With the help of your contact center, you will increase the productivity of your sales team.

It all comes down to success and efficiency, even though you have a winning contact center squad. Contact centers are used in almost every industry and include a variety of procedures that are managed by different people in various departments. The majority of workflows are intertwined and interdependent on one another. It can quickly fall apart if there isn’t a strong flow and system in place.

The reliability of a contact center is the gold standard for determining if your system is better for the people it serves and vice versa. This will help the company grow by increasing revenue and improving customer satisfaction.

Here are some of the best contact center tips and activities we’ve gathered from active call centers:

Streamline each procedure.

Any organization’s performance is dependent on its processes. You should be able to recognise the system’s flaws and holes, as well as which aspect of the process consumes the majority of your agent’s time. Transparency should be implemented at all levels of the enterprise so that even minor issues can be resolved before they become a major headache.

It’s perfect for new contact center teams to develop a consistent workflow structure and ensure that it’s implemented across all departments. You’ll be able to assess their performance rates and see which parts of the process need to be improved using the KPIs you set.

Use a skill-based routing system.

Use skill-based routing to intelligently delegate inbound calls to various people within the company. This allows you to guide callers to the appropriate individual, speeding up resolutions and ensuring customer satisfaction. Reduced handling time also allows the agents to focus on more issues.

For example, you might delegate product demonstrations, implementation, and training to onboarding agents first. As a result, the contact center program you’re using should be capable of performing these tasks.

Manual activities should be eliminated.

Your salespeople aren’t robots, to your surprise. They will spend more time on meaningful human interactions by reducing repetitive and machine-like activities. When performed in large amounts, a simple task like dialing numbers, for example, will take a long time. Manually logging all calls or connections at the end of the day is the same. It’s not only an additional mission, but it’s even more prone to human error.

Fortunately, there is now a plethora of tools and programs that will assist you with these activities. Look for one that has a smart sales dialer and makes it easy to keep track of customers. Instead, the agents should concentrate on providing excellent service.

Coach and supervise live calls.

Coaching and tracking the hired agents while on a live call, no matter how experienced they are, is always a major help in the company. This assists the team in aligning their priorities with the company’s, creating happier customers, and identifying pain points among agents. Make sure that someone from each team is solely responsible for this mission.

It’s also crucial to select contact center apps that can handle quality assurance and training. One with a smart telephony system that supports call whispers, live call coaching, and warm and cold transfers is preferred.

Provide opportunities for remote jobs.

Even before the current pandemic, more companies had begun to shift to remote work. Remote work opportunities are also beneficial for salespeople who need to prospect while on the go. Productivity would be less of a problem if contact center software supported teams operating in various environments.

Though working remotely presents many challenges, having a reliable system and software that enables remote work efficiency would be beneficial. Times are shifting, and you should be able to keep up with them.

All should be integrated.

Technology has opened up new ways to communicate with consumers, but it has also created a new problem: the sales team now has so many platforms to handle. This means that a typical salesperson should be able to manage several clients from various channels at the same time. You know that doesn’t look good if you’re having that frame.

Integration is the response you’re looking for. Look for data management systems and platforms that can assist you. The best ones also let you integrate your CRM with their platform, allowing you to sync all you need. Your team’s productivity will skyrocket if you can find anything that gets you this.

Consider using omnichannel prospecting.

Phone calls can still be the most effective way to close deals, but with the evolution of people’s purchasing habits, capturing their attention seems to be more difficult these days. This is why you should try to catch their attention across as many different channels as possible.

For salespeople, omnichannel has proven to be a successful strategy. Apart from tapping into all networks where consumers are, you can also collect all messages in one location for easy management. Find a contact center software that offers omnichannel features that are also user-friendly for your team to make your contact center more effective.

SimpSocial omnichannel prospecting

Workflows can be automated.

Salespeople are human beings with thoughts and feelings, and the last thing you want to do is exhaust them with jobs that have nothing to do with talking to customers. Enable technology to assist you in doing the heavy lifting for them.

While automation can seem intimidating at first, more and more companies are seeing its benefits in terms of team performance. Your agents will have more energy to speak to customers and develop relationships without having to do other things, which means more profits for your company! The next best thing you can do for your sales team while still meeting your business goals is to automate your workflows.

Productivity is the secret.

The capacity of a contact center to keep customers satisfied and meet revenue targets determines its effectiveness. It’s time to rethink the contact center’s productivity if inadequate processes are getting in the way.

Switching to SimpSocial has resulted in increased efficiency for many companies. You will feel the power of an all-in-one contact center app with features like the power dialer, omnichannel support, CRM integrations, automation, and so much more. It also operates entirely in the cloud, allowing you to collaborate with teams from all over the world from wherever you are.

Make the move to SimpSocial today to create a more effective contact center team. Our professionals would gladly assist you.

Additional Information On Facebook Integration, Power Dialing, And List Management

Don’t have your Facebook integration set up yet? Take this as a gentle reminder to do so. Stop losing out and start nurturing your Facebook leads with this new method.

More detailed ad data can now be pulled into your SimpSocial account, allowing you to build a stronger and more personalized drip campaign with texts and calls. Try it out in your range advertising to find out just what people are looking for. Create the right follow-ups and increase your mobile customer conversations!

When it comes to moving people down the funnel, we’ve made it easier to contact your leads by allowing you to power dial multiple phone numbers per contact.

You can contact them on their mobile phone, direct line, or leave a message on an alternative number this way. That’s some incredible new abilities!

Finally, to assist you in managing your growing directory, we’ve added the Tag Splitter, which allows you to divide large imports among your agents. Have you uploaded, say, 50,000 new leads? Break that down into 50 more friendly lists that you can allocate to agents with a single click!

Do you need assistance with these new features? Give us an email at support@SimpSocial.com, and we’ll be happy to introduce you.

Trends in Contact Center Automation for the Next Five Years

The future holds so many possibilities in an age of ever-changing technology. People will be hungry for creativity in the post-pandemic workplace in the coming years, in search of a better and more sustainable job system. Contact centers are the first in line for all other technology-driven industries.

For a long time, contact centers have been undergoing significant changes in order to satisfy the needs and demands of discerning consumers. Automation of all kinds is gradually being accepted, and in the next 5 years or so, this trend will only accelerate. Adapting to these changes will be important, if not critical, for any workforce and company.

 

What is the concept of contact center automation?

The way consumers buy things and communicate with companies has changed, and the contact center industry must adapt as well. Automation provides intelligent algorithms and pattern-based solutions that enable companies to remain in contact with customers without having to employ additional staff.

Call automation was first used in sales and service with IVRs, which solved the problem of routing customers to the appropriate department. One of the most significant automation developments in the contact center industry is this. However, since communication networks are no longer restricted to phone calls, more automation opportunities are needed.

What to expect in the next five years

In the next five to ten years, contact centers will undergo significant changes, especially in terms of automation. These are some of the items we should all expect to adjust to in the future, based on consumer behavior and trend trends.

1 – The move to the cloud

We were not only forced to stay at home and work because of the latest pandemic. It also demonstrated that working from home is both necessary and feasible. Businesses will search for ways to get work done in a post-pandemic workplace whenever possible.

In a broad sense, technical advancements are accelerating and will continue to do so in the coming years. Industries with competitive markets would be forced to move more quickly to meet the demands of their customers. Businesses will search for ways to keep up, and the best choice is to migrate from physical servers to the cloud.

With so much on the line, get ready to implement applications that can support virtual call centers. Choose one that operates entirely in the cloud to help serve automated processes and provide opportunities for remote work.

2 – Consumer expectations for multiple channels

Customers who prefer different platforms will demand more business presence and engagement as contact networks continue to evolve. Businesses are increasingly embracing this, focusing their attention on other platforms as well.

However, some people may not be able to easily adjust to this pattern. Reaching out to customers via various channels is one thing, but moving them from one channel to the next can be difficult. For companies that have developed their communication networks, this task is a bitter pill to swallow.

There are, however, sales automation tools that can help with this. For this purpose, contact center applications with built-in omnichannel functionality would suffice. You won’t have to think about using various channels for your contact center because of convenient features that help you handle them all in one location.

3 – The need for customers to be able to anticipate their needs

Yes, consumers’ expectations will skyrocket in the next ten years, and companies will be forced to keep up. Customers will expect not only quicker purchases, but also less time spent resolving their issues. In order to be able to ‘predict’ consumer needs, the contact center or company can keep up in order to encourage smarter transactions.

Contact centers are supposed to become more intelligent. This ensures that repeat customer calls must be meticulously registered and analyzed in the event of a subsequent transaction. More importantly, asking customers several times and going through files during each call transfer should be minimized or removed as much as possible. This is expected to be improved further by automation using data and algorithms.

It would be a huge help if you have contact center tools that can process all customer data and call details for you. Call dispositions that are automated, call identifiers, and notes are also useful resources to consider.

4 – Mobile-first and mobile-synchronized design

For corporations, this isn’t breaking news. Customer-business experiences, on the other hand, are expected to become friendlier, more social, and mobile-friendly. Businesses should learn more about the capabilities of this unit. Businesses can use mobile to connect and engage with consumers in greater numbers.

Dealing with customers on the go would allow the company to be more versatile. Increased demand for mobile also means more personalized connections, such as instant messages, constant alerts, and smart integrations, from the customer’s perspective.

However, using mobile as a platform for large-scale outreach can get out of hand.

This is great news for companies because resources have now been created to address this problem. In the coming years, finding software that supports SMS messaging, customized messages, and MMS would be perfect.

5 – An astute matchmaker

You can also be on the lookout for call routing opportunities. Any system upgrade, workflow improvement, or management decision, it is normal practice for businesses to update IVRs. This often lengthens their match-making operation, which most customers dislike. Instant solutions and smoother communications are critical to their satisfaction with a service.

This will prompt businesses to look for ways to make their customer matchmaking process as simple, fast, and easy as possible. Without the need for lengthy, repetitive question-and-answer procedures, customers should be led to the appropriate experts.

Help teams may face a difficult task, and with privacy policy to remember, it will seem unlikely. Contact center solutions, on the other hand, are working on ways to identify this need. Apart from the traditional round-robin routing method, call routing systems can now be automatically allocated according to skill, time available, or department.

The future’s “relationship centre”

Contact centers will continue to look for new ways to better understand their customers’ needs. Demands are expected to skyrocket as communication technology continues to advance, regardless of industry.

Contact centers are on their way to being the future’s “relationship centre” for both sales and service. Customers would expect more personalized service as a result of this. It’s more than about dialing numbers in sales. Every time an agent makes a call, it’s about developing positive relationships. It will not be a one-time deal with various agents for funding. It’s giving customers the impression that you keep track of any interaction they have with your company.

With all of this in mind, it’s best to search for software that can provide these solutions, as well as better ways to meet these needs in the future. SimpSocial is a cloud-based contact center solution that keeps up with industry trends and looks for new ways to help companies meet their customers’ needs. In reality, we have a few of these already installed and running in our system. Take a look!

People Have Said: How SimpSocial Assists Various Businesses

As corny as it might sound, a company’s performance is determined by its customers. What they have to say about your product or service gives others an idea of what they should expect from your business. It gives them the power to make or destroy your company’s reputation.

Customers have more influence over companies than ever before in today’s social media-driven environment. As a result, companies should consider new ways to communicate with consumers and ensure that each interaction is seamless and meaningful.

This focuses on the most critical people who interact with your customers directly – your contact center staff.

Every business need has a solution.

We at SimpSocial develop solutions that help contact centers and businesses communicate with their customers more efficiently and provide better service. Our primary focus is to assist our clients in being the best company they can be for their customers.

Real estate power dialer

SimpSocial ensures that real estate agents’ success isn’t jeopardized by juggling too many leads at once. We’ve given them the best contact center tools they can use to convert both buyers and sellers of real estate.

With our sales dialer, agents have more options for connecting with their leads in less time.

“We learned about SMS marketing for home sellers and wholesale real estate from SimpSocial. With SimpSocial SMS marketing and dialer combined, we were able to triple our homes under contract acquisition.”

– RocketOffr’s Hayato S.

Law firms’ automation

One of SimpSocial’s best practices is to automate workflows. This aids companies in managing and organizing all of their client transactions. You can quickly manage the workflows if you keep them organized.

With SimpSocial, you can automate your calls, data lists, and call or text sequences. Automation makes it easy to run sales and marketing campaigns.

Some of our law firm clients who enjoy using this feature are mentioned below.

“I own and operate a mid-sized business that specializes in personal injury and employment law. The most difficult aspect of our job has been following up with leads over a long period of time. It’s all too convenient for our team to lose track of all the leads that we’ve paid for and end up losing them. We’ve put our follow-up sequences on autopilot thanks to SimpSocial! The program will call each lead as many times as we want before we are connected.”

– Tally S., Entrepreneur

“Success with Personal Injury leads necessitates a combination of pace and perseverance. In less than a minute, SimpSocial connects us with leads, and we’re the first company they contact. This means there will be more cases! Typically, 80% of potential clients want the company that calls them first, and we want to be the first caller. We do this with the aid of SimpSocial. The majority of the time, it’s their power dialer.”

– Small Business Owner Mona E.

Small business program that is all-in-one

SimpSocial is aware of the difficulties faced by small companies. Maintaining multiple apps for operations should be the last thing on one’s mind when running a successful company. SimpSocial envisioned and created a stable framework that allows users to handle the entire sales process in one location.

“It’s nuts to do anything in one device!

Until SimpSocial, we never thought it was possible. We’re a small business that’s expanding, and SimpSocial has provided us with the resources we need to keep up with our expanding customer base.”

– Small Business Representative Frank K.

Faster return on investment for start-ups

SimpSocial provides features that can make managing the contact center activities simpler for start-up owners and major risk-takers. SimpSocial was praised by business owners for assisting them in expanding their operations.

We provide a forum that is solutions-based and caters to the needs of effective business communication. We work hard to ensure that your company receives the return on investment it deserves.

“It’s a money saver! – When I turned it on, [we] instantly saw a return. Our revenues have increased by a factor of 20. Problem-solving assistance on a one-on-one basis. It has a very low-cost auto-texting service that I can configure. For different types of people who start with my course, I can build a variety of texting systems. Tags may also be used to organize people into groups. The framework is Mailchimp-compatible, has a simple gui, and several sign-in options for other team members.”

– Philip A., Owner of a Small Business

Any company will benefit from excellent customer service.

We recognize how difficult it is to run a company and feel that our customers are entitled to more. As a result, we’ve made certain that we’re always available to assist you anytime you need us.

We’re still looking for new ways to improve our job solutions. We make sure we have people you can speak to and who can answer your questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our fantastic customer service team is always willing to help.

At you at any point during the implementation and monitoring process.

“Amazing service and a fantastic solution. SimpSocial’s solutions are well-thought-out and well-presented, and they come at an unbeatable price. The organization is extremely sensitive to customer requests, and it has made us feel heard from the beginning, delivering updates that help us serve our customers even better.”

– TJB, VP Operations, Customer Success Team Functional Manager

You’re in capable hands.

We recognize that no one-size-fits-all solution exists for every company, so we designed SimpSocial to be useful for every type of sales team. Whatever your company is, we’ve gone to great lengths to get you a better contact center solution.

Allow us to demonstrate how we can improve your productivity and customer experience. Our helpful team is standing by to demonstrate and meet with you as soon as possible.

How to Engage Customers on Mobile Successfully

It’s still incredible how a single device can alter our way of life. There is nothing that can compare to the worth of a smartphone. Smartphones have passed the “trends” stage and are now considered a necessity in today’s world.

Fortunately for companies, this has resulted in more opportunities to gain customers. With the advancement in information technologies, further possibilities have arisen. Smartphones are a reliable way for salespeople to connect with and sell to their customers in today’s mobile-first world.

The smartphone industry is booming.

With smartphones as everyone’s favorite device, launching a company is now simpler, cheaper, and more accessible than ever before.

People’s addiction to modern technology trend – Young, z age, social, and friendship concepts – Main emphasis on center guys

With smartphones as the ultimate platform, mobile has created new ways to communicate with our industry. According to a Provision Living survey, the average American spends 5.4 hours per day on the internet, with 13% of millennials and 5% of baby boomers claiming they spend 12 hours or more. With the growing prevalence of social media applications and other mobile functions, this number is only expected to rise in the future.

How would you maximize your promotional strategies and be at the top of your customers’ minds on mobile now, as a small business owner? Here are a few pointers that you may find useful.

1 – Be in the moment

Businesses today are well aware of the value of social media. This is also why a slew of new small businesses keep popping up, giving consumers a plethora of choices. As a result, in order to be effective in any industry, you must be present at all times.

Begin with a website and expand your social media presence from there. With too much rivalry, however, remaining stagnant is as good as having no presence at all. Today, being there for customers necessitates further effort.

Make your website mobile-friendly so that consumers can easily access it. You must devote time to maintaining your social media pages so that you can properly connect with customers. Provide customer service across all channels and ensure that each one is attended to by a pleasant representative.

2 – Get to know your clients

Never go into a fight without a weapon. The most important thing to remember before diving into the world of mobile sales is to know who you’ll be dealing with. Reaching out to mobile customers can be easy, but it can also be ineffective if done incorrectly.

Determine who the clients are. Find out what they need, what they want, what obstacles they’re facing, and what their most cherished desires are. You’ll be more prepared to approach them and sell them a service or product they won’t be able to refuse.

Customer is shown a contract by a saleswoman.

As far as possible, avoid seeing the audience solely through the lens of demographics. Customer tastes are shifting, and your product may no longer be as valuable to your target market as you think it is. For example, a luxury car brand’s sales could be declining because it caters to an older audience with the financial means but little interest in the product. Instead, astute sellers who know how to personalize their targeting might consider attracting the attention of a young elite market that enjoys flashy automobiles. They may not have the financial means, but they certainly have parents who do.

3 – Set a goal and reward yourself

It’s time to plan the next move after you’ve determined who your customers are. You must be able to play with the customers’ minds using their desires in order to communicate with them.

Woman uses her phone to enter a coupon code for a discount at the supermarket.

Is there a shopping cart that has been abandoned? Send a customized coupon with a time limit to your client. This makes the product or service even more appealing than it was previously. Has a customer made a purchase? Send a follow-up SMS with a special bid. If a consumer buys a gadget, for example, you can sell gadget accessories for a much cheaper price.

You may also make them feel like VIPs by asking if they want to join an SMS loyalty program. This benefits both parties; apart from making them feel appreciated, you’ll be able to reach out to them in a more personal way if you have special offers or discounts.

4 – Make sure each channel is linked.

SMS marketing and phone sale are both successful methods of capturing the customers’ attention quickly. It cannot, however, stand alone when it comes to sales success. Customers are more skeptical of salespeople who do not verify product and brand details before making a purchase.

As a result, in order to use SMS sale efficiently, all other platforms must be intelligently looped in. If you’re sending out a promo via text message, make sure your message includes a connection they can click to learn more about it.

Other platforms you used to get in touch with customers should be listed the first time you send a message. Second, introduce yourself and explain how you obtained their contact information. Perhaps you received it when they registered on your website? Or after you exchanged emails with them? This also implies that you value their privacy above all else.

5 – Make your text messages automatic.

The fact that SMS ads and phone sales target people on their preferred platform is the main reason for their success. As a result, agents who interact with these customers should have access to the tools they need.

Women keep their phones in their hands as they enter the code for a store discount. The idea of offering marketing services over the internet for easy access to information is a novel one.

Sending messages by hand is a thing of the past. If you’re serious about SMS sales and marketing, you’ll need to get your team on board. Sending automated SMS messages and broadcasts is a surefire way to get your message across quickly and efficiently.

Another duty you can handle is keeping customers involved. Today’s businesses must keep their customers informed about updates, promotions, and other significant announcements. You can never lose contact with your customers if you want to remain on top of their preferences.

With SimpSocial, you can sell on your phone.

Businesses must be able to adapt to changing consumer demands, especially on mobile. Selling with smartphone is a breeze with SimpSocial’s advanced contact center features. You can set up mobile opt-in campaigns in no time thanks to its simple automation setup, unlimited SMS, and other features.

SMS automation is a feature of SimpSocial’s intelligent solutions. Set up message triggers from your contact list to send text broadcasts with ease. You can send unlimited texts to customers with SimpSocial all of which are enabled by MMS or picture messages.

