Maven Sales Group Blog

Picture this scenario

Your sales team manually inputting leads and notes into Microsoft Excel or Outlook, keeping them off the phone. Microsoft Excel excels at everything related to spreadsheets, from calculations to graphing tools. Outlook not only serves as an email communications system, but also has built-in features that help users organize tasks, meetings, and notes. So it seems like it would make sense to use these as your sales tools of choice, right?

In 2016, the use of these systems for sales-oriented tasks were more common, as 40% of salespeople reported using these means to store leads and customer data. 

And now picture this scenario:

Having an automated system that tracks leads, stores customer data, creates detailed sales and marketing reports, and manages all email, phone, and meeting communications. That’s not even all of it. A system like this exists, and it’s an acronym you may have seen - CRM. CRM stands for customer relationship management and is commonly followed up with the word “system” after it. Between 2016 and now, CRM adoption by businesses has grown by 113%, with 64% of sales professionals reporting that they use CRM tools.

Thanks to social media, instant access to online communities is now easier than ever. Consumers can pull out their smartphone or computer, and engage in a live stream of worldwide events, participate in online group chats, and scroll through their newsfeed to see the must-know happenings. Businesses have a platform to deliver engaging content about their services and products, and with the right social media strategy, can make a post go from hundreds to millions of views within minutes. Even though social media didn’t take off until the early 2000s, it follows a principle that has been around much longer: sharing is caring.