In HelloMrLead we have different clients and different documents that we often need to send them. Here is an example of our documents base and the one we normally share:

• Copies to outbound campaigns to validate
• Copies to pipedrive templates and other tracking tools
• Presentations
• Event information, webinars, offers, etc.
• Reports
• More reports
• BBDD – Spreadsheets and charts
• Blacklists, Whitelists
• Leads with their scoring points and contact information

 

Updated logos, templates for the documents for this year’s holidays, new photographs, consignments of products and screenshots, collections of your providers, the videos of the launchment of your youtube or instagram strategie… We know: hundreds of visual materials that will improve your marketing campaigns. And to achieve the best results, there is nothing better than having all organised and to know where to find each file when it is needed.

Frankly speaking, in order to have everything organised, you need to be a perfectionist and organised person to search the information in the email mailbox. That is why everybody uses cloud services like dropbox or drive.

What options do you have in document management?

The most common online document storage solutions are:

• Google Drive
• DAM ( Digital Asset Management Software)
• Otras soluciones a medida

 

Drive seems an easy and convenient solution, since it comes with every gmail account and you don’t need to have many usernames, passwords and programs. In addition, everybody knows the basics about using it.

On the other hand, it has many disadvantages:

• The lack of role access. If the document has several editors it can be deleted by any of them.
• Is a bit complicated to understand the whole program because it has an excess of functions.
• The use of the internet is compulsory.
• There is a lack of automation.
• The readers are anonymous.

 

What is DAM?

DAM (digital assets management), is a broad process that stores, classifies and manages all the digital resources of a company. It is closely related with document management.

When a company manages a big volume of videos, logos, pictures and share documents in different supports, a DAM system is useful to keep under control all those materials and to make sure that they transmit a uniform image.

However, many companies are in that situation and they may need a DAM. The key of these systems is the automatisation of those materials, that makes it possible to save time and money and they erase the mistakes on the database, as well as sending the information to other channels, people or companies (commercials, salespersons, distributors, storage…).

Advantages

• Manage any volume
• Makes easier the global work
• Erase redundancies and lack of data
• They guarantee a high security level, efficiency and privacy, key to letting in that tool all the information of a company. In addition, they include security copies, changes history and options to retrieve past data.
• They save space.
• They optimize the access to the information.

 

Recommended solution to document management:

Researching the market, we have found solutions to different types of organizations: agencies for visual marketing, design agencies, the own solutions of the big companies, PIMs (for physical products), etc. From our point of view, there is one between them all that is worth it.

ShareDoc View is an analytical solution yet easy and intuitive.

• You can see who has seen the document.
• It gives you information about how much time they have spent on each page.
• You can obtain leads (emails of the people that have opened the link).
• You can create different links for each type of public (each person or distribution channel) and delete them (with the access) in any given moment.
• You can create files for your team, for your favourite documents, etc.
• Security.
• Competitive price

 

Other solutions for your management:

Libris is a library of images and videos more accessible and easy to use. The implementation is quickly and easy, and it admits personalization.

Cumulus is very useful for the teams that work with Adobe InDesign, especially in catalogue design, marketing materials, because it allows to directly connect files and templates from metadata of the base DAM with InDesign, WordPress, Dropbox and social media.

Webdam, from the company Shutterstock, is famous for its visual resources, payment means.

Brandfolder is a system that focuses on the categorization of the media assets depending on its use: for example, they can visualise the materials by segmentation of the market of one or several brands at the same time: population segments, age, interests…

 

In resume

There are different tools on the market for any company profile, and data management adapted to the volume of data and needs of small, medium or large companies.

Having a centralised and automatised database is the basic objective of any company that is starting to grow or that has been solidified. And to achieve that you do not need a big number of tools. According to the needs of your business, you can have access  to all the functionalities you need from one single platform.

The rise of online scams in recent years in companies is an evidence. That is why we help you to avoid and identify online fraud in your company.

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We all have been in contact with a chatbot at one point or another, either for online shopping or to ask a question. But what are these services really? This tool is the closest artificial intelligence system to our daily lives. Its main purpose is to help users by answering their questions.

This device has been around for more than 50 years, but it is only now that companies are implementing this tool for their customer services capabilities. Bots are part of intelligence software that aim to perform several predetermined tasks on their own.

They have the ability to deal with natural language processing (NLP), which means that you can have a conversation with them. Thanks to their learning of response patterns and repetition of actions, they can keep a conversation flowing with no problem. It also has the capacity to learn about from the user’s likes and dislikes if it is an advanced algorithm.

Thanks to their responsiveness, they are ideal for eCommerce, digital banking or any business that needs customer service. This is the next step your company needs to automate actions, increasingly necessary in the digital era.

 

Types of chatbots

 

Each company has a different role and needs a specific chatbot. Therefore, it is recommended that you evaluate the diversity of chatbots and choose one that best suits your business in order to benefit from it. Below is a list of the types of chatbots so that you can select the one that best suits your company.

 

ITR (Interactive Text Response) Chatbot

 

This type of chatbot works through commands instead of artificial intelligence. Its interface is very simple as it emulates a normal conversation through options on the screen. The interaction is directed by the chatbot, so it can determine what the user wants to consult.

 

Word-spotting Chatbots

This artificial intelligence system works by interpreting keywords which results in predetermined responses. It is not able to interpret either the user’s intention or context.

They can be satisfactory for the company depending on the task it is given. Like this chatbot, there are also multimedia chatbots that are used to make the chat design more attractive.

Smart Chatbots

This type of chatbots go one step further. They are capable of interpreting the user’s natural language, through which they are able to read the context and can create questions from scratch. This makes the conversation much more fluid and dynamic.

Not only are they capable of quick, argument-based answers, but they learn little by little through interactions. Thanks to this learning, users can solve tasks such as booking a plane ticket or making a bank transaction.

Depending on the service your company provides, you will have to choose one operating system or another to determine the work it performs. For this reason, we leave you some chatbots that can be useful to your company in various departments.

• Chatbot for marketing

It initiates contact with the user when visiting the website so it helps to collect data in a personalized way.

• Chatbot for customer service

This service is one of the most widely used and is responsible for responding to consumer requests and queries.

• Chatbot for sales

This chatbot helps to finish the purchase in its last step and to boost engagement in different social networks.

• Social chatbot

Its main function is to provide personalized content on social networks to consumers, which means it increases engagement.

 

Advantages

If you are hesitating to implement chatbots in your company, here is a list of benefits for your company and your customers.

Company

• Technological investment.
• Improved brand and reputation.
• Improved conversion.
• Work efficiency.
• Cost reduction.
• Improved sales strategies.

 

Customers

• Speed in customer service.
• Real time information.
• Convenient and flexible interaction.
• Improves the customer’s web experience.
• Accessibility.
• Qualification of users

 

Weakness

Some users have had bad experiences when dealing with chatbots, so there’s some reluctance when it comes to having contact with them. We will explain the main points to avoid so that your customers do not get frustrated.

• No solution.