There’s a lot more you can do with mobile to increase your sales. Are you ready to get started? Let’s talk about it!

This 2021, Here Are 7 Sales Enablement Solutions To Boost Sales And Efficiency

Every salesperson is expected to understand what makes their customers tick. They should be aware of their passions right down to their deepest desires. Successful sale necessitates a combination of psychology, human contact, and tenacity. However, in today’s world, salespeople are supposed to have one more skill added to their repertoire: technical experience.

With the pandemic this year, new selling patterns and opportunities emerged. The year 2021 will usher in a new age, and as a salesperson, you must be completely prepared to meet it. Here are some resources to help you develop your post-pandemic selling skills.

1- A dependable CRM system

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it seems difficult to manage customers without using a CRM app. However, in these changing times, you must be certain that the CRM you depend on will not let you down. Choose a CRM platform that has a track record of assisting you in both good and poor times.

Customer satisfaction rises as a result of better partnerships. There are more chances to foster consumer relationships if you have a solid CRM platform that is easy to use, very supportive, and integrates with the sales resources you need. Look for one that allows you to keep track of all leads and customers in one location.

2 – Auto Dialer is a device that automatically dials numbers for you.

The best form of sales communication channel will always be voice. Transactions with customers can be easier and more reliable with auto dialers assisting you throughout the contact process.

Most dialers will connect to your CRM, eliminating the need to manually insert data or turn tabs when working. With the aid of a dialer, sales conversions and quotas would be easier to achieve. Make sure your chosen platform also includes a power dialer to help you meet your quotas.

3 – Coordination through several channels

Customers are everywhere, and the only way to reach them is to be present on any platform they choose to use. Managing all correspondence and ensuring that everything is connected becomes more difficult. You must be able to play to and channel’s strengths and integrate them into the sales funnels as a salesperson.

Changing channels can be a bit of a pain. This is why you should seek out a method that allows you to combine your efforts. Omnichannel sales tools allow you to manage, customize, and build campaigns for various channels all in one location.

4 – Accurate analytics and reports

We all understand the importance of accurate data collection for sales performance. Each customer’s transaction should be meticulously documented and processed for reporting purposes. Sales is a numbers game of quotas and objectives. You’ll need a faster way to compute data, analyze trends and patterns, and collect customer information.

No, you don’t need to recruit a whole team to complete this task. All that is needed is a tool that collects and analyzes sales data automatically. It’s even better if it has customizable reporting so you can get perspectives that are unique to your business.

5 – A well-organized appointment schedule

Well, if you’re not taking appointments seriously, you’re probably missing out on a lot of sales opportunities. Any appointment that is scheduled, cancelled, rescheduled, or completed must be recorded. If you’re still relying on your trusty planner, it’s time to reconsider.

You’ll need an appointment planner that works for both you and your client by the beginning of 2021. This will allow you to handle commitments quickly for both parties. Choose an appointment calendar that works with your team and your entire contact center system to make it even more effective.

6 – Follow-ups that are automated

Although it is every salesperson’s responsibility to follow up on leads, it can take a long time if you have a large list of potential customers. Automating this method would put you one step ahead of the competition and a hundred steps closer to your revenue targets in the future.

Automated follow-ups may or may not be entirely developed by the system. After all, a sales team’s role is to cultivate customer relationships. The best option is to use applications with an advanced framework that allows you to configure follow-ups. Any voicemail, text, or email follow-up that is sent automatically should have a human contact.

7 – Tools with built-in functions

No man, and no tool, for that matter, is an island. As the sales process evolves, you’ll need some features and systems. To meet your growing needs, it’s critical to consider these tools’ ability to align, or better yet, combine with other sales tools.

When you kick off 2021 with a bang, integrations can come in handy. It will provide you with more options for using your customer data. You’ll have the competitive advantage to close each deal faster and more effectively than ever, thanks to tools that embrace other tools for your success.

SimpSocial is a company that specializes in selling.

With all of the latest technologies available to consumers, the demand for salespeople continues to be more competitive. Whatever the business, it all comes down to how you can communicate with consumers quicker and better.

Having SimpSocial on your team will provide them with strategies that will help them develop customer relationships. It’s jam-packed with features to meet any salesperson’s needs, but it’s designed to be easy enough for everyone to pick up. SimpSocial assists salespeople in developing long-term customer relationships. Would you like to learn more about SimpSocial? We’ll take you on a walk!

What You Should Know About Apple’s iOS 14 Update and Facebook

Facebook for Business told advertisers in Q1 2021 that the forthcoming improvements in Apple’s iOS 14 update “will impact how we obtain and process conversion events from tools like the Facebook pixel.”

If you use the Facebook platform to monitor conversions from your social ads on your website or app, this update would have a significant impact on how your business’s Facebook Ads track conversions. Here’s what to expect.

 

SimpSocial’s Facebook Ads Manager Activity Preview

 

What Happened to Facebook and Apple’s iOS 14?

“You’ll be expected to ask users for their permission to monitor them through applications and websites operated by other companies,” according to Apple’s updated iOS 14 policy for apps.

 

This means that their newest operating system, iOS14, now allows users to choose whether or not an app can monitor their web and app activities. Since most Facebook and Instagram activity takes place in an app, and Apple devices account for a significant portion of their users’ devices, this has a disproportionate effect on them as compared to other advertisement channels.

 

Who Is Affected by This?

Advertisers who want to match their ads to customer behavior on their website or in their app (i.e., those running conversion campaigns in Apps and web-based properties for purposes of e-commerce and lead generation, among other marketing objectives.)

 

What Will Facebook Ads Look Like in 2021?

What effect will the iOS14 updates have on your company’s Facebook ad campaigns? Essentially, Apple iOS devices will exchange even less data with Facebook, and the data that is received will feed in less regularly and be more anonymized.

 

This translates to:

 

Less Reporting/Web Events Attribution Accuracy: In Facebook Events Manager, fewer conversions will be monitored (though they will still happen in real life), and audiences will be smaller.

Shorter Attribution Lookback Windows: We used to be able to attribute acts up to 28 days after clicking on an ad. The time limit has been shortened to seven days.

Advertisers will be less able to segment their audiences based on user behavior on websites because activities taken on Apple devices will be shared less. Exclusion groups will be less dependable, and those who have participated in an activity will have a smaller audience (ex: custom audiences created based on website activity).

Just 8 Conversions: If several advertisers are using the same website domain, they would only have to share the top 8 conversions, which will be prioritized in reporting. This is in response to an iOS14 update that only reports one action to Facebook, so they’re prioritizing which activities to report on.

Changes to Breakdown Reporting: When analyzing ad results, demographic breakdowns would be removed.

Changes to conversion events will be more difficult: Changing conversion events in a campaign will cause the advertising to be paused for several days until the new data is aligned.

Changes in Conversion Value: In e-commerce, value-based conversions will now be reported in tiers rather than individual costs.

In the new Facebook AEM settings, you can set conversion priorities.

 

What Does the Future Hold for Advertisers and Businesses?

Apple’s enforcement is expected to take effect in March 2021, and in the meantime, advertisers can verify domains and prioritize conversions in Facebook’s latest AEM (Aggregated Event Measurement) to prevent downtime when enforcement occurs.

 

A verified domain is indicated by a green dot in Facebook Ads Manager.

 

A verified domain is indicated by a green dot in Facebook Ads Manager.

 

What are SimpSocial’s Adaptive Strategies?

The safety of customers is crucial. People should have power over the information that big tech firms gather about them, and we should all respect that. Apple’s decision to step forward as a hardware vendor is a positive thing because it gives users more power of how their data is processed and exchanged. This follows the same pattern as what we’re seeing in browsers and “cookie-geddon.”

 

However, after listening to Facebook’s advice, it seems that this latest privacy policy ignores the manner in which many applications are already set up with in-app browsing of webpages, forcing advertisement platforms to struggle to adapt with little knowledge of how to achieve enforcement while also supplying advertisers with the insights they’re used to.

 

We assume that further adaptations will occur, and that Facebook is working on modeling solutions to ensure that marketers can still monitor ROI. We’ll also return to using Google Analytics to measure total target completions, but keep in mind that its last click attribution model is less forgiving than Facebook’s 7-day lookback window.

 

In preparation for the changes, SimpSocial has started verifying our client domains in Facebook Business Manager and restructuring ad account conversion events.

 

Not sure what to do next?

Is your company in need of a dependable Facebook Ads partner when these changes take effect? Let’s talk about it.

Predictive vs. Power Dialer Software: A Productivity Fight

Years ago, when salespeople were looking for buyers to persuade, they would call each one individually. Now that they have technology on their hand, AI-powered dialers have sprung up to make their sales lives easier.

While salespeople no longer have to worry about manually dialing numbers, they now face a new challenge: rising efficiency. Technology has changed the world, but it has also provided consumers with a plethora of choices that salespeople should be able to handle. With hundreds of productivity applications and a slew of dialers to choose from, which one is the best?

Take a look at the fight between these two dialers: Power Dialer vs Predictive Dialer.

How does the program Power Dialer work?

The advancement of call center technology paved the way for power dialers. Power dialers were given to assist agents in making their lives easier and working faster. These dialers use a pre-programmed list of customers to make automated calls to.

By automatically beginning calls with a customer list, power dialer software removes manual dialing. It intelligently begins dialing as soon as the previous call hangs up, reducing agent idle time. It’s perfect for small contact centers looking to set up work processes and improve their selling abilities.

What is Predictive Dialer and how does it work?

Predictive dialers, on the other hand, provide a different approach to bringing calls in. It deals with patterns and AI while dialing numbers to get as many calls for its agents as possible, as the term suggests. It dials several numbers at once to minimize wait times, relying on algorithms that connect patterns around connect rates and agent availability.

For massive contact centers that operate on a volume basis, predictive dialers are a godsend. However, it is not for all. Agents who work in predictive dialing must be fast on their feet and know how to handle an unexpected call. Since it calls leads even though agents are on the phone, it can have an effect on queues and overall customer service.

Which is better: predictive dialer software or power dialer software?

When deciding whether to use a power dialer or a predictive dialer in your contact center, you must first determine your current device. Both aim for productivity, but if the current system isn’t up to the task, they can only be considered ineffective.

Here are several things to think about when deciding between a Power Dialer and a Predictive Dialer:

User-friendliness

It should come as no surprise that power dialers are more user-friendly. It incorporates technology into the system while allowing agents to take the lead. Agents prefer power dialers because they are simpler to handle and use. Switching to a power dialer would be easier and more convenient as a result.

The total number of calls

Predictive dialers, on the other hand, are guaranteed to make more calls quicker than power dialers. There will be less idle periods and more paired calls with a predictive dialer’s AI-powered calls. It’s also crucial to know if the agents will be able to do it without difficulty. Faster does not necessarily imply better. When system-generated dials are mismanaged, they can cause unhappy customers and bad experiences.

 

Customer service representative on the phone

Creating connections

Building confidence and enriching client relationships are essential to salespeople. This is why the agents should be well trained to handle a call before it is assigned to them. Although there are exceptional agents who can run the show on the spot, it is arguably always best to prepare everyone ahead of time. When it comes to this, power dialers are fantastic. It’s effective enough to free up the agents’ hands from manual dialing while also being manageable for them to focus on creating stronger relationships with and client call.

Agents’ number

A larger number of agents means a higher volume of calls. If you have a big team of a lot of enthusiastic agents, a predictive dialer is the best option for you. The reliability of predictive dialer is best for large teams with a solid framework that want to focus on bigger sales targets. This should also imply that any team’s manager should be able to use predictive dialers to fine-tune specific parameters.

Productivity is the ability to produce anything.

Both dialers have the same aim in mind: to increase efficiency. The efficiency of each dialer is determined by a variety of factors. Predictive dialers can increase the number of calls received, but if your current team is unable to handle each call at that speed, the number of calls received will only decrease. Power dialers are simple to use, but they are designed for consistency rather than quantity. Intelligent evaluation and successful decision-making should be used to decide which dialer is best for the team.

 

The final decision

A predictive dialer and power dialer program vary primarily in terms of speed and performance.

Predictive dialers are high-volume dialers that follow a set of rules and operate in a regulated environment. Power dialers are also used in almost every contact center, but unlike Predictive, they are a much more convenient choice for remote salespeople who want to develop good customer relationships.

 

SimpSocial is a cloud-based contact center that can set up work processes for any team, including remote workers. If you’re interested in learning more about SimpSocial’s Power Dialer, we will assist you.

New Metrics, Facebook Ads Integration, and Follow The Sun Filters!

Enough with the teasing: Facebook ad integration is now available! We’re ecstatic to announce that you can now use SimpSocial to further engage your Facebook leads with calls and texts.
By syncing your Facebook lead generation ads with SimpSocial, all new and old form submissions will be stored as contacts, allowing you to call anyone right away.

We also give you related ad data so you can track which campaign your leads came from and follow up accordingly. Yes, Facebook leads can also be added to broadcasts and sequences.

We’re launching our Follow the Sun function to help you coordinate your call operation and get better results.

Go to Contacts and look to the right for a new button named Follow The Sun. It basically organizes your contacts by timezone, allowing you to set your goals with just a single click.

This allows you to work your leads based on their position — from East to West — increasing your chances of connecting at a convenient time.You can now quickly locate unassigned contacts by filtering your leads by source. These can make bulk tagging easier and improve the exposure of your leads, allowing you to close more deals.

You can now check interaction rates on your Broadcasts tab. This is the percentage of people who react to your campaign, and it will help you determine how successful your marketing and promotion are.

BONUS: It’s now even easier to change your contact’s name while on the phone! To update and save their correct details, simply click on the Edit icon we added.

You Can Use These 3 Email Subject Line Tester Tools

Do you have a problem with low email open rates? Updating the subject lines is a good idea.

The average email open rate across all sectors was 21.33 percent, according to Mailchimp. If your open rate is low, it’s typically due to a combination of these three factors:

The audience/segment you emailed did not match the message’s content.

Your email sending schedule isn’t in sync with your target audience.

The receiver will not be interested in your subject line.

Taking a Look at Email Benchmarks

When it comes to subject lines, the most important metric they affect is your open rate. Since the subject line and sample text are the first things a recipient sees, it’s only normal that they have an impact on whether or not they open your email.

The average email open rate was 21.33 percent across all industries. (Image courtesy of Mailchimp)

  • a company
  • Level of Openness
  • Click-through-rate
  • Bounce Hard
  • Bounce Softly
  • Level of Unsubscribe

Purchasing Real Estate

  • 19.17 percentage point
  • 1.77 percentage point
  • 0.38 percentage point
  • 0.56 percentage point
  • 0.27 percentage point

 

Work on the building

  • 21.77 percentage point
  • 2.26 percentage point
  • 0.86 percentage point
  • 1.28 percentage point
  • 0.39 percentage point

 

Services/Agency for Creatives

  • 21.39 percentage point
  • 2.66 percentage point
  • 0.58 percentage point
  • 0.93 percentage point
  • 0.35 percentage point

 

Dental & Medical Treatment

  • 21.72 percentage point
  • 2.49 percentage point
  • 0.51 percentage point
  • 0.63 percentage point
  • 0.28 percentage point

 

Services for Professionals

  • 21.94 percentage point
  • 2.55 percentage point
  • 0.56 percentage point
  • 0.83 percentage point
  • 0.31 percentage point

 

Checkers for Favorite Subject Lines

Stop. Sending. Emails. With. Bad. Subject. Lines. Say it loudly for the people in the back: Stop. Sending. Emails. With. Bad. Subject. Lines.

Your subject line is the face of your email; it is what everyone sees first and uses to decide whether or not to open it. Plus, Gmail and other sites are checking your subject line for potential SPAM or phishing long before it enters your audience’s inboxes.

In a nutshell, your email subject line should represent the substance of your email, pique the audience’s attention, and avoid terms that would be blocked by email clients.

There’s also no need to send emails with poor subject lines when there are some fantastic (FREE) resources available to review them. Let’s go over it again!

First, send a check.

At SimpSocial, this is a personal favorite. The interface is simple to use, and the recommendations are simple to enforce and resubmit for review. SendCheckIt.com lets you test your emails (with emojis!).

Not long ago, someone at SimpSocial had a win with a score that seemed to deliver! The open rate of the email with this subject line was 29.6%.

 

A+ for the Submit Check It Subject Line |SimpSocial

SubjectLine.Com is number two.

SubjectLine.com claims to have checked over 10 million subject lines, and their rating system is simple to understand and use.

Fun fact: on SubjectLine.com, the same subject line that did well on Send Check It got just 64/100 points! We assume that the feedback is 100 percent accurate and that using it is a smart idea. However, score isn’t all, and each subject line tester’s parameters vary slightly.

CoSchedule is the third choice.

Another SimpSocial favorite is CoSchedule’s free email subject checker. We’re not shocked that they have such a comprehensive subject line grading tool as an enterprise-grade content marketing tool.

 

Screenshot of the CoSchedule Subject Line Checker | SimpSocial

We like how CoSchedule goes a step further with helpful word banks that suggest alternative terms to increase your open rates. We really like how this tool provides inbox previews of your subject line to indicate where the characters are likely to truncate.

What is the most effective subject line?

There isn’t likely to be a “best” one. We prefer subject line testers who have actionable advice and submit several times until the score is perfect. The same subject line earned three very different scores across our favorites, as illustrated, but the end result was an email with a higher-than-industry-average open pace.

Email subject line best practices will continue to change, but when you match your subject line with the content within and your audience’s preferences, a subject line tool can be a valuable ally in the battle to increase open rates!

Checklist for Digital Marketing in 2021

The new year is approaching quickly! How does your digital marketing plan for 2021 look? Have you recently changed your password? Have you checked to see if your website is optimized for lead generation?

We’ve put together the ultimate digital marketing guide, which includes a list of best practices that your company should implement as it prepares for 2021. For the best digital marketing tips in 2021, download our handy checklist.

Get the Checklist here.

To download the checklist and get it emailed to you, fill out the form below.

Checklist for Digital Marketing in 2021 from Blue Sky Marketing

 

Checklist for Marketing in 2021

The start of a new year is an excellent time to clean up your digital home!

Change Your Passwords – You can change your passwords on a daily basis, but updating them once a year is good digital hygiene.

Examine Your Marketing Strategy: Will your content in 2021 be in line with your objectives? Seasonality, keyword inclusion, and relevance to your audience should all be verified in your messaging.

Lead Generation – Is your website set up to help you generate leads? Make sure visitors can sign up for your email, send a form, create a login, or download content in a variety of ways.

Account Health in Google Analytics – Check your Google Analytics account to see if your results are in line with your objectives. Are you keeping track of anything you want to keep track of? Have your objectives shifted?

SEO – Use Google Search Console or a tool like SEM Rush to check your organic traffic and location. Is there something in your marketing strategy that encourages organic growth?

Do you have a strategy in place to keep your contacts interested in your emails? To boost your Open Rates, have you considered unsubscribing or archiving contacts who have not opened your emails?

Have you discovered ways to automate your sales and marketing activities in order to boost conversion rates? Which content do you need to curate in order to move leads down the sales funnel?

Video Marketing – In 2020, video was the most common form of social media content. Is a video marketing campaign part of your 2021 strategy?

Is your organic social media marketing calendar ready to go? Make a strategy for sharing the content that involves regular updates.

Facebook and Instagram Ads – Make sure your ad account is set up for success by beginning with specific goals, optimized pixels, and imaginative testing. Facebook’s new Creative Hub software will help you optimize your creative placements.

Google Ads – Conduct keyword analysis to identify emerging trends that are relevant to your business, and audit your landing pages to ensure that your ads match the messaging on your website.

In 2021, what’s new in digital marketing?

2020 was a vortex of pivoting marketing campaigns to meet changing consumer desires, to say the least. This year, more companies adopted more robust digital experiences, such as:

  • Tours in Virtual Reality
  • Consultations for Online Sales
  • Live Chat and Chatbots
  • Redesigns of websites
  • Email Experiences That Are Personalized
  • Social Outreach and Stories
  • Loan approvals and online applications

The online conversion world isn’t going anywhere, according to HubSpot, and “consumers are becoming more familiar with these platforms as well.” They’ll come to expect this climate as the norm for companies going forward as they continue to engage with brands across a digital landscape.”

