Accelerating Growth Through Better Sales & Marketing Decisions

Integrate CRM and Marketing Automation to Generate More and Better Leads

It is well known that when CRM and Marketing Automation are joined, a company can significantly increase their amount and quality of leads. 

One such company, ManagedMaintenanceInc., gained a whopping 75% more leads the first year after revamping their CRM and Marketing Automation systems.  Take a good look at their case study by Marketing Sherpa http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/revamped-marketing-automation-crm-technology to learn their step by step approach.

What the History of CRM Can Teach You

History is all about learning from the past so we can apply it to the future.  Being familiar with the history of CRM will teach you exactly what CRM is, what it will become and, hopefully, help your current solution or pending implementation be successful. 

In the Market for a New CRM?

Most forward-thinking companies have invested in CRM, realizing  that years of studies, reports, and surveys by leading sales and marketing researchers showed that CRM is a ‘must have’ and not a thing they can do someday down the road.  But CRM has to be done right the first time to reap the desired benefits and, if necessary, as it will often be with software, to upgrade to a newer system in the future.

B2B Marketers Recognize the Value of Content Marketing

Nine out of ten B2B marketers in North America are using content marketing. Read this third annual research from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs to get answers to these types of questions:

 

Guest Blog - How to Make CRM Drive Greater ROI with Marketing Automation

Today we have a special guest blogger Chris Peer, owner and president of SyncShow Interactive!

Considering an Investment in CRM? Three Must- Answer Questions Part 3

If you are a CEO, a C-Level Executive, or a decision maker in any size or type of company and are seriously considering a CRM investment, there are three questions that you must ask and answer. 

Considering an Investment in CRM? Three Must- Answer Questions Part 2

If you are a CEO, a C-Level Executive, or a decision maker in any size or type of company and are seriously considering a CRM investment, there are three questions that you must ask and answer. 

Considering an Investment in CRM? Three Must- Answer Questions

If you are a CEO, a C-Level Executive, or a decision maker in any size or type of company and are seriously considering a CRM investment, there are three questions that you must ask and answer. 

Maps Add Value to CRM: How Sales Reps Benefit

What do you think of when you think of maps? Vacations, treasure hunts, weather forecasts?

Maps do more than display a place or how to get from one place to another. In sales, for example, maps let you visualize and conceptualize spatial relationships more easily than with rows and columns in spreadsheet data.

Reps Make Better Sales Calls Decisions with Mobile App for "CRM Call Planner"

InfoGrow announces a mobile app for its popular “CRM Call Planner” module.  The CRM Call Planner takes CRM information and, through the power of Bing Maps, creates a visual representation of accounts and contacts on an online real-world map. This helps sales reps to better plan sales calls.  A big plus for users is that the app works without CRM being installed on the mobile device.

What is the Most Powerful Lead Generation Tool?

What is the Most Powerful Lead Generation Tool? 

Marketers choose email marketing!

Clone ‘A’ Sales Reps and Help ‘B’ Players Improve Focus on Core Customers

InfoGrow just released our CRM Call Planner module that integrates Bing Maps directly into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Seven Successful Marketing Habits Used by Top SMB Performers

In a November 2012 Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Act-On, a leading provider of cloud-based integrated software, entitled "Driving SMB Revenue in a Tough Economy". In this study, decision makers from 208 companies were asked to share their perceptions about a multitude of activities, including online marketing, business planning and programs, organization and process, and technologies used to support online customer acquisition.

Why a “Clean” Address is Important for Mapping

Before B2B places (such as customers and prospects) can be put on a map, their database addresses are first converted into geographic coordinates. The process is called “geocoding,” done with Geographic Information System (GIS) software that matches each database place record with geographic reference files. 

Win with Marketing Automation

Are you trying to decide if you need Marketing Automation?  Simple!  Just decide if you need the following:

Add the Power of Marketing Automation to Your CRM

We all know that customers and prospects are more in control of the buying conversation. Not that long ago, sales were almost exclusive achieved by us looking for strong sales hunters. 

Bring Your Excel Data Alive with Mapping

Spreadsheets only show one simple, loose view.  A row of names, addresses, (which are often not complete), sometimes a phone number (if you’re lucky) and then, pray to the lord… that they all match up.  Meaning line # 30 might really match up to line #1.  Or, well…you get my drift. 

Email Overkill

When does email become overkill? To me, it is when a company insists on bombarding me with daily emails about the same issue or product.  

Increase Your Sales by Avoiding the Major Sales Botches

Even the very best sales professionals make selling mistakes from time to time.  As CEO and President of Sales, I admit that I bungle things now and again. So, does my sales team, just only once in a while. There are many reasons for bungling, such as:

Want to Go to Market Faster?

Most CEOs do.  But, how do you make that happen?  Simple!  Combine your CRM data with mapping. 

Need a CRM Manager in Your Corner?

According to many recent studies, 80% to 90% of companies surveyed, state that their current CRM / SFA system isn’t achieving what they want. Why?

Protect Yourself from Losing a Prospect Sponsor and Possibly the Account

Play Your Cards Right with CRM 

You’ve spent months of resources on a huge proposal with an important prospect, have built a very good relationship with the sponsor of this proposal, but the sponsor moves to another position or another company. 

Still Not Using CRM?

You Must Be Feeling Lucky

Are you one of those companies who still don’t have a CRM system in place?  Maybe, don’t want to spend the money?  Don’t see the value or need?  After all, you have your Excel files, right?  Those should provide everything you need for managing your reps and staying in touch with customers, won’t they?

Has a Client or Prospect Stopped Talking to You? Need Some Advice?

What’s going on?  You’ve had a previous profitable relationship with an existing client or several productive communications with a good prospect, but suddenly… it’s like they don’t exist or, worse yet, you don’t exist. 

Email is Still One of Your Most Effective Sales and Marketing Channels

Most of our prospects are drowning in email messages, their fingers twitching above the delete key, but if your email messages are done right, their fingers will click on open. Open and read. You still only have a few seconds of their attention, but that is what it’s all about. You just need a few seconds.

The Power of Traditional Marketing Channels

While new marketing channels are probably here to stay, don’t disregard the power of traditional marketing channels. Direct mail with targeted GIS marketing, trade shows, newspaper advertising, radio and television, Email and telesales won’t be out of the picture soon, if ever. 

Tackle B2B Marketing Challenges in 2012

Today’s B2B buyers have an abundance of product information at their fingertips and they tend to research their purchasing decisions well before they contact your sales department or reps.  So, with that fact in mind, you must be ahead of the game by optimizing your sales and marketing effectiveness. Items like identifying your channels and filling your pipelines, scoring leads before sending to sales, establishing a process for nurturing leads, and so on.   

Happy Holidays From InfoGrow!

It's that time of the year again. Time for family, time for giving, time for delicious cookies and milk, and best of all....time for ridiculous sweaters!  

What’s the Price of Having No CRM?

Although we blogged about this subject four years ago, I haven’t seen much change in companies deciding if they need CRM. Four long years and, amazingly, still too many companies are just beginning to investigate the reasons they might need CRM, plus haven’t the slightest idea of what it is costing them to keep sitting on the CRM sidelines.   

Email Content – Functions of Email Content

When you plan the content of your email, are you just thinking about the words, or are you thinking about the functions. Do you know what you want the reader to get out of the email? Do you know what you want to get out of the email? You only have 7 seconds to make an impression; 7 seconds to draw the reader into your email.