One of the main reasons why consumers avoid these services is that they do not help to solve the problem. It does not allow contact with an agent and the bot does not give any option to solve the issue.

• Persistent chatbots.

This occurs when the bot appears in every click that the consumer makes on the website. That is, the customer ends up tired of refusing the help of this chatbot and therefore suffers a bad experience on the brand’s website.

• Error with the chatbot.

This problem is based on the non-functioning of the bot, which means that the user can not talk to an agent but also does not receive help from the chatbot.

• Few options.

It consists of the lack of range of options which means that the customer does not know which option to select since none of them is adapted to his question.

• Low comprehension.

This is one of the most typical errors because, despite the high technology of chatbots, sometimes they do not understand the objective of the conversation. This leads to constant repetition of the question by the consumer and can be linked to bad experience with the brand.

By knowing these types of problems the company should create a more developed chatbot that can avoid these errors and thereby provide good customer service. This will help the company to gain loyalty.

 

Strategies

The implementation of a chatbot not only stands out as a technological innovation of the company, but behind this service there is a strategy planned so that the company can obtain benefits from it.

Some of the advantages that can take effect after the implementation of a good chatbot strategie are the economic benefits that are generated through subscriptions, advertising or eCommerce.

As we have mentioned before, there is utility for both the company and the consumer. The time savings, the diversity of subscription models or the replacement of search engines can be very proactive elements for the business in question.

How does it work?

The main goal of a chatbot is to help consumers solve their problems. Thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning this is possible. Many of them can even learn from the user’s tastes and interpret the information.

With the improvement of chatbots, customer service has seen remarkable improvements. This allows the company to offer fst and flexible solutions to the customer without waiting to talk to an agent.

 

Tasks

Chatbots handle only two tasks, but they can lighten the company’s workload to a higher level.

• Analyze the problem.

As mentioned above, once a chatbot is contacted, it will analyze the problem so that it can be categorized into different types and can offer several possible solutions to the consumer.

• Answering questions.

Once the problem has been analyzed, it is responsible for responding with different solutions. This response action can be of several types:

• Default
• A question to clarify the reason for the inquiry.
• Company data.
• Personalized information based on the proposed information.

In this graph you can see the main tasks performed by chatbots represented by percentages.

 

Why should you implement it in your company?

Technology has brought countless facilities to business, one of them are the chatbots that not only help to meet the needs of customers, but thanks to this element your company will have a way of approaching the customer.

That is to say, at the time of purchase the user experiences a distant feeling with the company since it does not interact with a person, in this way the user will feel that the company is still advising in different areas. We could say that thanks to this element the company humanizes the purchase through eCommerce.

The system may seem very advanced as it works through Artificial intelligence and many companies might think that they cannot afford it. But, lucky you, the implementation of this service is cheap and also has the ability to adapt to any type of business, regardless of its sector.

Thanks to chatbots, customers can stay connected with the company 24 hours a day, which helps if a user has a problem in the dawn, they can ask for help without having to wait. This means an increase in consumer engagement and a reduction in costs in that time slot.

The user experience benefits significantly as the assistant will be able to provide help to the consumer in a flexible and convenient way. This also enables faster navigation as the chatbot will be available for any help.

How to create them?

There are numerous tools that help us to create, prepare and adapt the chatbot to our website. But the first thing we must be clear about is the objective that this service must fulfill. That is, if it is a small garage that wants to provide the schedule, address, repair consultation or request an appointment, it will have different needs to cover than other sectors.

Let’s use this example to show you the steps to follow when creating your own chatbot.

• Training.

Once we are clear about the objectives of our chatbot we must train it so that it knows how to respond to any question. For example, we formulate several ways of asking the shedule question so that the chatbot detects it in any formulation.

In this way, it will be trained to respond automatically and the consumer will have the answer he needs. We must program concrete and direct answers so that the user has no room for doubt.

• Dialogue flow.

As mentioned above, once the user asks a question, the chatbot must provide a concrete and direct answer. But, this is only possible for very specific questions such as time or address.

In the case of questions with several options such as asking for an appointment or asking for a specific vehicle, the chatbot will work in a different way. And how should we train our chatbot in this case? Very simple. We will call each question a node, so if a question has several options, the chatbot must offer a variety of sub-nodes.

In this way the chatbot will maintain a constant flow of dialogue until it offers the option that the consumer wants. Another element to take into account is the trust threshold. This component will be used to configure the reliability of the chatbot when faced with a question. That is, if we set a very high confidence level, the bot will only relate this intention to the corresponding node when it is very very sure.

On the other hand, if we set a very low threshold, it will mislead the consumer’s intentions and it will be confusing. This is one of the elements that we must configure more precisely so that the user does not feel that he is not understood by the bot and cuts the connection with it.

 

Best chatbot tools

Once you know how to create your own chatbot, you may wonder, which system should I use? Well, here is a short list that can help you when selecting the program that will help you with the creation of your chatbot.

Chatfuel

This program is mainly focused on Facebook and will help you to create chatbots without any coding. It has variety in terms of chatbots design and you will be able to configure the options that the chatbot will provide. This bot works with predetermined phrases by recognizing intentions.

Aivo

This bot is suitable for all business sectors and allows the company to respond to customers in real time, either by text or even voice. In this way there is personalization of the bot depending on the user.

ItsAlive

This bot works through keyword recognition and offers companies several ways to communicate thanks to an external platform. Thanks to this, the consumer will not feel the frustration of searching for how to contact customer services but there will be a specific platform.

Imperson

This is one of the star bots as it has clients such as Disney, Hyundai, or Johnson and Johnson. If you are looking for experience when creating a bot, this platform is the right one for you.

Importance of chatbots

The need for chatbots today is imminent, which is why many industry giants such as Samsung or Microsoft have decided to invest in this type of field. Artificial Intelligence will be the element that will change the way we work, making everything easier.

Automotion, natural language interpretation or machine learning are just some of the elements that are growing everyday and that in the future will help our companies to have simple work and offer the consumer more pleasant user experiences.

Specifically, chatbots are one of the most used services due to the good assessment of companies. According to a survey conducted by Statista, B2B companies have a successful perception of these services. More than half trust the effectiveness of chatbots in their companies as a good marketing strategy.

In recent years, this sector has not stopped growing and is expected to increase in the future. It is estimated that by 20130 chatbots in the banking and financial services sector will be worth $ 6,830 million. As you can see in the table in these next years the value will not stop growing compared to 2019.

Future predictions are looking bright for chatbots. By next year, it is estimated that companies will save $8 billion in business costs, according to Juniper Research, and thanks to chatbots, businesses will be able to save $0.70 on each interaction with a customer.

But not only will you have economic benefits, you will be facing a winning strategy as the growth of this sector in 2022 will be 3.9 billion dollars. Artificial intelligence will transform departments so that workers have more time for important things.

In this way, bots will be in charge of trivial matters such as claims management or insurance contracting. As a result, the user experience will be redefined by 2024 due to the combination of this type of technology and the natural language of bots.

