Capsule CRM Blog

How to increase tech sales in 2024

Rose McMillan — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Tech sales are unique in their complexity, but also opportunities. Although tech sales have a relatively high entry barrier, there is one basic perk here – extremely high payouts.

That is why many companies wish to not only get into tech sales, but also capitalize on it. In this article we’ll explore how to increase tech sales in 2024 and beyond, and what techniques to use.

What are technology sales?

Technology sales involve selling complex technical products and services, ranging from software solutions to hardware like desktop computers.

A tech sales rep might only sell one kind of tech product, such as a CRM platform. Or, they might sell a product that combines different elements, like a wearable tech device with embedded software.

Tech sales process vs regular sales process

Tech sales are not your typical sales jobs. They require a unique set of skills and approaches that all tech sales reps should possess.

1. Technical knowledge

In tech sales, you can’t just rely on your sales skills. A deep understanding of the tech industry and the products you’re selling is crucial.

For example, if a tech sales rep is selling software development services, they should understand coding languages and project management methodologies.

2. No physical storefront

Unlike traditional retail, many tech sales jobs are done remotely or through digital platforms. This means that tech sales representatives have to be adept at using various online tools for sales and communication.

3. Longer sales cycles

Tech services often require a longer time to close a deal. This is because the products are complex and need approval from multiple departments within a prospective client’s company. When securing a tech sales position, you need to be aware that you won’t be able to sell the product overnight.

4. High competition

The tech industry is highly competitive. Tech sales reps need to stay up to date with the latest trends and products to remain competitive, and pursue their career in tech sales. Especially since tech sales industry quotas are often only partially met:

What do tech sales representatives do

Tech salespeople are the bridge between tech companies and the clients after shiny new gadgets and software. They’re the ones identifying sales opportunities.

They present and demonstrate the company’s products, making sure to close sales like a pro. But there’s much more to consider.

Wear many hats

For tech sales positions, wearing multiple hats is the name of the game. Aside from the usual sales spiel, they also provide consulting and troubleshooting services.

Network with other tech sales professionals and clients

If you think a tech sales career is just about cold calls and closing deals, think again. Many tech sales reps also spend their time attending industry events. This is a great networking opportunity and allows them to form alliances with sales teams from other companies.

Provide a variety of services

Tech sales career paths are as varied as the products they sell. From software sales to hardware sales, the sky’s the limit.

Whether you start as a tech salesperson and climb your way up to sales manager or specialize as a technical sales representative, the sales career opportunities are endless.

Use tools to streamline their workflow

Working in tech sales isn’t just about showing a bit of persuasion on the phone. Sales tools are crucial, too.

From CRM software to analytics dashboards, technology sales teams use a variety of tools to track performance and manage relationships. After all, in the sales profession, good relationships are crucial, and the right tools can make or break your success.

Tech sales jobs examples

Career options for technology salespeople include:

Account executive: Account executives are responsible for closing sales of technology packages.
Sales engineer: Combines technical skills with sales knowledge. They can be great at selling technology, as they often have the most technical knowledge about software products.
Business development representative: Focuses on generating leads and finding prospective clients. A success fee is usually added to their average salary.
Customer success manager: Ensures customer satisfaction post-sale and spends more time on serving existing clients than generating interest among new ones.
Sales manager: oversees the sales team and often collaborates with hiring managers.

Skills for tech sales professionals

Before you dive headfirst into the tech sales industry, let’s talk about the skills you absolutely can’t skimp on. Having them can make you a hot commodity in the tech sales positions market.

1. Understanding technical aspects

Whether it’s software sales or hardware sales, you’ve got to know your stuff. This works towards your credibility and is crucial for effective selling. No one trusts a tech sales representative who can’t tell a CPU from a GPU.

2. Communication skills

In the tech sales industry, you’ll encounter clients who might know less about technology than you. Your job in tech sales is to simplify complex tech jargon into something anyone can understand. Good communication skills are essential for clear and persuasive interactions with clients, and they can open up more sales opportunities.

3. Problem-solving skills

Tech sales reps are often the first point of contact when a customer has an issue. Your problem-solving skills can set you apart from other tech sales representatives. Being able to quickly identify and provide solutions to customer problems is like being a tech superhero (minus the cape).

4. Negotiation skills

In any tech sales job, knowing how to negotiate helps you close deals that are beneficial for both parties. Sales reps with killer negotiation skills are often the ones who climb the ranks the fastest.

5. Time management

Tick-tock on the clock. Time is money, especially in a fast-paced career in tech sales. Efficiently managing your time allows you to focus on high-value activities and clients. It’s not just about being busy; it’s about being productive.

6. Team collaboration

Working well with other technology salespeople ensures that the sales process is smooth and that customer needs are fully addressed. Teamwork makes the dream work.

7. Analytical skills

Last but not least, analytical skills are important for every sales role. Being able to interpret data and sales metrics helps you understand what strategies are working and what needs improvement. It’s like having a roadmap for your job in tech sales.

How to increase tech sales in 2024

Interested in working in tech sales? Or, rather interested in making your tech sales work? Either way, we have a couple of tips for you.

Identify target markets for tech products

If you don’t know whom you sell to, how are you going to sell?

Comprehensive market research can help you pinpoint the sectors, industries, or demographics that would most benefit from your products and services. Knowing your audience allows you to tailor your marketing strategies, making them more effective.

It also enables more personalized interactions with potential customers, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

For example, a software company might notice that the manufacturing industry really enjoys their product. This doesn’t mean they wouldn’t serve other niches, but based on their findings, they can tailor their product pitches to meet the needs of other manufacturing businesses.

Work on your USP

Your unique selling point (USP) is what sets you apart from the competition. It should be compelling, addressing the specific needs and pain points of your target market.

A strong USP can be a game-changer in attracting and retaining customers – and something that each tech sales professional can use to their advantage when persuading both new and existing customers.

Make sure it aligns with your target market’s needs and is easy to understand. Revisit and tweak your USP as market needs evolve. In a tech company, USPs often tend to be complex so find a way to explain it in a way that’s easy to understand.

Retargeting campaigns on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn can be a goldmine for re-engaging potential customers. These platforms allow you to show targeted ads to users who have previously interacted with your brand but haven’t made a purchase.

Retargeting can remind customers of products they viewed, nudging them towards conversion. Segment your audience for more effective retargeting and monitor metrics to adjust your strategies as needed.

When it comes to B2B and tech, retargeting works wonders on social media - not just shooting in the dark.

Use CRM to track each interaction

Using a CRM tool can provide a centralized platform for tracking all customer interactions, which is invaluable for understanding customer behavior and refining sales strategies.

Good CRM software can automate many tasks, freeing up time for more strategic work for each technology salesperson. It can also provide valuable insights through analytics, helping you make data-driven decisions. Regularly update your CRM database to ensure accuracy and relevance in your sales cycle.

And use a tool that has it all. Like Capsule.

Create a knowledge base for your clients

A comprehensive knowledge base can act as a self-service portal, reducing the workload on your customer service team and improving overall customer satisfaction.

Clients can find answers to common questions themselves, freeing up customer service reps for more complex issues. And that’s crucial for tech sales where complex issues are bread and butter.

‍According to the Harvard Business Review, 81% of all customers attempt to take care of issues themselves before reaching out to a live representative - across industries.

Give them that option!

Ensure that your knowledge base is easy to navigate and regularly updated with new information. The more effort you put here, the less effort it will take you to make your customers happy.

Use analytics to track which articles are most accessed and update them for clarity and completeness.

Offer bundled packages

Offering bundles, seasonal discounts, or add-ons can serve as an effective incentive for potential customers. These increase your average transaction value on tech hardware, and also make it easier to seal the deal.

Bundles and discounts can attract price-sensitive customers and encourage bulk purchases. They can also introduce customers to more products in your range. Always check the performance of these strategies to ensure they are delivering the desired results.

Instead of involving an account executive or tech sales representative into creating bundles, make tech sales even easier. Create a built-in option where prospective clients can build their own package.

Train tech sales reps on best sales techniques

A well-trained team can adapt to different customer needs and handle objections more effectively. But except from dealing with all things customer success, this can also teach the tech sales team better sales methods.

For example, take upselling.You start by getting to know the other person, understanding their needs, and then suggesting that maybe they’d be happier with a little extra. In the tech world, this could mean suggesting a software package with a few more bells and whistles than the basic version your customer was considering.

And that sounds easy. But to make it work, each tech sales rep needs to know how to do it. That’s why tech sales training is extremely important here. And then, it has to be applied everywhere. Implement these techniques at various customer touchpoints, such as during the checkout process, in email marketing, or through personalized recommendations on your website.

Use video demos and webinars

Video content can provide a powerful platform for showcasing the value and functionality of your tech products. Webinars pave the way for real-time Q&A and direct interaction with potential clients. Videos can be repurposed for various marketing channels, providing excellent ROI in the tech industry.

Establishing collaboration with tech Influencers

Forming partnerships with tech influencers can lend credibility to your products and extend your reach to a wider, yet targeted, audience. Choose influencers who align with your brand values and have a following that matches your target demographic.

Influencers can offer authentic endorsements and create content around your products, providing social proof. They won’t be your main sales channels, or, at least, they shouldn’t be. But they can give you that boost you might need to work in tech sales and succeed.

Land that tech sales job!

Tech sales is a skill and one that requires a lot of work to perfect. From tech sales reps making waves to hiring managers always on the lookout for talent, this field is buzzing so make sure you have the skills you need to succeed.

No matter your industry, client relations are crucial for any sales team. So make sure you have the tools you need to succeed. Capsule’s CRM is a great way to keep track of all of your important client relations. Try our CRM for 14 days completely free to see how it can help support you and your team.

40+ sales memes that you should definitely look at during work hours

Rose McMillan — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

So, your last sales meeting didn’t go so well. You came across a sales objection you found difficult to handle. Or you’re struggling to identify which sales technique that’ll help you close that pesky deal that’s been dragging on for months.

Sometimes, you need to take some time out of your day to decompress and look at some sales memes. Because, sometimes it helps to laugh - especially at ourselves.

1. Nothing can keep salespeople from managing their leads

2.You’ll struggle to find anyone more patient than us

Sales is very much a waiting game. Even the most seemingly keen prospects can unexpectedly become ghosts.

3. We’re not always great at managing our personal life

4. How does a day slip away so fast?!

You start the day with such good intentions, then suddenly it’s 5 pm and your to-do-list is still the length of your arm.

5. You’re not proud of it but…

You know you definitely shouldn’t put up with it but that commission is way too tempting to say anything.

6. There’s no one braver than a salesperson

7. “I’ll see what I can do”

Customers are always looking for the best deal, it’s understandable! But even when you’ve exhausted every discount available there are some that are still looking for ways to save a few pennies.

8. We can withstand an emotional rollercoaster

Sales isn’t for the faint of heart, it’s a whirlwind sometimes. You can go from top of the world to miserable in the time it takes to make a phone call!

9. Big mistake!

Doesn’t matter how good your pitch is, or how many pain points and objections you overcome, some prospects just don’t know what they’re missing.

10. We’ve all heard this before

We’ll get over it eventually, just let us sulk for a little bit first.

11. Sales can’t be that stressful right?

A week of cold calling and dealing with sales objections can take its toll after a while. Remember to take a break sometimes!

12. Hard to say no to temptation

You know you need to close that deal before starting something new. But that high-value prospect is looking very promising, you’d be a fool not to take a quick look.

13. Like two different people

Most of your clients would be shocked to see what they’re really like behind closed doors. Guess that’s why it’s hard for them to believe that we really can’t do better than our last quote!

14. They don’t always know best

Sales managers are only human, but that doesn’t make a lost opportunity hurt any less.

15. Yet somehow you’re still to blame

It’s not your fault we’re in a difficult economy!

16. Setbacks make success even sweeter

Setbacks make success even sweeterIt might’ve taken weeks, even months to get there, but there’s nothing better than closing a deal with a reluctant prospect.

17. Even pros get knocked down

When it comes to cold calls, you never know what you’re gonna get. Even pros get nervous when reaching out to a cold lead, so be ready for anything, especially rejection.

18. It can be harder than it looks

It might seem simple but those calls can last all day.

19. And it never truly gets easier

Speaking of rejection, sales roles and setbacks go hand in hand. But that doesn’t make that third ‘no’ of the day hurt any less - or the fourth or fifth.

20. “I’ll just focus on the key points”

It’s hard to be brief when you stand by the product you’re selling. But prospects don’t want to be bored, so avoid unnecessary details that they don’t need.

21. Classics are classics for a reason

Thinking of innovative interview questions can be tough, but the hit film Wolf of Wall Street has a lot to answer for! Sales managers, you might want to skip this question next time.

22. No time to waste!

Is there such a thing as too direct? In sales, there’s no time to waste, especially when there’s commission on the line.

23. Sales isn’t always a team sport

Sales is a competitive game. So after weeks of meetings and outreach, there’s no way you’re letting someone else take your sale!

24. When the leads just aren’t going your way

Not every month is your month. But try telling that to your sales manager!

25. If you’re gonna do it, do it right!

Badly written CRM notes are some of the biggest pet peeves for sales managers. So if you want to stay on their good side make sure your entries are detailed and concise.

26. Please, not again

27. Sometimes it feels like everything is going wrong

So you have to learn to roll with the punches and make the best of things.

28. Resilience and perseverance is key

If you don’t keep on getting back up you’ll never make it!

29. One in a million

All those setbacks eventually lead to that one perfect prospect. And once you find them, you’ll wanna use every sales trick in the book to keep them happy and close the deal.

30. Prospects sure know how to keep us guessing

Even when they’re keen, closing the deal can be a challenge - and a frustrating one!

31. We know marketing is trying their best but…

If we could get some contact details with it too, that would be great!

32. Don’t underestimate the power of teamwork

Sales and marketing alignment is important, without it, you’re just blindly working against each other.

33. If it works, it works!

Everyone else in the team tries to give them a wide berth, but their numbers speak for themselves so who are you to judge?

34. Why limit your options?

Inside sales can be a great tool, but haven’t we all had enough of ‘remote meetings’?

35. The unsung hero of any sales team

You sometimes wonder if you’re more coffee than a sales rep. Or if salespeople are single-handedly funding the coffee industry.

36. Anything to start a conversation

Salespeople’s small talk is unmatched, we’ll talk about anything and everything to try and form a connection.

37. They’ll learn eventually

Doesn’t matter how many times you tell them, a prospect will always claim they know best.

38. Desperate times call for desperate measures

Some call it annoying, we call it persistent!

39. Music to our ears!

It doesn’t happen often, but it’s a great way to get started on closing the deal!

40. Sometimes everything goes to plan

Every now and then the stars align! So make the most of it and don’t let the opportunity pass you by.

41. You might not know how it happened but you’re glad it did!

Every sale process comes with a few setbacks, but that doesn’t mean you can’t right the ship!

42. But there’s no better feeling than when it all comes together in the end

Nothing will stop us from showing the world that we closed our sale!

43. But sadly things don’t always work out

This one hurts….

44. But when they do, there’s not better feeling

A good sales pitch will have you on cloud nine!

45. A whole different type of pain

Even worse when you’re nowhere near your target.

46. But we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Exploring the Power of Custom Fields in Capsule

Chloe Lloyd — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Every organization has its unique needs and requirements when it comes to managing customer data. This is where Custom Fields in a CRM system shine. They allow you to tailor your CRM to your specific needs, making it a powerful tool for capturing and organizing information.

In this article, we’ll explore Custom Fields, identifying what they are, how to create them, the different types available and some practical use cases.

What are Custom Fields in a CRM?

Custom Fields are like the Swiss Army knife of your CRM. They go beyond your standard name, organization, email, address and phone number fields in your CRM. You get to tailor Custom Fields according to your unique business needs. Maybe you are working on subscription renewals and need a date field for a “renewal date” or need a text field to enter what service or plan your customer is subscribed to.

SImon Young, Director of Global Operations at Red Circle Network is enthusiastic about the flexibility offered by Custom Fields:

“It’s simple and yet we can customize too. There is so much to be done with Custom Fields. It’s rare to find something that you can tweak so much without getting confused and tied up.”

Whether you need to track customer preferences, important dates, specific product interests, or any other data relevant to your operations, Custom Fields allow you to do it.

What are Important Fields?

To maintain the accuracy and completeness of your data, it’s crucial to ensure that no vital information is missing from your records. In Capsule you can simplify this process by designating Custom Fields as “’important.’

When you mark a Custom Field as Important, it will automatically expand and highlight when you add or edit a record. This helps you identify which fields are essential.

In addition, any records lacking data in Important Fields will display a subtle indicator, telling you that more information must be filled in. This indicator appears on the record itself, as well as in both the list view and the Sales Pipeline kanban view.

Custom Field types

Custom Fields come in various types to accommodate different types of data. Here’s a breakdown of the most common Custom Field types:

Text: Use this type for entering any kind of information, such as words and numbers. You can even make text fields searchable to easily find specific records.
Date: Enter important dates related to your Contacts, Opportunities, or Projects. This is particularly useful for tracking renewal dates, birthdays, and more.
Checkbox: Create simple yes/no fields for values like marketing consent or membership status.
List: Employ single-select dropdown menus with predefined values to segment your contacts or categorize your data without the risk of spelling errors.
Number: Store numerical data that can be used to filter lists based on conditions like ‘is more than’ or ‘is less than.’ This is handy for tracking quantities.
Generated links: A powerful tool to create dynamic links to external sites or services while pulling data from your CRM records. These links can streamline various processes, such as email searches or creating quotes.

What are some use cases of Custom Fields?

Now that you understand what Custom Fields are and the different types of fields you can use, let’s explore some practical use cases and where they could be recorded in Capsule:

Contacts

Contact birthdays (date and text): Keep track of your contacts’ birthdays with a date field and a text with the month to send personalized birthday wishes.
Marketing consent (checkbox): Record whether contacts have given consent to receive marketing materials.
Customer priority level (list): Categorize customers into priority levels like "VIP,” “Gold,” or “Silver.”
Preferred communication channel (list): Note whether contacts prefer email, phone, text or in-person communication.
Industry (list): Categorize contacts by their industry, such as healthcare, technology, or finance.
Geographic region (list): Segment contacts by geographic region or location.
Customer type (list): Differentiate between B2B and B2C customers or wholesale and retail customers.
Customer satisfaction rating (number): Collect and analyze customer satisfaction ratings on a scale of one to ten.
Service subscription level (list): Identify the level of service or subscription a customer has, such as “Basic,” “Premium,” or “Enterprise.”

Sales

Product interests (list or checkbox): Mark contacts with their product or service interests for targeted sales and marketing.
Lead source (list): Identify where leads originate, such as website, referrals, or events.
Purchase history (text): Store details of past purchases made by the contact.
Contact score (number): Assign a numerical score to contacts based on engagement or potential value.
Lead scoring (number): Assign scores to leads based on factors like engagement, budget, and timeline.

Projects

Renewal dates (date): Monitor subscription or contract renewal dates to ensure timely follow-ups.
Customer feedback (text): Capture customer feedback or comments for improving products or services.
Project deadlines (date): Track project deadlines and milestones for effective project management.
Event RSVP (checkbox): Indicate whether contacts have RSVP’d for an upcoming event or webinar.
Project status (list): Monitor the status of ongoing projects, like ‘In Progress,’ ‘Completed’ or ‘On Hold.’

How do I create a Custom Field in Capsule?

Creating Custom Fields in Capsule is a straightforward process. Just to note that this is only something Capsule Administrators can do. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started:

Navigate to the Account Settings > Custom Fields
Here you can use the tabs to select whether the Custom Fields will be for People & Organizations, Opportunities or Projects
Click to Add New Custom Field
Select the type of field that you would like to add
Give the Custom Field a Label and Save

Custom Fields in your CRM offer endless possibilities for tailoring your CRM system to your business’s unique needs. By using these fields effectively, you can streamline processes, improve communication, and gain valuable insights into your customer data.

So, why wait? Start exploring the power of Custom Fields today with our free 14-day trial and watch your efficiency and customer relationships soar.

The complete guide to project management for architects

Jon Davis — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The world of architecture is filled with awe-inspiring creativity and innovation. However, behind every breathtaking structure and innovative design, is a range of challenges and complexities.

Project management for architects is no easy feat. You need to balance aesthetics with functionality, all while keeping on the right side of strict regulations and staying within your budget.

It may not be the most exciting part of running an architecture firm, but good project management is a vital part of the process.

In this article, we’ll delve into the intricacies of project management in architecture firms. You’ll learn the essential skills, recommended tools and best practices to ensure every project is a resounding success.

The challenges of project management in architecture firms

While many think that being an architect is all about creativity and following your vision, it’s likely they don’t appreciate just how much project management is going on behind the scenes.

Architectural projects often span multiple years and involve numerous stakeholders. Keeping a complex, multi-year project on track requires meticulous organization and communication.

