How to use a CRM System to predict the future

Predicting the future is very difficult, even for the weatherman. So what makes us think that we can use software to accurately predict what future sales are going to be?

blog 13 - leading indicators

It’s a very valid question.   If you look at the chart above, a linear regression line of historic sales might be trending up and so for a brief time, you also might be able to say. ‘This year sales will be good’

It’s probably not true unless you selling hundreds of thousands of widgets to big-box stores. It takes the intuition, market savvy, positioning of your product, etc. Basically nothing that can be easily systematically measured and controlled.

You might think that ‘hey I have CRM system’ I can measure the

–        The number of quotes

–        Number of meetings

–        Number of phone calls

–        What did we do last month or last year

But just as there are good leads and bad leads, there are good metrics and bad metrics. The above are bad metrics because your staff can work the system, recording phone calls or meetings that are not qualified and therefore will not lead to future sales.

So what you must try to do is use flags in you CRM to separate the good from the bad. In our company we call these RED FLAG leads, in which the prospect is looking to buy in the next 3 months.

blog 13 - redflag

This is an example of a ‘Leading Indicator’ and a true measurement of what the future will bring.

Other examples would be

–        Number of qualified meetings this week

–        Speaking Engagements

–        Qualified Prospects in the Pipe

–        Attendance on webinars

In general the number of leads that you produce is directly related to the number of new customers you will acquire so getting a handle on lead generation is the first step, the second is using the business system to measure.

Business intelligence allows you to quickly and easily analyze the results and therefore allows you to make course corrections to your sales and marketing campaigns

If you like to find out more about CRM or Business Intelligence remember to sign up for one of our upcoming events on our website www.voxism.com

Thanks

Mike Fontaine