 

Blue Sky’s strategy for 2021 will be to concentrate on what we do best: implementing best practices for online user interactions, aligning content with consumer needs, and delivering content that your prospects will find useful and affect conversions.

 

Start planning your digital marketing strategy for 2021 now.

As a 100% digital marketing agency, we understand how daunting this process can be, which is why we’ve made this list simple to download and keep on hand.

 

If you want to get ahead of the game next year, we’ve got you covered. For the past ten years, Blue Sky Marketing has always had your back and has helped our clients get the results they need from their digital marketing campaign.

 

In the new year, we’d like to assist your company’s digital marketing activities. To begin the conversation, fill out a contact form.

 

BONUS TIP FOR READING ALL THE WAY THROUGH

Examine the website! When was the last time you checked your website’s content for any obsolete information? Have you double-checked that your “About Us” page accurately represents your current team? Have you double-checked the accuracy of your Meta Data? It’s a smart idea to take a close look at the new year.

Best Practices & Innovations in Social Media Advertising

Everyone understands that social media is a constantly changing medium, and as marketers, we must adjust to new rules of interaction on a monthly, if not weekly, or hourly basis. And with the way Facebook, which also owns Instagram, changes their ad platform on a regular basis to provide users with engaging content and marketers with better ways to remain competitive and stand out in the sea of posts, this is a good thing. Sure, testing is essential, but not every shiny object is worth jumping at. Here are the top four items we’ve learned and enjoyed when optimizing client campaigns over the last six months.

1. It is important to provide high-quality creative work, and video has the ability to move people.

Winning in the social space needs mobile-first creative. You will boost not only your conversion rate but also your CPM at auction by using strategic innovative. What does it mean to be mobile-first creative?

SimpSocial’s video ad for Imperial Square

SimpSocial created a creative ad for Imperial Stories.

brevity (15 seconds or less)

Aspect ratios of square, 4:5, or 9:16

Designed to be sound-proof.

Concise, with the message delivered quickly and reliably

These mobile-first innovative tips increased ROAS by 31% in one event. Square and Stories videos are effective at capturing and maintaining attention in order to tell brand stories in ways that words alone cannot. Videos on social media don’t need to have sound, but they do need to tell a story and have a consistent brand identity.

Forms of advertisements We’re not getting on the collection ad bandwagon for all clients. What is the reason for this? Although collection ads are visually appealing in the News Feed, they have a number of drawbacks:

Since the Collection style is only available in the Facebook Mobile News Feed, you won’t be able to run your creative in any other placement, lowering your CPM.

For an Instant Experience, we don’t have any analytics on engagement (no time viewing, no interaction with elements there, etc.). We can’t really track output because it’s like a black hole.

We’re “stealing” website traffic that we might theoretically remarket to through other channels (like Google display).

In other studies, we’ve found that this ad type has no better conversion rates to lead forms than other ad types, and generates far fewer sessions in most cases. Is there a place for any clients? Yes, please! However, we haven’t found that it outperforms traditional advertising with mobile-first content.

2. Landing pages that are mobile-friendly.

In the last six months, we’ve done a lot of testing with landing pages, particularly from a mobile-first perspective. Here are some self-evaluation issues to consider:

How quick does the page load?

How much scrolling is needed before anyone reaches our desired action?

With so many words, photos, and decisions before, does the mobile experience improve or distract from the desired action?

Is the consumer able to “follow the smell,” that is, does the landing page resemble the ad and have the desired experience?

3. Dynamic Catalogs Integrations

If you have some kind of inventory, you will probably create a catalog from which to generate dynamic ads. For e-commerce, real estate, travel, and car, there are catalog options. We’ve done a lot of experimentation with dynamic inventory ads for real estate in 2020, and we’ve had a lot of success in terms of producing lead types. The pixel also optimizes which listings to display based on user history on your website in order to re-engage for that purchase moment. We’ve been mixing a top-of-funnel, middle-of-funnel, and bottom-of-funnel strategy. It’s a great example of getting the right product to the right customer at the right time.

 

FAH Social Ad Campaign (FAH Social Ad Campaign)

4. Compatibility with Tracking Software

We’ve also been adopting the mindset of “giving the pixel all the specifics of the buyer journey” in order to create a more accurate data map that will aid the algorithm in finding similar users and tracking secondary conversions.

SimpSocial’s CallRail Integration Data

We’ve been using custom conversions and standard events to monitor all form submissions, as well as incorporate shopping cart and mid-funnel acts.

Another exciting test we conducted was with CallRail for attributing offline activities such as phone calls to Facebook or Instagram advertising.

We really like the HubSpot integration, which allows us to monitor contact interaction with ads in order to identify persona targets and track influenced contacts in the CRM.

SimpSocial’s Viridian HubSpot Ad Integration

If you want to take your social advertising to the next level? Our team blends the perfect amount of innovative storytelling expertise with technological know-how to create campaigns that achieve your marketing and sales goals, not just the gaudy metrics that social advertising were once known for. Allow us to assist you in making your social ad budget work harder for you by producing sales-related metrics.

Google Ads: What You Should Do About Housing Advertising Changes

Advertisers who position advertisements for jobs, housing, or credit services are no longer allowed to target or exclude ads based on gender, age, parental status, marital status, or ZIP code, according to Google Ads. On October 19th, 2020, these amendments will take effect.

What’s Gone in Google Ads for Housing Targeting

Google Ads, unlike some other ad platforms, has never allowed advertisers to target users based on race, ethnicity, religion, or disability. Ad targeting by sex/gender, age, zip code, and familial status was possible with Google Ads. In October, the following targeting options will no longer be available:

Gender Targeting: Women play a disproportionately large role in home purchases. In Google Ads for accommodation, targeting a female-skewing audience is no longer a choice. This effect, according to the SimpSocial team, will be most noticeable in community event marketing where Display Ads are used. Google’s sensitive display ad programs, on the other hand, are AI-driven, so the effect would be minor.

Age Targeting: In Google Ads campaigns for accommodation, age targeting will no longer be allowed. The effect is most noticeable in Active Adult 55+ marketing that includes Age-Targeting or Age-Restriction. This will have an effect on certain builders or developers who concentrate on specific life stages, such as First Time Homebuyers, so your agency needs to be aware of this limitation. Our Google Ads team has traditionally used match lists (IDFA or hashed data targeted lists) to avoid this, so we have a strategy in place, do you?

Although ZIP code targeting is not expressly prohibited by FHA guidelines, since certain zip codes are heavily segregated, it can easily be used to target other categories indirectly, such as race or ethnicity. As a result, Google Ads is removing this option, just as Facebook did in 2019. We will continue to aim based on a radius, so figuring out the best conversion zones and creating campaigns around them will be crucial.

Parental Status: Despite the removal of parental status, Google continues to use Life Events, which for all intents and purposes approximates this category. Parental Status was not previously a significant predictor of outcomes, so we do not expect a significant effect here.

 

In Regards to Targeting, There’s Good News

We will continue to goal based on the following criteria:

Radius targeting can be used to locate locations within a one-mile radius.

Household Earnings

Home ownership is a dream for many people. current situation

Jobs and Education

Remarketing and Customer Match

Life’s Happenings

In-Market Audiences (home buyers or renters) are also present.

Targeting Based on Context

Smart Bidding is unaffected (except demographic)

Google is not eliminating Household Income (HHI) targeting, which is a crucial contrast between Facebook and Google’s policies. Advertisers that successfully use HHI would be less affected by the elimination of ZIP code targeting because HHI uses location-based data as a deciding predictor.

How Does This Affect You?

Although the removal of age and other demographic data points may seem troubling, thanks to the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, the effect should be negligible as long as you or your organization is properly using Google’s AI and machine learning capabilities.

With a technology called “signals,” Google uses AI and machine learning to optimize campaigns. Every Google search, like a digital signature, has an identifying signal associated with it. Age, position, gender, and other factors are among these signals.

Because of these signs, if the Google Ads campaigns are built on a strong basis and follow best practices, they will not reach people who, based on their historical data, are unlikely to convert. Smart Bidding in Google Ads guarantees this by automatically bidding lower on specific users.

If you’re a custom home builder with prices in the $800s, for example, the 18-24 age group won’t turn into leads. Google will actually stop bidding on such individuals after a learning duration of about 7 days.

On the other hand, Google understands that if marketers stop getting results as a result of the move, they will stop investing money — something Google cannot afford to risk considering that advertising accounts for 71% of its revenue. While Google Ads does not allow you to target specific segments directly, its AI and machine learning will continue to use all available data points to provide the best results for its advertisers so that they continue to invest.

final thoughts

While these targeting choices can seem to be a major loss for housing advertisers, bear in mind what distinguishes Google Ads from other platforms: keywords. The phrases that people search on Google are highly accurate indicators of intent, which makes Google Paid Search such a successful digital marketing channel.

It doesn’t matter how old anyone is when searching for “master-planned societies.” The majority will be of the generation that is consciously looking for a master-planned city. Of course, there will be a few younger people looking for their parents that we want to contact as well. There aren’t so many teenagers looking for “master-planned neighborhoods.”

Google Ads: How to Plan Effectively for a Successful Campaign

Most people today have a basic understanding of what PPC (pay-per-click) is and what it is intended to accomplish. For example, my father has made it to 2020 without knowing whether or not he “has email.” With this in mind, he knows PPC well enough to think of it as the internet’s yellow pages.

SimpSocial’s Google Ad Campaigns

To put it another way, PPC serves as a facilitator, or even a liaison, between a product or service and those who are looking for it online. The vast majority of clients with whom I’ve worked over the last decade understand the advantages of using PPC to run business ad campaigns.

Every now and then, I hear something along the lines of “PPC doesn’t fit for my industry.” This attitude is often the product of a bad experience with a previous agency or an effort to run an ad account in-house with little or no experience, resulting in poor ad output and a low observable return on investment. Regardless of the negative impression catalyst, there are a slew of other considerations to consider before concluding that PPC isn’t for you.

I am yet to come across an industry or a commodity that does not have a following. It’s often just a slight pivot or solution that brings it all together effectively, as it is with many things. Here are some things to think about until budgetary constraints are lifted.

What Factors Go Into Determining Campaign Success?

The majority of the time, a client’s target is to increase website interaction through phone calls, contact forms, or transactions. Your estimated ROAS (return on ad spend) will help set the basis for ensuring that your income from ad spend is greater than the ad spend itself once you have this knowledge.

Do you want to increase in-person engagement? A restaurant, for example, may be more concerned with growing visibility and driving foot traffic through an ad click than with online sales or transactions. This measure will encompass a lot more than just digital interaction. It’s critical for a campaign to succeed if every move the consumer takes is consistent with the end goal of moving in-person traffic.

Any good digital marketing strategy starts with determining the desired outcome. It is important to lay this groundwork in order to achieve desired results.

How Does User Experience Affect Your Profitability?

Many strategies may be employed to increase relevant traffic and ad clicks, but what happens after a user clicks on an ad is largely dictated by the user experience on your site and is less under the control of an ad network. What actions are available if the target is to increase sales, and how simple is it for a consumer to convert or make a purchase? Goal monitoring, page speed, mobile friendliness, and even website copy are all observable variables to consider when deciding a campaign’s progress.

You want to make sure that a user’s journey from initial quest to target achievement is as simple and straightforward as possible. At each point, reassure the consumer that “this is the place I need to be,” and make it simple to turn an ad click into a lead or sale.

Enable SimpSocial to assist you.

Although it’s difficult to foresee and guarantee an exact audience for each company or product, we can assist you in developing a plan. Let’s talk about how we can help you create and execute Google Ads campaigns.

How Does COVID-19 Affect Homebuilder Marketing?

Make no mistake: COVID-19 and the new normal would alter the construction industry. Home is now all – it’s where you live, entertain and educate your children, and stay healthy in a constantly changing world.

The long-term consequences would be incorporated into new home design. Below are some suggestions for how homeowners can live healthier and safer lives.

Virtual Tours – A New Homebuying Experience

Did you know that 41% of Millennials make an offer on a house before even seeing it? It’s because today’s homebuyers can find about anything they need to know about a home online, and they want to be able to complete the majority of their customer journey online.

For two reasons, this is good news for your digital marketing strategy:

Ads on Facebook and Google will hit your target audience where they already shop.

Streamlined website user interfaces aid in capturing leads and nurturing them into homebuyers.

Virtual tours aren’t an option any longer. It’s no longer a nice-to-have value-add-on. Your customers want to be able to see new homes from the convenience of their current residence.

5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Virtual Home Visit:

Add “Take a Virtual Tour” buttons to your model homes and spec homes that connect to virtual tour partners like Matterport.

To quickly catch your prospects when their interest is strong, make sure forms are on the same page as the Virtual Tour pages.

Provide immersive virtual tours and schedule a time for your sales rep to take your prospects through the model home (or spec home) through Zoom, Facetime, or Google Hangouts.

Is AI capable of launching an unattended visit to a model home or spec home in the same way that OpenDoor does?

Launch a chatbot – early in the buying process, home buyers are hesitant to talk with a person. This is a chance to connect with someone outside of working hours.

After COVID-19, what will homebuyers want?

A new home is more than just a new address; it’s a new way of life—a new chapter in your Prospect’s life story—one that has changed in the aftermath of the pandemic. Needs have evolved, and the home has already evolved to meet those needs.

Here are a few marketing messages that we believe homebuyers will need to hear in order to be interested in your offering.

Healthy Homes are New Homes

New homes necessitate the installation of newer systems to ensure the purest air, water, and materials. Homebuyers who are buying new construction homes want to realize that they are creating a safe haven for their families in a world that is susceptible to disease. A new house is a safe house.

Outside Living Areas

Outdoor spaces have become a safe place to socialize and enjoy a new view, and we expect that by 2020, slightly less people will buy a new construction home that does not include an outdoor living room.

 

Wi-Fi is available everywhere.

Why not have your builds Wi-Fi Certified if they aren’t already? Internet access is required for the bare minimum of entertainment and work in the home. Plan to build homes that include tastefully arranged plugs for a variety of electronic devices and Smart Home features.

Office of the President

Can home builders establish a skilled office in an era where the home is the office during this pandemic? What choices does the floor plan have for increasing productivity in the home office? Are you able to have sound-proof walls? What is the most reliable internet connection? Is there more natural light? How can the home office be promoted as the best place to work?

Materials That Heal By Themselves

In the aftermath of the pandemic, we agree that selling organic and self-healing products would be critical. Offering antiviral materials, such as Microban, makes the home safer by default.

Spaces of Transition

The transition from outside to inside would have to be planned ahead of time. Reimagine the mudroom as a decontamination zone where you can take off your shoes, spritz your hands with hand sanitizer, and keep the outside out. Can you incorporate ways for your buyers to organize the transition space?

Home Marketing for New Construction

Are you a real estate developer or builder? For the past ten years, SimpSocial has kept a close eye on the homebuying industry, and we’re keeping a close eye on how demand has changed in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Let’s talk about how a good digital marketing plan will help you get more eligible leads. Let’s create a marketing message and strategy that is entirely focused on you. Start the discussion right now.

How to Use Hashtags Effectively to Grow Your Business in 2020

Are you using hashtags to broaden your social media reach? If you don’t, you’re losing out on a chance to meet more people and increase the visibility of your content on social media. You may be wondering what a hashtag is and how to use it. That’s where we can help!

What Is a Hashtag, Anyway?

Let’s start with a definition of what a hashtag is. The pound or hash sign (#) is accompanied by a phrase or keyword linked to the material being shared to create a hashtag. These hashtags can be included everywhere in your social media post’s caption and comments, as well as on your social media stories.

They can be used on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, among other social media sites. Users can search for content and discussions related to personal interests, local businesses, current events, or inspiration for their next DIY project using a common hashtag, which pulls content related to the same hashtag into one source.

What Is Your Hashtag Strategy?

Hashtags are simple, but they do require the following to function properly:

The hashtag symbol (#) must appear at the start of the phrase or expression.

In a hashtag expression, no spaces are allowed.

For your content to appear in the hashtag stream, your social media accounts must be set to public.

The keyword and phrase must be related to the post’s material.

Hashtags are most commonly used on Twitter and Instagram, the two most popular social media sites. It’s important to understand how they function on and platform if you want to expand your scope and make your content more discoverable for your online marketing strategy.

On Twitter, there are hashtags.

Hashtags are used on Twitter to group together discussions about the same topic. Users who do not follow accounts discussing the subject will interact as a result of this. Each hashtag stream is further divided into five groups:

Top: This stream contains the tweets with the most interaction that use a particular hashtag.

The most recent: This is a live stream of someone who uses a particular hashtag in their tweets.

People: This is a list of Twitter users who are influential in relation to a hashtag.

Images: This is a collection of photos from tweets with a particular hashtag.

Videos: This is a list of videos that have been used in tweets with a specific hashtag.

You can also see similar searches on the left side of the page. This tool will help you find hashtags that are relevant to your brand, case, or campaign.

Instagram hashtags

Hashtags are often used on Instagram to put related conversations into one source, but in a different format. Instagram hashtags are divided into three groups and generate a collage of images that use a particular hashtag:

This is a list of hashtags that are often used in conjunction with the searched hashtag. They can be scrolled across from left to right at the top of the picture collage.

Top Posts: This feed shows the posts with the most interaction, such as likes, comments, shares, and saves, that use the searched hashtag.

Most Recent: This feed is a live stream of posts with the hashtag in question.

By typing the hash symbol (#) and the word or phrase you think you would use, Instagram will recommend hashtags for you to use based on popularity. For users to see your post on a hashtag feed, your Instagram account must be public.

How to Decide Which Hashtags to Use and When to Use Them

There is no definitive answer to when hashtags should be used, other than whenever possible! The more you use them, the more likely consumers are to notice your brand. However, using needless hashtags or overusing hashtags in a post can come across as spammy or desperate, and should not be part of your social media strategy. You can use as many hashtags as each platform allows, but they must be relevant to your brand and the content you’re sharing.

Instagram hashtags

When choosing hashtags, keep in mind that you want to use hashtags that are relevant to what your target audience is looking for and following. Switching up your hashtags and finding a range that corresponds to your content is a process of trial and error when it comes to finding hashtags that work for you. Using hashtags with a large number of posts isn’t always the best option. Finding niche-category hashtags that are important to your content and increase your chances of being noticed is recommended.

While hashtags seem to be easy, using them for a specific reason can be challenging. Allow our team of #digitalmarketingexperts to conduct hashtag research for your brand and assist in the growth of your social media platforms.

How Can The Senior Living Community Achieve SMART Goals?

We all have ambitions and goals, so how are you going to accomplish them? SMART targets are effective and simple to comprehend. They’re based on fact and broken down into small chunks so you can quickly digest them and achieve the ultimate goal. Have you ever heard the phrase “act smarter, not harder”? This is how you can do it.

Your Senior Living Community’s SMART Goals

Let’s start with the acronym SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Appropriate, and Time-bound. These are the details that you can detail in order to achieve your goals/objectives.

Let’s take a look at how to set a SMART target for your company to gain a deeper understanding.

COMMON GOAL: 100 PERCENT RESIDENT CAPACITY IN OUR SENIOR LIVING FACILITY WITH A WAIT LIST.

Most people think this is a fantastic goal, but it’s lacking a few key ingredients to make it a reality. How will we know when we’ve reached capacity? When are you hoping to finish this?

Let’s break down this target and see if we can come up with a SMART iteration.

Particulars

We will break down your SMART goal into the who, what, where, where, and why in the “S” of your SMART goal. These are the essential details that we must identify in order to decide our objective.

New Haven Senior Living Community is a senior living community in New Haven, Connecticut.

What: To be fully booked with a waiting list.

When: By the end of the fourth quarter

Where: The Woodlands, Texas is the primary venue.

Why: We’ll get money for our next venue.

SMART Objectives Can Be Measured

Quantifiable

How do you calculate your target after you’ve defined it? Metrics are crucial in this situation because they enable you to reliably represent performance and compare statistics as metrics shift.

When do you realize you’ve accomplished your goal’s desired outcome? Mark your progress with milestones. This may be the number of residents counted in a quarterly report, the overall desired earnings, or another variable. Finally, the “M” component of your SMART target should be able to be expressed numerically.