Without diligent project management, delays and cost overruns can quickly spiral out of control.

Then there’s the human element to consider. You need to collaborate with clients, engineers, contractors and others daily. Each one of those stakeholders has their own different concerns and priorities, which you need to take into account and balance.

Varying project delivery methods also complicate matters. Some projects are design-bid-build while others are design-build or CM at risk.

Each method comes with different concerns and criteria to consider.

Then there are the seemingly endless factors that are completely outside of your control. Weather conditions, availability of materials and fluctuating costs have the potential to throw your project off your carefully planned tracks.

Essential skills for effective project management

To successfully manage projects in an architecture firm, managers need the right abilities. The following skills are critical to keeping your project on track.

Communication

Good communication is the cornerstone of any project. In architecture firms, this involves articulating your design concepts, addressing client concerns and facilitating collaboration between different teams.

Project managers must be adept at listening, translating ideas, resolving conflicts and providing frequent updates.

Strong writing skills also allow project managers to craft sharp documentation. Be clear and concise in your communication, avoiding any unnecessary jargon or overly complex language.

Time management

With multiple projects running simultaneously and tight deadlines looming, architects must be comfortable managing a complex to-do list. Keeping on top of your time requires efficient schedules that minimize delays.

Undoubtedly there’ll be some tasks that you simply have to deal with personally, but trying to tackle everything by yourself is impossible. Instead, get comfortable with delegating or deferring any low-priority tasks.

Problem-solving

Unforeseen challenges are par for the course in architectural projects. The ability to adapt to changing circumstances — whether that’s new information, regulatory updates or client requests — enables you to keep the project aligned with its objectives.

Get comfortable with using different decision-making models. For example, if a project falls behind schedule, the project manager could conduct a SWOT analysis to identify the best path forward:

Strengths: The technical skills of the team, innovative design solutions
Weaknesses: Underestimating the permitting process timeline, lack of client input
Opportunities: Fast-track permitting, modular construction methods
Threats: Client dissatisfaction, going over budget

The SWOT framework helps the project manager pinpoint the cause of any challenges by formally analyzing the project from multiple angles. This evaluation can help architects to find relevant solutions

Financial literacy

Budgetary constraints are a constant challenge in project management. You need to be comfortable managing costs, negotiating contracts and keeping every project financially viable.

Creating accurate project budgets is crucial. Project managers must have analytical skills to develop precise cost estimates and budgets. As the project unfolds, they also need budget management skills to track expenses and detect any discrepancies.

Monitor financial performance using key metrics like ROI, profit margin and cash flow.

Emotional intelligence

While often overlooked, emotional intelligence is crucial for managing team dynamics, resolving conflicts and creating a harmonious working environment.

Emotional intelligence can be broken down into four key competencies:

Self-awareness
Self-management
Social awareness
Relationship management

By understanding and managing yourself, you’ll be in a better position to understand and respond to the emotional needs of team members, clients and stakeholders, fostering positive relationships and collaboration.

Project management tools and software recommendations

If you’re still relying exclusively on pen and paper to manage your projects, it’s time for an upgrade. There are plenty of digital tools and apps you can use to streamline project management, with options for every budget. Here are some of the different types of software that can enhance efficiency and productivity in architecture firms.

Task management tools

Each project is a series of related tasks; these tools help you organize and track those tasks, enabling you to monitor progress, allocate resources and meet deadlines.

The best task management software allows you to get a quick overview of even the most complex project, showing you at a glance where you are, your next steps and key responsibilities for those tasks.

Top task management tools:

Collaboration platforms

We’ve already seen that communication is a key skill for project management. These platforms help foster communication and collaboration among team members, clients and stakeholders, ensuring everyone is on the same page. Whether it’s sharing the latest guidelines with the team or checking in with the client, collaboration platforms make it easier to keep in touch and share vital information.

Top collaboration tools:

Document management systems

Even the simplest architectural projects have a mountain of paperwork. Storing project documents in a searchable, shareable database makes managing this task little more manageable.

A centralized repository for all your requests for information (RFIs), change orders and specifications can save you a lot of time and headaches.

Top document management systems:

Time tracking software

Ever get to the end of the week and wonder where all that time went? Time tracking tools show you how much time you and your team spent on various tasks, providing insights into productivity and showing where you might need more resources.

Top time tracking software:

Customer relationship management systems

One of the core components of any project is the people — your relationships with clients, contractors and more all have a significant impact. With the right customer relationship management (CRM) software, you can manage every aspect of those relationships, from reaching out to potential clients to successful project management.

Better yet, the best project management CRMs come with many of the other features we’ve already discussed above. For example, Capsule CRM helps architects with:

Refined task management and record-keeping
Improved team communication
Efficient talent management
Better financial management
Meaningful client relationships

Capsule comes with dashboards and reports to track progress, along with a robust mobile app to keep your team connected wherever they are. It also integrates with your other favorite apps, connecting your tools and sharing data for maximum efficiency.

Learn more about how a CRM for architects can benefit your firm today.

Best practices for architectural project management

Even with the right skills and software, you can’t guarantee a positive outcome for every project. Still, adhering to the following best practices will significantly increase your chance of completing your next architectural project.

Regular check-ins

Things can change quickly in any project; the sooner you find out about those changes, the better. Regular check-ins with the team and stakeholders foster collaboration and enables you to address any concerns promptly.

Keep the communication going even after you’ve completed the project with post-project reviews. Looking back at what went well (and what didn’t) can provide valuable lessons that will help you optimize your processes.

Comprehensive documentation

Maintaining detailed documentation of every aspect of the project, from design drafts to contractual agreements, ensures transparency and serves as a reference point for future projects.

Store all project documents like sketches, blueprints, models, specifications, submittals, RFIs and more in a central, shareable repository. This way, you always have the information you need to hand.

Documentation should begin in the planning phases, with extensive notes on project scope, deliverables, budgets, schedules, requirements and key stakeholder contacts.

As the project progresses, diligently document all meetings, communications, decisions, change orders, problems and solutions. Details like meeting attendees, key discussion points and assigned action items improve accountability.

Proactive risk management

Identifying potential risks early on and developing contingency plans can make unforeseen challenges easier to deal with. This approach can help your team pivot quickly if needed.

During the planning phase, conduct a thorough risk analysis to identify any vulnerabilities in the schedule, budget, scope, resources, technology needs or regulatory issues.

Develop risk management plans detailing how each high-probability risk will be addressed if it arises. Then, as the project progresses, regularly re-assess for new risks and monitor existing ones.

Having preemptive contingency plans allows for smooth, stress-free project management. For example, if permitting is delayed, you can have fast-track alternatives ready. If materials costs spike, you know exactly what other options are available

Continuous learning

To remain adaptable and innovative, it’s important to embrace a culture of continuous learning. This involves staying abreast of industry trends, technological advancements and regulatory changes.

Provide opportunities like conference attendance, courses and reading materials for team members to continuously expand their knowledge. Bring in experts for “lunch and learn” sessions to share insights.

Regularly re-evaluating tools, workflows and best practices keeps your project management strategies fresh and optimized. The field evolves quickly, so firms that commit to continuous learning will always lead the pack.

Conclusion

Effective project management is imperative for architecture firms, but it’s still just one piece of the puzzle. Beyond strong project management, firms must maintain top-tier designs, innovative solutions and client relationships.

While project management is crucial, it’s also important to think long-term about your team, capabilities and vision. The role of an architect is constantly evolving, and staying up to date with societal needs, ethical considerations and global trends is paramount.

Discover more about how a CRM can help your firm manage current and future projects. You can enjoy a 14-day free trial, and see how Capsule’s features can save you time and offer peace of mind.

Return on sales: What it is, and how to calculate it

Rose McMillan — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As a business owner you need to know and understand some key terminology. This includes terms like return on sales (ROS). If you don’t know why it’s important you could be missing out on some key metrics that can help you boost your business.

In this guide we’ll look at how to calculate the formula, and one golden tip that you can implement in your business.

Let’s jump straight into the details.

What is Return on Sales?

Return on sales (ROS) is a percentage that tells us how much profit a company earns from its sales.

Example: If a shop sells a shirt for $100 and has a ROS of 5%, then they’ve earned $5 in profit from that sale.

ROS gives an overview to understand how well a company turns sales into profit. It’s a useful measurement for getting a quick sense of a company’s financial health.

If the percentage is high, the company is doing a good job of keeping costs down and maximizing profits from each sale.
If it’s low, the company may be spending too much to generate sales or might face other challenges.

How to calculate return on sales

To calculate ROS, you divide the company’s net income by its sales revenue and then multiply the result by 100 to give you a percentage.

Calculate return using this sales formula:

ROS = Sales Revenue / Net Income × 100%

But there’s one more metric worth mentioning here: gross profit margin.

It is a way for analysts to assess the financial health of a company. Gross profit margin consists of profit minus the cost of goods sold (COGS).

What is a good rate of return on sales?

A good rate of return on sales often sits between 5% and 10%. It’s not a strict indicator though, as the percentage can vary based on the industry. Generally, if a company is above this range, they’re doing quite well. If they’re below, there might be some room for improvement.

Best practices to improve return on sales

Here is a list of the best practices when it comes to improving your return on sales. Follow them to maintain ROS beyond the usual scope.

1. Use customer segmentation

Customer segmentation is like sorting your friends based on what they like. It helps you know what their preferences are and what they have in common.

Rather than approaching everyone with the same sales strategies, you can divide your clients into smaller groups based on shared characteristics or behaviors.

An example: A software company might find that enterprise-level clients are more likely to opt for premium packages.

Special promotions or personalized services can then be directed towards this high-value segment. The result is often a spike in sales and, consequently, a better return on sales.

Customer segmentation means you don’t waste dollars on low-impact areas, and your clients get what they want. A win-win situation.

2. Leverage existing customer relationships with upsell and cross-sell

You’ve already earned the trust of your current clients, so why not offer them more? Don’t miss out on sales opportunities. Use upselling and cross-selling. It’s a tactic for boosted return on sales that works.

An example: An experienced user buys a laptop from a technology company. Instead of ending the transaction there, the sales team might suggest a compatible high-end software package (upselling) or recommend a protective laptop case (cross-selling).

This strategy is rooted in understanding what customers want. On top of that, this approach raises the business’s operating profit without adding new expenses.

3. Adjust prices based on demand and competition

Smart pricing goes beyond setting a number and forgetting it. The secret here is to adjust prices based on demand and competition.

An example: A trendy coffee shop in a bustling city area notices increased demand during specific hours. Or sees a competing coffee shop raise its prices. They might adjust their own prices a bit higher. Yet, if the opposite occurs and demand drops, lowering prices might draw more customers in.

Be as dynamic as the market is.

Such pricing strategies directly influence net sales and affect both the company’s operating profit and net revenue. This doesn’t mean constant price fluctuations, but rather having a pulse on the market.

Businesses need to understand where they stand in the same industry and be ready to adapt.

4. Optimize stock levels to reduce holding costs

Carrying a surplus of inventory might seem harmless, but it quietly eats into profits by incurring holding costs. And here’s why:

An example: If a fashion retailer orders too many summer dresses and the season turns out cooler than expected, they’re left with excess stock and unsold goods. This not only ties up cash flow but also incurs inventory costs, which directly impacts the operating profit margin.

So how do you strike the right balance? Integrating sales figures, sales volume, and historical sales data should give business owners a clearer picture.

The goal is clear: having just enough to meet demand and maximizing sales revenue without unnecessary expenses. Don’t just sell, stock smart.

5. Streamline operations to cut expenses

High holding costs mean more operating expenses, which drain the operating profit. Let’s see this in practice.

An example: A local bookstore orders heaps of a new release and expect it to be a bestseller. If the book doesn’t sell as projected, they’re left with mounting inventory costs. These unsold items impact net sales and the company’s profitability.

The best course of action here would be to lean on sales figures from the past in order to forecast future demand. Companies in the same industry might have experienced similar stock issues and could provide insights.

Use technology to monitor sales volume and sales team performance, as well as to guide stocking decisions.

Every unsold item represents not just lost sales revenue, but also money spent on goods that didn’t produce a return. Proper stock optimization means increased cash flow and stronger financial statements for the company.

6. Analyze data for actionable insights on sales trends

Every transaction, customer interaction, and sales effort produces valuable data points. They also give perspective on what drives net sales and ROS.

An example: An online fashion retailer observes that certain colors or styles spike in sales during specific seasons. This insight, drawn from analyzing sales figures, helps guide future stocking decisions.

And for those in competitive markets, monitoring and analyzing a competing company’s performance provides comparative benchmarks.

So keeping a close watch on operating expenses, operating income, and operating profits reveals how well the company is able to turn sales into actual profit.

7. Develop sales teams’ closing skills

Closing skills are essential for understanding what the customer wants and adapting accordingly.

An example: A software-as-a-service (SaaS) business observes that potential clients often back out at the final stages of the sales process. Digging deeper, they find that the sales team often rushes to close without addressing all client concerns.

How can you prevent it?

Training programs help sales teams tackle objections and boost their operating margins. They also give the bigger picture of business operations.

The outcome?

The company generates higher revenue because the sales team learns how to navigate the sales cycle, reducing sales return instances.

8. Implement loyalty programs and engagement strategies for customer retention

Appreciate your loyal clients! Such programs will make them stay.

An example: An online clothing store, observing consistent purchases from a segment of their customer base, introduces a loyalty program. They offer early access to new collections. Customers love exclusivity because it makes them feel special, and this keeps them coming back.

Loyalty strategies don’t just translate to a boost in total revenue – they also strengthen sales forecasting, inventory management, and production cost management.

9. Post on multiple channels and reach a wider audience

Better segmentation, a bigger customer base, improved net sales, and boosted return on sales all come from multi-channel posting.

An example: Consider a mid-sized marketing agency that specializes in branding solutions for small businesses. While they’ve mostly been operating through referrals and traditional networking events, they’ve now decided to expand their strategy.

They initiate an integrated campaign by sharing insightful articles on LinkedIn, hosting webinars on industry trends, creating engaging clips for TikTok, and collaborating with influencers on Instagram.

Okay, but where to post? First, check which platforms your buyer personas use and be present here where your clients want to be noticed. Posting on different social media platforms (among other places) directly elevates your sales ratio due.

Why so?

The wider the reach, the greater the chances of converting passive viewers into active customers.

10. Improve your inventory planning with predictive analytics

Stock management shouldn’t be reactive. Instead, it should anticipate future demand and adjust accordingly. Predictive analytics is used by modern businesses to optimize this very aspect of their operations.

An example: Let’s take a popular electronics manufacturer. Data shows them that there’s a spike in demand for certain accessories within the following two months every time a new gaming console launches. Using predictive analytics, they forecast this demand peak and strategically manage their inventory, thus avoiding stock outs and lost sales.

Decisions like these directly affect the operating margin ➡️ there’s a minimized mismatch between demand and supply. Too much inventory may bring high operating costs and even potential interest expense if it’s purchased on credit.

11. Maintain high product standards to boost net sales

High-quality products are a mark of pride, no doubt about it. But they also help reduce returns and customer complaints, whilst simultaneously enhancing net sales.

An example: If a tech gadget store’s products meet customer expectations every time, the trust factor grows. As trust builds, customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend the brand, increasing net sales. The fewer returns they have to process, the better their operating profit margin becomes.

Keep a keen eye on product standards. You’ll see that it pays off after seeing your operating income, as returns can quickly hurt profitability.

12. Optimize the operating profit margin through KPI analysis

Regular tracking and analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs) give companies insights into what’s working and where some tweaks are necessary.

An example: An online bookstore might notice a particular marketing campaign drove significant traffic but that it didn’t convert to many sales. This insight helps them tailor their sales efforts and, ultimately, increase return on sales.

Before you start the analysis, you need to know what KPIs are best to keep an eye on. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question; to choose yours, consider your business goal and go for metrics that provide actionable insights directly tied to that objective.

There’s one more thing to make your financial ratio better.

How can Capsule CRM to maximize your return on sales?

You need to develop good relationships with your customers if you want a high return on sales ratio.

The best way to go about it is using a solid tool for it.

Meet Capsule CRM.

Why should you consider using Capsule CRM? Let’s break it down:

1. It simplifies complex processes

This smart online system organizes all your customer info. It’s a digital drawer where all your customer chats, preferences, and histories are stored. You won’t lose track of any detail.

2. It supercharges sales

See all the deals that are about to close and those that are needing a little push, all in a tailored dashboard. It’s sort of a visual GPS, guiding you on which sales routes to take.

3. It gives intelligent insights

Knowledge is power, right? Capsule offers easy-to-understand reports, spotlighting activities that are influencing your sales the most. You’re always two steps ahead in strategizing your next move.

4. It automates tasks

We all hate busy work, but thankfully Capsule’s automation feature reduces manual tasks. This gives you more time to focus on what truly matters – connecting with customers and improving the company’s operational efficiency.

5. It’s flexible and personalized

Every business is unique, and Capsule understands that. It comes with a Teams plan that adapts to your way of doing things. Advanced sales reports? Workflow automation? Or maybe AI content assistance? It’s got all the right features to suit your rhythm.

Use the free version of Capsule CRM to see how it works in practice. Upgrade your plan anytime you feel like it! It’s available for up to two users and 250 contacts.

Get started for free, or take a look at the subscription plans to see which one you like best.

Key Takeaways

Use Capsule CRM to make your return on sales ratio go up.
Return on sales (ROS) insight is a metric that indicates how much profit a company earns from its sales. High ROS means the company controls costs and maximizes profits, while low ROS might suggest challenges in managing operating costs from core operations.
Practices such as building on existing customer relationships, optimizing stock levels for demand-supply balance, and using predictive analytics all impact operating cash flow and operating profit margin.
Apart from return on sales, another financial ratio worth noting is the gross profit margin. It depicts profitability by subtracting the cost of goods sold (COGS) from profit, giving a clearer picture of core operations.

Return on Sales concluded

Paying attention to this metric makes the difference.

Get the most out of your business by following our best practices.

Organize and manage your contacts with Capsule CRM.

Still not sure? Capsule CRM offers a 14-day trial without the need for a credit card. Sign up, explore, and see if it’s the right fit for you.

Impact of behavioral segmentation on sales

Rose McMillan — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Sales and marketing are ever-evolving fields, and understanding customer behavior can help you navigate them. But as customers are spending more time online, their behavior has changed dramatically compared to just a few years ago.

Behavioral segmentation has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses to gain insights into their customers’ preferences and actions.

With knowledge gained from these insights, companies can customize their marketing efforts, increase customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive sales.

But what exactly is behavioral segmentation, and how can you use it to power up your marketing strategy?

Let’s define what this term is and then show you how it works, in practical terms.

What is behavioral segmentation?

Behavioral segmentation in marketing is the process of sorting consumers into groups according to how they interact with a company. This is referred to as their interaction patterns

The main goal is to classify customers according to their behavior and preferences. As a result, businesses can personalize marketing strategies and improve sales for each of the different audiences.

Some approaches to segmenting customers behaviorally include:

Analyzing their product usage histories
Examining their occasional purchases
Assessing their brand loyalty
Identifying their preferred product benefits

If you want to stay competitive in rapidly evolving markets, it’s crucial to understand customer behavior.

Previous interactions are an excellent way to predict behavior in the future. It can be used to make informed assumptions about what lies ahead. Businesses can get valuable insights into their target audiences.

From there, they create personalized marketing campaigns to meet their needs by examining different factors. These include common product purchases, shared hobbies, and similar beliefs.

Benefits of behavioral segmentation for sales

Behavioral segmentation offers a wide range of benefits for sales teams. Some of them are:

Better resource management
Creating custom marketing strategies
Increased customer lifetime value
Lowered customer acquisition costs

In essence, behavioral segmentation allows businesses to gain a competitive edge by offering personalized experiences that resonate with their customers and drive sales.

Improved customer engagement

Understanding the customer behavior is key to improving their engagement with the company. That’s because businesses can create more personalized marketing efforts with the information they have readily available.

Providing relevant and timely content to customers at various stages of their customer journeys can lead to improved customer involvement and more sales. For example, companies like Netflix and Spotify use behavioral segmentation to maintain subscriber engagement.

The way they do this is simple: they give you custom suggestions based on your previously consumed content.

You too can foster increased engagement and loyalty by catering to the specific needs and preferences of your customers.

Targeted marketing campaigns

Analyzing customer behavior enables businesses to adapt their marketing messages for specific segments, which leads to more effective marketing campaigns. For instance, companies can use purchasing behavior segmentation to target customers more effectively by:

Customizing marketing efforts and using different marketing messages based on what customers purchased
Providing informative material to research-focused customers
Notifying customers of upcoming sales

Improved customer retention

Customer loyalty is a vital element of behavioral segmentation, as it enables businesses to:

Recognize loyal customers and reward them
Create tailored experiences to sustain their loyalty
Benefit from customers who spend more over the long term
Receive word-of-mouth referrals and valuable feedback

In short, it’s an easy way to get more money out of your existing customers.