However, this increase in the artificial intelligence sector is not linked to a shortage of workers. On the contrary, the joint work of human staff and bots could be the perfect combination to improve the business results of any company.

Due to the era of immediacy in which we live, consumers demand 24-hour assistance, so this type of service can be really useful in these situations. Most sectors, from banking to healthcare, need this service to offer the customer a good deal.

 

Trends

With the rise of chatbots and high investment, this sector is experiencing trends that could be key to business development.

• Voice recognition.
• Machine learning.
• Research bots.
• Natural language processing.
• Relief of administrative tasks.
• Intelligent detection of users.

 

As we have mentioned artificial intelligence has many applications however it is anticipated that in the future bots will be able to perform actions such as the following:

• Extract information.
• Translator.
• Automatic integration.
• Classify text types.
• Sentiment analysis.
• Recognize spam.
• Identify language.

 

Use in different regions

The region estimated to grow the most will be North America in market size. In contrast, APAC will experience an increase in growth rate due to the number of investments in both the public and private sector in AI technologies.

From 2019 with $4.2 million, a growth of up to $15.7 million in 2024 is expected in this sector. Europe will also be one of the fastest growing continents, in terms of the artificial intelligence market, after North America.

The ranking of territorial areas with the greatest potential for growth in the conversational intelligence sector is as follows:

1. North America.
2. Europe.
3. APAC.
4. MEA.
5. Latin America.

 

The constant use of cell phones, the growth of applications based on natural language and the increase in technological investments lead to an exponential increase in this sector. This is both an administrative and economic boon for companies.

Bots require quite a bit of work to deliver the desired function to the consumer. However, if the company finally implements it through good training, the benefits of these are enormous. So it will win in this technology battle.

The future is full of technological services that will help us both on a personal and business level. In fact, the journey of chatbots has only just begun. Thanks to the investment in artificial intelligence by large companies, these systems will go a long way in the coming years in changing the way companies and consumers interact.

What is inbound marketing?

Since 2005 inbound marketing has not stopped growing, despite being a technique that has been around for years, it is one of the systems that works best in companies. The methodology of this technique is the mix between advertising and marketing to accompany the user from the first contact with the buying process until the final step.

It is the way to make the customer feel loved and this leads to customer loyalty. This set of techniques tries to attract the buyer persona in a friendly way. The form of attraction is almost always useful, relevant and valuable content through different social networks, SEO or blogs. Customers are fed up with the invasive advertising that appears every time they go to watch a series, enter a website… In response to this problem, we have the solution of inbound marketing.

In short, it is a method of attraction different from the classic outbound that all companies use. Thanks to this system, companies manage to find potential customers who love the content created. There are three ways to apply this method:

• Attract
• Interact
• Delight

In addition, this technique not only accompanies the user through the process, but also has numerous advantages for the company. Increased visitors thanks to the content, potential leads in the long term or marketing automation that allows you to provide content of interest to the user.

Stages

inbound marketing has four stages that both the consumer and the business strategy go through. The consumer goes through several stages:

Awareness: the buyer thinks about whether to buy the product or not.

Research: researches the type of product it is, reviews, benefits and disadvantages.

Decision: he makes the purchase decision due to different factors that are important to him.

Action: makes the purchase.

On the other hand, the business strategy has set certain steps that the consumer undergoes to convince him to make the purchase and they are the following:

• Capture

Capture the attention of a potential customer through valuable content that may be of interest to him. In this way, the company makes itself known from the point of view of an expert and a reliable source.

We will try to attract potential customers through marketing techniques such as social networks, SEO or events. To do this, it is advisable to create strategies of attraction to the content created on the web, blog, social networks and other portals. This way, search engines will index it and more users will have the possibility to read it.

• Conversion

Maintaining a relationship with the customer benefits the company significantly. If the business provides solutions to the customer’s problems and needs, he/she will feel that he/she is taken care of and will increase the probability of buying the product or service.

Conversion consists of transforming a sporadic user into a potential customer. This is done through personalized content or user-focused questionnaires. In this way, we will obtain the consumer’s data to include them in the company’s database.

Once we have achieved the attraction of a customer we can encourage that conversion through content such as webinars, ebooks, videos and lists.

• Selling

Through the purchase we can help the customer to experience a successful buying process.

Once customers are already part of the business, they will receive personalized content. The business will find out the user’s interests through lead scoring and lead nurturing.

• Lead scoring: possibility of a customer making a purchase.
• Lead nurturing: sending personalized content based on the phase of the purchase cycle and profile.

 

• Loyalty

This final phase is focused on inbound sales, but its purpose is not only to sell, but also to maintain the relationship with the user, take care of the company’s loyal followers or create content of interest.

Keys

Any B2B company undergoes a buying process that involves the investment of research time on the product or service that can be targeted to a certain audience. It is important to analyze each of the aspects before making a decision as it involves a large economic investment.

Therefore, inbound marketing can help companies to educate customers through valuable content. The creation of white papers, manuals, posts, implementation protocols, tutorials or FAQs can help the user to learn about the laborious role played by the company and convert them into potential customers.

Creating this type of content also provides the company with an intellectual level in their field of work. With inbound marketing they learn to use the web as a way to make themselves visible and multiply their sales opportunities. Here are some elements that cannot be missing in your inbound marketing strategy:

• Content creation.
• Personalization.
• Viralization.
• Web analytics.
• Inbound marketing strategy
• Inbound marketing execution

 

Inbound strategy

Inbound marketing execution

Although inbound marketing is a very good marketing strategy, it is not for everyone. You should keep in mind that if your buying process is short it is better to use another type of strategy such as email marketing, SEM or social ads. This type of actions have a faster response and therefore adapts to your company.

But, this does not mean that no inbound strategy will work for you, for example you can use content marketing to influence your consumers and in this way, when they want to buy a type of product they will choose your company.

How to design it?

There are several steps to follow when starting your inbound marketing strategy. Below we detail them in depth so that you can adapt them to your company.

Knowing the environment

In this type of campaign it is important to know the terrain on which we are going to work. If you want to launch a product on the market and for it to be successful, you must know the environment in depth. To do this, study your target audience and use the product launch to add value to your content. By means of valuable content you will be able to make known the benefits of the product, solve doubts or cover needs.

This step is perfect for sending email marketing, creating ebooks or webinars and thus, publicize your product and your company. Each offer you are going to launch must have its own landing page to be able to measure the conversion, follow-up, downloads or number of customers.

 

Creating the timing and objectives

Timing will be your best friend during a marketing strategy for a specific product. The definition of objectives will be the star element that will lead the rest of the actions. Each launch must have a specific calendar and will not last between 30 to 90 days. Once we are clear about the publication of each content, the next step is the comparison of the return of the campaigns.

 

Driving traffic

We will use different channels to drive traffic to a product/service. Different content will be published in each of them.

 

Blog

In the blog we will dedicate a part of the blog to content related to the campaign. In this way we will publicize the product and the content created.

 

Social networks

We will use social networks to publicize the content to the followers. For example post related to the ebook we have created.