The maximum number of residents we can accommodate is 350. The average cost of living for each resident is $48,000. As a result, our goal is to make $16.8 million per month or have 350/350 residents.

Achievable

What strategy would you use to achieve your objective? Ascertain that your SMART goal’s “A” component is attainable. This is a practical move that asks whether we have the necessary resources to succeed. To break down your objectives into sub-tasks and achieve small actionable steps that lead to overall progress, you must have consistency in action.

If you are currently at 10 residents by the end of Q1, maxing out by Q4 might not be an attainable target. This objective should be attainable and reachable.

Remarkable

The “R” in your SMART target denotes relevancy, or the point at which effort meets high-value objectives. This ensures that your SMART target is aligned with your company’s overall goals. If you want to get funding for your next facility (and you need to be at 100% resident capacity to get the money), a target of filling your resident capacity is perfectly important and consistent with your goal. You may want to change the specifics of your SMART target if they don’t agree with your high-value goals.

Time-Constrained

The letter “T” stands for “Time.” This crucial component assists you in keeping your action plan on track with your deadlines. There will be specific sub-tasks that must be done along the way if you want to finish this by the fourth quarter of this year.

Assembling Our “SMART” Objective

Now, let’s restate our original target so that it can be implemented using the SMART approach.

The original goal was to provide 100% resident capacity in our Senior Living Facility, with a waiting list.

SMART GOAL: By the end of Q4, we will have billed revenue of $16.8 million and/or 350 residents contracted.

Your Senior Living Community’s SMART Goals

Take a look at the differences between the two. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the above goal:

Company Objective: By the end of Q4, we will have billed revenue of $16.8 million and/or 350 residents signed up for our facility. This will be accomplished by acquiring 56 new residents per quarter. We will produce 560 leads in order to acquire these 56 people. This will be accomplished by the use of published material, social media updates, email marketing, Google Ads, a direct-mail initiative, and involvement in four local community activities.

This is just one example of the many SMART objectives you can set for your business. It’s important to sit down with your main decision-makers and collaborate on your priorities and objectives. If you need assistance with your online plan, our team is happy to assist you. Before AOL dialed up our internet, some of us were there.

Do you need a SMART goal template?

Maybe you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, but you need some assistance? We’ve got your back as accredited Hubspot partners, and we take pride in being SMART target experts. You can use this SMART target template to get started. It’s free to download and share, and we’d love to hear how it helped your team cross the finish line.

Enable SimpSocial to assist you.

Cold Calling Tips To Live By: The Art Of Persuasion

Persuading sales through cold-calling has become much more difficult in an age where consumers are smarter, more educated, and have more choices. Cold calling is now, arguably, one of the most successful outbound sales and marketing tactics. The only question is whether or not you have the ability to engage and persuade potential new customers over the phone.For any outbound sales team, persuasiveness is a must-have ability. It takes a lot of persuasion and tactical smarts to convert an entirely uninformed and uninterested lead into a paying customer. We’ve got hacks for you to take your persuasion skills to the next level with cold calling performance in this post.

Is cold calling still effective?

As the name suggests, cold calling is a phone sales tactic that includes contacting a list of people to introduce and promote a company or product. It’s one of the oldest sales techniques still in use today. This is why, in today’s technologically advanced world, many people have questioned its efficacy. Why would salespeople even use cold calling when companies have access to recorded analytics of consumer buying behavior?

Cold calling, though some might consider it to be “dead,” is still very much alive. Despite significant shifts in the way people buy, it continues to be effective for companies. Cold calling success is now more attainable for salespeople thanks to technological advancements.

Techniques for making persuasion calls

It’s much more difficult to persuade people over the phone than it is to meet them in person. Customers may choose to hang up or drop the call, giving them power over your contact. The best salespeople, on the other hand, know how to use these tips to turn things around.

Act out the script.

Cold calling scripts are essential for success, but if you deliver them like a robot, you might as well give them a passive email. It’s important to avoid sounding like you’re reading from a script while making cold calls. It should be an engaging performance in which you, as a salesperson, offer it in response to the responses of your customer on the other side.

Many actionable probabilities should also be included in your script. What if your customer declines your offer? You should also have a script ready for this. Asking open-ended questions with ready-made answers is another way to get their attention.

Determine the best time to do something.

You never know who you’ll be speaking with or what condition they’re in, but respecting your customers’ time will get you far. One thing is to be persistent, but the right time to close a deal is when the customer is able to listen. Ask whether it’s a good time to call, and if it isn’t, simply inform them you’ll call back at a more convenient time, or request a more accommodating schedule.

Keep track of when the majority of your calls are answered. To increase your productivity, schedule your time accordingly. According to research, more prospects respond to cold calls on Wednesdays and Thursdays, with the best time window being 4-5 pm.

Expect to be rejected.

You will be turned down. That’s why you need to figure out how to maintain leverage of the conversation. When you prepare for rejection, you’ll be able to come up with knee-jerk reactions if you sense your touch is rejecting you.

Examine your script. Add some things to think about based on previous conversations, and come up with better ways to react. This way, you can learn how a customer could react negatively while also learning how to respond positively.

Be adaptable.

The art of persuasion is the application of behavioral versatility. It’s the ability to change your pitch depending on the reaction of the person with whom you’re conversing. It’s knowing when to elicit more information from them, when to make a bid, and when to stop.

Ask questions and pay attention to what your customer has to say or how they have reacted. Did they seem enthralled or irritated? Adjust your approach based on that observation. Simply by paying attention to their responses, you will find a plethora of topics to bring up.

Make connections.

It’s difficult to convince someone whose confidence you haven’t yet gained. Start a conversation by being polite and being respectful. Make an introduction that is deserving of their time.

Expect them to listen to you as if you were a long-lost friend. Relationships take time to develop, and it takes more effort to do so. You may send a follow-up email, text message, or even a seasonal greeting or an offer after the call to give them the impression that you paid close attention to them during the call.

Join forces with technology.

Isn’t it true that cold calling has become simpler today? Advanced contact center systems have developed dependable features that aid in the success of outbound calls. Cold calling performance is much more achievable today, thanks to automation systems that automatically call customers for you, as well as AI-driven technologies that spot bad numbers and even miss voicemails.

Find advanced solutions to help you improve your outbound efforts. Auto dialing, process integration, and follow-up sequencing are all essential features to look for. You can also use technology to gain a better understanding of your customers’ actions and keep track of them for potential prospecting.

SimpSocial for results in cold calling

With all of this in mind, you can choose a platform that specializes in outbound and cold calling performance. SimpSocial’s turn-key contact center solution will help you increase your outbound sales. With its text-enabled phone lines, you can also back up your cold calling efforts with SMS and MMS.

SimpSocial is a cloud-based contact center with advanced contact center functionality that allows you to carry in sales from anywhere using any smartphone. As you go, let your conversations flow naturally. With auto dials and voicemail drops, you can spend more time on important conversations and less time on the phone. There’s already so much more in store for you! Why don’t we set up a fast call to learn more?

Why Should Your Contact Center Be Moved To The Cloud?

As a result of the current situation, decision-makers are being forced to slash infrastructure costs, and the cloud has created options to help them get by. Businesses can only depend on the most obvious solution when working from home is the only option: they should begin shifting their contact centers to the cloud.

Cloud vs. On-premise
We’ve been presented with the standard on-premise framework for contact centers for a long time. Because of its customizability, exclusivity, anonymity, and reliability, businesses that maintain on-premise contact centers prefer this conventional model.

The cloud is without a doubt one of the best things that has ever happened to technology. Interactions are made simpler in the cloud, and program integrations are made possible for fast information exchange. In more ways than one, this aids contact centers in staying on top of customer experiences.

Cloud contact centers will help businesses who are concerned about their privacy. There’s enough incentive to press for these improvements now that the whole world is moving to virtual worlds and experimenting with remote work strategies.

What are the benefits of moving to the cloud?

If you’re one of the few who is always on the fence about switching, here are a few more reasons to think about it.

Adaptability

Cloud contact centers will be unavoidable in the future due to the digitalization of the world and the need for remote work options. Switching to the cloud gives you access to all of the resources you’ll need to function normally from any place. Working is possible as long as you have access to the internet.

Less expensive

Ready-made applications are integrated into cloud-hosted contact center systems. This eliminates the need for production and maintenance. Since everything is stored in the cloud, data recovery would be a breeze.

Effectiveness

Most cloud contact center software allows for easy collaboration with other applications and cloud-based services. You can quickly bridge across processes quicker and without any extra costs by using productivity tools, chat applications, and Google-based services.

Compliance in a hurry

In the contact center sector, strict rules are constantly evolving. Cloud contact center providers relieve you of this burden, allowing you to concentrate on your core business. You can deal with fast enforcement and specifications more easily from your end.

Adaptability

Aside from the freedom to work from anywhere, your contact center can also reach people all over the world, keeping up with your company’s growth. It provides teams with versatile choices in terms of user count to aid large-scale outreach initiatives.

SimpSocial will help you find the best options.

SimpSocial makes the process of relocating less stressful. With only a few taps, you can set up your setup, sync your contacts, and begin calling.

Take advantage of SimpSocial’s turnkey contact center solution. With Power Dialer, you can increase your sales, be more productive with auto follow-ups, and function more effectively with advanced automation features. We’ll take care of the rest while you focus on developing relationships with customers.

The following are some of SimpSocial’s best features:

Communication via voice and text is possible.

Auto and Power Dialers that are TCPA-compliant

MMS messaging via two-way SMS

Outbound campaigns that are completely automated

Options for intelligent inbound routing

CRM synchronization and integration

Are you ready to make the switch? We’d be delighted to guide you through the procedure! To get started on migrating your contact center to the cloud, download our free ebook. You may also schedule a live demo with one of our members, who will contact you as soon as possible.

A Salesperson’s Guide to Crushing Quotas From Home

For most salespeople today, talking on the phone for hours in their pajamas would be the new standard. Although remote working eliminates the commute, irritating office elevators, and the need to look your best (at least from the waist down), it also exposes you to a variety of everyday challenges.

Barriers to productivity, connectivity issues, distractions, and other factors will now prevent you from meeting your quotas. When you’re not in the workplace, getting into the zone to achieve your regular objectives can be ten times more difficult. However, if you know how to deal with it like a true salesperson, it is not impossible.

How to avoid crushing quotas from the comfort of your own home (or anywhere, really)

1 – Separate yourself from the others and eat that frog.

Stop pretending that your nightstand will suffice. If you have the luxury of space in your home, create a small office nook or room where you can be away from the rest of the family and your bed. Distractions from remote work can occur at any moment – your dog barks, you see your soft and cushy bed, a refrigerator full of treats, or your children running around the house.

Setting your regular schedule as you would in the workplace may also be beneficial. Use the ‘eat the frog’ method: start with the most important tasks and work your way down to the smallest. This will allow you to complete your priority tasks ahead of time, so you won’t have to deal with them at the last minute, or before your children wake up and begin playing.

2 – Make decisions based on data.

It’s ideal to start the day with a particular target in mind, but you should first assess how achievable it is. Begin by reviewing your metrics to determine where you left off, which leads you should contact first, and which tasks need additional attention.

Setting goals just for the sake of setting them can be discouraging if you don’t achieve them. It’s preferable to use a platform that can provide you with a regular rundown of metrics and patterns so you can schedule your day’s goals. Invest in a platform that offers real-time consumer data monitoring, a dashboard of your sales growth, or a summary of your team’s regular metrics if you’re leading teams.

3 – Invest in software that are user-friendly from afar.

Remote working is now possible thanks to a variety of productivity tools. Investing in cloud contact center applications should be a top priority for salespeople. Choose one that allows you to manage all of your client interactions in one location, including calls, messages, and emails.

Look for a tool that is simple to set up and use, as well as one that is suitable for use at home or in the workplace. You can never be too sure these days, which is why having a phone system that you can take with you wherever you go is perfect. This way, you can speak to customers on any computer or in any location that fits your productivity needs.

4 – Make a power call to your leads.

Power dialing takes a unique approach to increasing sales efficiency. Power dialing is a good option for small and large teams dealing with quotas, particularly if they work from home.

Some power dialers also provide sales teams with smart call solutions. They’ve progressed to the point that they can filter out bad numbers and voicemails for you, allowing you to concentrate on high-quality calls and engaged leads. The benefit of getting them is that you can integrate them with your CRM and ensure that all of your leads are quickly followed up on.

5 – Make the workflows more efficient by automating them.

If you’re still not convinced that using automation in your contact center is a smart idea, it’s time to learn more. It’s never just a matter of programming a bot to communicate with your leads when it comes to automating your contact center. It is the process of completing routine tasks without or with minimal human involvement.

Assume you have 500 leads to speak to in a single day. With automation, you will ensure that all of these leads receive the best possible treatment when you set up to speak with them at your leisure. You can delegate follow-ups to automation as you focus on high-value customers. You can arrange lead lists and set up automated calls, emails, or follow-up sequences with a contact center solution driven by automation, and all will move along with you.

6 – Effectively manage teams

It can be unsettling to manage a sales team because you can’t see them face to face as they work on their quotas. However, if you start telling them what they’re doing on a regular basis, you could come across as obnoxious. You must be able to balance in order to be effective at managing teams remotely.

Another thing you can do is begin transitioning your operations to a more open setup for yourself and your staff. Find a cloud contact center solution that tracks your agents’ activities and provides real-time monitoring and data. Team management features such as call whispers, call counseling, and advanced routing are included in most contact center solutions.

7 – Take frequent breaks

You should take a break every now and then simply because you are human. Your small breaks, on the other hand, must be managed. Avert your gaze from something that has the potential to absorb all of your energy. Instead of going into complete couch potato mode in front of the TV, you might go for a fast run around the neighborhood.

Mobile-ready solutions come in handy when longer breaks are needed, such as when running an important errand. If the whole team is using cloud-based contact center tools, this is a possibility. It keeps you linked when you’re away from your computer in case anything urgent comes up.

9 – Don’t overwork yourself.

Working from home can never be used as an excuse to work more hours just because you have more time on your hands. Make it a habit to just work during the hours you’re supposed to. This is an unhealthy habit that you must break, as well as being exhausting.

If you’re the one in charge of a squad, make sure the salespeople have time off after working hours. Keep in contact with team members and look for signs of burnout so you can devise a new approach to task management and quota setting.

With SimpSocial, you can work from anywhere.

It’s difficult to be a salesperson in these turbulent times. When you work from home, it’s important to hold tension at bay while ensuring that you’re always crushing your regular goals. You can get started with SimpSocial to help you increase productivity and empower the sales team to keep smashing quotas.

SimpSocial makes it easier to connect with customers and close deals from home or almost anywhere, thanks to its smart and sophisticated sales efficiency software. Let’s talk about how we can help you set up a more reliable call center.

Why Do You Integrate Your Contact Center and CRM?

How quickly can you keep up with a rising market and more demanding customers?

Contact centers must find a way to deal with any call, letter, email, or social media post to communicate with customers in an era of endless communication channels.

If you’re already using CRMs to handle your contact lists and phone solutions to connect with them, why not combine the two? Integrating the CRM and contact center apps allows you to manage lists and close deals on your own. This is why.

1 – Calls can be made with a single click.

For contact centers, auto dialers are a godsend. It has made it easier to communicate with consumers over the phone, allowing them more flexibility to focus on more critical things while and sales.

Managing time when engaging your customers would be easier with a click-to-call dialer integrated into your CRM. Your agents will communicate with a lead in a single click once they’ve been registered in your CRM with the details they’ve given. It’s a simple collaborative function that eliminates the need for additional layers of lead management.

You also won’t have to manually import contacts to call if your contact center program has a Power Dialer. Simply sync your CRM’s call list and let the machine ring all of the numbers for you. It’s that easy.

2 – It helps you save time.

Productivity, particularly in a contact center environment, refers to workflow efficiency and effective time management. A CRM that is integrated with your phone system will save you time by allowing you to skip a number of tasks.

Imagine calling your CRM contacts and automatically missing voicemails and bad numbers. Imagine not needing to perform manual follow-ups or other time-consuming activities because you can automate them. You will ensure a smarter system that does the job for you quicker and with less errors by combining your CRM with a contact center phone system.

Keep your HR efficiency preparation and talks to a bare minimum. Your staff will spend more time on matters that need their attention by developing a phone system that integrates with your CRM.

3 – You can monitor all of your channels from a single location.

Managing consumer needs has become much more complex as a result of the various contact networks available today. This is a challenge for all contact centers, which must also contend with the consumer expectations for exceptional service and undivided attention.

Some contact center software has made it simpler by providing omnichannel solutions that you can use. You may handle connections that came from a variety of sources, including phone calls, social media, and instant messengers, in a single folder. By integrating your CRM, you can reach out to your contacts through any channel they choose, capturing their attention.

4 – You don’t have to keep track of anything.

For call center performance, keeping track of all data, calls, texts, and activities is critical. However, data can function separately if you continue to use the CRM and contact center as two separate tools.

There’s no need to manually record anything if you’re worried about it. You can automatically pull all data lists and contacts to keep all databases updated with integrated CRM and contact center apps. Other advanced systems also allow for real-time data synchronization – how convenient!

By merging the CRM and contact center, you can share access to other records such as calls, emails, and agent behavior in addition to customer data. It would be much easier to keep track of anything and report on your compiled list.

5 – More communication features

You’ll be able to take advantage of all of the functionality of both platforms by combining them. We’re not just talking about syncing contact details and relevant data lists. Some integrations are better for the workflows than others.

Do you have a prospect list in your CRM? Set up workflow triggers to automate follow-ups. Have you ever wanted to send valuable information to your mobile customers? SimpSocial’s SMS/MMS campaigns are worth a shot. Integrating your contact center program with your CRM has two benefits: it reduces manual tasks while also adding useful functionality.

Using SimpSocial in conjunction with your CRM

SimpSocial gives you more options for integrating with your CRM. Collaboration is simple and worthwhile when you work with big CRMs like HubSpot, Pipedrive, Guesty, or Zoho.

We’ve made the integration between SimpSocial and HubSpot so smooth that switching tabs isn’t essential. From HubSpot to SimpSocial, you can call contacts, sync lists, and automate workflows. You can also send unlimited SMS or MMS to your CRM contact lists, monitor contact details, and record updates in a single database with this integration.

Integration of CRM and contact center apps will be beneficial to both you and your customers. Begin integrating your CRM with SimpSocial; we will assist you with this.

SimpSocial’s Next-Generation HubSpot CRM Integrations

With an updated native integration like no other, SimpSocial brings calling, messaging, and outbound automation to HubSpot.

SimpSocial, a cloud-based software provider for modern contact centers, worked with HubSpot to create sophisticated technologies that would triple the success of inside sales teams. HubSpot’s integration of calling, messaging, and outbound automation resources allows CRM users to engage leads faster than ever before.

When you install SimpSocial for HubSpot, you get a sales dialer built right into the CRM, complete with automatic call recording, logging, and voicemail drop-off. Due to the fact that all SimpSocial lines are text-enabled, HubSpot users can use it to nurture customer relationships. The integration adds an SMS/MMS messenger to HubSpot, allowing two-way messaging with today’s mobile-first customers right from the contact page.

Sales teams will benefit from outbound calls and texts to complement their HubSpot email campaigns for as little as $50 per agent per month. With SimpSocial-powered actions added to HubSpot workflows, they can now initiate call and text sequences from their CRM. With smart follow-ups, you can improve response times and conversion rates. When a new lead enters the CRM, sales may send a text to acknowledge it or use SimpSocial to initiate a call, both using the familiar HubSpot workflow settings.

Contacts can be added to the Hubspot workflow.

SimpSocial, as a contact center solution, integrates with HubSpot to automatically bring leads into its communication system, removing manual time-consuming activities from sales teams. SimpSocial users can access their HubSpot lists, which are ready for power dialing. It also exchanges contact ownership details so there’s no confusion about who’s in charge of leads. This means that sales reps can contact up to 500 leads a day with only one click and the help of a dynamic script.

Customer information and contact logs are consolidated with the two-way data sync, giving agents an up-to-date guide when dealing with leads. This not only gives them a smooth experience, but it also gives consumers one. Imagine call representatives using SimpSocial to speak to consumers over the phone; with the latest HubSpot integration, they can also get deal data right in their contact center app to help them close deals as they go.