Increased sales revenue

A better understanding of customer behavior and preferences can lead to better marketing strategies and more sales revenue.

With marketing segmentation, you can focus on the customers that matter. This targeted approach can lead to better conversion rates and more revenue.

Optimized product development

Using behavioral data can help businesses in the following ways:

Identifying customer desires and preferences
Better alignment with those needs and wants
Spotting opportunities for product innovation and improvement
Offering the possibility of customization

In short, you can get familiar with what your customers want and create more of it. That way, your customers are happier and spend more money.

Types of behavioral segmentation

There are several types of behavioral segmentation, each with its pros and cons. Here are the main ones you need to know about.

Purchase behavior

Purchase behavior means categorizing customers according to their purchasing habits.

Businesses can gain valuable insights into customers’ preferences and behaviors by scrutinizing their past transactions and buying patterns. You can create more targeted campaigns based on what the customers have previously bought.

For instance, a business notices that a particular customer segment frequently purchases environmentally friendly products. They can then create marketing campaigns promoting their “green” offerings in order to appeal to this group.

As a result, you get more sales, simply by tapping into the information you already have.

User engagement

User engagement segmentation focuses on how customers interact with a brand or product. Tracking user activity and engagement enables businesses to devise personalized marketing campaigns that cater to the distinct preferences of each customer segment. This can lead to increased customer engagement, loyalty, and, ultimately, sales.

For example, businesses can offer personalized product recommendations or content based on a customer’s browsing history or previous interactions with the brand.

Customer loyalty

Customer loyalty segmentation identifies repeat or long-term customers and provides them with personalized experiences in order to foster and maintain their loyalty.

Loyal customers are responsible for the majority of revenue and require less expenditure to retain than obtaining new customers does. Those loyal clients also possess the highest lifetime value.

Implementing customer loyalty programs is an effective strategy for gaining loyal customers. These programs reward and incentivize loyalty, encouraging repeat purchases and helping to solidify the relationship between the customer and the brand.

Occasion or timing

Occasion or timing segmentation means targeting customers based on specific events or times when they are likely to complete a purchase. This type of segmentation can be particularly useful for businesses that experience seasonal fluctuations in demand. As well as those that offer products or services tied to specific events or occasions.

Benefits sought

Benefits sought segmentation groups customers based on the value propositions they need from a product or service.

For example, a fitness equipment retailer could segment their customers based on those seeking weight loss, muscle gain, or general health and wellness, and tailor their marketing efforts accordingly.

11 best behavioral segmentation strategies

To effectively understand and target your customers, consider implementing these 11 best behavioral segmentation strategies:

Purchase history analysis

Examining customers’ purchase histories can give invaluable insights into customers’ buying habits and preferences.

For example, Amazon leverages past behavior and purchase history of segments with similar behaviors. They can then recommend other products, in total this accounts for 35% of their sales. Understanding your customers’ purchase history can lead to more effective marketing campaigns and increased customer satisfaction.

Customer loyalty programs

Customer loyalty programs reward and incentivize loyal customers, encouraging repeat purchases and building long-term relationships between the customer and the brand. Businesses can strengthen these relationships with their most valuable customers and drive repeat business by offering them exclusive perks, discounts, or rewards.

Cart abandonment tracking

Cart abandonment tracking is an essential tool for businesses looking to identify potential lost sales and improve their checkout process.

Tracking occasions of customers adding items to their online shopping carts without completing a purchase lets businesses get insights into the reasons for abandonment. They can then implement the necessary changes to their checkout process in order to improve conversion rates.

User activity monitoring

Tracking activities like website visits, page views, and time spent on site enables businesses to better comprehend how customers interact with their brand or product.

The knowledge gained from analyzing customer data can be used to create personalized marketing campaigns that cater to the unique preferences of each customer segment.

Seasonal trend identification

Seasonal trend identification can help businesses target customers during specific times or events, such as holidays or seasonal changes.

Content engagement metrics

Measuring content engagement can provide businesses with insights into how customers interact with their marketing materials and identify areas for improvement.

Tracking metrics like click-through rates, open rates, and time spent on the page allows businesses to refine their marketing materials to better resonate with their target audience.

Email open and click-through rates

Understanding email open and click-through rates is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns. Monitoring these metrics enables businesses to gain insights into their email performance and make data-driven decisions to enhance their campaigns.

Monitoring social media interactions can provide valuable insights into customer preferences and behavior. Tracking activities like likes, comments, and shares helps businesses better understand the content types that resonate with their audience, enabling them to customize their marketing efforts accordingly.

Customer feedback surveys

Customer feedback surveys are a valuable tool for businesses looking to identify areas for improvement and better understand customer needs. Collecting customer feedback provides businesses with insights into potential shortcomings in their products or services, allowing them to implement necessary changes to meet customer expectations.

A/B testing for campaign optimization

A/B testing is a valuable tool for businesses looking to test different marketing strategies and identify the most effective approach.

Comparing two versions of a web page, app, or marketing campaign, for example, allows businesses to spot which version performs better and adjust their marketing efforts accordingly.

Event-triggered messaging

Event-triggered messaging is an effective strategy for sending personalized messages to customers based on specific actions or events, such as cart abandonment or browsing history.

Example of event-triggered messaging on Hubspot

Sending timely and relevant messages tailored to the customer’s behavior or product engagement can enhance customer engagement, and loyalty, and ultimately, boost sales.

Leveraging these marketing strategies enables businesses to:

Gain valuable insights into their customers’ behavior and preferences
Create more effective marketing campaigns
Heighten customer satisfaction
Ultimately increase sales

How Capsule CRM can help you with behavioral segmentation

Behavioral segmentation is a crucial aspect of modern marketing, allowing businesses to categorize their audience based on specific behaviors and preferences.

Capsule CRM offers a range of features that facilitate this segmentation, making it easier for companies to target their marketing efforts effectively. Here’s how Capsule CRM can be a game-changer in your behavioral segmentation strategy.

Contact management

Capsule CRM’s Contact Management feature centralizes all customer data, making it easier to analyze behaviors for segmentation.

By having all customer interactions and preferences in one place, you can create more targeted marketing campaigns. This feature allows you to easily track conversations, delve into customer histories, and deliver more personalized experiences.

Sales pipeline

The Sales Pipeline feature allows you to tailor your sales process to match customer behaviors. This ensures that you’re targeting the right audience segments at the right stages of their buying journey.

Customizing the sales pipeline allows you to identify which deals need attention and which are about to close, increasing the efficiency of your sales efforts.

Sales analytics

Capsule CRM’s Sales Analytics provides insightful reports that help you evaluate the impact of behavioral segmentation on your sales figures. These analytics make it easier to spot trends and patterns, thus facilitating data-driven decision-making. You can easily identify which activities have the most impact on your sales, helping you allocate resources more effectively.

Workflow automation

The platform’s Workflow Automation feature allows you to automate targeted marketing campaigns based on behavioral triggers.

Whether it’s a recent purchase, cart abandonment, or specific website activity, automation ensures that your marketing efforts are both timely and relevant. This not only saves time but also makes your campaigns more effective.

Integrations

Capsule CRM offers seamless integrations with popular applications like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Mailchimp. These integrations enable you to pull in data from various sources, enhancing your behavioral segmentation capabilities.

Combining data from different platforms like these gives you a more comprehensive view of your customer behaviors, making your segmentation strategies more robust.

Key takeaways

Behavioral segmentation is a marketing technique that groups customers according to their interactions with a company.
The benefits of behavioral segmentation include enhanced customer engagement, targeted marketing campaigns, improved customer retention, and increased sales revenue.
The 11 best strategies for leveraging behavioral segmentation include purchase history analysis, loyalty programs, and cart abandonment tracking.

Summary

Behavioral segmentation based on an understanding of customer behavior and preferences is a crucial component of any successful marketing strategy. It allows businesses to create tailored marketing campaigns, increase customer satisfaction, and drive sales.

Implementing the 11 best behavioral segmentation strategies can provide a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced market and ensure long-term success.

So why not start implementing these strategies in your marketing efforts today with the help of Capsule’s CRM. Sign up for our 14 day free trial and watch your business thrive.

Why is clienteling the future of sales?

Rose McMillan — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Numbers don’t lie. According to Salesforce, with clienteling, data collection rates see increases of as much as 300% and retention rates by as much as 200%.

Sound exciting?

It truly does, but it’s also challenging to hop on this trend overnight. If you’re still relying solely on traditional sales methods, it’s time to read on and discover why clienteling is shaping the future of sales.

What is clienteling?

Clienteling is a personalized approach to sales that focuses on building long-term relationships with customers rather than just making quick sales.

It combines data analytics, personalized service, and customer engagement to create a unique and memorable shopping experience.

How does clienteling work?

Clienteling is a comprehensive strategy that involves several components. Here’s how it works:

It involves personalized recommendations

Instead of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, sales associates dig deep into customer data to handpick product suggestions.

Sales associates use customer data to offer personalized product recommendations.

Using past purchases and browsing history to tailor suggestions, businesses can deliver better offerings and experiences. This translates to higher sales.

It might involve real-time inventory access

Sales associates have real-time access to inventory levels, so that they can provide accurate information to customers. Knowing what’s in stock and what’s not available can make or break a sale, especially for customers who are in a hurry.

It always comes with post-purchase follow-up

Clienteling includes post-purchase follow-ups to gauge customer satisfaction and offer additional products or services. This increases the chance of repeat business. A simple thank-you email with a discount code for a future purchase can go a long way in building loyalty.

It understands omnichannel experience

Clienteling is often integrated into an omnichannel strategy, providing a seamless shopping experience whether the customer is online or in-store. A unified shopping experience across all channels is what today’s customers expect and appreciate. As a result, you might soon see an increase in sales.

How to build your clienteling strategy

Creating a fully functional clienteling strategy is about creating a comprehensive approach that aligns with your brand’s ethos and customer expectations. Below are nine crucial steps that serve as a roadmap for digital businesses looking to excel in clienteling.

1. Prioritize customer experience

You won’t go far with your clienteling strategy if you put customer satisfaction aside. Use customer feedback and post-purchase surveys to gauge how well you’re meeting customer expectations. Make it a point to act on this feedback by refining your services or products. Provide a more personalized service for increased customer satisfaction.

Continuously monitor customer satisfaction levels to ensure that your efforts are paying off. Don’t hesitate to make adjustments based on customer input. You’re almost certain to do so, anyway.

Use case: An online streaming service could use post-watch surveys to ask viewers about their experience with the streaming quality and content selection. Negative feedback could lead to technical improvements, while positive feedback could be highlighted in promotional materials. All feedback counts.

This could also be applicable in SaaS. A live chat solution can send relevant surveys to their website visitors:

2. Implement 360 customer data management

To offer personalized experiences, you need data.

A lot of it.

Collect data at every touchpoint, from online browsing behavior through in-app interactions to purchases in retail stores, and use this data to tailor your marketing and sales strategies. The more comprehensive your data collection, the more personalized and effective your clienteling efforts will be.

Always double check that you’re complying with data protection regulations when collecting and using customer data, though.

Checklist to follow:

List all touchpoints where customer data can be collected, such as websites, apps, and in-store.
Merge all collected data into one central database for easy access and analysis of customer journey.
Make sure your data collection methods follow legal regulations like GDPR or CCPA.
Use simple analytics tools to find patterns and insights, but also customer’s preferences, in your customer data.
Leverage the customer information to personalize your marketing and sales campaigns for better effectiveness.

Use case: A headless commerce platform could use machine learning algorithms to analyze browsing history, click patterns, and past purchases to recommend products that are most likely to interest individual customers.

3. Run sales associates’ training

Your sales associates are the face of your brand. Empowering sales associates with money or rewards is one thing – but serving them with training resources can make a key difference.

Invest in comprehensive training programs that equip them with the skills needed to excel in clienteling, from product knowledge to customer interaction techniques. In a digital context, this could mean training customer service representatives who handle online queries to offer personalized solutions based on customer data.

Sometimes dedicated training might not be feasible. You can, however, access many free online training courses.

Use case: An online SaaS company could train its customer support team to offer tailored solutions based on the customer’s usage patterns and challenges.

4. Analyze past purchase history

Ask yourself a few questions here.

Are you aware what the average customer lifetime value in your business is?
Can you track the last eight customer purchases?
Do you know the main traffic source in your online shopping business?
Are your retail sales associates fully informed about best-selling products?
Do your store associates have access to real-time data on customer behavior for providing superior customer service during in-store interactions?
Are you utilizing clienteling tools and mobile apps to create a personalized customer experience that can boost customer loyalty and increase customer lifetime value?
How is your sales team leveraging accurate customer data and customer insights for targeted marketing and personalized communication?
Do you have a retail strategy focused on increased customer retention through meaningful relationships, and are you measuring its impact on the retail landscape for a competitive edge?

So many questions – not many answers, if you don’t have data.

Collecting data is important, but only analyzing it gives you tangible results.

Verifying who, when, what, and how opens up opportunities for effective upselling and cross-selling. This could mean using algorithms to suggest related products or services right after a customer makes a purchase or even while they are browsing. Then, you can boost it with embedded analytics to get even more data.

Use Case: A digital music store could use a customer’s purchase history to recommend new albums or tracks from similar genres or artists. Personalized customer experiences here can yield better results than sending a simple promotional offer.

5. Keep an eye on multi-channel customer engagement

Engage with your customers across multiple platforms to keep them connected with your brand. You have a plethora of channels to use here. Just to name a few: social media, email newsletters, in store shopping experience, mobile device notifications, virtual clienteling systems, brick and mortar stores’ promotion.

However, it’s not only about quantity. It’s about quality and consistent engagement.

This multi-channel approach is getting even more critical as customers interact with your brand in a variety of online spaces.

Use case: An online fashion retailer could use Instagram to showcase new arrivals, email newsletters for special discounts, and push notifications for flash sales – all of that to establish long term relationships with valuable clients.

6. Implement loyalty programs

Loyalty programs are an essential part of retail clienteling, designed to reward loyal customers and encourage repeat purchases. Ensure that your program offers real value and is easily accessible through both mobile devices and in-store experiences.

Leverage clienteling tools and apps to collect data on customer behavior, which can be integrated into customer profiles for more personalized rewards.

Consider offering loyalty points not just for online purchases but also for meaningful interactions like writing product reviews, referring new customers, or sharing social media posts. This approach encourages a more meaningful relationship with the same customer, enhancing the benefits of clienteling.

Use case: SaaS could utilize client data to offer loyalty points not just for purchases but also for writing product reviews or referring new customers. This strategy encourages more engagement, repeat business, and provides customers with face-value information that enriches their shopping experience.

Here’s an example of how it could work in the email verification industry:

7. Leverage real-time analytics and reporting

Actually, checking some of your KPIs in real-time might save you from making a lot of costly mistakes.

Metrics such as customer engagement rates, sales conversion rates, and customer satisfaction scores should be monitored constantly. This data can help you make informed decisions. For digital businesses, real-time analytics can provide insights into user behavior, page views, bounce rates, and much more, allowing for immediate action.

That’s what Google Analytics or CRM software is for.

Use case: An online gaming platform could use real-time analytics to monitor user engagement and identify features or games that are particularly popular or problematic, allowing for immediate improvements.

8. Create feedback loops

There’s never too much feedback coming your way.

Establish a robust system for collecting and analyzing customer feedback. Use this data to continually refine your clienteling strategies and ensure you’re meeting customer needs.

Businesses have the advantage of easily implementing automated feedback collection methods, and they should fully leverage that.

Use case: A digital news platform could use reader feedback to improve the relevance and quality of its articles, thereby increasing reader engagement and subscription rates – but also making sure they deliver the best experience possible.

How to use CRM to nail clienteling

CRM platforms can be pivotal in enhancing your clienteling strategies, a key component of which is the centralized customer data feature.

This repository consolidates all customer interactions, from in-store shopping experiences to online purchase history, into a single customer profile.

Such data collected enables the provision of highly personalized services, and contributes to lasting customer relationships.

An online retailer can leverage this customer profile to customize future marketing campaigns.

Task and pipeline management are other robust features that clienteling tools rely on. These features offer a transparent view of your sales processes, so that you can focus on precise targeting of your clienteling efforts.

A digital marketing agency can use these tools to track the stages of client relationships, ensuring that no opportunities for client acquisition are missed.

The power of customization comes into play with fields and tags, allowing businesses to segment their customer base based on the customer’s behavior. You could integrate it with your email marketing tools to send course recommendations based on past behavior.

An e-commerce platform can use these to target customers based on their engagement levels or buying behavior, enhancing the effectiveness of clienteling apps.

And then, real-time analytics offer invaluable insights into customer behavior, providing customers with continually refined clienteling strategies.

A SaaS company could use these analytics to track how their software is being used, informing future product development.

Capsule CRM’s range of integrations is a significant asset, seamlessly connecting with various platforms, from email services to help desks. This is particularly useful for multi-channel engagement, like when a customer walks into a store or makes a purchase online. Start your trial right now

Key Takeaways

Clienteling focuses on building long-term customer relationships.
Personalized recommendations can make or break your clienteling strategy.
Clienteling can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.
Capsule CRM can drive the success of your clienteling tactics.

Conclusion

Want to make your customers feel like VIPs?

Clienteling is your secret weapon, and Capsule is the CRM tool that makes it all happen.

With Capsule, you’ll get to know your customers like never before, giving them the personalized service they crave.

So, why wait? Start using Capsule today and turn those casual shoppers into loyal fans!

Connecting the dots: How Zapier enhances your CRM

Chloe Lloyd — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In the ever-evolving landscape of systems and software, businesses are constantly seeking innovative ways to improve the way they work. One solution that has gained significant attention is the use of powerful automation platforms like Zapier.

In this article, we’ll explore how Zapier and CRM integrations can be a game-changer for your business. Plus how they offer connectivity and automation to revolutionize the way you manage customer relationships.

Why a Zapier CRM integration matters

As a leading CRM provider, we understand the pivotal role CRM systems play in helping businesses nurture leads, streamline sales processes, and deliver great customer service.

However, the power of Zapier lies in its ability to bridge the gap between your CRM system and a myriad of other apps and services. Here’s why Zapier CRM integration matters:

Automation and efficiency: Zapier allows you to create automated workflows, known as “Zaps,” that connect your CRM with various applications. This automation streamlines repetitive tasks, saving your team valuable time and reducing the risk of errors.
Expansive integration possibilities: With Zapier, you can integrate your CRM with over 2,000 apps and services. This means you can connect your CRM with email marketing tools, e-commerce platforms, helpdesk software, and more, creating a unified ecosystem that fosters data flow and collaboration.
Enhanced data accuracy: Zapier ensures data accuracy by eliminating manual data entry. When a new lead or customer data is entered in one system, it can be automatically updated in your CRM and other connected applications, reducing the risk of data discrepancies.

Practical Uses for Zapier and CRM Integrations

To highlight how Zapier and a CRM can work together, let’s explore some practical use cases:

Lead generation: Automatically capture leads from web forms, social media, or landing pages and have them instantly added to your CRM. This ensures that no lead slips through the cracks.
Sales pipeline management: Keep your sales team informed by sending notifications to relevant team members through Slack for example when a lead progresses through different stages of your CRM’s sales pipeline.
Customer support: Connect your CRM with helpdesk software to provide a seamless experience for your support team, ensuring they have all the necessary customer information at their fingertips.
E-commerce integration: Integrate your CRM with your e-commerce platform to track customer orders, gather purchase history, and personalize marketing efforts for repeat customers.

Our Favorite Capsule Zaps

Facebook Lead Ads

Streamline your lead generation process by integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Capsule using Zapier. This integration allows you to capture leads directly from your Facebook ads and transfer them into Capsule. You can eliminate manual data entry and ensure timely follow-ups as leads are transferred immediately.

Post won opportunities to Slack

Celebrating your victories as a team is great for motivation. You can use a Zap to make that happen. Using Zapier you can announce an opportunity won in Capsule to your entire team through Slack. You can include an uplifting message, a playful GIF, and a link to the specific opportunity for those interested in a quick review.

WooCommerce orders to Capsule as new contacts

WooCommerce, the built-in WordPress plugin, transforms your website into a fully functional eCommerce store. Instead of the manual process of importing customer data into Capsule, harness the power of Zapier to automate the addition of new customers whenever a new order is received.

Import sales opportunities from Google Sheets into Capsule CRM

Although direct importing of opportunities into Capsule isn’t supported with Google Sheets, you can use this Zap to simplify the process. By setting up a Google Sheets spreadsheet, you can conveniently handle this task. Just input a row of opportunity data, and it will automatically be used to create a new opportunity in your Capsule account.