Email

By email we will publish some interesting offers and will be sent to potential customers who are interested in this type of content.

Mature your leads

Inbound marketing is based on giving value to content and making sales without pressure. Therefore, it is recommended that once you see an interested user you send them content and offers. But this relationship should not be forced, it will develop little by little.

 

Closing the campaign

Before closing the campaign, we must carry out an exhaustive analysis to find out if our content has had an effect on users. To do this, the best way to know these data are the metrics. We will make a report with different metrics to examine their behavior.

• Visits: measures the total number of visits the promotion has had, we must be especially careful with a high number of visits but low conversion.
• New leads: this is an important element for the sales team. We will know if we have reached a market that we had not reached before.
• Total sends: we cannot rule out the presentation of existing leads.
• New customers: number of customers who consider that the campaign used has been good, this data may not be known until some time has passed and we can compare it with other campaigns.

 

How to create your buyer persona?

To determine your buyer persona it is important to base it on reality, even though it is a fictitious ideal customer, it must be represented by real customers. That is to say, the creation of this figure will be done through surveys, research of our customers, potential leads and networking network.

In this way we will know the ideal customer’s psychological and social profile, motivations, objectives, vital needs and demographics. To create a buyer persona based on reality it is necessary to ask the right questions.

• Who?

In this section we will collect demographic information such as where they live, their age, family situation, personality?

 

• What?

This will focus on how the customer can help the company achieve its goals and challenges.

 

• Why?

The survey will be reflected in this section through comments, complaints, different points of view…

 

• How?

Once we have analyzed the ideal profile for our company, we use all these elements to find out what our customers need. This will help us to create the marketing and sales messages and reach the potential customer.

Difference of inbound and outbound

Although at first glance outbound and inbound marketing may seem to be one and the same technique, this is not the case. Both can coexist in a company’s marketing strategy. However, they are very different.

Outbound marketing, as mentioned above, is part of an older technique that uses traditional media such as radio, television or newspapers. In addition, it focuses mainly on promoting the brand and the product in order to obtain economic benefits.

Another differential point is the communication, which has the purpose of informing in a unidirectional way. In other words, the company provides certain information without the possibility of a response from the user.

Marketing campaigns are another element that distinguishes them. These are dedicated to a general and massive public. Especially so that there is a greater reach among future customers.

On the other hand, inbound marketing is a more current technique that focuses on the user. It uses digital media such as social networks, blogs or SEO. Its purpose is not to focus on the brand but on the content it creates for the user and potential customer.

Communication is based on bidirectionality so that there is greater interaction with the user and he feels part of the company. This type of communication is focused on a target audience that is defined by the company in order to capture it and turn it into a potential customer.

Trends

Inbound marketing continues to experience a boom thanks to its specialization in the user. Therefore, we explain the 10 trends that you should take into account this year to achieve success.

Interactive content.

Users increasingly demand more interactive content, they want to leave behind the habit of reading all the information. Therefore we recommend that you include interaction on your website with videos, quizzes or resources. If you implement this technique you will increase engagement by improving the user experience and attract more qualified leads in different fields.

 

• Personalization.

In recent years this way of working has been growing steadily. This is thanks to the demand it is experiencing. This trend makes the user feel special by providing exclusive content.

 

• IA.

Interactive content goes hand in hand with artificial intelligence. Thanks to this method we can offer the possibility of interaction to the user. In addition, we can obtain information about the potential customer to know their tastes and know how to target them.

 

• Voice search.

 

Alexa, Siri and Cortana have put voice search in the spotlight. This form of search is gaining more and more followers due to its convenience and flexibility. If you launch a voice search engine, you must take into account SEO and user experience to display clear and concise content.

 

• Marketing automation.

You will be able to know first-hand what actions your users perform and thus know what type of customer is close to provide valuable content that is among their interests.

 

• Influencer marketing.

Influencers have become part of many marketing strategies in recent years. This method is increasingly used as it reaches the potential customer quickly and concisely. We must know what our business objectives are in order to select an influencer according to them. In this way, we will address a specific target audience.

 

• Chatbots.

 

This method helps us to connect with the user and solve their problems and meet their needs quickly. Therefore, we must select the type of chatbot we are going to use carefully so that our consumers feel supported.

 

• Mobile Marketing.

The computer has taken a back seat. Nowadays most users browse the Internet with their cell phones. Therefore, you should always have responsive content. In addition, if you do not have this type of content, Google will penalize you because it favors websites that can be navigated via mobile.

 

• Mapping the costumer journey

With this trend we will be able to know the consumer journey. In this way we can accompany him in this process with relevant content for him.

 

• Featured snippet optimization.

The purpose of this trend is to appear in the featured snippets of Google SERPs. To achieve this goal we must include lists, enumerations and tables in our content.

 

Why integrate it into your business?

It is proven that this technique helps your company, not only to gain visitors but future potential customers. That is the main reason why you should jump into the pool and implement it in your strategy.

Strengthening your web presence, positioning your company in your industry, consolidating business relationships or generating more leads; these are just some of the advantages that the inbound marketing strategy provides you with.

It requires constant monitoring, teamwork and creativity, but the results in both B2C and B2B are numerous. Especially if your company is a B2B it is necessary to consolidate a reputation for your brand and this strategy is perfect for that.

If you have not yet taken the plunge to develop this strategy in your company, do not hesitate to try it to obtain benefits.

 

Bounce rates measure the percentage or the frequency your emails are “bounced” back  to you. In other words, the email can not reach the intended recipient and, therefore, must  be returned to the sender with a notification of its returned status. Just like the physical mail.

From a superficial view it is unfortunate, but not so serious if 10-15% of the prospects do not receive our communications. That’s what large databases are created for, right?

But deep down it is serious, and in this article we explain why and how to refute it.

 

The theory of bounce rate

We must difference between the three types of bounce and its impacts:

Soft bounce (or in some tools just Bounce): A soft bounce is an error of temporary  delivery error related to the inbox server: inbox full, message too heavy, server temporary unavailable… However, the email address is correct.

Action: shoot again.

Hard Bounce (or Invalid): We talk about hard bounce when an email address is not valid. There are a few reasons for this: or a typographic error in the email address, or the contact is not longer part of the company, or the email address is fake.

Action: delete the email address and do not shoot again. If you have the valid tools, email guessing or web scrapping, keep going.

Reject/Refuse Bounce – it occurs when the email servers identify an email address as not  requested and some of them have recently implemented automatic rules of rejection/ refuse. Most of the tools do not distinguish it.

Action: follow the next recommendations and shoot again.

 

The action plan in 7 steps to lower your bounce rate

1. Set up your own domain.  

Market tools are using common domains that carry over mistakes and bad practices from previous users. You do not want to automatically fall into spam without ever having done anything, do you?

2. Set up your personalised tracking domain that is the same as the domain that sends the emails.

Why it is so important? 

Let’s see, this one is a bit complicated. If the domain you are using to send the emails is different from the one that counts the open rates and the clicks on the links, it is more likely  that the emails will be identified as unsolicited.