Inbound calls, of course, are also automatically logged by SimpSocial in HubSpot. Callers can be routed to specific HubSpot contact owners using its smart routing features, allowing companies to build deeper and longer-lasting relationships with their customers. With whisper features, managers can listen in and barge in to assist agents when required.

This HubSpot contact center integration earned all 5-star ratings during its initial launch to current customers, confirming its value in improving sales performance and scaling up outbound efforts. Click-to-call functionality and call recording, according to a real estate SaaS company, are big time savers.

CRM stores a wealth of information that salespeople can use to transform leads into opportunities. Introducing communication tools, especially those that cater to the omnichannel nature of digital sales these days, can assist businesses in converting leads into closed sales. It’s time to turn data into real sales, and thanks to SimpSocial’s new HubSpot integration, keeping on top of customer interactions is easier than ever. Agents will complete a sale in one location, eliminating the need for tab switching and hardware devices. Managers can monitor performance using a live dashboard, which makes it simple to identify laggards and unresponsive leads.

Even better, SimpSocial isn’t planning on stopping at HubSpot. The team is hard at work integrating Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Zoho, among other CRMs, in a similar secure manner. In the coming months, expect more substantial updates!

Watch this video for a short but thorough tour of the SimpSocial x HubSpot integration for sales teams, or visit www.SimpSocial.com to schedule a live demo.

Why Do You Need A Power Dialer In Your Sales Team?

Having the right tools for your sales team is one of many factors that can help you maximize your selling power. Your sales dialer is an effective tool for outbound. Performance, ROI, and the customer-to-agent call ratio are some of the metrics used to find the smartest, quickest, and best dialer for your sales team.

Sales dialers not only eliminate manual dialing from the sales process, but they also increase your sales team’s efficiency, allowing them to achieve greater goals.

1 – It boosts productivity.

Imagine how many dials an agent could make in a day if power dialing could maximize the amount of dials per hour. This not only helps them meet their goals, but it also increases the likelihood of them bringing more customers into the funnel. Power dialers will miss bad numbers and voicemails, increasing the value of calls for your business.

Power dialers keep track of unanswered calls so you can reach them again at a later time or with a different method. You can use call dispositions, identifiers, and notes to monitor activities with power dialing. Contacts will be maximized, and the likelihood of them being a paying customer will be increased. The ‘Follow The Sun’ feature in Simpsocial’s power dialer makes it even smarter, allowing agents to sort leads by timezone, making call schedules for both domestic and international customers more coordinated.

2 – Reluctance is what Lessens refers to as number two.

It’s not comfortable being a salesperson. Aside from strong communication skills, one must know when to insist on a bid, when to reengage, and when to avoid. Call aversion is often developed by sales teams as a result of inadequate call management. Unbeknownst to them, closing further sales necessitates a combination of abilities.

Since it records and monitors calls and results, power dialing will help agents be more successful on any call. Agents will be able to review previous calls, identify areas for improvement, and increase the effectiveness of potential cold calls.

3 – Boosts the number of people who interact.

Smarter sales dialers can increase link rates dramatically thanks to technological advancements. Local presence is a feature of these dialers that allows businesses to dynamically view the local ID of an area to fit the customer’s location. Link rates will increase by 30 to 40 percent when a cold caller’s area code seems more trustworthy to customers.

As the first step in building a partnership with a customer, connection rates are detrimental to cold calling performance. Let’s pretend there were contacts who couldn’t be reached through phone calls. Power dialers may also send these contacts automated voicemail, SMS, or email sequences, allowing agents to respond to them through other channels. This accomplishes two goals: it allows the agents to connect with customers more often, and it gives customers more choices on how they want to be contacted.

 

4 – Improves the quality of calls

A power dialer not only speeds up the process of communicating with customers, but it also allows agents to plan for their next call. Wrap-up time can be customized to give agents time to relax and plan before taking on another call. For both you and your clients, this improves call efficiency.

The majority of power dialers often provide agents with dynamic call scripts to aid in their sales pitch. If you’re fortunate, you’ll find a power dialer that also connects to your CRM. An automated dialer would be able to help you know how to pitch and approach each lead using lead and contact details from your CRM database.

 

5 – It has a positive impact on the bottom line.

Yes, you’ll need to pay a monthly or annual subscription, but the benefits are worth it. Call recording and monitoring tools are included with power dialers, allowing you to evaluate the success and workflow of each call. You can see metrics and reports in real-time because everything is automatically registered. As you progress toward your goals, this will aid your team in defining better sales strategies.

You can set the speed based on your company’s customer-to-sales representative ratio, allowing your agents to concentrate more on developing relationships. Your agents can save time by using automated dialers, allowing them to make more revenue-generating calls. Often included in your subscription kit are TCPA fines and penalties, repairs, and machine upkeep.

SimpSocial’s Power Dialer is a good example of this.

The endless possibilities that a power dialer can provide for your company are worth your sales team’s time. Both of these wonderful features, as well as an unlimited call kit, are available with SimpSocial.

Enjoy designing call campaigns and establishing long-term customer relationships. Made possible by a power dialer that handles all of your duties, and made versatile by CRM software you already use. SimpSocial is much more than a simple sales dialer.

 

Today, learn more about Simpsocial’s powerful dialer. Let’s set up a time for us to meet for a free demo.

Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist, spoke at TEDGlobal 2012 about the psychological research behind power posing in her talk “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are.”

Take a moment to consider this picture.

As a bystander, how does your mood shift as you move from the top row to the bottom row of images? Is there a discernible change? How much more of a difference can posing like each picture make if you could sense a difference just by looking at it?

That is where the “strength” in power posing originates.

Power posing will cause instant changes in your body chemistry, which can influence the way you do your job or communicate with people around you, similar to how smiling sends a positive message to your brain.

Instead of shutting yourself off, high power posing encourages you to give up your body. It’s all about adopting a positive stance, even if you don’t feel confident, in order to appear more strong. Cuddy’s research shows that standing or sitting in a certain position, even for two minutes, increases testosterone levels while lowering cortisol levels. Lower levels of cortisol contribute to reduced anxiety and an enhanced ability to cope with stress in both men and women, while higher levels of testosterone lead to increased feelings of trust in both men and women.

Let’s look at each of the eight power poses one by one –

For Sleeping – Marissa Mayer

The process of being more dominant starts when you sleep. Simply because you slept in a low-power position, sleeping on your side with your arms and legs pulled toward your torso can make you feel extra sensitive or helpless during the day. The Marissa Mayer (named after Marissa Mayer’s popular Vogue photograph) is a high-power position in which you sleep with your legs outstretched and your arms either behind or outstretched. Your awakened self will feel bigger and therefore more strong in this place.

For Pre-Interview Pep, The Performer

This pose is most successful when held for at least two minutes because it begins to activate the above-mentioned positive hormonal changes. Start by planting your feet shoulder width apart and extending your arms in a “V” formation above your shoulders, chin tilted up, as if you were soaking up the glory of winning a coveted gold medal at the Olympics. This is the culmination of all of your hard work. Since this pose may be provocative in some circumstances, such as during a job interview, make sure you do it in a private space like a stairwell or a bathroom stall.

For Speaking Up – Mr. Clean

You give the message to everyone that you are secure in yourself and what you have to say by rolling your shoulders back and folding your arms across your chest. If the shoulders are slumped forward, on the other hand, the effect is less, well, impactful. The look of vulnerability or apprehension emanates from slouched shoulders. If you’re making a topical remark at a lunchroom discussion or hammering home a point at a major conference, the Mr. Clean will help you gain trust.

Obama – For Making a Proposal

The Obama is where you rest your feet on your desk, lean back in your office chair, and tie your hands behind your head, named after former US President Barrack Obama, who was frequently seen with his feet propped up on the Oval Office desk. This gives the impression that you are not only in control, but also confident and at ease in your leadership position.

The Wonder Woman – For Confident Conversation

This is, without a doubt, the classic Wonder Woman pose: broad stance, shoulders back, chest puffed out, head tilted up, and both hands firmly placed on hips. This pose conveys the message, “I’m calm and at ease.”

The Squinch is a negotiating tool.

The Squinch is the newest fad in body language since it shows that trust (or lack thereof) is expressed through the eyes. Squinting your eyes, which is also followed by a head tilt, communicates to those around you that you believe in yourself and the argument you’re making.

The Loomer – For Deal Closing

To demonstrate that you are engaged and in a position of superiority, place your hands on a table and lean forward while standing, transferring your weight onto your hands.

For Conducting an Interview, the CEO

Leaning back in your chair, knees apart, and hands resting behind your neck, similar to The Obama, exudes trust and comfort. The aim of this position is to open up your body while keeping your feet planted. Relaxing an arm on the back of the chair or leaning an ankle on the knee are two variations.

Body language not only affects how others perceive us, but it also triggers physiological changes that impact how we see and feel about ourselves. Posing with authority will improve our self-esteem, which can affect our chances of success. How to Hold a Meeting with Trust has more ideas about how to conduct business with confidence.

Top 10 Sales Motivation Strategies

No matter how good you are at selling, you will face rejection at some point in your career. There is a lot of it. So, how do you keep yourself motivated in sales? The secret to not only surviving but succeeding in such a challenging world has less to do with the amount of deals closed and more to do with you.Our ability to conquer challenges in life, according to psychiatrist, author, and former FBI hostage negotiator Mark Goulston, is the most important predictor of our ability to succeed. “The more constructive and resourceful you are, as well as the stronger your judgment calls and decision-making when faced with a challenge, the greater the trust and faith others would have in you,” Goulston says.

Although he isn’t talking about sales specifically, doesn’t it seem to leap out at you? “The more strategic and resourceful you are (in sales), and the stronger your judgment calls and decision-making are when coping with a challenge (such as staying focused when attempting to close a deal), the more faith and confidence others (future customers, superiors, etc.) will have in you,” for example. If you want to be at the top of your sales game, you must learn how to remain focused, optimistic, and constructive in order to motivate yourself.

Motivation is important for sales success.

In the end, inspiration equals achievement. Motivation is critical for becoming a good salesperson or creating a high-performance team, as it plays a major role in increasing results. Nonetheless, staying motivated in such an unpredictably chaotic environment can be difficult. Check out our Top 10 Ways To Stay Motivated In Sales for some new ideas on how to stay motivated and energized in your company.

1. Self-motivation is essential.

Many people claim that motivation is something you do for yourself rather than something that happens to you. It’s a collection of mental processes that you can manage, even if they’re not easy. If you want to be effective in sales, average motivation will not suffice. You must go above and beyond to stand out and excel as there are at least ten other people willing to do something half-heartedly. Take the daily motivation challenge, which entails asking yourself, “How motivated am I right now?” or “What can I do to become more motivated?” Motivation is a finite resource. Every day, we must review and renew it.

2. Keep in mind why

Motive is the basis of the word motivation. “A motivation to act,” according to the concept of motive. What are your motivations for pursuing a sales career? What prompted you to embark on this journey? What is it that keeps you here? Allowing the monotony of everyday life to dull your desires is a mistake. Don’t get me wrong: a little routine is fine, but you should understand why this particular career path is vital to you. Is it the excitement of acquiring a new client? What about the cash? What drives your enthusiasm for the product? Keep in mind what motivates you in your company.

3. Depend on Past Successes

While rejection is inevitable, you have certainly had a range of previous achievements. Consider moments when you have really excelled and concentrate on that accomplishment. What were some of the early roadblocks? What steps did you take to arrive at your ultimate destination? Find out what makes your top current clients so happy with your product by speaking with a few of them. It’s really motivating to find someone who has already benefited from your service or who adores your product.

The text is being pointed out by a businessman. New Perspective, New Results

4. Sales Success By Positive Self-Talk

Everyone speaks to themselves, but how you speak to yourself when no one else can hear you can have a big impact on your confidence – for good or bad. Many people let their inner critic beat them up on a regular basis, and salespeople are no exception. Put a stop to it! This does not need to be the case. Change your internal conversation from negative to positive to train your inner skeptic to be your personal cheerleader.

5. Surround yourself with success and motivation.

It’s a well-known fact that you behave like the people with whom you associate the most. It will be almost difficult for you to rise above into sales greatness if you spend your time with unmotivated and uninspired colleagues. It is important to surround yourself with successful people. Why not get up from where you’re standing? Be the motivator that encourages others to reach their full potential. Motivation, like mischief, enjoys business. To make selling more fun, create competition, exude energy, and convince others.

6. Get Moving In Sales And Stay Motivated

Since your physical condition is directly related to how you feel, changing your physical state is one of the quickest ways to alter your mental state. Endorphins are hormones released by the body when you exercise. These endorphins, like morphine, produce a pleasurable sensation in the body. Do you have a lack of energy? Go for a stroll, jump up and down, scream out loud, smile at a stranger, concentrate your breathing…whatever it takes to get some oxygen into your lungs. Simply get going!

On a desert road, there is a sign that says “Work Hard, Dream Big.”

7. Have a Big Dream

When it comes to sales targets, a lack of motivation will not inspire or push you to go above and beyond. It can just get you up to the level of mediocrity at best. Since they intend to succeed, top salespeople set lofty objectives. They want something to strive for, something to channel their energy into. “Only those who dare to fail greatly will ever succeed greatly,” said Robert F. Kennedy. Set big goals, put in a lot of effort, and you’ll be amazed at the results.

8. Be aware of your numbers

If you make a seemingly insignificant 20 calls per day on four days of the week, you would have made a significant 320 calls in one month. If you get 15 yeses out of every 320 calls you make, you’ve cracked the code on your typical sales formula. Rather than being frustrated by the many no’s you’re receiving, learn your metrics, how to use them to your advantage, and start estimating the number of successes you can anticipate.

9. Invest in yourself and motivate yourself.

Investing in your own professional growth is one way to get ahead of the competition in this industry. Personal development, whether it’s buying a sales training book, listening to a sales training podcast, or attending a sales training conference, can only help you develop yourself and your sales technique. The onslaught of new knowledge you’re receiving will help to counteract your bad memories by flooding your mind with optimistic ideas. When you invest in your own personal growth, you’re telling yourself that you think you’re valuable, which boosts your motivation.

10. Provide yourself with a motivator

Rewards in and of themselves are motivating because they condition the actions you want to see replicated. Motivate yourself by rewarding yourself for working hard, putting in long hours, winning, learning new skills, or gaining experience. Reward yourself because you deserve it, and don’t forget to acknowledge and celebrate small wins as well. Emotional motivation accounts for a large portion of motivation, and emotion is a strong motivator. Fuel your passion because it is an emotion.

How Does Contact Center Automation Help Humanize the Customer Experience?

Some people believe that as technology becomes more prevalent, it will become less human-centered. We’ve come to equate robots and technology as villains to humanity thanks to futuristic movies and films.

People are still scratching their heads at contact centers that use machine learning and AI, but automation has shown that there is a happy medium. Although technology will never completely replace agents, it will undoubtedly improve customer interactions through smarter and automated processes.

 

What is the concept of contact center automation?

Contact center automation consists of processes and systems that help in the improvement of contact center operations by removing certain manual activities. Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are used in automation to see and understand patterns of repetitive tasks, allowing machines to complete them with little to no human assistance.

 

If you think this is all new to you, know that automation in contact centers began long before we recognized it. Via the use of interactive voice responders (IVRs), contact centers began automating customer responders, giving rise to automated speech recognition (ASR). It has proved its effectiveness in routing phone calls to the appropriate agents or offices, taking this job off the hands of the receptionist.

 

Automation has become useful in creating improved customer interactions as communication technology progresses. Chatbots have made messaging network interaction quicker and more accessible around the clock.

 

Businesses are provided less expensive ways to handle more clients, obviating the need for other agent duties. This means agents will have more time to engage with high-value leads, close more deals, and respond to customer inquiries without being distracted by other tasks piling up on their desks.

 

How can automation make the consumer experience more human?

Many people may find this ironic, but automation has the ability to humanize customer experiences and therefore increase customer loyalty.

 

Contact centers are dealing with a flood of consumers who seek urgent attention as people learn to communicate with companies online. Agents can handle calls, emails, and other messages more effectively with the aid of automation. Here’s how to do it.

 

1 – Recognize the customer’s buying process

The ‘awareness’ or ‘prospecting’ process for sales is at the top of your sales funnel, where potential buyers are exploring your brand for the first time. Automation can assist at this point by monitoring customer actions. Agents will research trends and habits and see how to handle and customer using ready-made data and analytics. This would help them sell more efficiently.

Calls and texts that have been recorded, like any other data, can be used to determine the efficacy of a business model. Management can see how consumers are reacting to their actions and see it through the eyes of their agents by listening to recorded conversations. Understanding your customers is important for attracting new ones and retaining them for the long haul.

2 -Improving important links

Automation also enables companies to respond to changing consumer demands. There’s a local presence that senses a customer’s location and shows the appropriate area code. Customers regard a number with their area code as more trustworthy, which can boost your link rates.

Via automatic dialers, automation plays a critical role in dialing numbers. Dialers were created to increase the value of calls and are still commonly used in contact centers. The power dialer, for example, has been upgraded to be smarter and more sophisticated while still allowing agents full control. A power dialer can even auto-skip voicemails and bad numbers, ensuring that agents are linked to actual customers.

3 – Increasing the amount of time customers spend talking to you

The more job agents have, the less time they would have to speak to customers. If talking to customers is just a “part of the work,” rather than the entire job, you might be putting your CX or sales team through needless hardships. Since building consumer relationships is such an important part of the sales process, agents should devote all of their time to it.

Tasks are expected to multiply as a company grows. However, don’t expect your agents to absorb anything. You’re offering your agents the ability to better handle their time with automation. Allow them to set up automation triggers for scheduled text blasts and voicemail follow-ups instead of manually following up through calls, emails, or texts as they usually do. Agents can also work together more effectively if call dispositions and contact details are automatically registered in your system.

4 – Call Queue Management

No matter how skilled the CX team is, if there are too many callers to manage, the process and the entire company will suffer. You can also use automation to let the program handle call queues and wait times.

You can, for example, send callback text messages to any customer in the queue. During peak hours, automatically sending a text message to a customer requesting a callback will help minimize irate calls. During the call routing method, you can also rely on automation. Based on agent expertise or availability, you can route calls to the appropriate destination.

5 – Making the most of all available platforms

Customers were introduced to a new environment through digital communication. This necessitates companies keeping up with current trends. Although this increased the number of ways to meet consumers, it also made it more difficult for the agents to manage customers across channels.

Automation was able to help with this. Agents can also manage phone calls, messages, conversations, and emails from a single location. Turnkey omnichannel contact centers make it easier for teams to react to customers more quickly. You will optimize the use of various networks in reaching out to consumers because everything is planned for you. It won’t be over with one missed call or email. You’ll be able to set up automatic follow-ups and connect with consumers via their preferred platforms.

SimpSocial’s internal automation

SimpSocial is no stranger to customer loyalty. It is, in our opinion, a necessary move for companies to take in order to keep up with a rapidly changing environment. That’s why we’ve created tools and features to assist the contact center in adapting to automation and working with it. Here, you can fully appreciate the benefits of automation.

Discover our most intelligent and quickest Power Dialer, which is designed to help sales teams triple their sales targets. Our process automation tools help you find more efficient ways to handle interactions while keeping customers engaged. Our user-friendly platform also adapts to major CRMs, allowing you to integrate, handle, and use them as a single entity.

At SimpSocial, automation is our lifeline. We’re here to assist you in embracing it and using it to humanize your business. You can schedule a demo with one of our friendly, human members to learn more about SimpSocial.

10 Ways to Have a Good Time Selling

Let’s face it: selling can be a pain in the neck. Call after call, knock after knock, day after day, week after week. It’s easy to get bored with it all.

 

Is this, however, the only option? Let’s change that and make selling more enjoyable.

 

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that if you’re not having fun, your prospects aren’t likely to be either.

 

Selling is, after all, a matter of perspective. You can either adopt the attitude of “Who is going to assist ME in meeting my monthly quota?” or you can adopt the attitude of “Who is going to assist ME in meeting my monthly quota?” OR, “How can I help someone solve THEIR problem by sharing this amazing product/service?”

 

Can you see the distinction?