Can I just use Zapier for my CRM?

While Zapier does have a simple CRM template, it is not a CRM. It is an automation tool that connects various apps and services to automate workflows, including those involving CRM systems.

The CRM template it offers is very basic and Zapier is much more effective when used in conjunction with a CRM that suits your needs. Most CRMs have native integrations that connect directly with other software such as accounting or email marketing providers. Zapier allows you to integrate your CRM with other applications that don’t have a native integration so you can simplify the process.

What can I optimize using Zapier and my CRM?

Implementing Zapier CRM integration requires a strategic approach:

Identify your needs: Start by identifying the specific processes that can benefit from automation and integration.
Select your apps: Choose the applications you want to integrate with your CRM. Zapier offers a vast library of pre-built integrations, making it easy to get started.
Create Zaps: Configure your Zaps by setting triggers and actions. For example, when a new lead is added to your CRM, you can create a Zap to automatically send a welcome email using your email marketing tool.
Test and monitor: Thoroughly test your Zaps to ensure they work as intended. Monitor their performance and make adjustments as needed. Document: Make sure you are documenting processes, and maintaining data security and privacy whenever using new services.

By using Zapier to integrate your CRM with other business apps you can take your customer relationship management to new heights. It empowers you to automate tasks, reduce manual data entry, and create a connected ecosystem that enhances efficiency and accuracy across the board.

As a CRM provider, we recognize the importance of staying at the forefront of CRM innovation. By embracing the power of Zapier, you’ll be better equipped to meet the ever-changing demands of your customers and stay ahead.

Unlock the potential of automation with Zapier and a CRM by trying Capsule free for 14 days.

How to utilize project management in your business

Rose McMillan — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Good project management is an essential skill that every business needs. It’s a way of keeping your organization aligned and on track when working on a new project.

Project planning and management needs a well-organized plan that covers everything from budget, milestones and communication procedures.

70% of business projects fail, often due to poor planning and management. This is why many businesses invest in project managers to keep track of project execution.

Yet only 22% of organizations use tools like CRMs or project management software to track customer relations during this time.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss what project management is, why it’s important, and the steps you need to take to effectively manage a project in your own business.

What is project management?

Project management is the process of planning and organizing a company’s resources to complete or manage a specific task. It requires utilizing specific skills, tools, knowledge, and techniques to deliver an end product.

This can be anything of value, like a piece of software, a construction project, or the expansion of an internal department.

Project management is often associated with particular industries like construction, engineering, and IT. The process is roughly the same no matter the business or industry.

It’s simply a way to keep an organization aligned towards an end goal.

Three types of project management methodologies

Every project is different. Some may need a large budget and take years to complete, others may take only a few days or weeks.

There are many methodologies that businesses could consider. However, most organizations use one of the below three project management models when planning a large-scale project. These are:

Waterfall
Agile
Lean

Let’s explore the specifics of these project management models in more detail.

Waterfall model

This is considered the most traditional of the three models. It has a chronological structure and requires each step to be fully completed before moving on to the next.

This linear structure means that progress flows in one direction - hence the name ‘waterfall’. This model requires attention to detail in your sequences and timelines as a new task cannot be started until the one before it is completed.

With this model, the size of the team will grow over time. This is because smaller, simplier tasks are usually completed first followed by larger more complex projects.

Agile model

Unlike the waterfall model, an agile model doesn’t follow a sequential order. Instead of taking a stage-by-stage approach, tasks are completed in parallel to one another.

For example, you may have a sales team working on an account pitch, while your customer support team explores ways to solve client queries.

This approach can help businesses complete projects quickly and efficiently. It can also help you identify errors in your approach without having to go back to an early stage of your project.

Lean model

This model focuses on avoiding waste, saving both time and resources. The main concept is to create more value for customers with a smaller budget and team.

It means that only essential resources are permitted. Anything else is considered wasteful. This model works best for small projects and businesses that need to prioritize resources.

What is a project plan?

A project plan is a blueprint that covers the goals, objectives, and tasks your team needs to complete to accomplish a project. It should include a range of specifics such as:

Your project schedule
Project scope
Due dates
Deliverables
Specific project stages.

A well-structured project plan helps your team understand exactly what is expected of them. That way there is no confusion and your team can focus on their specific tasks, maximizing productivity.

What is a project manager?

Projects are typically led by an appointed project manager. They’re responsible for a range of aspects including the day-to-day operations of their team. Put simply, they are in charge of the project and its outcome.

This person is reponsible for managing the six main aspects of a project. These are:

Scope: This refers to the totality of the outputs, outcomes, benefits, and the work required to achieve your end project goal.
Schedule: How long will the project take and when do you expect certain tasks to be completed?
Budget: They’re responsible for staying within a set budget and accurately forecasting how much the project will cost.
Risk: Any risks associated with implementing the project as well as potential challenges that could result from failing to complete the project.
Quality: A project manager is responsible for the overall quality of the end deliverable as well as the standard of work that’s gone into the project.
Resources: Project managers need to optimize both labor and non-labor resources.

What skills do project managers need?

Project managers need a range of skills to be successful. And in a digital-first world, finding the right skills is more important than ever.

To be successful project managers need to:

Be capable of leading remote and hybrid teams
Hold themselves accountable
Actively listen to their team
Think critically
Ask the right questions
Manage change, interpersonal relationships, and conflicts.

This is just a brief overview of the skills needed but it highlights how important it is for project managers to be resourceful and adaptable.

Why is project management important?

Project management is crucial in helping organizations run smoothly, efficiently, and effectively. Without it, businesses struggle to drive change and successfully implement new practices, services, and products.

When done right, project management enables leadership teams to plan and manage projects. It ensures that every objective and deliverable is completed on time and within budget.

It can also support better communication and collaboration between teams, provide data-driven insight, and help you make better business decisions.

It is no wonder that the demand for project managers is growing rapidly. By 2027, employers will need 87.7 million professionals working in project management, but the same study found a growing talent gap could lead to a loss of 207.9 billion in global GDP.

What are the three Cs of project management?

To manage a project effectively, you need to be adaptable. The business landscape is ever-changing, so when facing a challenge it’s important to consider the three Cs of project management: culture, clarity, and course correction.

These three principles are essential for any successful project. Let’s explore how they work and their importance in more detail.

Culture

Creating a strong team culture is an essential part of project management. This is because well-aligned project teams perform better than those that aren’t aligned.

It’s important to intentionally create an environment of communication and trust. A project manager needs to ensure that every team member is heard and actively engaged with the task they’ve been assigned.

That way they can get the best results out of everybody.

Clarity

Clarity is a crucial element of project management. A team can only be successful when each member knows their role. Project managers need to ensure that every task is clearly identified, assigned appropriately and briefed in full. Creating and selling a vision that both the client and team share is essential to success. Without it, project outcomes may be unclear leading to missed deadlines and poor work output.

Course correction

Despite our best efforts and meticulous planning, projects don’t always go as planned. Project management requires staff to proactively spot problems and redirect efforts as needed.

You may have your project planned up to the most minute details, but a sudden change in budget, workload, or workforce could cause problems.

Having a plan of action for when things go wrong is essential. It saves you time and effort while keeping you on the right track

How to manage a project

Managing a project is no walk in the park. You gave a lot of elements to consider, which is why so many businesses choose a platform that integrates CRM with project management. This allows you to handle both aspects seamlessly without switching between platforms.

Capsule’s CRM allows you to streamline your sales and service operations with Projects - our built-in project management tool. To learn more about how the platform works take a look at our 12 ingenious ways you can utilize the project management software in your business

There are seven steps to consider when creating a project management plan. It’s essentially the bones of your plan and allows you to track and manage the progression of any tasks as it develops.

These steps are as follows:

Defining goals and objectives
Setting success metrics
Clarifying roles and stakeholders
Setting a budget
Determine how to measure progress
Create a workflow roadmap
Presenting a final plan

Let’s examine these steps in detail and identify how you can implement them in your own plan.

Step one: Define your goals and objectives

Every project has an end goal. It’s something that you and your team are working towards and want to achieve. It helps staff to stay motivated and focused while keeping them aligned with your company’s objectives.

Employees who feel their work aligns with a company goal are twice as motivated as those who don’t. However, only 26% of employees understand how their individual role contributes to the wider organizational goal.

Making your objectives clear is a great way to boost motivation. It helps employees stay focused and push harder to achieve their shared goals.

Step two: Set success metrics

Once you’ve defined your goals, you need to find a way to quantify them. Setting key measurable success metrics is a way to prove that your work is having the right impact.

You can do this by setting what are commonly referred to as SMART goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound and they help you to easily assess your achievements.

For example, if you’re organizing an event, you may set a goal to have 100 people buy tickets within the first week of them being on sale.

If you sell more than 100 tickets then you know that you have exceeded your goal. If you sell less than 100 then you know you need to work on changing your current tactics.

Step three: Clarify stakeholders and roles

Working on a project is a team effort. It requires an organized group of workers, to pool their skills and efforts to achieve a common goal. So, it’s important to ensure that everyone knows what’s expected of them.

As part of your project management plan, you should assign roles and responsibilities and define any objectives set by key stakeholders. You should outline any specifics around hierarchy, including who has the final say on financial or creative aspects.

It’s important to document these decisions. Having written proof of who is responsible for certain aspects can prove crucial later on should you face problems with deadlines or work distribution.

Step four: Set a budget

Projects can be costly, even the small ones. Whether you need new materials, software, or freelancers, costs rapidly add up.

Once you’ve established your goals, you need to set a budget. This should be done before you begin any work on the project.

Imposing financial limits helps with resource management as you’ll be able to manage expectations, track progress, and make smart economic decisions.

Planning your budget and how it will be allocated can help you avoid any nasty surprises in the future. It’ll give you an idea of exactly how much each stage will cost, so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

Step five: Determine ways to measure progress

Tracking a project’s progress is crucial to measuring success. One of the best ways to do this is by setting milestones, deliverables, and project dependencies.

Setting milestones helps you visualize how a project is progressing. They don’t necessarily need to be dated, but hitting one marks an accomplishment in your project.

Something quantifiable that can be shared with relevant stakeholders.

Deliverables are something produced or provided as a result of project success. They’re usually deliverones once you reach a milestone - this could be a prototype of a product or a return on investment. They’re a way to show exactly how far the project has progressed and whether the results are aligned with what was first expected.

Project dependencies are tasks that can’t be started until others are finished. This is another way to track progress and ensure that work only starts once other parts of the project are ready.

Step six: Create a workflow roadmap

To meet business goals you should clearly plan your project timeline. This ensures clarity across the business and helps you to make better strategic decisions to meet goals.

Not all projects will have clearly defined timelines, i.e. ones with specific calendar dates. Some elements may take longer than expected or require more work to complete.

In this instance, you may opt for a project roadmap. This can help you clarify the order of operations without having to establish exact dates,

Creating a timeline is a useful way to break the process down into manageable smaller tasks. This helps to ensure that no steps are missed and everything happens as and when it’s needed.

Step seven: Create a communication plan

Communication is incredibly important when working on a project. Your team needs to be aware of any updates as and when they happen. This way work isn’t repeated and mistakes aren’t made.

You may have people working remotely, as well as external and internal stakeholders who require regular updates. With so many different schedules to work around, it’s best to come up with a plan. You might want to send out weekly internal updates or hold monthly status reports with clients and high-level board members.

Consistent communication is key, so determine the best method for your organization.

Conclusion

Project management is no easy task. It requires an agile mind, expert planning, a trusted team and the right tools. Before beginning any project, businesses mustconsider how this process will affect their customers and clients.

Tracking customer interactions can be tricky at the best of times, especially when you need to keep your eyes on multiple moving parts. Simplify your customer interactions with Capsule.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and access a 14-day free trial.

10 ways to boost your sales quota

Rose McMillan — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Your sales team most likely consists of both seasoned sales reps and new salespeople who are just learning the ropes. However, they share the same goal of meeting and exceeding the sales quota.

A sales quota is the benchmark that shows how successful you are at your job. If you can consistently beat your weekly or monthly goals, that’s the best proof of your talent and capabilities.

Yet only 53% of salespeople achieved or exceeded their sales quotas in 2021.

Looking for a strategy to enhance your team’s confidence and boost their sales performance? Take a look at our top 10 ways to boost your sales quota.

What is a sales quota?

Sales quotas are predetermined sales targets set for reps to achieve within a specific timeframe. These typically span a month or a quarter.

There are various types of sales quotas:

Volume quota – based on the number of products or services sold.
Revenue sales quota – focuses on the total sales value or revenue generated.
Profit quota – concentrates on the profit margin or the net profit earned from sales.
Activity quota – measures specific sales activities, like the number of calls made or presentations delivered.
Combination quota – a mix of two or more of the above quotas to produce a comprehensive sales target.

Whichever method you might be using, the purpose of the sales target stays the same: to let sales managers gauge the performance and efficiency of their employees’ work.

If employees can consistently meet or surpass their designated quotas, that shows they are skilled and efficient at their work. If, on the other hand, they struggle with meeting their sales goals, this might mean there’s something hindering their work (for example, insufficient training).

Why sales quotas are so important for salespeople

Sales quotas are far more than just numbers that sales reps are expected to meet. Setting sales quotas provide clear goals for reps to reach, helping sales teams decide what is the best strategy to achieve this and how they should plan their work.

If they didn’t have these goals, the sales reps might not know how they (and their coworkers) are doing in their jobs. Are they gaining more customers and closing higher value deals, or rather lagging behind their team? Sales quotas can answer sales manager questions at a glance.

There are a lot of other benefits to having clear sales targets to achieve. Let’s explore them in detail.

Instant motivation boost

A clearly defined sales quota shows sales rep what they need to do in order to be successful at work. For example, hit a specified number of sales. When a rep knows their goal and how to reach it, they will be more determined to meet it.

Achieving or surpassing sales targets can also be a fantastic confidence boost for employees since doing so shows what they’re capable of and that they have the skills needed to succeed at the job.

Better performance measurement

Setting quotas is also a handy way for sales leaders to gauge a salesperson’s effectiveness and contribution to the company. Comparing the number of actual sales to set quotas and the performance of other employees in the team can help managers identify the main strengths and weaknesses of their salespeople.

Based on this information, managers can then tailor training programs or sales strategies to help employees improve their weaker traits and use existing skills to their full potential.

Predictable revenue made easier

Another way in which managers commonly use sales quotas is for financial planning. If they have data showing that their sales team consistently meets and surpasses their quotas, that tells the manager how much they can expect to earn in the next month or quarter.

Armed with this data, managers can then create more accurate sales forecasts and, for example, decide where the company should make investments based on this data.

Healthy competition

A sales quota can also provide some friendly competition among sales reps. When team members are aiming to outperform one another, they may think of new creative strategies and techniques to boost their performance.

It’s very important to make sure that the rivalry doesn’t impact their teamwork or work atmosphere. If employees are feeling stressed about getting behind their team members, they might very quickly start suffering from burnout or workplace stress.

10 ways to improve sales quotas

As you can see, sales quotas are indispensable for sales teams. They give a clear “roadmap” on how reps should plan their work, and seeing that they have managed to successfully meet or surpass their targets is a fantastic confidence booster.

To make achieving those sales targets easier, we have prepared 10 tips and tricks that your team can use to elevate their quotas.

1. Focus on target identification

Conducting proper research on prospects and pinpointing your ideal customer profile (ICP), takes you two steps closer to hitting your sales targets. Since you know exactly who you should reach out to, you can better tailor your sales approach and, in turn, increase your chances of closing deals.

For instance, if you’re selling eco-friendly kitchenware, targeting “green”-thinking households or environmentally responsible restaurants would be a smart move because they are the most likely to be interested in your offer.

2. Prioritize leads

Are you using lead scoring and prioritization in your work? If not, you should consider it, as doing so can enhance your performance and make reaching out to potential customers a bit less stressful. With lead scoring, you can identify which leads are most likely to convert and who you shouldn’t waste your time on.

If you focus on contacting the “warm” leads first, then you make it easier for yourself to close deals with less effort. For example, a lead who frequently visits your product page and engages with content might be more valuable than one who merely opens a promotional email.

3. Give a personalized touch

Reseach has shown that using personalization properly can lead to a 5% to 25% revenue boost, depending on the industry. A superior customer experience is crucial to building customer loyalty and can increase the customer lifecycle by six to 14 times.

That means there’s a much higher chance that the prospects you are calling or mailing will be willing to listen to what you say if you tailor your sales pitches and emails accordingly. So, for instance, if during the initial call the prospect mentioned they have a tight budget, your next pitch should emphasize how much they can save by using your solution.

4. Sell a solution rather than a product

Showing how a given product or service can solve a prospect’s biggest pain points is always a much better idea than merely listing features.

You’ve probably heard the saying that “people don’t buy products, they buy a solution to their problem” several times already. But those are exactly the words you should follow while calling out your prospects. For example, rather than saying “we offer 24/7 customer support to our customers”, explain how having 24/7 support can provide someone with help whenever they have a problem with the system.

5. Schedule your day/week

Creating a daily or weekly plan with all the tasks you have to do and prioritizing them is a clever way to boost your sales quota. The less time you waste on unproductive or mundane tasks, the more time you can spend talking with your prospects and thus giving your productivity a boost too.

How you schedule your day is up to you – you could say, work on proactive prospecting in the morning when you’re fresh and reserve afternoons for follow-ups to ensure that no lead goes unattended.

6. Become a pro at objection handling

A prospect that agrees to the first offer you give them is very hard to come by. It’s far more likely that they will voice their doubts or problems with the offer you make. If you can dispel those concerns and answer all of the prospect’s questions, then the probability of you closing the deal will grow significantly.

So research the most common questions that prospects might ask you and prepare answers to them. That way, you’ll know precisely what to say whenever a prospect is hesitant.

7. Run a consistent follow-up

Brevet found that, on average, 80% of sales require five follow-up calls after the first meeting, which implies that you need to have a plan for how often to call or message your prospects. This can be a bit tricky to master because how often you can send a message without being a nuisance will be different from person to person.

As such, you have to spend some time testing how often you can remind a prospect about your offer without being labeled as a “pushy” seller. On the other hand, successfully nailing follow-ups will give you a better chance of closing deals.

8. Keep your current customers satisfied and loyal

Regular follow-ups have another benefit, improving customer retention. With a timely follow-up message, you might learn that your customers are struggling with an issue that hasn’t yet been reported or, conversely, are considering buying additional products/services that you haven’t offered yet.

This would be a perfect moment for you to reach out and provide a helping hand or make an exclusive offer. Of course, you shouldn’t only send post-sale follow-ups, but also share industry news and insights or product tips and tricks in order to keep prospects continually engaged.

9. Stay on top of trends

The sales industry changes tremendously quickly, and what worked one month might no longer be useful by the time the next one rolls around. So keep an eye on the latest trends and sales methods in the industry by attending workshops or events and following industry blogs.

Staying updated will give you a competitive edge since you will know what is new and popular in the industry and how to apply that to your work – something that your competitors might be lagging behind on.

10. Take advantage of CRMs

91% of companies with more than 11 employees use a CRM system. And it’s no wonder, looking at how useful those platforms can be. CRM software isn’t just for logging and storing prospects’ data, but can also streamline dozens of daily tasks.

Automatic lead scoring frees sales reps from having to manually score leads and improves consistency of lead qualification throughout the entire company. Advanced analytics tools with metrics and KPIs provide details about the entire sales process, quota attainment, trends, customer behavior, and forecast revenue. Visual pipelines, meanwhile, give managers a bird-eye view of how deals are progressing across the business.

How can Capsule aid sales teams in achieving sales quotas

Are you thinking about getting a CRM for your team or replacing the one your staff uses now? Then, how about “hiring” Capsule CRM for the task? This platform can speed up and enhance most sales-related tasks with its included features:

Key contact data together with all interactions with customers and prospects stored one place, so no more searching for contact data in multiple spreadsheets.
The visual pipeline lets you manage all of your open sales opportunities from a single page
Workflow automation can reduce manual work and time wasted by taking over all of those simple but time-consuming tasks like sending follow-up emails.
Advanced sales analytics allow you to monitor your team’s performance in terms of key metrics in real-time. So you can forecast quota attainment rates and know immediately about any issues or bottlenecks affecting them.

Sound like exactly what your team needs to start hitting their sales targets much faster?

Try our starter CRM with basic features for up to two users and 250 contacts. Or get in touch with our sales team to help you pick the perfect paid plan for your needs.

Conclusion

Elevating your sales quota attainment to new levels is actually much simpler than you might think. It’s all about understanding your customers, reaching them with the right messages, and keeping an eye on what works and what requires a bit more tweaking.

With the right tools like Capsule CRM for handling mundane tasks, you will have more time to focus on your customers.

Sales quota FAQs

What is a sales quota?