You must not send the campaigns with, for example, [email protected] and make the  open tracking and the clicks with track.any.link.net.

3. If you can, avoid the Vanity KPI.

In the first days of the launch of the cold mailing campaign, it is important to measure its  effectiveness (open rate, click rate) and adjust it until a minimum open rate of 60%-70% is  achieved.

Once the goal is reached, this information has no operational use and it becomes only  what we call “Vanity KPI”, for yourself or to put into reports. But, what does it matter, deliverability or paper numbers?

If you remove the tracking, the deliverability will increase, and so will the results. Since  your bulk mailer tool will not be using the third party link to track the opening and the clicks  and, therefore, the emails will not market as unsolicited.

4. If you can, use your real work email. If not, do not skip the warm-up. 

There are two ways. In classic emailing, it may be advisable to create a new domain similar to your usual domain (for example, HelloMrsLead.com), and then “warm up the  sending email address”, by progressively sending an increasing number of emails each  day.

Another way is to use the email address you are already using professionally on a daily  basis. That is, an email address that sends and above all receives letters, one that already has a history and where there is no need to heat it up.

In summary, your actual work email address.

5. Configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC indicators.

These protocols are technologies used to protect the sending system, in particular to  authenticate and legitimise and email and its sender.

SPF and DKIM are the minimum to set up and there are many tutorials and publications  on the web that describe and explain how to do it (for example, this one is so detailed). Without them the server cannot confirm that your email has not been intercepted or altered during the transmission or that your address has not been falsified.

However, the configuration of DMARC has become a decisive element since June 2020 in  the criteria for detecting unsolicited emails. It is used as a contributor to the anti-abuse  controls of a domain.

6. Validate the emails before entering them in the database.

To obtain a good open rate and a good outbound campaign deliverability, you should start by sending the emails to a maximum of valid, fully verified addresses.

How is this done? With an email validation solution. There are many on the market. We at  HelloMrLead use Scrapp.io, uProc, ColdCRM and some others.

7. Customize the Unsubscribe link 

Although with the new personal data protection regulations (known as GDPR) it is  compulsory to include the possibility of unsubscribing and not receiving any more emails,  if you use at it is the word “Unsubscribe” will be detected as an indicator of undesirable  and unsolicited email (Reject/Refuse, remember?).

Be smart. Change the sentence, personalise it, and you will also generate more  confidence and the most sincere aspect of the email. And do not put this link at the end,  as that is where the robot will be looking for it.

Over the last few months, the world of business has experienced a revolution in which it has had to adopt its way of working in order not to reduce its productivity, and here, technology has become particularly relevant. HelloMrLead has talked to Santiago Campuzano, Regional Director of Iberia at Citrix, about the digital transformation of organisations or business, the importance of adapting to different environments and the changes that healthcare crisis has meant for the technology industry.

How do you see the current technology business landscape and what are the most significant changes that the pandemic has brought to this industry?

The first thing we have to take into account is the technological situation of each company. It is not the same for a company that has already tackled a transformation of the workplace adapted to Smart Working, dynamic, mobile and flexible, as it is for companies that still think and culturally feel that everyone has to work from the office. Depending on the culture and technological progress, the situation of some companies and others has been totally different; although what is certain in all cases is that this phenomenon has forced them to take a series of actions.

 

It is important to separate these two speeds. The first is for companies that are already advanced in the digital transformation and in the transformation of the workplace, with a culture that already accepts being able to work from home and that promotes work-life balance; and others that have simply had to take the step and then have been adapting to try to plan their future. I think that in 2021 there will be many digital transformation projects, not only in prepared companies. A maxim for us is that we work as we live, and there is no denying that technology is part of people’s lives, so we have to adapt more and more.

 

How has security been affected by the changing landscape that many technology – related business have experienced?

 

Critically. The only way to be totally secure in a company is to be isolated from the world, and that has many limitations in terms of production, efficiency and the way we relate to the rest of the market, starting with our customers and our employees. When we are not isolated, there are very important security gaps. The first thing to understand is that the main ones are internal. Some are due to people’s mistakes, because they are attacked and don’t know how to distinguish them, and others are due to bad practices, involuntary or in bad faith.

 

The easier you have remote access, the more points of risk there are. At Citrix our vision is to have mobile and secure worksplaces that allow us to work from anywhere and from any device, with a model that protects information, and with a part that is fundamental, knowing the reaction and recovery time to a secure work environment. We not only care about the proactive part to prevent something from happening, but also the reactive part, to be available with a secure environment as soon as possible.

 

Workplaces are also undergoing a transformation and another of the most noticeable changes has been the introduction of remote work. Do you think it is here to stay?

 

I have been looking for phrases that help us to educate ourselves. One is that “we work as we live”, but we have another concept which is the “socio-technological revolution”. We think that digitalisation matters, but cultural transformation matters much more. In other words, technology is available, but people have to adapt, and this means that organisations have to adapt as well. And company managers have an influence here, because you can put the best platform in place, but if you have a manager in a company who wants to see everyone sitting in their place from 9am to 6pm, it is hardly useful to implement telework and want to talk about conciliation.

 

In recent months we have experienced a situation that was not teleworking, it was the slavery of remote work. The children were at home, people were not prepared and many homes do not have a specific space to be able to work.

 

For the first time in history, the population pyramid reflects different socio-demographic age groups; and you find yourself with several generations in the same job that has to be attractive to everyone. We have to be able to culturally combine all of them to make the most of the talent of the people within the organisation, otherwise it is very difficult for any digital transformation project to succeed.

 

What is the role of digital transformation in technology business and sales departments?

 

For many years, technology has been a part of the operating environment and there is one thing we have to redirect. Technology is not the ultimate goal, it is a way to make companies more competitive and more efficient, both in the present moment that allows you to maintain your competitive position, and in the future to gain market share and be prepared for the next shocks that are going to exist within your sector. Digital transformation is a reality and people have to be able to adapt, thanks to the leadership of company executives and managers.

 

What is the positive impact and learning that technology companies can extract from the last few months?

 

The first thing is that we are a human engine with a great responsibility because we have helped people to be able to work from home. This means that people are safe without having to leave and go to the office. And we are also making it easier for companies to maintain their productivity, so we have two factors, one from a social point of view and one from an economic point of view.

 

In short, technology companies are having an increasingly global impact on the economy and society. There has also been a change and now everyone in the technology sector has a humanistic message and a concern for people that they didn’t have before. I think that is one of the parts of Citrix’s success, especially in Spain, how we have understood that people have to work.

 

Do you think 2021 will be a year of opportunities for the sector?

 

I think the real transformation exercise is going to start this year. Here we have a social doubt as to what the impact and speed of vaccination will be, but what is certain is that the world is not stopping. Technology has to have more weight and there is going to be a huge redefinition of roles at the economic level. It is without doubt a year of opportunities and everything has its technological application to gain in efficiency and in productivity.