 

Both methods want to sell, but only one can have fun doing so because their main aim is to help others rather than just making a sale. Trust is developed, relationships are established, and a mutual benefit is created.

 

 

Take a look at the 10 things you can do to sell AND have fun at the same time in the following list.

 

1. Concentrate on the Issue

A maze’s solution is discovered by a businessman.

Begin by identifying a particular issue that your prospect is having, and then confidently sell your product because you know it will be of real value and purpose to them. This means that instead of marketing to everyone and everyone, you can concentrate your efforts on companies that need the solution you have.

 

Contrary to common opinion, the role is to assist people in doing what they want to do, not to persuade them to do what you want. Stop talking and start listening (and taking notes if you can), because they can give you useful hints on what they want. Pose inquiries. In the not-too-distant future, where do they expect to be? Is their new provider a good fit for them? What would they like to see done differently? You can’t fix their dilemma until you first figure out what it is.

 

2. Show Empathy

Selling, as I previously said, isn’t about sharing your story; it’s about listening to theirs. Take an interest in resolving the issues that your customers are experiencing. Find out what is causing them distress and how you can help them. Remember that they’re looking for a solution, not a rundown of all your features and choices.

 

3. Offer your business for sale

While the first half of the sales equation focuses on the need your potential customer has for your product or service, the second half focuses on what it would be like for them to work with or purchase from your business. Is it simple to buy your product? How will you rate your customer service? Do they have a sense of being heard and respected?

 

As a salesperson, you will always elicit an emotion from your customers or prospects, whether it is positive or negative. Make sale enjoyable by using a constructive engaging strategy that will result in a positive interaction. This link is essential for establishing the trust and confidence you’ll need to compete for their company.

 

4. Get to Know Your Client

Do You Know Your Customers? is written in the hand with a pen.

 

When it comes to customers, there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” solution. Each has its own set of conditions, desires, and staff, to name a few. Again, ask those questions that will help you have a clear understanding of your prospects (Who are their ultimate decision makers?) and their struggles (What is something they wish they had?). If you can understand their problems better than they do, it will be much easier for you to sell your solution to them.

 

5. Learn Above and Beyond

Become knowledgeable about the things your customer cares about. With Google you can learn the basics of almost anything in a matter of minutes with the simple click of a button. When you know your audience, you know what they like. Again, it’s that personal touch that helps you form a good relationship.

 

6. Create that “Wow” Factor

Excited woman raising her arms while working on her laptop in her office

Potential customers are sizing you up just as much as the product or service that you are selling. Find ways that you can overdeliver on your promises – doing so will help customers come to trust you faster. It is the difference between expectation and what is actually delivered that determines how people will feel about doing business with you.

 

Make their relationship with you one-of-a-kind. For example, arrange for them to participate in a fun activity like wine tasting, purchase them tickets to a sporting event, or buy them a best selling book. Cater to your crowd. If you have gone above and beyond while learning about what makes your client tick as #5 said, then this part should be a piece of cake.

 

7. Communicate Often

There are three things your customer should always know – 1) What just happened, 2) What is happening, and 3) What is going to happen next, and by when. Taking the time to keep your customers informed will demonstrate to them that you value the investment they have made in your product or service. A side effect of such constant communication is being able to upsell without the typical amount effort or pressure because clients are simply learning about all the cool things that are up and coming, and make the choice to add on themselves.

 

8. Look at the Big Picture

By looking at the big picture in your relationship with your client, you are able to focus on the lifetime value they can add to your company. You do not have to manipulate them into buying more than they need or are comfortable doing right at the beginning.

 

This stance allows you to get your foot in the door with any type of yes, even if it is not a wholehearted, all-in-one. You are able to show them you are more than just a salesperson, you are an ally and friend.

 

9. Reward Referrals

Business man pointing the text Refer a Friend

Referrals are the best kind of business. This is because people come to you after being sent from a trusted source, whether that be a neighbor, friend, or family member. Because you have made selling fun, people LOVE to tell others about “their guy,”. it’s amazing how a little referral can incentivize people to send business your way. Reward their efforts, even if it is as simple as 10% off their next purchase. Every little bit helps make selling fun. For help on setting up your own referral rewards program, check out this blog post for some pointers and a free checklist.

 

10. Just Say No

When all is said and done, not everyone you meet will be worth your time and effort. Do not be afraid to say no to bad customers who seem to constantly be stealing your energy, enthusiasm, time, motivation, or creativity. Let them be someone else’s headache. Firing those customers who only drag you down will save you time, money, and energy and will leave you happier in the end. More business doesn’t always mean better business.

The Crucial Function of Follow-Up

Let’s start with a straightforward but profound query. How much time and effort, if any, do you devote to following up on leads after they’ve been submitted?

Why Are You Inquiring?

This is merely a rhetorical query designed to get you to consider your current follow-up procedures. Although constant communication is an essential part of the sales process, it is also an aspect to which few people devote much, if any, thought or time.

 

According to research, only 2% of transactions are made on the first touch between a salesperson and a lead. Even then, the small percentage of those who eventually close a deal do so just because the leads have done their homework and know exactly what they want. Basically, the agent just had to turn up.

 

After the initial sales touch, several studies have shown that it takes at least five ongoing follow-up attempts before a customer says yes. FIVE STARS! From the fifth to the twelfth touch, nearly 80% (yes, 80%!) of all sales are made!

 

Take a look at the following figures:

 

After receiving one “no,” 44% of salespeople give up.

After two “no’s,” 22% of people give up.

After three “no’s,” 14% of people give up.

After four “no’s,” 12% of people give up.

As a result, after hearing ‘no,’ ‘not yet,’ or ‘not now,’ up to four times, 92 percent of salespeople give up. That is to say:

 

Just 8% of salespeople are responsible for 80% of all sales!

 

Does it make you wish you had been more enthusiastic about maintaining a constant conversation with your leads? It certainly does for me. Persistence, my friend, is the key to making it into the top 10%!

 

Wooden sign that says “Go Further” with a picture of a paradise in the background.

 

7 Effortless Follow-Up Techniques

So, how do you make sure you’re following up in a timely and effective manner? The seven techniques mentioned below will help you shift follow-up from the back burner to the top of your priority list!

 

1. Make a schedule for follow-up.

Clearly, follow-up isn’t something that happens by accident. Make a schedule that shows when you can make calls and send emails. Leads won’t fall right between your fingertips any longer.

 

You’ll only need two types of contact schedules at first:

 

Active Leads: These are attentive leads who are willing to purchase in the near future.

Passive Leads: These are qualified leads with a long-term purchase horizon.

These schedules are often planned out for up to a year. But, depending on the level of interest shown and the prospect’s current needs, the frequency and purpose of communications can change over time.

 

2. Use a variety of follow-up methods.

The aim is to contact prospects in a variety of ways in order to avoid getting lost in the shuffle of competition and to remain on the prospect’s mind. Snail mail, emails, phone calls, messages, tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn posts, or any other suitable social contact tool may be used to reach out.

 

3. It’s All About Timing

Certain days of the week, and even times of the day, are busier than others for us. When trying to make a link with a prospect, these are the moments to avoid because anything you say is likely to go totally unnoticed, and not on purpose.

 

Graph 1

 

The highest email open rates and phone contact rates tend to be on Wednesday and Thursday. According to study, the best email weekday is Thursday, which has a 26 percent higher open rate than the worst email weekday, Monday. Thursday is also 49% higher for phone touch rates than Tuesday, which is the worst day for phone contacts.

 

2nd graph

 

The bottom line is that if you time your method of interaction within the confines of these communication sweet spots, you’ll have a better chance of making contact or getting a response from a prospect. While this may be useful in some cases, research shows that consumers who are approached within five minutes of sending an interest form, regardless of the time of day, are more likely to turn into a transaction. Giving immediate attention demonstrates how much you appreciate their time and emphasizes your excellent customer service.

 

4. Build email template designs

Create templates to help you with the follow-up process, starting with your most popular and repetitive emails. Keep in mind that these aren’t intended to take the place of your work; rather, they’re meant to help you with it. It’s also important to personalize the message so that it doesn’t come across as impersonal.

 

This will reduce the amount of creative work required at each stage of the follow-up process, leaving you with no reason not to contact your prospect as soon as possible. What could be better than improved email efficiency and accuracy with less effort?

 

5. Obtain permission to go on with your follow-up.

I hope it’s self-evident that if anyone really asks you to avoid contacting them in some way, you should. However, it’s not always clear whether or not the prospect wants to keep in touch.

 

This is where obtaining permission to proceed comes into play.

 

By requesting their permission to continue following up, you reduce the chances of being a bother and losing whatever goodwill you’ve built up so far. “Do you mind if I check in with you in two months to see how things are going?” for example. or “Would it be okay if I sent you an email in a week or so with more information?”

 

Ending each discussion by asking permission to proceed would build an environment of mutual respect and consideration, regardless of how motivated a prospect appears to be. If the answer is no, at the very least you’ll know where you stand with them. If the answer is yes, it would be easier to follow up understanding that it is desired on the other end.

 

6. It’s Important to Use Relevant Content

I’ve already discussed the importance of varying your communication methods, but it’s also important to vary the quality of your messages in order to establish more meaningful interactions. What is the reason for this? And no matter how many times you ask, “Are you ready to buy?” you can only ask it so many times until it irritates your prospect, which is particularly true if they are already dealing with many other businesses. The reality is that people buy when they’re ready to buy, not when you’re ready to sell.

 

So, how do you go about it?

 

Send them a range of valuable content that will help you stay in touch while also adding value to their lives or businesses. While creating good content requires a significant amount of time on your part, it is an investment that will pay off in the long run. Such interactions will show them that you’ve been thinking about their company and will remind them of how you can assist them in succeeding.

 

When a customer is ready to spend money, they would most likely choose the business that is at the top of their mind – that is, the one with which they have had the most recent, regular, or meaningful interaction.

 

7. Keep track of how many people open and click on your emails.

Knowing whether and when an email has been opened, as well as the click-through rates it has created, gives you a lot more information about what your prospects are interested in.

 

Any potential explanations for low open rates include your subject line not being important or interesting enough to your prospect, or you sending too many or too few emails, causing your email to be overlooked. It’s important to strike a balance!

 

Creating relevant content and increasing click-through rates go hand in hand. The more useful and engaging the material, the more likely your prospect will continue reading. It’s also a good idea to avoid phrases like “press here” because they leave the reader unsure about where the link will take them. To get them there, they must first understand where you want to take them. You could also get more click-throughs if you provide several links to the same material in a single email, giving the reader several chances to click.

 

With sketched heavy and muscled muscles, a young businessman wonders.

Continue to be brave.

In the business world, agents do not hope to close significant transactions in a single conversation. Humans like to hear something several times before it really sinks in, and the business world is no exception. There has long been a limiting assumption that following up with a lead isn’t worth the time. This belief is absolutely false, as shown by the statistics! Follow up on leads with tenacity. For those who persevere, there are offers to be had!

Finding Your Personal Selling Style

What is your approach to selling?

If you’re applying for a job in sales, you could be asked a question like this during the interview process. What makes you stand out from the crowd may be how you react, how well you know your style, and your natural abilities. However, you must first discover your own specific selling style before you can express it.

 

Why is it crucial to understand what kind of salesperson you are?

Thousands and thousands of salespeople are hitting their targets without giving a second thought about how they sell. But this is a blunder! You become uncomfortable and less productive when you operate outside of your primary selling style (whether consciously or unknowingly). You run the risk of being unsuccessful if you do this on a regular basis.

 

From behind, a group of business people and a man facing the camera are separated.

 

Regardless of the selling time, location, or product, the selling style is a reasonably stable reflection of what your natural instincts are with a consumer, from introduction to close. It’s how you make a link with your client. Your decisions have an impact on how the consumer reacts. Selling becomes simpler and more successful when you discover and create the right selling style for you. You’ll be more conscious of your own style and able to adapt it more easily depending on the situation, making you more successful in achieving your objectives.

 

What are the four types of sales?

There are two styles of salespeople in the world: aggressive salespeople that make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen, and reactive or passive salespeople that normally wait for the customer to make the first step. Hunters or Farmers are the names given to proactive salespeople, while Shopkeepers or Repairman are the names given to reactive salespeople.

 

The Pursuer

 

The Hunter thrives on exploring new possibilities, breaking down barriers, and looking for the next big break. They are often looking ahead for what’s next, even at the cost of an opportunity that is right in front of their eyes. They succeed in quantity rather than consistency. With that said, because of their “go get ’em” attitude, they are the best kind to have around when your sales funnel is clean.

 

Aggressive, determined, highly concentrated, and self-assured are just a few of the Hunter’s descriptive adjectives. They may become so preoccupied with their own agenda that they lose sight of what is best for their customers. Hunters may seem disorganized, but they dislike paperwork and keeping accurate records, leaving managers in the dark about their success.

 

Hunters aren’t known for being overly inventive, preferring to stick to tried-and-true methods of generating revenue. In their attempts to close a deal, they are brazen, decisive, and open.

 

The Landlord

 

When farmers sustain or nurture accounts or opportunities, they prosper. They’re set up for the long run, generating long-term revenue from current accounts. They appear to go all out whenever they get a sales lead, and they often go out of their way to help their customers because they genuinely believe in keeping a valuable relationship.

 

When sales are harder to come by, farmers prefer to whine or wish away their days in the hopes of better sales. Rather than getting their hands dirty and making something happen, they choose to simply wait it out. They would prefer to focus on sustaining relationships with their existing marginal accounts rather than starting something new.

 

Farmers, unlike Hunters, are very inventive when it comes to persuading customers to purchase. They offer engaging and creative presentations.

 

The Retailer

 

Shopkeepers have a cheerful demeanor and enjoy assisting customers. They aren’t detectives, so they won’t try to figure out what a prospect really wants. A Shopkeeper, on the other hand, is the ideal person to help a prospect find what they’re looking for if they already know what they’re looking for. Helping others is a strong suit of mine!

 

The Shopkeeper selling style is defined by adjectives such as pleasant, service-oriented, and hospitable. They are people pleasers who, to an unhealthy degree, believe they must be liked and admired by their prospects. Shopkeepers are ideally suited for inside sales because they have a more introverted personality. They prefer to respond to others rather than initiate first contact.

 

Shopkeepers don’t want to be seen as rude or pushy because of their friendly demeanor. They prefer to wait for a customer to purchase rather than force a deal, making closing difficult for them.

 

The Mechanic

 

Repairmen, as the name suggests, are usually professional in nature. Although they are extremely useful as a technological resource, they are rarely effective salespeople. This is because they are most effective when speaking with others in their field, which is usually engineers, accountants, computer analysts, or other technical professionals. Speaking with someone who shares their interests allows them to show their superior technological abilities and “repair” the other person’s issue.

 

A sale can result if a Repairman interacts with another technical individual (though it is not guaranteed.) If they’re dealing with a non-technical person, however, they’re more than likely speaking in a different language and aren’t on the same page, which usually leads to a no-sale.

 

While a Repairman can be trained to be a salesperson, it is important to keep in mind that this is outside of their comfort zone. They don’t think they need to market the commodity because of its technological supremacy.

 

Types of Sales: Primary and Secondary

As the name suggests, most salespeople spend the majority of their time in their primary sales mode, which is where they feel most at ease. A person’s secondary sales mode is something of a contingency mode, one that a salesperson is unlikely to use unless there is a compelling reason to do so. If an individual hasn’t found or established a secondary sales form, no amount of external incentive can persuade them to change their selling style.

 

Where do you perform best? Where do you feel most at ease? Everyone has their own selling style; it’s up to you to figure out what yours is and how to use it to your advantage. Find out which style, or combination of styles, fits you best, and then go for it!

Fundamentals of Sales that Will Help You Succeed

It is common knowledge that athletes who succeed in their sport do so by mastering the fundamentals. These players didn’t get to the top of their game by sacrificing fundamental skills in favor of something more complex or creative. They studied the fundamentals, practiced them, and then applied them faithfully. Let’s take baseball as an example. Experts point out that winning often comes down to the skilled execution of simple things like catching and throwing the ball or running bases, particularly during crucial playoff games. Good salespeople, like great athletes, excel at the fundamentals.

There isn’t such a thing as a naturally gifted salesperson. All who has achieved success in the sales world has had to learn at some stage, and they all began with the basics. These fundamental elements can make or break your success, even if they are easily overlooked, dismissed, or swept aside when life gets wild. There are no shortcuts when it comes to the fundamentals.

 

Here are seven sales fundamentals that must not be overlooked if you want to be successful:

 

Set a high bar for yourself.

Make sure you’re setting clear goals to help you achieve your regular, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual objectives. If you give a man a bow and arrow and tell him to “Shoot!” he’ll probably ask, “At what?” There is no point in shooting if you don’t have a goal. Setting targets gives you direction. Make sure you’re setting realistic goals that will help you meet your objectives when you plan your short and long-term calendars. And don’t forget to shoot for the stars. People don’t fail because they target too high and miss; they fail because they aim too low and strike, according to a quote by Les Brown. Share your objectives with those who will keep you accountable, and don’t be afraid to set lofty goals. Keeping track of the numbers on a regular basis necessitates a degree of concentration and discipline that few people possess.

 

Prepare ahead of time.

Many salespeople work by the seat of their pants, focusing only on the particular day or week rather than the big picture. Make preparations ahead of time. Plot out your schedule for the coming month or quarter, and then stick to it. Setting objectives without a strategy for achieving them is akin to deciding to climb Mount Everest without a single day of preparation, a map or guide, or any of the appropriate gear. The sad reality is that most salespeople struggle to meet their objectives because they lack a clear strategy that outlines how to meet certain objectives in the time and manner that they desire.

 

Pre-call preparation should be planned ahead of time as well. Conduct thorough research on the organization you are attempting to contact in order to have more intelligent and beneficial interactions with them when you do communicate.

 

Prospect on a regular basis.

Prospecting is one of the most undervalued aspects of sales, despite the fact that it is one of the most significant. Please take a seat. Make a phone call. Email is a type of electronic communication. Demonstrate your abilities. Much of this should be done on a regular basis. Do whatever it takes to find potential customers for your goods and services by reaching out to the right people. By prospecting for new business every day, top sales reps regularly boost their sales. Every. Single. Day.

 

Concentrate on the customer.

One of the most common errors salespeople make is concentrating on what they’re trying to sell instead of what the prospect says they want or need. Pay attention to what these potential clients are saying to you. Force yourself to see it from the customer’s point of view. Reduce the amount of time you spend talking about yourself, your product, or your point of view. Concentrate on the client. Why don’t they see the value in your services? Is it that they already have something similar, don’t have the funds, or don’t see the value in it? It’s all about people in sales, so get in touch with them and strike up a conversation. Customers can buy from you only if they believe in you, love you, and like you. When you concentrate on the prospect rather than the figures, the numbers will inevitably obey.

 

Maintain Contact on a Regular Basis.

Maintain contact with your prospects after the initial contact call or meeting. It’s not a one-time deal when it comes to sales. To keep a rival from squeezing in, find ways to keep your name or company’s name in front of your customers’ minds. Many transactions have been lost in the shuffle due to a lack of follow-up by the sales rep. You can’t wait for a prospect or client to contact you; you have to make the first move.

 

Expect a lot of pushback.

Objections are a normal part of the sales process, but just because a potential buyer has some reservations about your product does not mean the deal is permanently lost. You will no longer be caught off guard by their reluctances if you anticipate and prepare for popular objections, and you will be able to provide perspectives that will help will their resistance. Prepare to ask them questions in return, questions that will cause them to think more deeply or even reconsider their answer. Before making a sales call, top performers foresee objections and plan their answer.

 

Know who the competitors are.

If you don’t know the ins and outs of your rivals, how do you know if your product is the most cost-effective, fastest, or only one like it on the market? Study the competition’s strengths and weaknesses, and make a special note of stuff you’re doing that your competitors aren’t – this is perhaps the most compelling selling point!

 

That is everything there is to it. None, absolutely nothing, can replace the fundamentals, despite the fact that many people try to find a faster or more enticing path to the top. The successful execution of these seven fundamentals is often what determines the effectiveness of a sales campaign, and those who truly master the basics are the ones who can go the furthest.