A sales quota is essentially a target or goal set for salespeople or teams indicating the amount they should aim to sell within a specific period. Think of it as a milestone that guides sales activities, helping individuals and teams understand what they need to achieve in order to meet the company’s expectations and revenue goals.

Why is boosting sales quotas important?

Boosting a sales quota means raising the bar or increasing sales targets. This is crucial because consistently meeting or surpassing these elevated targets will lead to increased revenue and profitability for a company. Higher quotas can drive reps to refine their strategies, improve their skills, and strive for excellence in their roles.

Can technology help boost sales quotas?

Certainly! Modern technology, especially tools like CRM systems, can be game changers. They help sales staff efficiently manage leads, nurture customer relationships, and streamline the sales process. The right tech tools make sales activities become more organized, data-driven, and effective, paving the way for greater sales achievements.

Is it okay to have the same sales quota for every salesperson?

While uniformity might seem fair, it’s not always the most effective approach. Different sales reps might operate in different regions, cater to diverse customer segments, or have varying experience levels. If you tailor quotas to individual skills and experience levels, you ensure that each salesperson has a target that’s both challenging and aligned with their specific role and capabilities.

Asana vs Monday - do they work as CRM systems?

Rose McMillan — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms were typically regarded as something only large and wealthy companies needed.

But now, 91% of companies with over 10 employees use CRM solutions. This should come as no surprise considering that such systems can massively help in the everyday sales process and let users track projects and manage tasks with ease.

Two common choices are Asana and Monday.com. Yes, you’re not wrong – these are project management tools, but they are used by some companies as CRMs. Are they cutting it as CRM platforms, though?

To answer this question, we’ll look closer at the capabilities of Asana and Monday to see if they can serve as simple CRMs or not.

What is Asana?

Asana is an online management tool focusing on project and task management. The platform is one of the most popular project management tools, currently used by over 100,000 paying organizations and millions of teams around the world.

Asana makes managing even complex projects with multiple subtasks or separate teams much smoother. Everything related to each project can be managed in the platform, giving businesses far better visibility of progress.

The ability to create unlimited projects even on the free plan and the portfolio management feature is extremely helpful. It enables users to keep multiple projects in one place and track project progress straight from Asana’s dashboard.

Core Asana features:

Task management Simplifies the creation and assignment of detailed tasks with clear deadlines. Supports multiple subtask levels and portfolio management for organizing numerousprojects. Often used as a basic CRM but lacks advanced features.
Team collaboration tools Facilitates real-time discussions, feedback sharing, and document exchange. All task-related communications are visible to the entire team, aiding in seamless task handovers and onboarding of new team members.
Customizable process flows Allows users to tailor workflows, including adding new fields and rules. Enables integration with external apps like Slack and Zoom, offering flexibility in how tasks are managed.
Visibility and progress tracking Provides a transparent view of tasks, deadlines, and progress across all projects, making it easier for teams to stay aligned and informed.

What is Monday?

Monday is a more advanced project management tool because it also has resource and business operation management features included as well as project and task management.

Core Monday features:

Contact management Centralizes customer and partner details for quick access, eliminating the need to sift through multiple spreadsheets.
Limited sales pipeline tracking Provides real-time tracking of deals, assigns responsibilities, and flags potential issues for timely resolution. However, it’s not as advanced as dedicated CRM solutions.
Widgets at your disposal Offers over 50 widgets for a fully personalized dashboard, displaying only the data that’s relevant to your work.
Workflow management Automates repetitive tasks, sends notifications upon task completion, and offers pre-made templates for quick automation.
Advanced project visualization Features 10 different project views, including Gantt and Kanban, allowing for a customized project dashboard tailored to individual needs. It’s more applicable to project management capabilities rather than a CRM specifically.

Asana vs. Monday: main similarities

Asana and Monday are both popular choices for team management and project collaboration platforms, as they can make managing project tasks and deadlines much easier. Sharing the same purpose is just one of the many similarities between the two platforms though. Let’s explore some more in detail.

Both offer task and project management features

Asana and Monday both aim to simplify project and task management, so these relevant features are at the core of their products. In Asana, users can easily break down projects into individual tasks, sub-tasks, and even dependencies, providing a clear and organized view of what needs to be done and when.

Monday allows users to create, add, and organize their tasks in a similar way, but their project management dashboard is far more colorful. Plus, it allows users to add widgets with the data they need to the top.

Both apps also include collaboration tools to encourage team members to work together, sharing their feedback and insights on the task at hand. With Asana, team members can comment directly on tasks, share files, and mention colleagues to keep them in the loop.

Similarly, Monday’s platform has a comment section under each task on its boards, so all suggestions and resources related to a project or task can be found in one place. Both platforms allow team members to share files (e.g., design images or manuals) simply by attaching them to the relevant job.

Both have customizable workflows and templates

Adapting their approach to fit the workflow is a common struggle for many project teams. With Asana or Monday though, you can customize workflows to match their preferences. Thanks to custom fields, project and automation templates, as well as different dashboard views, teams can design their workflows how they find most convenient.

What’s more, both tools come with dozens of pre-made templates you can use to speed up your work, regardless of whether that’s for marketing, sales, software development, or any other tasks.

Both provide real-time dashboards and reporting tools

To be sure that a project is going in the right direction or if there are any issues that need your attention, a dashboard with real-time insights will be useful. Asana’s dashboard view offers a snapshot of project progress, upcoming deadlines, and overall team workload.

In contrast, Monday has various visualization options like pie charts and bar graphs to represent task statuses and team performance. Yet neither are fully fleshed CRMs, as you’ll discover very soon.

Asana vs. Monday: differences

These two apps have many things in common – similar feature sets, a focus on simplifying project management, and dashboards that can be easily tailored to each user’s preferences. But there are also some differences that you should know about when considering which app, if any, to pick.

1. User interface

Asana

Asana uses a minimalist interface that is clear and easy to navigate, even for new users. After launching the app, the user can see their main tasks with deadlines and edit or add any comments (like asking for feedback). And since each project/client can be marked with a different color, that makes following the related tasks much easier.

Monday

Monday took a completely different approach to user interface design and went for bright and bold colors. All tasks are displayed in colorful blocks, making each task distinct and easily recognizable.

2. Automation

Asana

Asana’s paid plans (Premium, Business, and Enterprise) also include rules through which users can automate routine tasks and subtasks. Such as completing one when it meets specific conditions and then sending a notification to the project owner.

There are two ways to create a rule for a project inside Asana. The first is to find one of the dozens of pre-made rules available in Asana’s library. To create the rules, users just need to find that chosen pre-made one in the gallery, fill out the specified parameters and click on “Create rule”.

Asana’s business plan, meanwhile, adds a custom rules builder, with which users can design and run their own rules.

Monday

Monday automation features work the same way as Asana’s, as you can either take a template from their automation center and then add it to your tasks or design custom ones via the creator. The problem is that there’s a strict limit on how many tasks you can automate per month: 250 automations on the Standard plan and 25,000 on the Pro plan.

3. Pricing models

Asana

Like most project management tools nowadays, Asana has a (pretty robust) free plan and two paid options, which cost €10.99 and €24.99 per user per month, respectively. The premium plans come with dedicated workflows and milestone tracking, while the business package adds a custom rule builder and in-built time tracking.

Monday

Monday also has a free plan, but unfortunately it’s much more limited compared to Asana’s – only two users and three boards can be added to it. Monday’s paid plans cost €8, €10, and €16 respectively, and come with additional dashboard views and automation rules. A huge downside of all the Monday plans, however, is that integrations with other apps and automated rules are limited.

4. Integrations

Asana

With Asana, you can access over 200 integrations. This includes popular software like Adobe Creative Cloud, Google Workspace, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom. Plus, Asana also has Zapier Integration support, meaning you can connect any of the countless apps inside their database to Asana.

Those integrations are available on all Asana plans (including the free version) and you can use them as often as you want.

Monday

Monday has just as many integrations available as Asana, from Adobe Creative Cloud to Zoom. However, you can only use them on the Standard plan (€10) – with only 250 integration actions per month – and above. The pro plan has 25k integration actions included, but your team might still quickly use up that limit if they use app integrations often.

5. Ease of use

Asana

Asana was designed to be as intuitive to use as possible, so it’s quite easy to learn how to navigate the platform. Asana users also appreciate that they can connect the platform to hundreds of other apps they are using to smoothly share data between them all.

What G2 reviewers often highlight, though, is that it takes time to understand how the numerous features inside Asana work and how to customize them.

While most users appreciate that they can use Asana also on their mobile devices, some reviewers also point out that the app needs a bit more work to prevent lagging at times.

Monday

Monday users praise how intuitive and user-friendly the app is, even for people who are not particularly tech-savvy. Dashboards are especially often applauded for being clean, easy to organize, and customizable thanks to the numerous widgets. On the other hand, some reviewers mentioned that the app can get quite slow and buggy at times, taking a while to load.

Why Asana and Monday WON’T replace CRMs

While Asana and Monday are robust platforms for project and task management, they fall short of being comprehensive CRM solutions. This is why you should think twice before considering them as replacements for dedicated CRM systems.

Limited customer data management

Both Asana and Monday are designed to manage projects and tasks, not customer relationships. And yes, you can certainly create a task or project related to a client or sales opportunity, which is great. But these platforms don’t offer a structured way to manage customer data.

Unlike advanced CRM systems – which provide fields for storing detailed customer information, interaction histories, and sales pipelines – Asana and Monday lack these CRM-specific functionalities.

No sales pipeline visualization

A flagship feature of any CRM system is the ability to visualize and manage a sales pipeline for tracking leads, opportunities, and deals at various stages of the sales process.

Asana and Monday, although offering various project views, do not have built-in features for sales pipeline visualization. You can’t easily track the progress of a lead from initial contact to closed deal, which is a critical aspect of sales management. Workarounds can be found, but they may not be feasible when your sales team is growing and handling increasingly more interactions.

Limited automation for customer interactions

Both Asana and Monday offer some automation features, but let’s not forget that these tools are primarily designed for task and project management. The automation features are, as such, not built to handle CRM-specific tasks efficiently.

CRM systems often include automation specifically tailored for customer interactions, such as automated email sequences, follow-up reminders, and lead scoring. They are built for sales.

Focus on project management

Asana is focused on project management, so it doesn’t have many of the features you can find inside a typical CRM. Monday, on the other hand, does have a CRM platform, but it’s very limited in capabilities. Furthermore, most of the features you will probably need are only available on higher-tier plans.

Integration limitations

Although Asana and Monday offer various integrations, they are not as extensive, specialized, or niche as those found in dedicated CRM platforms.

For example, CRM systems often have native integrations with email marketing platforms, customer support software, and even financial systems for invoicing and payments.

Another problem is that Monday, sets restrictions on how many integrations and automations you can use per month. The 25k limit per month might seem like a lot, but your team could use it up in no time if they rely on custom automation.

You might be able to patch together some of these functionalities using Asana or Monday, and they might not even be that bad. But it’s not a sustainable or efficient long-term solution.

If you’re considering using Asana or Monday as a makeshift CRM, you need to recognize their limitations in customer relationship management.

They can serve as:

Temporary solutions for very small teams or startups
Project management software for general sales overview
Extra tools used for some sales processes in your company

However…

Neither Asana or Monday should be your go-to CRM systems if you’re thinking about taking your sales to the next level. They won’t scale effectively as your customer base grows. Even with advanced features, project management software won’t cut it.

Investing in a dedicated CRM system will provide you with the specialized tools you need to manage customer relationships, both effectively and sustainably. So, before you go all-in on using Asana or Monday for CRM purposes, consider the long-term implications and limitations.

It’s better to invest in a tool designed for what you need rather than adapting a tool that was built for a different purpose. Even if you don’t think you need such a tool quite yet.

Don’t settle for less: your CRM is just a click away

We’ve established that while Asana and Monday are good for project and task management, they don’t quite measure up as fully-fledged CRM solutions.

But don’t worry, you’re not left stranded.

There are specialized CRM platforms designed to meet your specific needs, and one such option worth considering is Capsule.

What Capsule offers

Capsule brings a host of features to the table that you might find lacking in Asana and Monday:

Unlimited integrations and automation No more worrying about hitting a cap on how many tasks you can automate or apps you can integrate. Win-win!
In-built project management With Capsule, you don’t have to juggle between different platforms for CRM and project management. It’s all integrated into one user-friendly interface.
Customizable features From your dashboard to milestones and activities, everything can be tailored to fit your workflow.
Detailed activity logs Keep track of all interactions and activities related to your clients and projects. Don’t miss any important details that can seal that big deal.
Advanced CRM capabilities Capsule is a CRM, but it goes beyond basic CRM functionalities. Leverage highlighting stale or lost deals, multiple pipelines, project boards, and in-depth sales reporting.

If you’re concerned about the time and effort it would take to switch to a new system, Capsule CRM eases those worries. Being a cloud-based solution allows for quick implementation. Still on the fence? You can enjoy a 14-day free trial, giving you ample time to explore Capsule CRM’s features.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a real deal CRM, then Asana could be a good choice for your team, and the same goes for Monday…

Try out Capsule and you will see for yourself that when it comes to all sales-related tasks, a dedicated CRM really can make your work much smoother.

Mastering cash flow management for accounting firms

Jon Davis — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re an accountant running your own firm, you understand the importance of cash flow.

You appreciate the numbers, the formulas and the significance of every financial transaction. Yet, managing cash flow in your accounting firm can be a very different ball game.

In the world of accounting, cash flow is the lifeblood of your firm. In this guide, we’ll see some common cash flow mistakes, effective strategies to help maintain cash flow and how technology can help improve cash flow in accounting firms.

Understanding cash flow in accounting firms

Cash flow, in its simplest form, is the movement of money in and out of your firm. For any business, including accounting firms, cash flow is more than just numbers on a spreadsheet — it’s about ensuring the sustainability and growth of your business.

A positive cash flow ensures you can meet your operational expenses on time, from salaries to rent and utilities.

You’ll also be able to invest in new opportunities with confidence, whether that’s expanding your team, upgrading your infrastructure or venturing into new service areas. On the other hand, neglecting cash flow puts your entire accounting firm at risk.

Cash flow also impacts the way your clients perceive you. Accounting firms need to demonstrate that they’re financially healthy.

After all, if a client is going to trust you to manage their finances, they’re going to expect you to successfully manage your cash flow.

To keep your firm financially fit, you must actively monitor and manage cash flow, considering both short-term cash needs and long-term cash flow trends.

Do you have enough cash on hand to cover your immediate obligations? How does your cash flow vary over the weeks, months and years?

Knowing your cash flow allows you to spot potential problems before they become crises. By forecasting future cash flow, you can make smart financial decisions that improve the long-term prosperity of your firm.

In short, mastering your cash flow is essential for any successful accountancy practice.

Common cash flow mistakes

Even seasoned accountants can make grave cash flow errors. Here are some of the most common cash flow pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Not monitoring cash flow frequently enough

Many firms only look at cash flow quarterly, or even annually, but so much can change in even a month. If you’re not monitoring cash flow at least monthly, you leave yourself vulnerable to unexpected shortfalls.

Many business owners fall into the trap of thinking everything’s fine until they suddenly find themselves in a tight spot, unable to meet payroll or pay an unexpected bill.

Get in the habit of reviewing cash flow reports each month. It doesn’t have to be a long and complicated process; with the right systems and technology in place, monitoring your cash flow can take as little as 15 minutes while still providing the valuable insights you need.

Focusing only on sales, not cash

As any accountant can appreciate, there’s a big difference between sales and cash. It’s easy to get caught up in how many clients you’ve brought on and how many contracts have been signed, but until those sales translate into cash you can still run into problems.

Sales are important, without a doubt, but you should never make the mistake of tracking only sales and ignoring cash.

What are the payment terms in your contract? How long does it actually take for clients to pay their invoices? If clients pay you 60 days after invoicing, pay attention to how overdue receivables are impacting cash on hand.

Inaccurate cash flow forecasting

Knowing where your business will be next quarter (or even next week) can feel impossible. The last few years have shown us all just how unpredictable business (and life) can be.

However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to accurately forecast your cash flow.

Planning and budgeting with inaccurate cash flow projections is a recipe for disaster. Being overly optimistic about future payments can lead to overspending while being too cautious can stunt your growth unnecessarily.

Base your forecasts on actual data and facts, not hopes and guesses. Then, when things change and new information is available, update those projections to account for the latest data.

Relying on financing to overcome cash flow deficits

When cash reserves dip, some firms instinctively reach for a line of credit, but financing should be a last resort.

Not only does this ignore the cause of the cash flow issue in the first place, but it’s also going to be trickier to get favorable rates if you’re struggling financially.

First, review your budget for any areas where you can cut (or at least delay) costs. Expenses like office furnishings, travel and marketing initiatives are often easier to reduce in the short term.

Saving money in the right places will allow cash flow to recover while minimizing the impact on daily operations and client work.

No cash flow buffer

There are no certainties in life and even the most well-run firms will undoubtedly face times with poor cash flow. Build wiggle room into your budget with a cash flow buffer — extra cash savings to tide you over in lean times.

Shoot for a buffer equal to two to four months of operating expenses. In most cases, this will be enough to insulate your firm from any unexpected bills or late payments. Make building your cash buffer a top priority.

Avoiding these common mistakes takes diligence, but the work pays dividends in your firm’s stability and success.

Effective cash flow management strategies

Now that you know what not to do, let’s talk tips for mastering cash flow management: Implement robust cash flow forecasting As mentioned earlier, accurate cash flow projections are crucial. Build comprehensive forecasts that incorporate:

Historical cash flow data
Accounts receivable timelines
Seasonal dips and spikes
Upcoming expenses
Conservative revenue estimates

Update your cash flow forecast monthly and adjust budgets accordingly. Planning precision forecasts enables you to spot potential cash crunches early and plan accordingly.

Rather than setting static annual budgets, use rolling forecasts that provide 12-month projections based on your most recent monthly results. This allows budgets to dynamically adjust to changing conditions.

Optimize your invoicing process

The way you invoice and charge clients can have a significant impact on your cash flow. A streamlined billing process means your invoices get out quicker and are paid sooner.

While we’ll take a closer look at technology later, it’s worth noting that many parts of the process can be automated, such as calculating invoice amounts and automatic payment reminders.

You can also improve cash flow by offering multiple payment options. Alongside traditional payment methods, consider offering online payments, bank transfers or even monthly installment options for larger amounts.

Maintain strong client relationships

Never lose sight of the person behind the invoice number. Your relationship with your clients is a key part of your business and can directly impact cash flow.

For example, if a client is having difficulty paying an invoice, putting a payment plan in place can ease the burden on them while ensuring that there’s still cash flowing into the business.

Similarly, you might offer a discount for early payment, rewarding the client while boosting cash flow.

Talk with your suppliers

The same principles apply to your vendor relationships. Discuss terms with your suppliers to see if there’s any flexibility to help your cash flow management.

Just as you might offer clients an early-payment discount, ask whether there’s a discount for paying invoices ahead of schedule. Similarly, a vendor is likely to prefer extending payment terms to net 60 or net 90 days if that means they’re going to get paid.

With strong vendor relationships, suppliers are more likely to be willing to work with you and find different solutions should cash get tight. Build those relationships now, before you need them.

Technology’s role in cash flow management

Along with the tips and strategies we’ve already discussed, technology and software can also simplify and enhance your cash flow management.

Many accounting firms may start with spreadsheet software, like Excel or Google Sheets. However, while these tools can technically help manage cash flow, they’re still limited.

As a result, most firms use dedicated accounting software. Today’s platforms feature cash flow dashboards that automatically populate with information from your system, cutting down on manual data entry.

Other software can take care of specific aspects of cash flow management. Tools like Xero and Sage make invoicing simple, while software like Expensify and Rydoo helps monitor and categorize expenses, giving you a clearer picture of your outflows.

A big part of managing cash flow is managing your relationships, which is where customer relationship management (CRM) software comes in.

For example, Capsule’s Contact Management enables you to store all your client information in one central location, so you always have the details you need to hand. In turn, you can track clients through the sales pipeline through to project completion (and payment!).

When it comes to forecasting future revenue, you can use Capsule’s Sales Analytics feature to see the value of opportunities in your pipeline and when you can expect payments to land in your account.

While no software alone can guarantee positive cash flow, it can certainly simplify the task. Integrating a robust CRM for accountants provides visibility, efficiency and control over the cash flow drivers that impact your firm’s success.

Build a strong accounting firm with a positive cash flow

At its core, cash flow management comes down to planning, monitoring and optimization. By taking a proactive approach, accounting firms can safeguard their financial health even during difficult times and economic uncertainty.

While cash flow mastery takes continuous effort, the payoff is immense. By avoiding typical mistakes and implementing the right strategies, your accounting firm can confidently manage cash, fuel growth and prosper for years to come.

Learn more about Capsule CRM with our free 14-day trial.