 

Given the current situation we face as a society, many organisations have been forced to innovate and use all kinds of techniques to achieve a minimum of sales. One of them is email marketing, which aims, in addition to maintaining contact with potential customers, to minimise sales losses. A few days ago we asked Jose Argudo, Marketing Manager with several years of experience in the sector and author of the book Textos de venta más efectivos (in English The most effective sales texts), what was his opinion about the potential of email marketing in customer acquisition and why companies should dedicate part of their investment to it.

What role should email marketing play in an organisation, and do you think this strategy is suitable for all types of companies?

Email marketing is first and foremost a communication tool, which is why it can be used both to keep in touch with customers as well as to sell. With equal effectiveness.   During this pandemic we have seen how many businesses used email marketing to communicate with their customers (and suppliers), reassure them and explain what they were doing to overcome the situation. This has been very useful for these businesses. On the other side, many have continued to use it as a sales tool, with great success. In my opinion, seen from this perspective, yes, it is very useful for all kinds of companies.

Do you think more and more companies are aware of the potential that email marketing has for their brand? And what would you say to someone who is not yet doing email marketing? Why should they start doing it?

The truth is that email marketing has been one of the most effective marketing tools for companies for many years now. It is common knowledge, but it is possible that some more recitent companies have seen the pandemic as an excuse to start using email marketing. Perhaps they didn’t have the time before, or they had other concerns, and the new situation has forced them to act.   I would say to a company that if it already has customers, a very effective way to get sales is to send mailings to those customers. In other words, any company that already has customers can make a lot of money by working that customer list. The funny thing is that many companies do not do it.

What is the most common mistake made when using email marketing?

Well, there are several. One is the one I mentioned before. A large number of companies prefer to buy a database of contacts (of dubious quality) instead of working with their own customer list, which would offer a much higher profitability.   The other most common mistake is not understanding the environment and sending mailings that are simply an image, as if it were a flyer printed on paper. It’s not the same format, and that doesn’t usually work.

Today’s lifestyle and the rise of social networks mean that we have less and less time to check our email. Do you think that all of this has a negative effect on attracting potential customers through email marketing?

Do we really have less time to check email? Maybe younger people do not check email as much, I don’t know. But the first thing that happens when you start working in a company is that they create an email address for you. We check the email:

• To see if we have notifications from work.
• To see notifications and progress of purchases.
• To see notifications from some social networks / forums / daily digests
• To keep track of our favourite sites and their offers
• Emails sent by friends and colleagues

I would say that nowadays mail is consulted more than ever. Is it possible that there are niche markets where it is not used as much? It is possible, but it is also possible that they are niches with less economic relevance for companies.

In the context of the previous question: Email marketing vs. social media, do you think that the technique will have to adapt and change in the future?

Unfortunately, there is no debate here. Social networks with their algorithm changes have meant that there is practically no return on their use (except in exceptional cases) unless there is a large financial outlay. On the other hand, there are many email marketing tools that offer free accounts. That is, what you publish on social media, if you don’t pay for it, will probably only be seen by 5% – 10% of your followers. If you send a mailing, I won’t say that 100% will see it, but between 75% – 90% will. It is clear that if you want something to reach your contacts, social networks are not reliable. And in my day to day I use both, you have to use all the tools at your disposal.

Since we have already talked about inbound, apart from social networks, are there certain channels that you consider appropriate for lead generation? Do you think that corporate blogs add value or do they only serve to improve SEO? What do you think of podcasts?

This depends on each company, but I have always believed that we should use all the tools at our disposal.   Blogs are still very profitable if they are used correctly, of course. Perhaps what I have noticed is that more and more effort needs to be put into them. But this is going to be true on all fronts. Many new companies are emerging, many others are going digital. Competition is definitely going to increase, not decrease.   About podcasts, it is true that they are a useful marketing tool, but as in other cases, they are also going to become more popular and therefore it will also be more difficult to stand out there. My recommendation for companies is that they select the tool they think will be useful and that they dedicate their efforts there, that they don’t diversify too much (if they don’t have the resources). In other words, a small company with almost no media cannot have a podcast, a YouTube channel, Instagram, blog, etc. If there are no means, the best thing to do is to focus and choose a means of attraction, such as the blog and networks, even Google Ads, and a means of conversion, such as email marketing.

How could we take advantage of platforms like Medium and similar ones?

I’m not a big fan of these types of platforms. I have always thought that the effort spent on these platforms would be much better spent on the company’s own blog.   This is a personal opinion, maybe some people don’t share it.

Newsletter as part of email marketing: Is it ethical to send it cold, without the person signing up? Is it true that the importance of Lead Nurturing and lead conversion via this channel is decreasing a lot?

Well, I will not talk about ethics, but my personal opinion, and the experience of 10 years, tells me that sending cold newsletters is much, much less effective, and in some cases directly problematic, causing serious economic losses to the company that performs this action. Blocked domains, blacklisting, reduced effectiveness of campaigns. These types of actions can cause many problems in the short and long term.

The world of marketing is enormously broad. There are many different ways to make your company stand out, and every day there are more and more ways to do it. Among the many tools that exist to generate a good marketing strategy, in this article we want to highlight the podcast.

What is a podcast and how does it relate to marketing?

As many of you already know, or can imagine, we are referring to audio recordings broadcast via the Internet. This concept was created several years ago, with the idea of being able to generate something like a “radio on demand” where you could listen to the contents of the programs at any time and not have the need to adapt to the time of broadcast.

 

But today, the podcast is living its golden moment. It has reached a point of boom in which it is very popular, in other words, it has become fashionable. The marketing world has not been left out of this. This type of recording has become a very powerful tool for the B2B industry.

 

What are the metrics of a marketing podcast?

In addition to the advantages we have mentioned, this tool allows us to evaluate a series of metrics with which we can obtain our capabilities and those of the podcast. From knowing the number of plays we have to knowing the percentage of partnerships or customers we can have with this tool.

 

  1.Calculation of relevance of the podcast

The first metric that we must take into account is the amount of interactions that our podcast has. By interactions we mean “likes”, comments, reproductions, shares and, in general, all the actions that occur. So to speak is the general metric of the podcast, later we will analyze these actions in detail.

 

This metric should generally suffer a 5% increase per week. As there are different actions, in order to find the weekly improvement, some numerical values are given to each action, for example the following:

 

Likes: 1 point

Comments: 2 points

Actions: 5 points

 

In this case we divide the actions into three categories. On the one hand, the “Likes” with a numerical value of 1 point. On the other hand, the comments with a value of 2 points. And finally the rest of the actions, where each of them will have a value of 5 points. Once we have found the numerical value of each podcast, we can calculate the increase from one program to another.

 

  2. Number of downloads

Now we go on to detail the general metric. In this case we will take into account, within the “actions” discussed in the previous point, the number of times our podcast is downloaded. By downloads we should understand the actual obtaining of the file and its reproductions in order to be able to analyze its diffusion. In general terms, to know that our podcast is working we should observe an increase in this metric of 10% per week.