5 Popular B2B Sales Objections and How to Address Them

What is the first thing the company does when a new sales manager is hired? I’m guessing the sales manager spends a significant amount of time educating the new employee on the ins and outs of the product or service. But do they ever delve into the actual art of selling, something that would aid in the development of a sales rep’s actual selling foundation? Salespeople are mostly untrained on how to deal with consumer objections.

According to SiriusDecisions, 54% of sales reps struggle to meet their targets. For such a high percentage of them, it’s important that they learn how to object. If a prospect shows apprehension or poses a possible objection, all is not lost.

 

Sales reps who are familiar with common objections are better armed with tactics or solutions to help them overcome certain possible roadblocks. They are no longer caught off balance, unsure of what to say, but instead are prepared to deal with any opposition a prospect can throw at them.

 

At the screen, a smiling customer service agent with an afro wears a headset.

 

Here are five of the most common B2B sales objections, along with simple solutions for how to deal with them.

 

1. “It’s just not the right moment.”

Explain to the prospect that, while you realize they aren’t looking for your product or one close to it right now, what you have to offer will help them run their business more efficiently. What company wouldn’t want things to go a bit more smoothly?

 

If their business is going through a major transition, such as a technological implementation or an acquisition, find out when it will be completed and offer to follow up with them once things have returned to a more normal pace.

 

Most importantly, don’t forget to follow up! Make sure you follow up with someone if you say you’ll follow up next month. Make a calendar invite or a CRM mission, then follow through with it.

 

2. “I am not in a position to make such a decision.”

Even if the person you’re talking to isn’t the one who makes the final decision, they can still pass along important details about your product to someone who is. Furthermore, if they are heavily involved in the environment you are inquiring about, they will almost certainly engage in the decision-making process at some stage. After you’ve assisted this individual in seeing the need, request that the final decision maker be included on the next call.

 

3. “We don’t have enough money in the budget for this.”

The reality is that there is an easy way to completely stop hearing this objection: don’t ask any budget questions until a need has been established.

 

First and foremost, teach the salespeople to concentrate on the value you’re providing to potential customers. Discuss ROI and how other companies have had measurable outcomes, if appropriate.

 

If money continues to be the only barrier between you and them, find out when they set their budget for the coming year and follow up with them often in the months leading up to that date. If at all necessary, be inventive with the funding choices or provide them with a temporary credit to try out your product or service.

 

4. “We already have a system in place that is identical to this.”

If they already use a similar product to yours, the answer is as easy as asking for more information on their new product.

 

Reps will understand what prospects like and hate about their current approach by learning more about their current situation, and will be better able to devise strategic responses to convey the benefits of converting to their product or service.

 

It is important for sales reps to be aware of their competitors. If this objection comes up during a call, it may be helpful to give each of your reps a cheat sheet of key discrepancies between yourself and your rivals to highlight.

 

5. “We’re not interested,” says the narrator.

When this objection arises right away, the main problem is usually not what is being discussed. For example, the person could be on their way to a meeting or rushing to meet a deadline and simply does not have the time or energy to discuss implementing anything new right now. Train your team to figure out if they’re really connecting at the wrong moment.

 

It’s also likely that the person you’ve been connected with isn’t the right person for your product discussion, similar to what we’ve already mentioned. Train your sales rep to respectfully inquire about the person’s involvement in the subject you’d like to address. Each organization is different in its nature and may have different decision makers than the usual, so even though your sales rep did their homework before calling, they may not have connected with the right person. It’s possible that the individual is uninterested in your product because it has nothing to do with their job.

 

Why put it off any longer? Right now, train your sales development team to deal with these popular, but easily overcomeable sales objections. It takes time to master the art of managing objections, and frequent monitoring and coaching will help to strengthen these best practices. Reps must be imaginative in order to overcome objections; knowing these 5 common sales objections will give them the trust they require. It can also mean the difference between missing the sales goal and blowing it out of the park

10 Ways to Convince Doubting Prospects

Anyone who has worked in sales for any amount of time knows that buyers are naturally cynical. Buyers should be suspicious, to be sure. They are tasked with safeguarding the company’s interests, while you, the sales agent, are an unknown quantity. Here are several steps a salesperson may take to resolve skepticism and convert customers as soon as possible.

How to Convince Doubting Prospects

Show prospects case studies on how the company has assisted others in saving money and/or improving operations. The more relevant the case study topic (in terms of application and geographic location) is to your prospect, the better.

If your company has consumer feedback on its website or on third-party review sites, submit the links to your doubtful prospect as soon as possible. More compelling than any sales collateral is what happy customers have to say about your results.

Organize a tour of the facility for the prospect. This clearly identifies you as a “real” company, and it allows the prospect to meet other members of your team. When a prospect sees you have depth on the bench and knows some of the players, it boosts their morale and the overall relationship.

Organize a tour of a customer’s facility for the prospect. This is similar to integrating a case study and a facility tour into one. When a prospect sees firsthand how you have helped another organization achieve success, he or she will begin to believe in you. Believe in yourself.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep. When salespeople make broad, grandiose statements that promise results that are too good to be true, they can engender suspicion. Even if such assertions are right, it is preferable to tone down the rhetoric and present reality, forecasts, and predictions in a moderated tone.

Buyers should test the waters with trial orders and on-site monitoring before committing to a large purchase. Trial orders and on-site trials are often avoided by businesses because they entail taking a risk and/or spending a significant amount of time. It’s a good investment, though, if a few hundred dollars opens the door to thousands of dollars in sales.

Examining warranties and promises naturally helps skeptics build the trust they need to make a purchase decision. The sales representative must strike a careful balance in explaining the warranties and/or guarantees without overemphasizing them. If warranties and assurances are the main focus of the sales pitch, the consumer can conclude, “This product must not be very good if the main selling point is that I can return it.”

Demonstrations and samples speak louder than words. Demonstrations are unquestionably the better choice of the two. You lose control of the sale when you leave or mail samples to a customer; you never know if or when the buyer will try the product. During a presentation, you can highlight main features and advantages while also gauging the buyer’s reaction.

Be thorough, straightforward, and fast. Sloppy detail control and evasiveness are two items that are likely to turn a skeptic off. When a prospect asks a question, respond simply, succinctly, and honestly — even if the response isn’t exactly what you think the buyer wants to hear. Furthermore, if the buyer requests that you follow up on five products, make sure you follow up on all five and do so promptly. During the sales process, efficient and fair job signals to the consumer that the success will be the same if he or she becomes a customer.

Patience is needed. Some skeptics can prolong the sales process by asking questions and assigning follow-up tasks purely to see how proactive you are (see point No. 9). As a result, patience pays off. While dealing with skeptics, salespeople’s natural instinct is to press harder. Skeptics, on the other hand, need to go at their own speed and dislike being hurried. Keep that in mind, and your closing rate with skeptics will skyrocket.

Let’s start with a straightforward but profound query. How much time and effort, if any, do you devote to following up on leads after they’ve been submitted?

Let’s start with a straightforward but profound query. How much time and effort, if any, do you devote to following up on leads after they’ve been submitted?

Why Are You Inquiring?

This is merely a rhetorical query designed to get you to consider your current follow-up procedures. Although constant communication is an essential part of the sales process, it is also an aspect to which few people devote much, if any, thought or time.

According to research, only 2% of transactions are made on the first touch between a salesperson and a lead. Even then, the small percentage of those who eventually close a deal do so just because the leads have done their homework and know exactly what they want. Basically, the agent just had to turn up.

After the initial sales touch, several studies have shown that it takes at least five ongoing follow-up attempts before a customer says yes. FIVE STARS! From the fifth to the twelfth touch, nearly 80% (yes, 80%!) of all sales are made!

 

Take a look at the following figures:

After receiving one “no,” 44% of salespeople give up.

After two “no’s,” 22% of people give up.

After three “no’s,” 14% of people give up.

After four “no’s,” 12% of people give up.

As a result, after hearing ‘no,’ ‘not yet,’ or ‘not now,’ up to four times, 92 percent of salespeople give up. That is to say:

 

Just 8% of salespeople are responsible for 80% of all sales!

Does it make you wish you had been more enthusiastic about maintaining a constant conversation with your leads? It certainly does for me. Persistence, my friend, is the key to making it into the top 10%!

Wooden sign that says “Go Further” with a picture of a paradise in the background.

 

7 Effortless Follow-Up Techniques

So, how do you make sure you’re following up in a timely and effective manner? The seven techniques mentioned below will help you shift follow-up from the back burner to the top of your priority list!

 

1. Make a schedule for follow-up.

Clearly, follow-up isn’t something that happens by accident. Make a schedule that shows when you can make calls and send emails. Leads won’t fall right between your fingertips any longer.

 

You’ll only need two types of contact schedules at first:

Active Leads: These are attentive leads who are willing to purchase in the near future.

Passive Leads: These are qualified leads with a long-term purchase horizon.

These schedules are often planned out for up to a year. But, depending on the level of interest shown and the prospect’s current needs, the frequency and purpose of communications can change over time.

 

2. Use a variety of follow-up methods.

The aim is to contact prospects in a variety of ways in order to avoid getting lost in the shuffle of competition and to remain on the prospect’s mind. Snail mail, emails, phone calls, messages, tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn posts, or any other suitable social contact tool may be used to reach out.

 

3. It’s All About Timing

Certain days of the week, and even times of the day, are busier than others for us. When trying to make a link with a prospect, these are the moments to avoid because anything you say is likely to go totally unnoticed, and not on purpose.

 

Graph 1

 

The highest email open rates and phone contact rates tend to be on Wednesday and Thursday. According to study, the best email weekday is Thursday, which has a 26 percent higher open rate than the worst email weekday, Monday. Thursday is also 49% higher for phone touch rates than Tuesday, which is the worst day for phone contacts.

The bottom line is that if you time your method of interaction within the confines of these communication sweet spots, you’ll have a better chance of making contact or getting a response from a prospect. While this may be useful in some cases, research shows that consumers who are approached within five minutes of sending an interest form, regardless of the time of day, are more likely to turn into a transaction. Giving immediate attention demonstrates how much you appreciate their time and emphasizes your excellent customer service.

 

4. Build email template designs

Create templates to help you with the follow-up process, starting with your most popular and repetitive emails. Keep in mind that these aren’t intended to take the place of your work; rather, they’re meant to help you with it. It’s also important to personalize the message so that it doesn’t come across as impersonal.

 

This will reduce the amount of creative work required at each stage of the follow-up process, leaving you with no reason not to contact your prospect as soon as possible. What could be better than improved email efficiency and accuracy with less effort?

 

5. Obtain permission to go on with your follow-up.

I hope it’s self-evident that if anyone really asks you to avoid contacting them in some way, you should. However, it’s not always clear whether or not the prospect wants to keep in touch.

 

This is where obtaining permission to proceed comes into play.

 

By requesting their permission to continue following up, you reduce the chances of being a bother and losing whatever goodwill you’ve built up so far. “Do you mind if I check in with you in two months to see how things are going?” for example. or “Would it be okay if I sent you an email in a week or so with more information?”

 

Ending each discussion by asking permission to proceed would build an environment of mutual respect and consideration, regardless of how motivated a prospect appears to be. If the answer is no, at the very least you’ll know where you stand with them. If the answer is yes, it would be easier to follow up understanding that it is desired on the other end.

 

6. It’s Important to Use Relevant Content

I’ve already discussed the importance of varying your communication methods, but it’s also important to vary the quality of your messages in order to establish more meaningful interactions. What is the reason for this? And no matter how many times you ask, “Are you ready to buy?” you can only ask it so many times until it irritates your prospect, which is particularly true if they are already dealing with many other businesses. The reality is that people buy when they’re ready to buy, not when you’re ready to sell.

 

So, how do you go about it?

 

Send them a range of valuable content that will help you stay in touch while also adding value to their lives or businesses. While creating good content requires a significant amount of time on your part, it is an investment that will pay off in the long run. Such interactions will show them that you’ve been thinking about their company and will remind them of how you can assist them in succeeding.

 

When a customer is ready to spend money, they would most likely choose the business that is at the top of their mind – that is, the one with which they have had the most recent, regular, or meaningful interaction.

 

7. Keep track of how many people open and click on your emails.

Knowing whether and when an email has been opened, as well as the click-through rates it has created, gives you a lot more information about what your prospects are interested in.

 

Any potential explanations for low open rates include your subject line not being important or interesting enough to your prospect, or you sending too many or too few emails, causing your email to be overlooked. It’s important to strike a balance!

 

Creating relevant content and increasing click-through rates go hand in hand. The more useful and engaging the material, the more likely your prospect will continue reading. It’s also a good idea to avoid phrases like “press here” because they leave the reader unsure about where the link will take them. To get them there, they must first understand where you want to take them. You could also get more click-throughs if you provide several links to the same material in a single email, giving the reader several chances to click.

 

With sketched heavy and muscled muscles, a young businessman wonders.

Continue to be brave.

In the business world, agents do not hope to close significant transactions in a single conversation. Humans like to hear something several times before it really sinks in, and the business world is no exception. There has long been a limiting assumption that following up with a lead isn’t worth the time. This belief is absolutely false, as shown by the statistics! Follow up on leads with tenacity. For those who persevere, there are offers to be had!

 

Will these tactics be beneficial to you and your team? Or do you have your own set of successful closing strategies? Comment below to share this post or to highlight those wise words!

Why Do You Need A Power Dialer For Your Sales Team?

Many factors contribute to increased selling power, one of which is having the right resources for the sales team. Your sales dialer is an effective outbound tool that you should be looking into more. Performance, ROI, and the customer-to-agent call ratio are all metrics that look for the smartest, quickest, and best dialer choice for your sales team.

Aside from fully removing manual dialing from your sales process, sales dialers often help your sales team be more productive and achieve bigger goals.

1 – A boost to productivity

Imagine how many dials an agent would make in a day if power dialing would maximize the amount of dials per hour. This not only helps them meet their goals, but it also improves their chances of bringing in more clients. Power dialers will miss bad numbers and voicemails, resulting in more valuable calls for your business.

An unanswered call isn’t the end of the story; power dialers keep track of these calls so you can reach out to them at a later time or with a different approach. You can keep track of events with power dialing by using call dispositions, marks, and notes. Contacts will be maximized as a result, and the chances of converting them to a paying customer will be increased. The ‘Follow The Sun’ feature in SimpSocial’s power dialer allows agents to sort leads by timezone, making call schedules for both domestic and international customers more coordinated.

2 – Reluctance is what Lessens calls it.

The job of a salesperson is not straightforward. Aside from strong communication skills, one must be able to determine when to demand a bid, when to reengage, and when to avoid. A lot of the time, sales teams create call reluctance issues as a result of inadequate call management. Unbeknownst to them, closing further sales needs more than just expertise.

Since it records and monitors calls and results, power dialing will help agents become more successful during any call. Agents will be able to review previous calls, identify areas for improvement, and increase the effectiveness of potential cold calls in this manner.

3 – Increases the number of connections

Smarter sales dialers can dramatically increase link rates thanks to technological advancements. Local presence is a feature of these dialers that allows businesses to dynamically view an area’s local ID to fit the customer’s place. Link rates will increase by 30 to 40% when a cold caller’s area code seems more trustworthy to customers.

Since the first step in establishing a relationship with a customer is making a connection, connection rates are detrimental to cold calling performance. Assume there were contacts who were unable to be linked via phone calls. Power dialers may also send these contacts automated voicemail, SMS, or email sequences, allowing agents to handle them via other networks. This accomplishes two goals: it gives the agents more opportunities to connect with customers, and it gives customers more choices on how they want to be contacted.

4 – Improves call quality

A power dialer not only speeds up the process of communicating with customers, but it also allows agents to plan in between calls. Wrap-up time can be customized to allow agents to relax and plan before speaking with another customer on the phone. This benefits both you and your customers by improving the efficiency of your calls.

Most power dialers often have dynamic call scripts to help agents with their sales pitches. You may be able to find a power dialer that also integrates with your favorite CRM if you’re lucky. An automated dialer would be able to help you know how to pitch and approach each lead if you have lead and contact details in your CRM database.

5 – It has a positive return on investment.

Yes, a monthly or annual subscription is needed, but the benefits you’ll receive are incredible. Call recording and monitoring tools are included with power dialers, allowing you to evaluate the output and workflow of each call. You can see metrics and reports in real time because everything is automatically registered. When you progress against your objectives, this will assist your team in defining better sales strategies.

You can set the speed according to your company’s customer-to-sales representative ratio, allowing your agents to concentrate more on developing relationships now that you have complete leverage. Automated dialing saves time for your agents, allowing them to make more money-generating calls. Furthermore, since everything is included in your subscription kit, you won’t have to think about TCPA fines and penalties, repairs, or machine upkeep.

 

SimpSocial’s Power Dialer is a good option.

The endless possibilities a power dialer can provide for your company are well worth your sales team’s time and effort. With SimpSocial, you can get all of these benefits – plus an unlimited call plan – in one convenient package!

 

Enjoy designing call campaigns and cultivating long-term customer relationships. Made possible by a power dialer that automates all of your tasks, and made versatile by CRM software you already use. SimpSocial is unquestionably more than just a sales dialer.

 

Today, learn more about SimpSocial’s power dialer. Let’s set up a free demo to talk about it.

How Does Contact Center Automation Help Humanize the Customer Experience?

Some people believe that as technology becomes more prevalent, it will become less human-centered. We’ve come to equate robots and technology as villains to humanity thanks to futuristic movies and films.

People are still scratching their heads at contact centers that use machine learning and AI, but automation has shown that there is a happy medium. Although technology will never completely replace agents, it will undoubtedly improve customer interactions through smarter and automated processes.

What is the concept of contact center automation?

Contact center automation consists of processes and systems that help in the improvement of contact center operations by removing certain manual activities. Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are used in automation to see and understand patterns of repetitive tasks, allowing machines to complete them with little to no human assistance.

If you think this is all new to you, know that automation in contact centers began long before we recognized it. Via the use of interactive voice responders (IVRs), contact centers began automating customer responders, giving rise to automated speech recognition (ASR). It has proved its effectiveness in routing phone calls to the appropriate agents or offices, taking this job off the hands of the receptionist.

Automation has become useful in creating improved customer interactions as communication technology progresses. Chatbots have made messaging network interaction quicker and more accessible around the clock.

Businesses are provided less expensive ways to handle more clients, obviating the need for other agent duties. This means agents will have more time to engage with high-value leads, close more deals, and respond to customer inquiries without being distracted by other tasks piling up on their desks.

How can automation make the consumer experience more human?

Many people may find this ironic, but automation has the ability to humanize customer experiences and therefore increase customer loyalty.

Contact centers are dealing with a flood of consumers who seek urgent attention as people learn to communicate with companies online. Agents can handle calls, emails, and other messages more effectively with the aid of automation. Here’s how to do it.

1 – Recognize the customer’s buying process

The ‘awareness’ or ‘prospecting’ process for sales is at the top of your sales funnel, where potential buyers are exploring your brand for the first time. Automation can assist at this point by monitoring customer actions. Agents will research trends and habits and see how to handle customers using ready-made data and analytics. This would help them sell more efficiently.
calls and texts that have been recorded, like any other data, can be used to determine the efficacy of a business model. Management can see how consumers are reacting to their actions and see it through the eyes of their agents by listening to recorded conversations. Understanding your customers is important for attracting new ones and retaining them for the long haul.

2 – Improving important links

Automation also enables companies to respond to changing consumer demands. There’s a local presence that senses a customer’s location and shows the appropriate area code. Customers regard a number with their area code as more trustworthy, which can boost your link rates.

Via automatic dialers, automation plays a critical role in dialing numbers. Dialers were created to increase the value of calls and are still commonly used in contact centers. The power dialer, for example, has been upgraded to be smarter and more sophisticated while still allowing agents full control. A power dialer can even auto-skip voicemails and bad numbers, ensuring that agents are linked to actual customers.

3 – Increasing the amount of time customers spend talking to you

The more job agents have, the less time they would have to speak to customers. If talking to customers is just a “part of the work,” rather than the entire job, you might be putting your CX or sales team through needless hardships. Since building consumer relationships is such an important part of the sales process, agents should devote all of their time to it.