10 best free AI tools for productive businesses

Rose McMillan — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone is talking about AI. Artificial intelligence has changed the way many businesses operate, helping them to work smarter, not harder. AI tools can help companies automate and streamline processes across multiple departments. This in turn can boost efficiency and productivity.

There are hundreds of tools out there and each of them varies in both features and price. With so much choice, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. But don’t let the sheer volume of available options scare you off. There are plenty of ways to integrate AI into daily business life, without spending a small fortune. And to help you we’ve detailed 10 free AI tools that solve common business problems, from content creation to note-taking.

What are AI business tools?

AI algorithms are often utilized in business tools to make them more efficient and boost productivity. To do so, they utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to streamline complex processes and simplify problems.

Advancements in natural language processing (NLP) and deep learning have only increased AI’s popularity. Complex algorithms are helping organizations optimize their workflows, increasing business productivity.

How can AI tools help businesses?

Some businesses are still unsure about how AI can improve productivity. These tools offer the opportunity to streamline operations and enhance efficiency making difficult tasks simple and quick.

Let’s look at these benefits in more detail.

Increase productivity

Businesses move fast, so they need tech that can keep up. AI tools are capable of handling huge data sets and can complete repetitive tasks with little to no mistakes.

This limits the amount of human error and allows your employees to spend more time on creative projects instead of menial tasks.

Streamline processes

AI can analyze data quickly and accurately. This allows for better decision-making, saving businesses both time and money. AI can help businesses spot bottlenecks and inefficiencies.

If an organization can identify productivity slumps, then business leaders can find ways to address these issues. In turn, they’ll see higher levels of business activity and cost savings.

Avoid human error

Unlike human employees, AI rarely makes mistakes. Repetitive tasks can lead to errors but with AI you can optimize these processes and minimize this risk.

Artificial intelligence is capable of mundane tasks like data entry, answering customer queries, and inventory management. This means your staff can save time and focus on more important projects that require a human approach.

Enhance customer experiences

AI tools can improve the efficiency of customer service. Customer support chatbots work 24/7 to help customers get answers to common questions quickly. It can deliver exceptional customer experiences, exceed expectations, and help you stay ahead of the competition.

Chatbots can analyze customer feedback and assess the mood of the person it’s interacting with. This frees up your team to deal with more complex customer issues saving you time and improving productivity.

What are the limitations of using free AI Tools?

While useful, free AI tools do come with some limitations, especially compared to their paid counterparts. Most AI tool providers offer a free and paid version of the product and without a subscription, you may miss out on some important features.

It’s important to understand that while free tools may not offer all the features of paid options, they can still be valuable for businesses. Businesses should carefully consider the limitations of free AI tools and determine how they can best leverage them to enhance their operations.

10 best free AI tools

Now you’ve seen the benefits, it’s time to look at the best free AI tools available to businesses.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is one of the most popular AI tools available. Its simple interface makes it easy to use and it has quickly become commonplace in workplaces across the world.

It uses NLP and ML to generate simple and human-like responses from user prompts, making it a great tool for content creation. It uses deep learning and transformer neural networks to predict and generate content based on what’s been fed into it. Marketers can use it as a co-pilot when writing content, aid with interview prep with clients and build sales emails.

It also can automate multiple customer service tasks simultaneously. ChatGPT can streamline communications by supporting chatbots by helping them to handle multiple conversations simultaneously. Answering numerous customer questions and queries, quickly and efficiently can lower costs and streamline operations.

Rating: 9/10

Jasper.ai

Jasper.ai is an AI copywriting tool designed to help create high-quality written content. Its NLP algorithm allows you to customize the tone and voice of your copy to match your brand guidelines. Not only does it speed up content creation, but it also actively works to improve your writing by making suggestions and improvements.

Jasper has a range of uses, making it great for content creation. It can create clear and well-written content, in over 26 languages, quickly and easily. This makes it a great tool for writing whitepapers and long-form content like eBbooks that can be marketed globally.

It also works to boost your search engine result page rankings (SERPs) by integrating with tools like SurferSEO and Google Chrome. This can increase productivity by boosting your output, saving you both time and money.

However, it does have a few cons. Jasper sometimes repeats words and phrases, meaning content needs to be checked closely for potential errors.

Rating: 7/10

Grammarly

Grammarly uses AI to optimize your writing. It checks for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. It also suggests ways to make your writing clearer and more precise.

It accelerates writing tasks and allows you to champion your brand voice by selecting specifics around tone.

Utilizing a tool that constantly evaluates your writing can save you time by simplifying the editing process.

It works to identify errors that could make you look unprofessional and helps ensure that your content is succinct and high-quality. It offers a browser extension that can check other collateral. This makes it easier to check errors on a multitude of platforms including sales emails.

Rating: 8/10

PhotoRoom

Not a whizz when it comes to Photoshop? PhotoRoom is an easy-to-use tool that can help you edit images on the fly. It uses an AI algorithm to spot objects within a photo and allows you to move or remove these elements.

Popular with e-commerce businesses, marketers, and graphic designers, PhotoRoom helps you create professional-looking images in a snap. Its easy-to-use interface offers a range of editing options so you can let your imagination run wild.

The free version allows you to edit five images each month and does limit the number of advanced features available. The paid version however allows you access all features including high-quality image export, color adjustment and customer watermarking.

Rating: 6/10

Designs.ai

Now you’ve edited your photo, it’s time to get it posted! Designs.ai offers various features to help you create visually appealing images and designs. Whether you’re looking to create a logo, social media post, presentation, or video animation, Designs.ai allows you to generate images based on what you upload.

It also provides more advanced editing tools like text formatting and object placement - so you can get the best design every time without splashing out on expensive software.

The free version allows you to create ten designs per month, with the help of their basic design features, templates and watermarks. The paid version offers unlimited access to all features and templates from $39 a month.

Rating: 6/10

Synthesia

Synthesia makes video creation a breeze. It offers a huge library of pre-built video templates that can be customized with different text, images, animations, and AI-generated video.

Synthesia.io saves you time and resources by creating excellent content without the need to start from scratch. Its algorithm uses AI to generate video content, custom AI avatars and video templates that match your specific needs. It also provides a wide range of language features that can help you reach international audiences.

The free version allows you to create minute-long videos and utilize their AI avatars. However longer videos with more complex features will require a subscription fee.

Rating: 7/10

Descript

Descript combines audio and video editing into one easy-to-use free AI tool. It offers a range of complex editing tools such as noise reduction, video stabilization, plus EQ and compression.

Descript has incredible transcribing capabilities. It uses AI to transcribe audio and video recordings, allowing you to easily edit your script. It’s as simple as editing a word document, changes you make to the text are copied over to the video almost instantly. This means that you can edit the transcript directly, making it easy to remove filler words, rearrange sentences, and more.

It can assist with a range of content creation issues thanks to its varied AI tools. Including greenscreen effects, voiceover dub and eye contact repositioning.

Our only complaint is the time restrictions, a free package only allows you one hour worth of transcription and video editing per month.

Rating: 9/10

AnswerThePublic

Want to find out exactly what’s on the minds of your customers? AnswerThePublic can help. It’s a keyword research and blog idea generator tool. It uses search engine autocomplete data to generate long-tail keyword ideas that directly target specific audiences.

It allows marketing teams to generate fresh and relevant ideas that put them ahead of their competitors. Businesses can ask specific questions and identify the phrases that their target demographic is searching for. This helps them to directly communicate with their ideal customer profile (ICP).

Its ability to utilize such a large pool of data is incredible, and its keyword suggestion tools help inspire unique and creative topics. However, it can be tricky to get the hang of and the interface isn’t the friendliest on the list.

Rating: 8/10

Murf

Murf is an AI-powered voiceover platform built to enhance audio content production. It works by creating AI-generated voices that work perfectly with social media videos, tutorials, podcasts, or any other audio project.

Its user-friendly platform provides a seamless experience that maximizes productivity. To get started, all you need is a script. Murf does the rest and creates a professional-sounding voiceover in minutes.

The free version allows up to 10 minutes of audio creation including transcribing and AI voice generation. It also allows three users to work simultaneously, meaning teams can easily collaborate on projects.

Rating: 9/10

Fireflies

Minute-taking can be tedious - and it’s hard to actively engage in a meeting while simultaneously taking notes. Fireflies solves this problem by identifying important moments in a meeting and transcribing them in real-time. It allows you to search and analyze transcripts to find valuable information and insights.

It integrates seamlessly with popular platforms like Zoom and Google Meet allowing for easy collaboration. The AI tool helps support effortless collaboration by allowing you to share detailed meeting highlights across your team and business.

The free edition allows you to clip soundbites and provides automated summaries of each business. It allows 800 minutes of storage meaning you can make the most of your valuable team interactions. However, you will need a subscription to ensure full integration with your company’s software such as your CRM.

Rating: 7/10

How to choose the right AI tool for your business?

AI tools aren’t one size fits all. That’s why it’s important to take your time researching and evaluating each platform and how it may benefit your organization.

You want to find tools that are compatible with your team, business, and current software. That way you can make the most of these tools and use them to help you develop your organization.

Implementing new AI tools doesn’t happen overnight. You need to create a clear plan of action that highlights how it can be utilized. This helps your team to better understand the importance of utilizing these tools to maximize productivity.

You can manage this process by following four simple steps:

Evaluate business needs
Compare platforms
Creating a training plan
Assess and improve

Let’s explore these steps in more detail.

Evaluating business needs

Before selecting an AI tool, you need to assess what areas of your business need the most support. Look for bottlenecks in productivity, company pain points, and any general inefficiencies.

What problems is your business experiencing? Is customer service slow or does content creation need a boost? Consult with relevant stakeholders in all departments and speak to employees at every level. Everyone in your company can provide unique and valuable insight into the common problems they’re facing and provide opportunities to streamline these issues.

Comparing platforms

Research is crucial when it comes to AI. Artificial intelligence has a range of abilities and opportunities but not all of them will be useful to you and your business. Before diving in, take time to explore what’s out there.

You will need to implement training on how to use these platforms, so you want to ensure it’s easy to use. Consider things like user interface and troubleshooting resources to assess how difficult these platforms will be to maintain.

Create a detailed training plan

It takes time to adjust to new working practices. To successfully implement AI in your business you need to create a detailed plan that explores how you will manage this.

Begin with weekly training sessions that cover individual features within the software. Explain how the technology integrates with the platforms you currently use like your CMS or CRM. You should use day-to-day, relatable, business pain points as examples to support your training. That way your employees can see the specific benefits and improve overall integration.

Assess and improve

A business and its needs are always changing. That’s why it’s crucial to review your AI tools periodically. Check to see whether the new tools have actively improved productivity and assess how well employees have taken to the new processes.

If take-up is slow or you’re still facing issues, evaluate why. Maybe it wasn’t the right fit, or maybe training could’ve been more extensive.

It may be that the tool doesn’t integrate well with your other software. Knowing the issue is the first step toward finding a solution.

The future of AI

AI is continuing to grow in popularity, and no one knows for sure what it will mean for the future of business. What seemed impossible just a few years ago, is now well within the capabilities of new AI tools.

As technology evolves so will AI. Tools will become more efficient, accurate, and quicker and the number of features will continue to grow. Some experts have even predicted that AI will take digital technology out of the two-dimensional screen form and become part of the physical environment surrounding an individual.

While this seems like science fiction, it does offer insight into the extensive world that AI has the potential to create. However, for now, we should enjoy the benefits it’s already brought us when enhancing chatbots and image software.

Conclusion

Incorporating AI tools into your business day-to-day provides a range of advantages. From streamlining communication to enhancing content creation and video production. AI tools have the potential to revolutionize the way you operate and help you stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market.

But before choosing, you need to carefully evaluate your needs and consider factors such as compatibility, user-friendliness, and adoption rate. The right software is crucial for business growth, whether it’s an AI tool or a CRM program. Take the time to explore how it can help you.

Try Capsule CRM for 14 days for free to see how it can help support you.

5 top Gmail CRM integrations - what you need to know

Chloe Lloyd — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Integrating Gmail with your CRM is a game-changer when it comes to managing customer relationships. This integration offers a streamlined approach to handling emails, contacts, tasks, and customer data, making your CRM more powerful and efficient.

A robust CRM system helps businesses maintain and nurture valuable client relationships, track interactions, and streamline sales and marketing efforts. But the key to truly unlocking its potential is integrating your CRM with your inbox. Here, we explore the advantages of such an integration and highlight some popular CRM platforms that seamlessly work with Gmail.

The benefits of Gmail integration with CRM

Effortless contact management

When you integrate Gmail with your CRM, contact management becomes a breeze. New contacts created in Gmail can automatically sync with your CRM, ensuring that your customer database is always up to date.

Less manual data entry means not only do you save valuable time but you reduce the risk of making any mistakes when carrying data over from one system to another.

Enhanced email tracking

Integrating your CRM and Gmail lets you track email interactions directly within your CRM. You can store emails and see your entire conversation history. This helps you tailor your communication accordingly.

Improved workflow

Most Gmail integrations allow you to add and assign follow-up tasks directly to your CRM from your inbox, improving your efficiency and productivity. You no longer need to leave your inbox to assign or schedule tasks, meaning work you have to do no longer falls through the cracks.

Streamlined communication

Gmail integrations enable you to send emails directly from your CRM platform. You can access email templates and maintain a unified communication history within your CRM. This ensures that your team is always on the same page.

Data enrichment

Integrating Gmail with your CRM can enrich customer profiles with valuable information. Email conversations, attachments and social profiles are automatically associated with the relevant customer records, offering a comprehensive view of each client’s history.

Improved Collaboration

Collaborative efforts become more efficient when Gmail and CRM work in harmony. Sales, marketing, and support teams can easily access customer data and correspondence, leading to better-informed decisions and coordinated strategies.

Top CRM Platforms with Gmail Integrations or Add-Ons

1. Capsule

Capsule offers a smart and user-friendly platform that seamlessly integrates with Gmail via a mailbox integration and the Gmail Add-On. The Gmail integrations with Capsule are quick to set up and easy to use. Recent user reviews praise Capsule for its simplicity and how easy it is to set up new contacts and store communications.

“Exactly what I needed for my small business! I wanted to give better customer service by tracking conversations more easily and setting myself tasks that need to be done as well as sharing these tasks with staff. Super easy to use and I feel like we haven’t unlocked its full potential yet!”

If you’re a Gmail user and are looking to get started with a CRM then Capsule may be right for you. The integration between Capsule and Gmail makes it really easy to link the two systems together. So you can start adding contacts and storing conversations directly from your inbox straight away.

Once you’re up and running with the Gmail Add-On you’ll be able to set yourself tasks that are linked to contacts too. You can also add a sales opportunity and all the potential deal details to Capsule straight from your inbox. This works in a similar way for Projects too, you can add a new project to Capsule from the Gmail Add-on that’s linked to a contact.

The Add-On is also available on the Gmail Android app, so if you’re always on the go you’ll still be able to access the Add-On wherever you are.

Most suitable for: Gmail users who want to get up and running with an easy-to-use CRM quickly and those looking for a flexible CRM.

Google Workspace Marketplace rating: 4.3/5 (Based on 86 ratings)

Ranked in 2023 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as an Emerging Favorite with an overall score of 82.

2. Salesforce

Image via Salesforce

Salesforce has a robust Gmail integration that is available as a Chrome Extension. It offers much of the same functionality that the Capsule Add-On does. It does offer some more advanced features as well such as viewing tasks and updating their status, accessing and using email templates, email tracking and the ability to schedule an email to send at a later point. Recent reviews about the integration are positive and despite some users facing connection issues they seem happy.

“I have had a good experience with it. It does need to reconnect a fair amount, but that does not bother me. I find it very usable and very helpful!”

The Gmail integration does seem a bit more complicated to set up than some of the others on this list and you’ll need all of these features set up in Salesforce first to make the most of them.

The feature set of the Salesforce integration is impressive. However, the complex setup of both Salesforce and the integration could overwhelm smaller businesses. For those businesses, their primary goals may be to capture contact information and manage activities. In this case, the complexity of Salesforce might be unnecessary.

Most suitable for: Businesses with deep pockets that have the time and money to spend on configuring Salesforce and want the complexity of it.

Chrome Web Store rating: 4.4/5 (Based on 1343 ratings)

Ranked in 2023 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as a Top Performer with an overall score of 98.

3. HubSpot CRM

Image via HubSpot

HubSpot has a Gmail integration that is available as a Chrome Extension. It offers some of the same functionality that the Capsule Add-On does but it’s unclear whether you can add contacts, tasks, and sales opportunities from the add-on. It appears to be much more focussed on logging emails, tracking opens and clicks, and scheduling meetings.

Recent reviews indicate that some of the features customers used to love are slowly being removed or becoming more difficult to use.

“Slowly but surely all the aspects that I loved about this are being taken away or made more complicated. Used to be you logged in and sent the same email to 3 people in 3 different states and you knew who opened and when. Now I get less information and have to go through more hoops.”

The feature set is good if you’re mainly interested in tracking emails and analyzing the performance of those emails. But it’s lacking though if you want to action emails by setting up tasks and other activities in your CRM.

Most suitable for: Professionals that mostly work with emails and want to analyze the performance of emails.

Chrome Web Store rating: 4.5/5 (Based on 8287 ratings)

Ranked in 2023 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as an Emerging Favorite with an overall score of 81.

4. Zoho CRM

Image via Zoho

Zoho offers an Add-On for Gmail but the functionality is a bit light. You can create new leads and contacts from Gmail and see complete lead/contact detail when you open a mail but there’s not much more to it. The latest reviews are mixed between some that are favorable and some mentioning that the app isn’t storing their leads correctly or has lost some functionality that used to exist.

“What happened to this plug-in? I used to be able to associate emails directly with Deals, but now only have the Contact info to edit.”

Most suitable for: Experienced CRM professionals who know what they want. Zoho CRM is part of the Zoho family, their CRM is quite robust covering sales, marketing, support and inventory management but this makes it a little harder to implement and manage.

Chrome Web Store rating: 4.2/5 (Based on 96 ratings)

Ranked in 2023 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as a Top Performer with an overall score of 85.

5. Pipedrive

Image via Pipedrive

With Pipedrive’s Gmail integration you can see information about your contacts alongside your inbox, see any related deals or activities and add new contacts, deals and activities. All in all the functionality is extremely similar to that of Capsule. While the add-on has some great features, several recent reviews, from multiple people have described the add-on as “useless”.

“Completely useless. Can’t do anything with it, no customization, no look up. All you can do is add the specific email sender.”

Most suitable for: As Pipedrive is a sales-focussed CRM this is most suited to sales-focussed businesses who have already played around with Pipedrive and the features on offer.

Chrome Web Store rating: 2.2/5 (Based on 96 ratings)

Ranked in 2023 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as a Top Performer with an overall score of 85.

When looking for a CRM that integrates with Gmail, you really need to think about choosing the right CRM for your business. This is the first step towards making sure that the integration does exactly what you need it to. Bringing the two systems together can revolutionize your approach to CRM. It brings efficiency to contact management, email tracking, and communication, ultimately leading to improved customer interactions and business growth. Want to try a CRM with a Gmail Add-On? Try Capsule free for 14 days to see how it works for you.

7 sales techniques to help you close more deals

Jon Davis — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

There’s no single sales methodology that will deliver in all circumstances.

Forward-thinking sales managers and their executives need to consider different sales techniques depending on their sector and target market.

For example, the best sales techniques for B2B companies will rarely be ideal when selling to consumers.

In sales, success relies on adapting your methods to earn the best results. That’s why understanding even the basics of each sales technique is so useful.

With a better understanding of different sales techniques, you’ll be better placed to identify and apply the right method for the situation at hand.

Learn more about different sales techniques that just work.

1. The Challenger sale: Win more deals

The challenger sale method, characterized by taking control of the selling process, is the best sales technique to ramp up the volume of closed deals. Particularly effective when customers consider themselves too preoccupied to build a relationship, this method has been proven successful in many B2B organizations.

It involves following a three-part strategy.

Teach the customer

Offer fresh, educational insights to engage savvy customers. The challenger sale method educates prospects about new solutions, revealing needs they might not have thought of themselves. The method relies on encouraging the customer to adopt a game-changing perspective. Demonstrate innovative products or services to show the prospect what they haven’t had time to research independently.

Tailor the solution

You’ll meet different personalities as your sale progresses from your initial contact toward the decision-maker. Each person will demand a different strategy, meaning you must have a contact management process organized. Align your messages with the company’s ethos and the wider goals and concerns of each prospect. Explore their websites and corporate literature so you can mirror their culture effectively.

Guide your prospect

To seal a deal, aim at your ultimate goal doggedly but don’t be too aggressive. Engage decision-makers and influencers alike. If there’s resistance, the challenger sale technique involves pivoting seamlessly from cost to value, pushing your customer to think differently and engage with your proposition.