 

  3. Community growth

In order to study this metric, some (or all) social networks linked to the podcast should be implemented. In this way we will be able to observe the growth of proactive followers. That is, listeners who interact regularly with our podcast and not sporadically. In addition to improving feedback with listeners and content for them.

 

4. Web traffic and organic traffic

Our podcast will be on a website, either independent or on a page within our company’s website. Well, it is important to know the traffic that this website generates. To analyze this metric there are a lot of tools, such as Google Analytics.

 

Analyzing this metric will allow us to know how many people enter our website and how they behave in it. For example, knowing how many people access the web and comparing it with the number of plays will help us to know what percentage of people enter the web, but do not listen to our podcast.

 

In addition, the information that this tool offers us is useful because our website not only contains the podcast. We will also have other content such as links, information or conclusions of the podcast. Knowing how many people enter our podcast can help us to get an idea of what margin of reach we have.

 

5. Podcast listeners as potential customers

 

In this case, we must understand the metric from two perspectives. On the one hand, we must analyze how many of our listeners are potential customers and how many of our guests are. With these two questions we will know the value generated by our podcast.

 

Logically, our podcast will be listened to to a certain extent by our target audience and we must take this into account. The podcast is, so to speak, our loudspeaker. From it we can give a concrete image, provide solutions, give training, talk about our projects, etc. All this will make

 

All this will make listeners who are looking to hire the service we offer think of us. It is a good idea to add a subscription form for those who may be interested.

 

The podcast is still a way to build relationships. We can use it to let our potential clients get to know us and have a good contact with them if we invite them to attend the recordings as speakers. In this case it is important to identify the total number of guests with the number of leads we have obtained in this way.

 

6. Number of guests

This is a decisive metric when it comes to being able to correct mistakes, give a new approach or see that we are going in the right direction. We must analyze the number of guests who respond positively to our invitations. If this number is too low, we may need to turn our program around or reevaluate the way we do it because it may not be having the desired effect.

 

If, on the other hand, we have a surplus of options in terms of receptive guests, we can say that we are doing well. But this has its pitfalls too. In this case we should evaluate the quality of the guests and try to work only with the ones we consider the best. In addition to not being able to work with all of them due to lack of space, this will increase the cache of our podcast.

 

7. Relationship and conversion of the guests

Once we have started with the invitations to our program and we see that they work correctly, we must analyze the other part. We must analyze our relationship with them. To do this we will look at data such as the invitations we receive from the guests, the mentions they make in their programs about our projects or any other type of association that may occur on both sides.

 

This metric is perhaps more subjective than the previous ones, but it will help us to know that we are on the right track. It provides us with a broadening of our network of contacts and potential partners. It is also very important when it comes to generating leads.

 

Some of our guests may become collaborators, partners or even customers and this is where the most quantifiable metric comes in. We can know what the approximate conversion rate is if we look at how many guests we have had and how many have converted. This will give us an idea of our capacity.

 

Is there anything that strikes you about podcasts in particular? What do you think about using this tool? Do you want to know how to implement it? Any questions you may have will be answered in the comments and resolved in future articles.

 

Nowadays, the success of any sales process depends on the efficiency of the sales strategy. There are many tools available to measure the efficiency of these processes, but one of the most important is the Pipeline Velocity calculation. This is a simple but very effective formula that will allow you to measure the success of any sales process and help your business increase its revenue. In this post, we will explain the Pipeline Velocity Formula and explain how can you implement it in your sales process and help improve your results.

First of all, ¿What is Pipeline velocity? 

The Pipeline velocity is one of the main indicators that will help determine the success of a company. In particular, it is the time between the start of a sales process and its closure. Thus, it is important to measure sales speed in the best possible way if you expect to get a clear picture of the efficiency of your sales processes.

For example, lets suppose your company manufactures sportswear and that it has 4 different product lines, such as running shoes, t-shirts, shorts and sweatpants. The sales speed should be calculated individually for each line, and will reflect the average revenue that each one is generating for your company.

Thereupon, the Pipeline velocity calculator is an invaluable tool for sales managers. This allows managers to have a clear and accurate view of the efficiency of their teams. It also helps identify and resolve bottlenecks, increase productivity and reduce closing times.

It is worth stressing that the Pipeline velocity calculator offers a simple way to evaluate sales team performance. This allows businesses to improve sales speed, improve salesperson productivity and increase turnover.

In short, the Pipeline velocity calculator is a useful tool for sales managers. This tool helps managers evaluate the performance of sellers and get a clear picture of the efficiency of the sales speed. This allows them to make more informed decisions and improve the productivity and efficiency of the sales process.

Why is it important to calculate the Pipeline velocity?

To achieve a business goal,, it is essential to understand your sales speed and how to accelerate it to meet a goal. Many entrepreneurs believe that revenue growth is achieved by increasing the volume of prospects, limiting results. However, with the speed of sales accelerating, you can earn more revenue with fewer leads. This is achieved through greater efficiency in the commercial field, allowing “doing more with less”.

In other words, having Pipeline velocity calculator is necessary for businesses who want to measure the health of their products and distribution channels, as it helps understand how long it takes to sell a product, from its launch until the sale takes place.

How to calculate the Pipeline velocity?

If you want to optimize your sales process and get effective results, you need to know the essential formula to measure the efficiency of your sales team. This formula is known as Pipeline Velocity and is a simple but effective too that will help your business increasing sales.

This formula is based on the number of opportunities obtained within a month, which we must make an adjustment according to our monthly closing percentage and then multiply it by the average value of the contract previously calculated, all this will be divided between our average sales cycle in days.

 

When calculating your Pipeline Velocity, it is important to separate business opportunities with new customers from those with your existing customer base. This is because typically, your customer base’s opportunities have much higher closing rates than new ones. Mixing them would result in inaccurate measurements, so it is important to avoid it.

Taking into consideration the above formula, it is essential to stop to explain each of its aspects of the equation so that the calculation is beneficial and leads to properly informed decisions. Let’s start by understanding what we’re talking about when we’re talking about the average ticket.

Opportunities 

This variant of the above formula refers to the number of active business opportunities your business currently have in mind. To identify them it is necessary to have well defined phases of the CRM and establish from which phase is considered a valid opportunity.

It is important to note that, the number of active opportunities that have currently been prospected and that have the potential to become customers. In addition, it should be noted that in order to identify these opportunities, it is necessary to have good customer relationship management (CRM), as this will allow us to track all interactions with potential customers.

In this sense, it is essential to have well-defined phases of your CRM, since this will allow us to know where each opportunity lies and take the necessary actions to turn it into a real customer. These phases usually include prospecting, rating, trading and closing the sale. Each of these phases requires a specific set of actions and tactics to maximize the chances of success.

Once the CRM process has been defined, it is necessary to establish from which phase it is considered a valid opportunity. This depends on each company and their business strategy, but in general, an opportunity is considered valid when you have passed certain qualification criteria and have a realistic revenue potential.

In short, it is essential to stop to reveal the importance of having a well-defined CRM process and establish from which phase is considered a valid opportunity to identify business opportunities with the potential to become customers. Keeping track of all potential customer interactions to maximize your chances of success is key.

