete the transaction, and after implementing the method, their number was reduced to 22.
But even if you are more professional in sales than the Xerox team, you still need 10-15 touches. If all these steps will be done by your company's employees manually, sales will be very “expensive”.
Therefore, in order to reduce the human factor in such a labor-intensive process and reduce costs, Follow-Up systems are being developed and implemented .
They allow you to communicate with the client automatically , to give useful information, to engage in interaction . As a rule, such systems include various communication channels: email - letters, push - notifications, targeted advertising based on activity in social networks, “ringing out” by call center employees, etc.
The result is that the client is surrounded by useful information about your company in the right place at the right time .
Thus, out of the 20 steps that are required in order for a client to gain confidence in your company, you do 80% of the time automatically. The manager is left to manually make only 2-3 touches.
Thus, returning to the question of how the Follow-Up system differs from CRM :
- CRM makes your company employees perform processes more disciplined ;
- Follow-Up is aimed solely at automatically performing the following touches , allowing you to create trusting relationships with potential customers, increase loyalty and thereby increase sales of the company.
Sometimes these systems are used together, sometimes separately. Some CRMs have simple reminder functions, and Follow-Up has the functionality to track the effectiveness of sales processes.
The need for their application and implementation is due to specific business processes.
Practice
Our Invola automatic reminder system in its basic functionality is the simplest Follow-Up system .
It connects to the mail, automatically registers invoices and commercial offers sent to clients and, if there was no response within a certain time, uses these events as triggers and sends a reminder to clients ( automatically or semi-automatically ).
Thereby stimulates the client to take the next step and make a purchase.
So what is the difference from CRM?
● Unlike CRM, the Invola service does not require implementation - they connected to the mail, indicated the triggers and are working. It takes no more than 10 minutes.
If you are faced with setting up and implementing CRM, you understand how much time it takes and how much it costs. If you have not yet encountered, enter in Google "CRM implementation" and see a whole layer of companies that live only through the provision of this service.
Moreover, the introduction of customer relationship management systems is not only setting up the program - it is the restructuring of all business processes of the company. And it does not always give the desired result.
Sometimes yes - investing in CRM pays off within a few months, sometimes it only adds processes to the company. Managers fill out forms and tablets instead of communicating with customers.
As one of our clients said: “ Only implementers benefit from CRM implementation ”
● The second difference - the Follow-Up system is aimed at a specific indicator that is directly related to money (company revenue).
This indicator - the percentage of payment of bills . And you can measure it at any time. Accordingly, see the result of the system
● Real automation
Automation is a rather vulgar concept lately. I'm not talking about everyone, but often in CRM, automation means: “We automatically create a task for a manager, and he performs it” - Where, bl ..., is automation here !!! You also use manual labor.
The difference between the Follow-Up systems, including ours, is that they can work without a manager at all . Independently initiate communication with the customer and perform routine operations in sales.
● Personalization - perhaps the most important thing.
When we replace human communication with an automatic one, your client should not notice this. There should not be a feeling of a robot (at least when you are trying to sell).
In some CRM there are transactional letters. They are sent when the status changes (payment received, goods shipped, etc.). And they are tough. Sent to all. Is always. Equally.
It is suitable for informing. But to receive the answer and engage in communication such letters are hardly capable.
Invola has implemented the following principle to solve this problem: we use different templates as reminders. You can customize them using our “base of templates”, or professional marketers can write reminders just for you. The client will not receive the same letter 2 times in a row.
Plus, we always write reminders as if we are communicating with the best friend, the best customer. Sincere letters respond better.
● The system also keeps track of the client’s response - whether the letter was opened or not, whether it was followed by a link, etc.
Start using the Follow - Up system in your business. Connect to Invola . It takes less than 10 minutes. The first 14 days are free .
Who cares, look at our previous article " Trigger mailings in B2B. These are not only transactional letters "
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/297070/
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