Tasks are expected to multiply as a company grows. However, don’t expect your agents to absorb anything. You’re offering your agents the ability to better handle their time with automation. Allow them to set up automation triggers for scheduled text blasts and voicemail follow-ups instead of manually following up through calls, emails, or texts as they usually do. Agents can also work together more effectively if call dispositions and contact details are automatically registered in your system.

4 – Call Queue Management

No matter how skilled the CX team is, if there are too many callers to manage, the process and the entire company will suffer. You can also use automation to let the program handle call queues and wait times.

You can, for example, send callback text messages to any customer in the queue. During peak hours, automatically sending a text message to a customer requesting a callback will help minimize irate calls. During the call routing method, you can also rely on automation. Based on agent expertise or availability, you can route calls to the appropriate destination.

5 – Making the most of all available platforms

Customers were introduced to a new environment through digital communication. This necessitates companies keeping up with current trends. Although this increased the number of ways to meet consumers, it also made it more difficult for the agents to manage customers across channels.

Automation was able to help with this. Agents can also manage phone calls, messages, conversations, and emails from a single location. Turnkey omnichannel contact centers make it easier for teams to react to customers more quickly. You will optimize the use of various networks in reaching out to consumers because everything is planned for you. It won’t be over with one missed call or email. You’ll be able to set up automatic follow-ups and connect with consumers via their preferred platforms.

SimpSocial’s internal automation

SimpSocial is no stranger to customer loyalty. It is, in our opinion, a necessary move for companies to take in order to keep up with a rapidly changing environment. That’s why we’ve created tools and features to assist the contact center in adapting to automation and working with it. Here, you can fully appreciate the benefits of automation.

Discover our most intelligent and quickest Power Dialer, which is designed to help sales teams triple their sales targets. Our process automation tools help you find more efficient ways to handle interactions while keeping customers engaged. Our user-friendly platform also adapts to major CRMs, allowing you to integrate, handle, and use them as a single entity.

At SimpSocial, automation is our lifeline. We’re here to assist you in embracing it and using it to humanize your business. You can schedule a demo with one of our friendly, former BDC Managers/ BDC Director members to learn more about SimpSocial.

Any dealership manager hopes to meet their car sales goals by the end of the month

Even better, you outperformed them! On the dealership board, you have a fantastic car sales team supporting prospective consumers in becoming customers. You’re not getting the results you expect despite your efforts, and you’re not sure why. Fixing an issue that you don’t understand the source of is likely to be difficult.

We will tell you the key reason why dealerships are currently losing profits. It’s not providing customers with the kind of shopping experience they’ve come to expect—quick and accurate contact at any touchpoint.

It’s been difficult for dealers to answer with the right words at the speed of customers. Until now, that is. Matador will help you increase the productivity of your sales.

Matador is the first forum to provide dealerships with all of the resources they need to communicate with prospective buyers and customers. Our mission is to assist car dealerships like yours in creating consumer interactions that result in sales.

This is accomplished by allowing you to: Connect with potential customers wherever they are The new generation is mostly mobile and prefers to engage with brands via their mobile devices. Send text messages to prospective customers directly for higher open rates than ever before—the industry norm is an incredible 98 percent. You also don’t have to worry about enforcement because third-party websites ask for permission to accept SMS so you can get started right away. You can also automatically ask someone who hasn’t been questioned. Respond with the appropriate message at the appropriate time.

Matador enables you to automate text message responses to buyers, ensuring that they receive the information they want when they require it. Create text message sequences to react quickly to customers at any point of the buying process. Furthermore, you should personalize your answers so that customers feel like they’re speaking with a real person rather than a machine.

Matador integrates with your existing CRM, allowing you to communicate and start having profitable conversations right away.

McKinsey released an in-depth study on the future of auto retail last month, based on interviews with market leaders and over 3,000 buyers in the United States, China, and Germany. We understand that not everyone has the time to sift through a 30-page paper, so we did the legwork for you. Here are some of our main takeaways:

COVID-19 propels auto retail forward into the future

Traditional retail models are fraught with pain points during the consumer journey, according to McKinsey’s findings. OEMs and retailers can use COVID-19 as a springboard to the “customer-centric and omni-channel” future of auto retail.

Introducing the latest buyer identity

Because they’re just beginning to think about buying a car, you can’t treat them like you would someone further through the process, deeper in the sales funnel. If you start asking questions about financing, co-signers, and credit information, you’re likely to scare them off.

1. The hybrid client

These mainly suburban residents use both online and offline outlets to help them make car purchasing decisions. They collect data from OEM/dealership/comparison websites as well as from the dealership. When other consumer groups become more internet-savvy, COVID-19 will definitely increase this group’s share. 1/3 of the population buys a car. Pre-purchase touchpoints: 8 to 10 on average

2. The modernist who is well-versed in the use of the internet

These mainly young city dwellers do almost everything online, from car study to contract signing. The majority of people just go to the dealer to “seal the deal.” 1/3 of the population buys a car. Pre-purchase touchpoints: 6 to 8 on average

3. Knowledge seekers who are primarily interested in finding information on the internet

This community of city dwellers are “true automobile enthusiasts” who conduct extensive research before making a purchase. They consult the dealer in their “unique, cutting-edge” buying experience, unlike the modernists. 20% to 20% of the population buys a car. Pre-purchase touchpoints: 25 on average

4. The traditionalist who trusts the dealer

For these older customers, who are often from the United States and Germany, the local dealership serves as an oracle. Their ideal shopping experience is “personalized” and “high-touch,” and it takes place entirely offline, in collaboration with a local dealership. COVID-19 is pushing traditionalists to either go online or stop buying altogether. 20 percent of the population buys a car. Pre-purchase touchpoints: 5 on average

Car dealers’ future store models

The study projected five possible scenarios, including: ‘Dealer as entrepreneur,’ which entails adding a direct distribution channel to the current scenario while keeping the dealer at the core. ‘Dealer as execution agent, OEM in charge of new-car sales’ effectively means that dealers concentrate on after-sales and used-car sales while OEMs handle new-car sales. ‘OEM fostering rivalry, dealer as interchangeable execution provider’—in this case, the physical dealership is used to supplement online platforms. This will imply a dramatic shift from being the heart of the company to being a service provider.

What is a customer service vision in the automotive retail industry, and how do you achieve it?

According to McKinsey report, “companies that prioritized customer service realized three times the shareholder returns relative to companies that did not during the last economic recession.” The economy is tough, and many car dealers are barely getting by. It hardly seems like the right time to begin a company makeover. However, the current situation is hastening the need to put consumers to the forefront.

The time to invest in customer experience, also known as CX, is now

Few car dealers would doubt the value of improving customer experience. However, getting things started is a difficult challenge. Particularly in organizations based on silos, where each department faces its own set of challenges that must be addressed separately. A pleasant smooth road is created by pouring concrete onto a uniform surface. It will be patchy if there are bumps all over the place. However, if you want to get anywhere, you must first construct the lane. Rome, thankfully, was not created in a day. Breaking down the transition of the customer experience into tiny, manageable chunks will make the process a lot simpler. The first step in a validated strategy for improving your customer experience and protecting your competitive edge is to define a simple CX vision. Let’s look at what we mean when we say “customer experience vision,” why it’s important, and how to get started.

What is the concept of a customer service vision?

A customer experience vision is a statement that describes the effect that a dealership wishes to have on its clients. It instructs the entire organization on how to communicate with consumers and make sound choices that are in line with a higher purpose. Since consumers are at the heart of modern, customer-centric businesses, the terms “company vision” and “company intent” are often used interchangeably. “A vision for helping automobile shoppers better manage their car search,” according to CarGurus, an example of a customer service vision from an auto retailer. It not only prioritizes what consumers care about—a better car shopping experience—but it also aligns with the company’s mission of “building the world’s most trustworthy and open automotive marketplace.”

Three reasons why car dealerships need a customer service strategy

Increase the likelihood of a customer service strategy’s success

When we don’t know where we’re going, it’s all too easy to slip off the wagon. Your CX strategy’s guiding light is the CX view. It provides a clear path for an organization, assists you in staying on track while setting priorities, planning and implementing a plan, and ensures that customers are still at the forefront of all business decisions.

Transformational catalyst for a customer-centric community

A customer-centric aspiration will help to transfer the whole company’s attention to the customer. Employees make decisions with the consumer in mind, and executives and sales staff begin to discuss clients rather than leads. You suggest we’re talking about clients, not leads. How are we going to make some sales? Customer-centric businesses, on the other hand, are 60 percent more profitable than businesses that prioritize “winning a sale.” It’s better to talk about people rather than sales. The irony, oh the irony.

Consolidate corporate silos

If you haven’t noticed, silos are the greatest annoyance. Departments live in a metaphorical bubble, causing confusion between customers and staff and making dealership management much more difficult than it needs to be. One way to unify these silos and build a sense of a unified corporate culture is to create a customer engagement vision. In the words of Customer. Think, a global community for customer-centric business planning, departments work against the same goal, employees feel more aligned with colleagues, and consumers have a more cohesive experience across the board, or a “one-company experience.”

There are four aspects of your customer service vision that you should consider

While each company’s vision will be unique, there are a few guiding principles that will assist you in creating a vision that can lead to success. A clear vision is typically:

Customer- and business-focused

Customers’ wishes and desires are, indeed, the basis for CX vision. However, the vision must be in sync with the company’s vision, principles, and mission. A dealership that aspires to sell inexpensive vehicles to the general public would have a somewhat different vision than a high-end vehicle store with a niche target market. Your vision must be unique to your organization and clients in order to work for you.

Brevity and brevity

Long vision claims will seem remarkable, but they will most likely fall flat. Employees will find them difficult to understand, let alone remember. A clear, main message that can be conveyed in a single sentence should be included in your vision statement. The sweet spot is thought to be between five and eight words, but use as many words as you need to get the point across without losing the message. The simpler it is for staff to remember your mission statement, the shorter it is.

At any organizational level, it’s simple to understand

Avoid jargon, superlatives, and any subjective terms like “perfect,” “best,” and “superior” that could contribute to uncertainty. Use simple words that don’t need to be explained. To build something that the entire dealership will understand and produce, you can solicit employee feedback.

How to build a vision for the automotive customer experience

Recognize what customers value

Many businesses slip into the pit of assuming what matters to their customers. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Before you can write a customer service plan, you must invest in getting to know your customers on a deeper level. End-to-end consumer path mapping is one way to get there. Customer data from all stages of the customer experience should be collected and analyzed. Gather information from your CRM, solicit input from customer-facing staff, and engage in lengthy discussions with your customers. Make a map of the whole journey and mark the places that fuel loyalty, drive customers away, and everything else you should be doing.

Know what your company’s mission is

Reminding yourself of your company’s larger ideals, mission, and vision is a good idea. If they are no longer applicable, this may be an opportunity to revisit them. To identify a specific CX vision that sets you apart from your rivals, you must first understand your company’s DNA.

Make your vision a team effort

Gather feedback from the entire dealership to build a common vision once you have a clear understanding of customers and company values. This aids in bringing the entire organization on board, especially front-line employees who interact directly with customers.

There will be no bumps in the road

The car industry is on the verge of collapse, and auto dealers have no choice but to reshape their customer experiences to meet the needs of today’s customers. This might entail minor tweaks to a few touchpoints, but it’s more likely to entail a complete redesign. In any case, having a clear vision that drives your future plan and your entire dealership is critical to getting you where you need to go and avoiding any bumps along the way.

The Facebook Sales Funnel: Why prequalifying doesn’t work yet

Facebook advertising might be the most powerful tool auto dealerships have ever had. You can target people where they live, based on life events that might prompt them to buy a car, and every time they open a phone or a computer.

Unlike some other lead generating tools, Facebook catches people near the top of the sales funnel.

The top of funnel advantage

By catching people at the top of the sales funnel, you’re able to get to them before your competition can. You’re already forging a relationship while they’re just beginning to think about buying a car or truck. 

They aren’t spending Saturdays wandering around lots. They haven’t called anyone. They haven’t looked at finding yet.

No pre qualifying

Because they’re just beginning to think about buying a car, you can’t treat them like you would someone further through the process, deeper in the sales funnel. If you start asking questions about financing, co-signers, and credit information, you’re likely to scare them off. 

Take your time

The leads that you generate from Facebook need to be nurtured. You need to take your time to get them to your showroom and just talk to them.

They’re still in the emotional stages of buying a car. They might be shooting too high in terms of the vehicle they can afford, but that’s part of the process.

This all takes time and patience. Unlike the “hot” leads that you might from other sources, albeit fewer of them, the people will take time to get from “thinking about it” to signing on the dotted line. That said, if you walk them through the process, educate them a bit on the way, and treat them well, you’ll get a lot more loyalty out of them than someone who’s already decided on the major factors and is just looking for the right price. 

How to lose them quickly

If you jump right into credit issues or downpayments, anyone that’s not qualified is probably going to run away. This is doubly true if you don’t market yourself as a “bad credit, no problem” type of dealership. This doesn’t mean you can’t help people, but they haven’t built up the trust to get to that point. 

Get emotional with them

The leads you generate from Facebook are in the emotional stages of buying a car. You need to appeal to their emotions. They want to be excited and you need to give them permission to be excited. 

Invite them to the dealership with promises of no pressure and some fun test drives. Get them to fall in love with one of your vehicles. People can do amazing things in their lives when they really want something. 

While they’re looking at your vehicles, you can work on building trust and getting them taken care of. 

Later, when they’ve found the right vehicle and seem ready, you can start the conversation about co-signers, financing, and credit issues. 

The power of Facebook advertising to build a great funnel

The most important aspect of Facebook ads and their ability to build your funnel is that you can keep the funnel full by filing it at the top. 

If you’re working your leads well, you can move them from lukewarm, top-of-the-funnel leads to buyers. As one group moves out of the bottom the funnel a lot more will go into the top. 

Because the number of leads entering the funnel is large, you can eventually have a significant number of leads coming in to buy vehicles.

Working this way, and keeping your interactions moving leads down the funnel, you can get out ahead of your competition and keep people in your showroom instead of shopping around.

Text Messaging and AI = Auto Sales

We’ve all been advertising for years. You used to put an ad in the paper or the phone book and people would come to buy cars from you.

Then the internet arrived. The local paper disappeared. The phone book disappeared. We were left with Google and social media. 

The amazing part of the new technologies and advertising outlets is they can pinpoint buyers with incredible accuracy. 

Using the systems in Facebook, Instagram, Google, and many more, you can target exactly the right people at the right time. 

Following Up on Leads

At SimpSocial, we deliver leads. Often, we deliver more leads than a sales team easily handle. 

That’s where text messaging and AI come in. Using these two tools combined, we’re able to engage with your clients for months, keeping their interest without overwhelming them.

Using AI, we’re able to target your customers, answer their questions, and even walk them through inventory. What makes it most effective is that there is rarely any human interaction.

Why AI and text messaging

Writing a text message to every lead is time consuming. It takes hours to send out messages to each person. It’s even more time-consuming when you’re sending them messages that correspond to where they’re at in the sales cycle and based on their last messages to you. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is designed to do that thinking for you. Working together, we set up a system of predefined steps that your customers can go through. The AI will recognize questions about financing, inventory, availability, appointments, and more without any input from your team.

So why text messages?

The answer is in the numbers. Over 95% of text messages are read by the recipient. In most cases, our phones will hold a text message on the screen until we read it or dismiss it. 

Compare that to emails which are read less that 50% of the time and phone calls that are answered less than 10% of the time. With text messaging, you’re getting the lead to read what you wrote (or what the AI wrote). Even if they don’t respond, you’ve made another impression and you’ve reminded them they need a car.

The CRM Connection

When this is integrated with your CRM, it can provide you with a lot of information and some very warm leads. 

The AI will even inviten the lead to the showroom, find out what vehicles they’re interested in and tee it all up for you. All you have to do is make the sale.

Sure, there will still be some phone calls and emails coming in, but anyone that opts in for text messages will have your message right in front of them anywhere.

All of this can be connected to your CRM and deliver detailed information. Every question in the lead asks, every time they clicked a link, even the inventory they looked at will all be listed in your CRM. You’ll know what the customer wants, even if they’re not sure yet.

Can we live without text messaging?

No. If you want to reach younger car buyers, you need to start using text messages. The average Millennial doesn’t use their phone to make phone calls.

“A poll by Gallup also confirmed that text messaging outranks phone calls as the dominant form of communication among millennials, with 68 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds saying they texted “a lot” the previous day. In the last couple of years, monthly texting among this age group has more than doubled.” – https://www.eztexting.com/blog/why-millennials-are-so-keen-text

The same report from EZTexting also notes that 76% of Millennials would rather lose the ability to make calls than the ability to text.

The future is in text messages and the ease and convenience of sending written messages. Texting will only get easier as voice recognition improves and we can speak our messages. 

Text Messages and AI: The Fastest Way to Fill the Pipeline

Using social media advertising to capture leads, a CRM to track them, and text messages and AI to follow up on them, the average dealership can fill their sales pipeline in about a week. 

It requires some expertise and planning, but it’s easy to do with the right help.

Transactional v Emotional customers – Speaking to the right people

There are two types of buyers in the world of automobiles: transactional buyers and emotional buyers. 

A transactional buyer is a haggler, a competitive shopper, who isn’t swayed by the beauty of a machine. They want to know that they got the very best deal on a vehicle. They see paying more than the next guy is an insult. 

An emotional buyer is exactly the opposite. They don’t care as much about the price they pay as they do about getting the car that makes them feel a certain way. You can sell to an emotional buyer with the feeling of the drive, the way that everyone will see them behind the wheel, and how much pleasure they’ll get from the car.

Auto dealership marketing – now and then

Throughout most of the auto industry’s history, the only people that most dealerships saw were the in-market customers, people who are ready to buy as they stepped onto the sales lot. Most of these people were emotional buyers, people who were inspired by an ad to purchase a car. 

Traditional advertising operates almost entirely on the emotional level. TV commercials that show people driving cars on mountain roads, along beaches, and with lots of beautiful people in the car are emotional images. Most will end with a shout-out to the transactional buyers with a list of costs, rebates, and more.

Once the social media revolution arrived that changed. Dealers began advertising for in-market transactional shoppers, people who were ready to buy based on the price they could get. 

This new customer base is somewhat problematic. These are people who expect the very lowest prices. This causes a rush to the lowest price by all of these dealers. Many were within a few dollars of losing money. While dealers were making sales, they were barely making money on a sale.

Using Social Media to market your dealership

One of the most powerful aspects of social media marketing is that you can market to both types of people. 

With Facebook advertising, dealerships are able to run multiple ads to multiple audiences. This allows dealers to speak to each type of buyer in their own language. 

Emotional Buyer Marketing

For the emotional buyer, the key is to try to get them to imagine themselves behind the wheel. 

The power of social media to use images, videos, and more to set the emotional hook. Then you can convert these emotional buyers and get them in the door at the dealership. This makes Facebook incredibly powerful and probably the ideal way to market an auto dealership.

Selling to emotional buyers requires an emotional buy-in from the salespeople. Salespeople need to love the cars that they sell and be able to convey that. 

This is a problem for dealers. Most salespersons are set up to handle transactional shoppers, those looking for great deals, not for those who are buying for the experience of the vehicle. 

How to Leverage Facebooks Ads to the Two Types of Buyers

Facebook ads can bring both types of buyers to your auto lot, but each type of customer needs to be treated differently. 

For the transactional buyer, the logical way to get started is to simply pull out a calculator and start crunching numbers. Get to the bottom line, talk about financing, and keep everything aimed at how much they’re going to spend.

With emotional buyers, salespeople need to learn to take their time. This is the time to get them into the car that they saw in the ad or into an upgraded vehicle. 

This will be difficult. If you’ve ever walked onto an auto lot, you’ll get the breathless feeling that the salespeople need you to sign on the dotted line and make way for the next person. With emotional buyers, they’ll want to slow down, take their time, and love the cars with the buyers.

Where to Start

The key to getting these two types of buyers in your door is to set up two separate Facebook ad campaigns, one for the emotional buyers and one for the transactional buyers. Use the audience information to retarget those people with different types of ads that will keep the conversation going. 

Using the specificity of Facebook ads, your dealership can work to bring both types of buyers to the table. Once there, you can adapt your selling style to the customer’s approach. You’ll end up with more closes and have loyal-new customers, who feel heard and appreciated.

No leads were lost. reduced overhead.
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