 

Average Deal Value

The calculation of the average deal value of a company can be obtained by dividing the turnover in a given period by the number of active customers in the same period. This calculation is useful to get an idea of the average size of the contracts being signed, which is important to be able to make comparisons with the past or with the competition.

 

 

Furthermore, the average value of the contract also allows us to know which customers contribute the most to the turnover of the company. With this information, you can make strategic decisions to improve the profitability of your business,, such as developing customer loyalty actions, as these customers are the ones who contribute most to the turnover.

It is important to mention that the calculation of the average deal value must be done in a certain period, since this allows to analyze the evolution of contracts over time, and to detect trends or changes in the behavior of customers.

Another way to use the average contract value is to set sales goals and targets. Once you know the average contract value, you can set sales goals based on getting a certain number of customers or a turnover volume in a given period.

 

Win Rate 

The “Win Rate” or success rate, which is used to measure the effectiveness of a sales team in converting opportunities into customers. It is calculated by dividing the total opportunities of a given period by the number of opportunities won, and expressed in percentage.

The Win Rate is a key indicator to measure the performance of a sales team and make strategic decisions. A high Win Rate indicates that the team is being efficient in converting opportunities into customers, while a low Win Rate may indicate problems in the sales process.

This KPI  will also allow you to compare the performance of different sales teams within the same company, and detect possible problems in the sales process of a specific team.

It should be noted that this indicator should be measured in a certain period, since this allows to analyze the evolution of the performance of the sales team over time, and detect trends or changes in their behavior.

 

Length of Sales Cycle

The metric known as “Length of Sales Cycle” is used to measure the time between an opportunity entering the customer relationship management (CRM) system until it closes.

The sales cycle is a key indicator to measure the performance of a sales team. A short sales cycle indicates that the team is being efficient in managing opportunities and generating closure, while a long sales cycle may indicate problems in the sales process.

To get the sales cycle, it takes the time elapsed between the entry of an opportunity in the CRM and its closure, it is calculated for all the opportunities won and the average is performed. In this way, the Length of Sales Cycle allows you to measure the average sales cycle of a sales team and compare it with other opportunities or sales teams.

It is crucial to consider that the sales cycle may vary depending on the type of product or service being offered, as well as the sector in which the company finds itself, so it is important to establish a parameter to compare it with other companies or industries.

If we seek to enhance this pipeline,  it is advisable to perform the following strategies:

Get more opportunities in our pipeline

A sales pipeline is a visual representation of sales opportunities throughout the sales process, from identifying an opportunity to closing it. The pipeline is divided into different phases, such as the prospecting phase, the quotation phase, the trading phase and the closure phase.

The goal of getting more opportunities in the pipeline is to increase the chances of sales being closed and thus increase the company’s profits. A pipeline with more opportunities is more likely to become real sales, which means more revenue for the company.

To get more opportunities in the pipeline, it is important to have a solid prospecting strategy. This may include prospecting automation tools, such as using CRM software, creating engaging content to attract potential customers, conducting networking events, and implementing an online marketing strategy.

In addition, it is indisputable to ensure that the sales team is able to identify and convert opportunities into real sales. It is also necessary to have a system of monitoring and measuring the opportunities to be able to evaluate the performance of the equipment and make decisions to improve the sales process.

Reduce the Length of Sales Cycle

The sales cycle refers to the time that elapses from when a sales opportunity is identified until the sale is closed. Simply put, we can say that the average sales cycle is the average time it takes to close a sale.

Reducing the average sales cycle is an important strategy since it implies that deals are closing faster, which translates into a faster revenue for the company and better efficiency in the sales process. In addition, if the sales cycle is shorter, it is more likely that problems in the sales process can be identified and corrected before they negatively affect the end result.

To reduce the average sales cycle, you must have a good understanding of the different steps in the sales process. At the same time, it is also important to have a strong prospecting strategy to identify sales opportunities efficiently, and a sales team trained to convert sales opportunities.

A mechanism to monitor and measure opportunities is essential to assess team performance and make decisions to optimize the marketing process. In addition to this, process automation could also be considered to increase efficiency and reduce time spent on administrative tasks.

Improve conversion from “Opportunities” to “Win rate”

To increase the company’s ability to convert business opportunities into effective sales, it is important to regularly measure the win rate to evaluate the success of strategies implemented. In addition, specific actions such as improving sales cycle management could be considered, such as:

• Identify and understand potential customers:

  Having a good understanding of the needs and desires of potential customers to be able to offer them products or services that really interest them, is a determining factor to increase the quality of conversions.

 

• Improve the quality of opportunities:

  When analyzing opportunities, it is essential to determine which ones have the greatest potential to translate into successful sales. This can be achieved through a proper classification of opportunities, a better understanding of customer needs and a more accurate identification of opportunities with the greatest potential.

 

• Improve the sales process:

  It is important to have an efficient and effective sales process that allows sellers to effectively present the company’s products or services and adequately respond to customers’ questions and objections. This can be achieved by continuously training sellers, implementing sales tools and creating a highly trained sales team.

• Follow-up and analysis:

  Regularly measure the success of strategies implemented to improve the conversion of opportunities into effective sales, will allow achieving objectives more efficiently. In other words, an analysis of the causes of success and failure will allow the timely adaptation of strategies in order to improve results in the future.

 

In short, improving the conversion of opportunities into effective sales requires a comprehensive approach that includes identifying and understanding leads, improving the quality of opportunities, improving the sales process and monitoring and analysing performance.

Practical example 

Let’s imagine that you face up the following situation at  your company:

• You have 10 Opportunities
• Your Win Rate is 30%
• Your average deal value is 7,000 euros.
• And you have a 21-day Length of Sales Cycle.

 

With this data and following the formula, we will get a Pipeline velocity of 1000 euros per day. So if you could increase the opportunities by 2 and reduce our average cycle to 18 days, you would achieve 1400 euros of pipeline velocity, which means an increase of 40% of this!

Given this, we found that the formula of Pipeline velocity is a valuable tool to analyze and improve the results of a business. One of the main advantages is that it allows you to identify which variables are the most important to increase for a better result. However, it is important to note that it is not always possible to increase all variables equally. For example, it may be easier to increase the number of opportunities than to improve the success rate. Therefore, it is important to focus on those variables that are easier to increase at first, before moving on to the more difficult variables.

In addition, it is important to remember that the formula is only a tool, and decision making in a business is not only based on numbers and formulas, but also on a deep understanding of customers, industry and the market. Therefore, it is crucial to combine the formula with other tools, along with a deep understanding of customers, industry and the market to get a complete understanding of how they affect results.

To conclude

While the use of a sales process speed calculator is essential to measure the health of products and distribution channels and understand how long it takes to sell them;  It is the sales activities and information below the surface that, Ultimately, they will help you refine your sales strategy and increase performance. To get the best results, start with accurate data (number of leads, size of operation, winning percentage and sales cycle) and use the strategies we’ve shared!