To get the challenger sale method right:

Plan each conversation before it happens so you know how and when to steer it towards your end goal
Remember that each conversation is an exchange of views and you should be practicing active listening
Be prepared to walk away from a deal if the transaction isn’t right for all parties.

2. Solution selling: Fulfill customers’ needs

This is the best sales technique if the customer has indicated they’re looking for a long-term relationship. Like all of the best sales techniques, it can be deployed in numerous scenarios. However, it’s particularly useful when a customer knows they have a need but no idea how to meet that requirement.

There are six principles to follow in solution selling:

Speak with the customer
Listen to their needs and ask probing questions about their challenges
Focus on their pain points and analyze them
Tell the customer what their challenges are
Suggest appropriate solutions to meet their needs
Close the deal.

Step one - Before making initial contact, gather intel on the prospect. Understand their business. Know which competitors you might be up against. Anticipate the sort of questions you might be asked and then approach your prospect.

Step two – Progress with broad questions, then get more detail. For example, lead with a general question about a process the customer carries out and then focus on the problems they encounter when executing it. Doing this will help you to frame how your solution could overcome their issues.

Step three - Listen to what they say, and notice what they skip over. Non-verbal clues about their pain points matter and can sometimes be expressed by what’s not said or from the tone of voice. Let them lead, but ask for clarifications to show you’re really listening. Summarize their points to ensure clarity. Pay close attention to their commercial priorities.

Step four – Tell the customer what you’ve learned about their challenges, not your product. Showcase why you’re there to assist rather than demonstrating your solution.

Step five - Suggest how certain aspects of their pain points could be overcome with the right solution. If they go quiet, remind them of the valuable insights you’ve gathered. Always prioritize their needs and indicate how your solution will offer improvements.

Step six – Close the deal, having qualified your prospects. Talk to the decision-maker who has the authority to make a purchasing decision. If they hesitate, highlight the risk of inaction.

To get the solution selling method right:

Understand your customer’s goals fully.
Show how you can solve their problems in pursuit of their goals.
Demonstrate how your solution satisfies their needs in the longer term and how your relationship with them will be beneficial moving forward.

3. SPIN Selling: Leverage the right questions

Among the best sales techniques for in-person sales, SPIN selling puts the customer in the driver’s seat and lets them do the talking. Developed in the 1980s, the main idea of this sales technique is to avoid asking wrong or inappropriate questions that might put the prospect off. Instead, you allow them to run the sales process.

SPIN selling involves deploying four types of open questions to help nudge the prospect toward closure. These are:

Situation
Problem
Implication
Need

Question one – Ask questions that will help you understand the challenges your prospect faces. If you want to find out what your prospect might be after, don’t ask them whether they want to buy a house. Instead, inquire what sort of property they see themselves living in. In a B2B environment, ask what the purchasing process is — not who’s in charge of procurement decisions.

Question two – When you’ve got a better understanding of their situation, ask questions that help you focus on the customer’s problems or pain points. This helps you figure out what products or services to suggest. Inquire about the biggest issue with their current service/solution or what problems their current supplier might cause them, for example.

Question three – Next, question your customer about the implications of their pain points. Deliberately ask them to focus on the negative sides of their problems. For example, ask what would happen if they failed to make changes to their solution or what might happen if their supplier let them down in more than one way at the same time.

Question four – Having established how bad things might get, ask your customers what they truly need to make things better. This means rather than suggesting your solution’s benefits, you’re getting them to identify improvements.

To recap, to utilize the SPIN selling method:

Ask open-ended questions, not closed ones
Put questions to your prospect in the right order – don’t jump to need before focusing on problems
Avoid directly suggesting solutions and allow the customer to work out the answers for themselves.

4. Account-based selling: Align sales and marketing activities

Also called ABS, account-based selling is a B2B selling method that aims to align marketing activities with sales work. It’s often the best sales technique for big deal sizes where additional service and attention are needed to help close the deal.

Account-based selling is typically reserved for:

High-net-worth individuals
Businesses that procure frequently with repeat orders
High-value businesses which require a hands-on sales process

Note that account-based selling means appointing a dedicated sales team member to handle all the sales interactions between the customer and your firm. As a supplier, orders might be sent directly in, but the account manager should always have oversight for all orders. Their expertise in the customer’s needs will be used to assess whether orders need to be prioritized, fit the client’s true business needs, and have been ordered in sufficient quantities.

To get ABS right:

Sales managers need sufficient executives to manage all their company accounts
Sales development executives will need to hand over to appointed account managers at the appropriate time
Marketing materials should be produced with specific customer accounts in mind
To offer unique selling propositions (USPs), bespoke products and services should be developed for high-value accounts

To learn more, read this blog post.

Social selling is most suited to B2C models. Just as effective in many B2B markets, social selling means using social media platforms to inform and influence prospects. Developed from direct marketing models that encouraged salespeople to leverage networks of family and friends to drive sales, social selling is the modern, digital version.

With social selling, businesses leverage their Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram accounts to promote their products and services. Social selling is also widely used to announce promotions and offers to help drive sales. By building an online community of customers and prospects, you can quickly communicate whatever you want to market. However, this must be backed up with the ability to respond rapidly to online queries and suggestions.

Social selling is useful because:

It’s a cost-effective way to reach a large audience
It helps sales reps develop genuine relationships with prospects
It helps build credibility in tandem with reviews and testimonials.

Building a successful social selling strategy requires more than ‘tweeting’ a few posts. You’ll also need to back it up by measuring your metrics to identify which posts obtain best responses. It’s also a good idea to join online groups or forums to demonstrate how your business can overcome problems by showcasing effective solutions. Don’t just stick to your own social media timelines.

To get social selling right:

Sales managers should focus on quality content over quantity
New posts and responses should be genuine and meaningful
Businesses must commit the necessary resources, or they’ll find that social selling won’t make a difference.

6. Consultative selling: Provide advice to drive deals

In consultative selling, you’ll offer prospects a consultation with the ultimate goal of converting them into a sale by using the opportunity to point out the benefits of your solution. This method is one of the best sales techniques for selling professional services, but it also has other wide-ranging applications.

There are four steps you need to follow for a successful consultative selling strategy:

Ask the right questions
Ensure you listen to the responses actively
Educate your prospect
Offer an authentic solution.

Step one – During a consultation, ask open questions that’ll elicit a detailed response. Question what your prospect wants to achieve from the consultation or why they’ve asked for one, for example.

Step two – When listening to your prospect’s response, pay close attention to their answers and seek clarifications to demonstrate you’re taking on board what they’re saying. Doing so will also help you to better understand their needs.

Step three – Tell your customer about similar clients you’ve helped in the past and how helped them overcome their pain points. Suggest a plan that can help them and point out whether this would help with any related issues.

Step four – With a general plan established, put together a proposal tailored to meet their specific needs. If you’re offering a competitor solution, highlight the advantages of your product compared to the one currently in use.

To get the consultative selling method right:

Provide a genuine consultation that weighs all the options fairly
Spend time diagnosing your customer’s pain points before suggesting remedies
If no solution exists, say so, but feel free to offer products and services that might mitigate your client’s problems.

7. Sales psychology: Utilize science for successful selling

Psychology is an intrinsic part of sales. This isn’t so much a tactic in its own right, more a complementary process you should consider to help you close more deals.

Utilize cognitive bias to your advantage

In psychology, cognitive biases affect everything from memory and behavior to judgment and decision-making. By getting to know the potential biases of your prospects, such as why they think their current solution must be better than anything you could offer, you’ll find ways to break down barriers between you and your customers.

Leverage FOMO to close deals

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a widely accepted psychological theory that’s part of what makes humans social beings. For example, explaining to customers that they might miss out on time-limited deals or remaining stock can drive them toward a purchasing decision.

Build credibility through expertise

The more authoritative you are in the eyes of your clients, the more likely they’ll buy from you. Use your industry or personal experience to demonstrate you’ve got knowledge your prospect can benefit from. This psychological aspect of selling comes down to presenting yourself as an authority.

To utilize the psychological components of sales you should consider:

Empathize with your prospects and try to see things from their perspective
Be consistent and respond rapidly to any of their concerns
Work on the first impressions you create because remember - first impressions count!
Find out what underpins your customers’ goals so you can find ways of addressing them meaningfully.

Start using the right sales methodology today

Now that you have the basics of the best sales techniques, why not start putting them into action? A key part of effectively deploying any sales techniques can be complemented by a CRM.

Learn more about Capsule CRM to help improve your sales process and try our 14-day free trial.

Revenue intelligence: How to boost business success

Rose McMillan — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Every business wants to be ahead of its competitors. It’s why sales teams spend millions investing in new technologies and software looking for innovative data-driven solutions.

Revenue intelligence is a way for sales teams to gather, analyze, and interpret data. Revenue intelligence software helps you make better-informed decisions about crucial aspects of business. Salespeople often have to rely on their instincts when following leads, but with actual money on the line why leave it to chance?

In this guide, we’ll cover what revenue intelligence is, why it’s important, and why you should implement it in your business.

What is revenue intelligence?

Revenue intelligence is a data-driven sales method. It’s a way of analyzing information on leads, prospects and current customers with the help of AI. It uses technology to identify trends and metrics. This can help to produce actionable insights that can boost sales and conversion leading to maximized revenue.

AI provides predictive analytics that go beyond simple data capturing. It provides advanced insights into buying signals, targeting data, and forecasts. This helps sales reps prioritize their leads and gain useful insight into a prospect’s needs and buying context. With this information, they can target their communications specifically to a customer’s needs and take the next step towards improving business success.

How does revenue intelligence help businesses?

Sales teams work hard, so you want to ensure that their effort are channeled efficiently.. Revenue intelligence helps businesses align their teams so that this hard work isn’t wasted on unprofitable leads.

Revenue intelligence requires three parts to work successfully. These are:

Artificial intelligence
360-degree data
Actionable insights.

Let’s explore how these elements work in more detail.

Artificial intelligence

Revenue intelligence relies on cutting-edge technology, specifically, AI. Artificial intelligence has found itself being used in mainstream business operations and is transforming businesses across the world.

AI can analyze hundreds of thousands of data points quickly and easily. It can then run this data through predictive models to identify trends and connections that would be difficult for a human analyst to spot.

360-degree data metrics

Both sales and marketing professionals work with large volumes of data. Much of this is usually held and managed by a CRM. However, this information is usually entered manually which takes time, and without regular maintenance, this data can become cluttered.

Solely relying on manual data management means you could miss out on some key information that provides valuable insight. AI, however, can look beyond surface trends and provide other data sources like web analytics, campaign stats, and behavioral analytics.

Revenue intelligence combines data sources. The customer journey is rarely a neat transaction. It requires input from various teams like sales, marketing and customer support. Integrating this data provides a full view of the customer experience helping you to better understand their needs.

Actionable insights

A large amount of data isn’t much use unless it provides clear and actionable insights. Revenue intelligence informs your sales decisions in real time helping youtailor and target your approach.

These insights help your sales team to:

Monitor the health of your sales pipeline
Guide sales reps
Prioritize prospects and workload
Drive revenue and growth
Identify ideal communication cadence.

How does revenue intelligence work?

Not every revenue intelligence platform works the same way. They each use different algorithms that weigh data points differently. These specifics will often change and evolve over time, but to be effective every revenue intelligence platform needs to follow a basic structure.

Step one: Collect data

Capturing data effectively is an ongoing process meaning you’ll have to refine your technique as you go along. This will improve the overall quality of your intelligence.

The better your intelligence, the better your results will be, but don’t let this hold you back from getting started. Some data is definitely better than none. The type of data you choose may vary depending on what you see most value in. You could utilize:

Buyer intent
Email opens and clicks
Bounce rate
Deal progression
Product usage
Conversion intelligence
Keyword usage.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it should give you an idea of the data you can utilize. It takes some trial and error to identify which data provides you with the best insights.

Step two: Analyze and create intelligence

Once you have your data, it’s time for your revenue intelligence platform to leverage this. Your AI should provide predictive analytics and surface actionable insights. The specifics of these are endless - this only limitation is your database.

Tailor your specifics to address business needs or problems that your sales team is currently facing. Your AI platform should be able to answer a few common questions including:

How can we speed up our sales cycle?
Where should sales reps focus their efforts?
What opportunities is our team missing out on and how much revenue is this costing us?

Credible answers to these questions can help you direct and improve your efforts. The main value of revenue intelligence is its ability to answer more obscure and specific questions, so ensure to tailor your data accordingly.

Step three: Provide actionable insights for future outreach

Collating data isn’t useful unless you utilize it. You need to examine the main issues that your data is showing and create an action plan to improve your business output.

These will differ depending on your business needs and industry, so it’s important to assess what areas need most focus.

Common actionable plans include:

Creating custom content to target specific audiences and demographics.
Provide training to sales reps on how to manage leads through a data-driven approach
Determine areas increase sales efforts
Take advantage of untapped revenue generation opportunities.

What problems does AI revenue intelligence solve?

Businesses are understanding the real benefit of revenue intelligence. In 2019, the revenue intelligence market was valued at 2.2 billion, but this number is rising. The market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 10.5% until the year 2027. Venture capitalists are taking notice of the growing industry and between 2020 and 2021 funding jumped from $321 million to $952 million.

So why are businesses so interested? Well, because revenue intelligence helps solve a lot of common business problems. It can boost sales and give sales reps the insight they need to target clients effectively.

Let’s explore the main problems that revenue intelligence solves.

Missed revenue opportunities

No one likes missing out - especially on revenue. Sales opportunities are everywhere but identifying them can be tricky, especially with a small team.

Revenue intelligence helps you spot opportunities before they slip through the cracks, whether it’s an untapped demographic or a gap in the market. By integrating data from multiple sources you can have a better all-round view of potential deals.

Unutilized data

Manual data entry is the most common way that sales organizations keep track of their customer information. But it takes time. Time that reps should be using to chase leads and develop strategies and pitches.

Entering data manually also leaves you with an incomplete picture of your target market. Even the most trained eye is unable to pick up every significant detail in a data source, AI, however, can spot patterns quickly and easily creating a much more complete picture.

Identify buying signals

Not all buying signals are explicit. Many salespeople rely on social cues, body language, and other subconscious signals to identify a potential sale. Traditional sales analytics rely on clear buying signals, like a demo request, but there are hundreds of other cues that can only be tracked via technology.

Revenue intelligence can spot these subtle cues with AI analysis. These collected insights can help sales reps to better personalize their communications and strategies leading to improved revenue.

Revenue leakage

The best way to stop lost revenue is to assess how and why it happens. If you don’t know then you simply can’t address the issue.

AI can pinpoint these issues as well as predict potential areas of future loss. You can use this information to identify ways to reduce and prevent future losses.

Misaligned teams

Businesses work best when all teams are aligned towards a goal. Productivity and overall success are improved when teams like sales and marketing work together towards a shared goal.

Alignment needs to begin at a basic level, if every rep is approaching work differently then it can be hard to streamline your processes.

Revenue intelligence can identify where you’re doing well and what needs to improve.

This can help you to align your team across the business and hit shared goals. Additionally, revenue intelligence provides actionable insights to monitor pipeline health, guiding sales reps when pursuing a sale.

Lack of coaching

Businesses commonly confuse coaching with training. While one focuses on teaching specific skills, the other is an ongoing process to help sales reps develop and progress.

AI analyzes a sales rep’s day-to-day work. If reps are repeatedly losing sales at a specific point of the customer journey, then you need to find out why. That way you can identifyareas of improvement. Investing in your team’s development, including implementing an efficient workflow, is one of the best ways to ensure business success.

Unpredictable pipelines and forecasting

Predictability is crucial when it comes to business planning and development and an unstable pipeline can wreak havoc. 68% of companies miss their forecast by 11% or more. That may seem relatively small, but year on year this equates to a lot of lost revenue.

Analyzing previous sales data can improve business predictions with clear data-driven forecasting. Identifying repeatable actions and sales cues can help businesses improve conversion rates and revenue growth.

Ineffective decision making

Sales decisions shouldn’t be made on instinct. No matter how much experience a sales rep may have, without detailed insight into prospect and account activities, you could make the wrong choice and lose an opportunity.

Revenue intelligence can forecast trends, analyze previous transactions, and provide actionable insights. This takes the guesswork out of sales-related decision-making, so you know that you’ve always made the right choice.

Assessing product performance

Every business has a standout product. But without clear insight, it’s hard to know which products have the most impact on a company’s bottom line.

With revenue intelligence, you can make clear connections between products and profit. This can help teams to realign their focus and spend more time on profitable money makers and less on underperforming items.

Slow revenue growth

Growth is the goal of every business organization. But to grow, businesses need to increase revenue. If you’re noticing a loss of revenue, then it’s important to address it as quickly as possible.

AI toosl can quickly identify the main drops in revenue and find ways to fix them so you can focus on prospects. This way, you can maximize your efforts and make the most of your team and their skills.

Integrating a revenue intelligence platform with a CRM

When selecting a revenue intelligence platform there are a few things you need to consider. This includes your specific needs, common business issues, and how well it integrates with crucial software such as your CRM.

It’s important to invest in a platform that’s future-proof. Your business needs will change as your organization grows and develops. So plan ahead and find a revenue intelligence platform that can help you solve future business challenges.

When searching for the right software, consider the following:

Integration capabilities: Find a revenue intelligence platform that offers seamless integration with your CRM. This helps data to flow smoothly between the two systems, allowing for accurate and relevant information.
Compatibility: Not all revenue intelligence platforms are compatible with other software. Different platforms may have different integration requirements, so it’s important to choose one that works well with your CRM.
Features and functionality: Evaluate the features and functionality offered by each platform. You need to selecta software that has all the necessary requirements to meet your business needs. Look for features such as automated activity capture, account and opportunity management, and data analytics.
Accessibility: Consider how easy the platform is to use. It should have a user-friendly interface that allows your team to easily navigate and utilize the platform. As well as an onboarding process complete with training sessions to help you get started.
Customer reviews and case studies: Read customer reviews and success stories to get insights into the experiences of other businesses. Find ones with business models similar to yours and suit your industry. This can give you an idea of the platform’s effectiveness and its ability to integrate well with CRM systems.

Considering all of these will help you choose a revenue intelligence platform that works for your business. Enabling them to gain valuable insights and drive revenue growth.

Final thoughts

Revenue intelligence is a game-changer for businesses. Artificial intelligence is helping businesses gain comprehensive insights into their sales and marketing strategies.

Not only does it address challenges but also contributes to business growth by enhancing CRM and improving sales performance. While technology alone can’t fix all your sales issues, it can provide necessary data to help you make informed decisions and plan for the future.

By implementing revenue intelligence in your business, you can truly boost your business performance and stay ahead of the competition. Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and access a 14-day free trial and see how revenue intelligence can level up your sales.

Why customer obsession is essential for sales

Jon Davis — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Looking for the new black in sales is like chasing a moving target — everyone thinks they’re close, but the goalposts keep moving.

Customer obsession is more than a trend. Now, it’s a business philosophy that can redefine your brand’s relationship with its customers, resulting in unprecedented customer loyalty. In this blog post, we’ll show you how (and why) to tackle it in your business.

What is customer obsession?

Customer obsession is the relentless focus on understanding, serving, and delighting customers.

It goes beyond mere customer service to encompass every interaction and touchpoint, aiming to exceed expectations and create memorable experiences.

Why customer obsession matters

Merely meeting customer expectations isn’t enough. In short, customer obsession is the differentiator that can set your brand apart, leading to long-term relationships and sustainable business growth.

So, why is customer obsession important?

#1 Builds brand loyalty

When you focus on customer obsession, you create an emotional bond with your customers. This connection makes them more likely to be loyal to your brand, and helps reduce customer churn and increases profitability over time.

#2 Increases customer lifetime value

Being obsessed with your customers means you’re constantly finding ways to add value to their lives. Either in the actual offering or customer service. Thistactic increases your clients’ immediate spend but also their lifetime value, as they continue to engage with your brand over time.

#3 Enhances reputation

A customer-obsessed approach turns your customers into brand advocates. This enhances your reputation and attracts new customers. Often, it’s more effective than expensive marketing campaigns.

#4 Drives innovation

Listening and understanding your customers’ needs and feedback drives your product development.. With a customer centric strategy, you can be sure that you’re keeping up with market demands – but also exceeding customer expectations, and staying ahead of your competitors.

Win-win.

How to measure customer obsession

Understanding the impact of customer obsession on your business is important, but it may not be immediately obvious how to measure it. Here are some key metrics that offer valuable insights – along with how to calculate them.

1. Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a fundamental metric that can be measured through post-interaction surveys or direct feedback.

A high satisfaction score indicates that you’re meeting or exceeding customer expectations. A low one… gives you food for thought.

To calculate it, you can use a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) survey, where you ask customers to rate their satisfaction on a scale of one to five and then average the responses.

2. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

NPS measures customer loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend your product or service.

A high NPS score indicates strong customer loyalty and serves as a good indicator of business growth.

To calculate NPS, subtract the percentage of detractors (those who score zero-six) from the percentage of promoters (those who score nine-ten) in response to the recommendation question.

3. Customer retention rate

A high customer retention rate is a strong indicator of effective customer obsession strategies. It shows that not only are you acquiring customers, but you’re also keeping them. Monitor this metric closely to make sure that your customer obsession is actually translating into long-term, profitable relationships.

To calculate this rate, take the number of customers at the end of a time period minus the number of new customers acquired, divided by the number of customers at the start of the time period, then multiply by 100.

4. Customer effort score (CES)

CES measures the ease with which customers can get their issues resolved or achieve their goals using your product.

A low effort score means higher customer satisfaction and is evidence of a effective customer obsession strategy.

To calculate CES, you can use a post-interaction survey that asks customers to rate the ease of their experience on a scale from ‘very difficult’ to ‘very easy’ and then work out average of those scores.

How to build a customer obsession strategy: step-by-step

Now, we’ll walk you through eight simple steps to cultivate true customer obsession in your organization.

Each step serves as a milestone in your journey towards becoming acustomer-obsessed company that not only survives but thrives. You’ll also find customer obsession examples you can follow in your own business.

Step 1: Understand your customer needs

To build a customer-obsessed culture, you must deeply understand your customer needs. Use tools like customer personas and customer journey mapping to get a comprehensive understanding of what your customers desire/needs/wants are.

Then, tailor your product or service offerings to meet those needs effectively. The goal is to work backwards from the customer’s needs to your business solutions.

Example:

Amazon’s success is rooted in its ability to understand AND anticipate customer needs, often before the customer does.

Step 2: Collect and analyze customer data

Data is the basis of any customer obsession strategy. Use analytics tools to collect customer data that can provide insights into customer behavior, preferences, and pain points.

A data-driven approach guarantees that your strategies are aligned with what your customers actually want. The focus should be on both qualitative and quantitative data for a rounded understanding.

Example:

Netflix uses data analytics to recommend shows and even create new content.

Step 3: Implement proactive customer service

Proactive customer service means anticipating problems before they happen and presenting solutions.

This could be as simple as sending a FAQ email after a customer makes a purchase or as complex as using AI to antcipate customer issues.

Being proactive rather than reactive can boost customer trust and satisfaction.

Example:

Apple’s customer service teams often reach out to customers to assist with setup and offer tips after a new product purchase.

Step 4: Empower your customer service department

Your customer service department is the frontline of customer obsession. They can make or break the experience.

Equip them with the right strategies and self-service tools to provide exceptional customer service. This will not only solve immediate technical issues but also contribute to customer retention. Empower them to make decisions that benefit the customer, even if it’s outside the usual protocol.

Example:

Zappos empowers its customer service representatives to go above and beyond, even sending flowers to customers.

Source

Step 5: Prioritize customer feedback

Customer feedback is invaluable in maintaining a customer-obsessed culture. Any method can be used to gather this feedback – but social listening might be the best of all.

Using social media management tools, you can navigate through numerous mentions of your brand and react to them:

Actively listening to your customers helps adaptyour business model and tailor your offerings. This feedback loop is crucial for continuous improvement and innovation. You can run your company without it, but you would miss out vital information. Example:

Starbucks used its My Starbucks Idea platform to gather customer suggestions and actually implemented many of them. Approximately 150 thousand ideas were collected from clients directly.

Step 6: Focus on customer experience and engagement

Customer experience goes beyond just customer service. Prioritize customer engagement strategies that enhance the overall customer experience. This includes everything from the user interface of your website to the after-sales service you provide.

Example:

Sephora’s mobile app enhances customer experience by offering augmented reality-based makeup trials.

Step 7: Align company culture and operations

Customer obsession always starts at the top. Leaders pay attention to aligning the whole company culture and customer operations towards a customer-first approach. Regular training sessions for new employees and existing staff can instill this alignment. Every department and function is then infused with customer obsession.

Example:

Southwest Airlines prioritizes customer service with its Transfarency policy, which aims to be straightforward about costs and fees.

Step 8: Build a community around your brand

How to make people trust you?

Befriend them.

And how to do it?

Stay close to them, wherever they are.

Building a community around your brand is one way to engage both new and existing customers.

A community serves as a platform for customers to share their experiences, tips, and even provide peer-to-peer support. It creates a sense of belonging and loyalty, which is invaluable for customer retention.

Example:

Manychat has successfully built a community where their users can share insights, ask questions, and provide support to each other.

What are qualities of customer-obsessed companies?

Organizations that prioritize customer obsession often outperform their competitors in various metrics, from customer acquisition to retention.

Let’s identify the key qualities that set customer-obsessed companies apart.

Deep understanding of customer needs

Customer-obsessed companies invest heavily in market research, customer surveys, and data analytics. This enables them to understand not just what their customers want, but also why they want it, allowing for more targeted and effective solutions. And, for turning these customers into loyal customers, for years to come.

Personalized experiences

Customer-centric organizationsgo the extra mile to offer personalized products, services, or experiences. Using data and customer feedback, they tailor their offerings to meet individual needs, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Proactive problem-solving

Rather than waiting for issues to arise, customer-obsessed companies anticipate potential challenges and address them proactively.

This often surprises customers and exceeds their expectations, leading to higher levels of satisfaction.

High-quality customer service

Exceptional customer service is a defining feature of these companies. Whether it’s through 24/7 support, multi-channel accessibility, or highly trained staff, the focus is always on resolving customer issues as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Transparency and honesty

Building trust is crucial for customer-obsessed companies, and they do this by being transparent and honest in their practices, pricing, and policies.

Even when mistakes are made, they own up to them and make amends, further solidifying customer trust.

Employee empowerment

Employees in customer-obsessed companies are empowered to go above and beyond to meet customer needs.

Such tactics creates a culture where the customer is always the priority, and employees feel both responsible for and capable of delivering exceptional service.

Continuous improvement

Complacency is not an option for customer-obsessed companies.

They continuously seek feedback from customers and stakeholders and use it to improve. This cycle of feedback and improvement keeps them at the very top of customer satisfaction.

Long-term relationship building

Instead of focusing solely on immediate transactions, these companies invest in building long-term relationships with their customers. Through customer retention programs, loyalty rewards, and community-building efforts, they keep customers engaged and coming back for more.

Each of these qualities contributes to a holistic approach to customer obsession, setting these companies apart in highly competitive markets.

Turn your business into a customer obsessed company with Capsule

If you’re on the hunt for a tool that can elevate your customer-centric approach, look no further than Capsule CRM. This platform is far from your average CRM.

It’s a game-changer for businesses that put customers at the heart of their operations. With its Contact Management feature, Capsule allows you to keep all your customer interactions and history in one central hub.

This makes it easier to understand your customers on a deeper level and deliver personalized experiences at all times.

Seal the deal: Sales pipeline management

When it comes to sales, Capsule CRM’s Sales Pipeline feature is your secret weapon. It’s designed to complement your unique sales process, helping you identify which deals need your immediate attention. Making informed decisions that contribute to your overall business strategy has never been easier. The focus here is on analytics, providing you with a comprehensive view of your sales activities and their impact on your bottom line.

Automate to elevate: Workflow simplified

Time is money, and we understand that. That’s why Capsule offers Workflow Automation to eliminate the mundane tasks that slow you down.

From automating sales workflows to streamlining various business processes, Capsule makes your life easier. This is especially useful for e.g., ecommerce businesses that handle a high volume of transactions and need to maintain consistent, high-quality service for satisfied customers.

Scalability and adaptability: Grow with Capsule

What sets Capsule CRM apart is its flexibility. Whether you’re a startup or a growing enterprise, Capsule’s Teams Plan offers features that scale with your business.

Advanced sales reporting? Customizable access permissions for customer records? Capsule is designed to adapt to your evolving needs. Treat it as a long-term partner in your journey towards customer obsession.

Conclusion

All companies want to have loyal customers in their business. Most companies, though, don’t realize the real value of customer centricity.

Truly customer-focused organizations go beyond mere buzzwords to forge a mutually beneficial relationship with their clientele. Embracing customer obsession isn’t just good for consumers. it’s a strategic imperative that sets industry leaders apart. With Capsule CRM, this process is streamlined and simplified. Try it for 14 days for free to see how it works.

How to use Projects in Capsule: 12 ingenious use cases

Chloe Lloyd — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In today’s ever-changing business world, enhancing productivity and efficiency is crucial for achieving success. Whether you’re onboarding new team members or handling content creation, Projects are your ultimate tool for getting work done.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss numerous ways you can harness Capsule’s Projects, including some less obvious applications that might transform the way you operate.

What is Projects

Capsule’s integrated project management feature, Projects, seamlessly bridges the gap between sales and delivery within a single platform. With this innovative solution, businesses can effortlessly handle both sales and service operations, eliminating information silos and streamlining workflows. Capsule’s project management boards, designed in a user-friendly kanban-style, allow for flexible customization to empower teams to accomplish objectives efficiently.

What is Tracks

Tracks in Capsule are a predefined series of tasks, akin to templates, that a Capsule Administrator sets up to ensure a streamlined and organized sales or project management process. Each task within a Track is scheduled to occur a specific number of days after the Track starts or after the completion of the previous task. By using Tracks, businesses can standardize their sales strategies and project management ensuring that both themselves and their users follow a consistent and efficient workflow.

What is Workflow Automation

Workflow Automation in Capsule is a powerful tool designed to simplify and accelerate your work processes while ensuring consistency. With the ability to create customized workflows and triggered activities, manual tasks become a thing of the past. Whether it’s automating sales pipeline management, assigning projects to specific departments, or triggering automated emails, Capsule’s workflow automation streamlines operations.

1. Onboarding new hires

Guide new team members through their initial days with a dedicated onboarding Project Board in Capsule. All companies differ in how they do things but some example Project Board stages include Planning, Documentation, Welcome, Orientation, Training, and Goal Setting.

You’ll be able to plan in advance everything needed to get your new hire up to speed. You can add training materials at key stages and track progress to assess performance.

2. Onboarding clients

Client onboarding is a crucial aspect of maintaining strong, lasting relationships with your clients, and a project management tool can be instrumental in this process. Imagine you’re running a digital marketing agency, and you’ve just signed on a new client.

Here’s how you can utilize a project management tool for their onboarding. Create an internal Project Board that goes through all the steps you need to take to get your clients through the initial setup, provide tutorials, and establish a strong foundation for a lasting partnership. Some example Project Board stages include: Setup, Orientation, Ongoing Support, Feedback.

For many clients, the onboarding process can be overwhelming with various marketing strategies and technical setups. By using a project management tool with a dedicated Project Board, you provide transparency, structure, and accountability throughout the onboarding journey. This not only instills confidence in your client but also helps your team efficiently manage tasks, deadlines, and client interactions.

3. Event management

From small team gatherings to large-scale conferences, Projects helps you manage all aspects of event planning.

Group tasks together in a series with Tracks and add these at relevant stages, capture vendor and attendee lists and customize fields for budgeting and dates to ensure your event runs smoothly.

Example Project Board stages include Event Planning, Setup, Execution, Post-Event and Follow Up.

4. Content management

Organize content creation and publication with Projects. Assign Projects as articles, videos, blog posts or other content pieces to team members. Add your files to the Project, set publication dates, and keep a comprehensive record of your content pipeline.

You can even set up automated workflows so that once you’ve created a piece of content and moved it to the Review stage it will be assigned to the relevant person to review, eliminating workflow bottlenecks.

Example Project Board stages include Planning, Creation, Review, Publish, Promote and Analyze.

5. Account management

Deliver better value to customers faster by creating a Project Board and add projects dedicated to individual clients. Keep track of objectives, communications, meetings, and deliverables to maintain strong, lasting relationships.

Example Project Board stages include: Assessment, Objectives, Strategy Development, Alignment, Monitoring, Iteration.

6. Managing orders

For businesses dealing with physical products, a Project Board can streamline order management. Assign tasks related to order processing, shipping, and customer communication to guarantee timely delivery and customer satisfaction. Example Project Board stages could include Verification, Preparation, Shipping, Communication, Completion.

These stages provide a structured framework for managing orders, from the moment a customer places an order to successful delivery. By using Projects, you can track progress at each stage, assign responsibilities, and ensure a smooth order management process. Customize these stages to align with your specific order management workflows and objectives.

7. Renewals and upsells

Increase renewal rates by setting up a Project Board for managing the renewal and upsell process.

Set up tasks as reminders to contact clients when their contracts are up for renewal or when there are opportunities to upsell, track the negotiation process and secure recurring business.

Examples of different stages of this process include Assessment, Proposal, Documentation, Processing, Follow-up.

If you have access to more than one board you could set up your renewed client on the appropriate Onboarding or Account Management Board.

8. Lead qualification

Qualify leads faster and more accurately by setting up a dedicated process and Project Board. Collect all the essential information about each lead, including their specific interests and needs.

Customize fields for lead scoring and prioritization so you can assign leads with a score. You’ll then be able to focus your efforts on the most promising prospects and by the time it comes to hand all the information over to sales they’ll be in the best place to convert leads to customers.

Example Project Board stages could include: Data Collection, Lead Scoring, Initial Outreach, Sales Handover, Follow Up.

9. Support processes

Deliver better value to your customers using Projects. Manage inquiries by assigning support tickets to the right team members, setting response deadlines, and ensuring a consistent and satisfying customer experience.

Example Project Board stages could be: Ticket Intake, Issue Assessment, Resolution, Escalation, Feedback and Closure.

This rather simplified process provides an insight into the possible framework for a support team to handle customer inquiries while ensuring transparency and continuous improvement in support operations.

Depending on the complexity of your business and support needs, you can further customize and expand upon this process using tasks and workflow automation.

10. Feedback and improvement initiatives

If you receive feedback or suggestions from clients, create a Project Board to address and implement improvements. Assign tasks to relevant team members and track progress.

Example Project Board stages could be: Feedback Log, Prioritization, Planning, Development, Implementation and Communication.

11. Managing tours

Projects can help you deliver your dream tour/holiday experience for your clients, assisting in scheduling, confirming reservations, and ensuring a memorable and organized tour for your clients.

An example of a Project Board for a tour management company could look like this: Participant Confirmation, Guide Briefing, Reservations Check, Customer Briefing, Evaluation.

12. Enquiries management

Similar to other pre-sale projects, you can create projects to manage general inquiries from potential customers, partners and vendors.

Assign tasks to the most appropriate team member for quicker response times. Build consistent processes for the most common enquiries and maintain excellent relationships with all the people you do business with.

Example Project Board stages could be Inbox, Assessment, Response, Follow Up.

Capsule’s Projects feature is a versatile tool that can adapt to your use cases and can be enhanced when used in collaboration with Tracks and Workflow Automation.

By tailoring its functionality to your specific needs, you can improve team collaboration, organization, and productivity across various aspects of your business. So, why not explore the limitless possibilities that Capsule’s Projects offer and take your work to the next level? Click here to learn more about Capsule and access a 14-day free trial.

Sales lead indicators: What are they and why do they matter?

Jon Davis — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Thinking about your own life, there are certain behaviors or indicators that you can use to predict future outcomes relatively accurately.

For example, if you increase the number of minutes you exercise every day, you’ll anticipate weight loss.

If you stop exercising and increase the amount of junk food you consume, it’s reasonable to expect that the opposite will happen.

These sorts of behaviors are lead indicators, and they are extremely valuable in sales organizations.

In sales, lead indicators are a predictive measurement of performance. They can be used to forecast future outcomes, and they’re indicative of what you could expect to happen.

In other words, they’re one of the best tools available for sales teams because they offer insight into what the future might look like.

In this article, we’ll take a more in-depth look at the concept of lead indicators, explain the difference between leading and lagging indicators, provide some of the most important examples of lead indicators for sales organizations, and explain why this all matters so much to salespeople and sales managers.

What are leading and lagging indicators?

Businesses rely on key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess performance. These are defined as quantifiable metrics, which are used to gauge how well the business is performing or to measure progress toward a specific goal.

KPIs can be broadly divided into leading and lagging indicators.

Lead indicators

In an article published by Forbes, Bernard Marr uses a vehicle analogy that can help you better understand lead indicators.

According to Marr, you should think of your business as a car, and lead indicators are the equivalent of looking through the windshield. They tell you what’s ahead of you. They indicate where you’re going next.

Some businesses find lead indicators harder to identify and define than lag indicators. This is because they can vary wildly depending on the type of business you’re running and the types of activities you’re involved with.

What they tell you is also less certain than with lagging indicators, as we’ll cover a little later in this post.

Within a typical sales organization, a basic example of a lead indicator would be the number of sales calls made by sales reps. In and of itself, this metric won’t tell you anything certain about your business performance.

For instance, it can’t tell you how many deals you closed or the money you’ve made. However, it does give you an indication of what you might expect.

Generally speaking, unless there’s a specific reason to think otherwise, businesses might assume that an increase in the number of sales calls made will likely lead to an increase in the number of sales.

By the same token, less calls is likely to lead to a reduction in sales. Lead indicators like this allow you to anticipate outcomes.

Lag indicators

Continuing with Bernard Marr’s analogy, lagging indicators are like looking in the rearview mirror. They show you the road that you’ve already traveled down. They are the outcome of your activities.

This article for Indeed.com describes lagging indicators as data points that are in the past. In other words, they show what’s already happened.

Lag indicators are sometimes known as output indicators because they’re the end product of what you’ve put in as a business.

They tend to be easier to measure than lead indicators and are also easier to clearly define.

However, at the same time, they’re more difficult to change or improve because lag indicators can be impacted by numerous factors.

In sales, your lag indicators tell you the current status in terms of actual sales performance.

The metrics are straightforward to understand, but identifying the underlying causes may be more complex.

Examples of typical lagging indicators in your sales organization would be the revenue generated over a specific time period or the average revenue generated per deal.

These KPIs are clear in what they tell you and are easy to measure and interpret, but they are metrics that can only be changed by making wider behavioral or strategic changes.

Understanding lead indicators for sales teams

Lead indicators are used in several fields, including economics and the business world.

Equipped with an understanding of what leading and lagging indicators are and how they differ from one another, it’s also important to take a more in-depth look at the role of lead indicators in sales.

For sales teams, leading indicators are an indirect, predictive measurement of performance.

They don’t directly indicate what your key sales metrics are going to be, such as the revenue you generate or the number of deals you close.

However, they can give you an indication and serve as a guide for what to expect.

Leading and lagging indicators: cause and effect

There is a cause-and-effect relationship between leading indicators and lagging indicators.

For instance, if you use the example of the number of sales calls made as a lead indicator, it makes sense that making more sales calls will lead to more sales.

In reality, there are multiple reasons why this relationship may not be quite as straightforward as that, which is why leading indicators are usually considered less reliable or definitive than lagging indicators.

In addition, the cause-and-effect relationship can be difficult to understand or pinpoint. After all, some behaviors or factors may influence your lagging indicators, which aren’t immediately obvious.

This sometimes means that a business will have unidentified or unrealized lead indicators. Effectively, these are potential sales analytics that you aren’t tracking.

However, if you were to be able to make the connection with the relevant lagging indicator, then leveraging these could help you boost sales performance.

For example, there could be some correlation between the number of times your blog posts are shared and the number of sales you generate.

This relationship may not immediately stand out as an obvious lead indicator, but it could become more apparent over time, and this may then make it worthwhile to continually track this metric.

Identifying lead indicators for sales environments

Some sales organizations struggle to pinpoint leading indicators because they’re usually less obvious things to measure than lagging indicators.

In an article published on Medium.com, Paulo Silveira breaks down some of the most useful ways to identify lead indicators, and we’ve summarized two here:

Statistical approach - Create a list of activities that temporally precede a lagging indicator and identify which ones are measurable. Calculate the correlation coefficient between the lagging indicator and each measurable activity.

Based on this correlation, place them in order so that you can identify the most likely lead indicators.

Value stream mapping - Make a list of business metrics and strategic indicators. Link the relevant ones to the sales team. Ask key stakeholders within the team to let you know what’s under their control that could influence the metric or how they believe the metric or indicator can be improved.

Explore the answers for possible lead indicators.

Lead indicators also need to be continually evaluated over time. In some cases, the KPIs that you think are lead indicators aren’t actually relevant to your lagging indicators.

Examples of leading indicators in business settings

To provide some examples of leading indicators in business, imagine your sales team has established lagging indicators. These may include total revenue generated, sales deals closed and revenue per customer.

You should be able to identify leading indicators that are related to these metrics, such as:

Sales calls made
Emails sent
Unique website visitors
Leads generated
Sales rep closing ratio
Demos requested
Meetings arranged
Email opening rates

As you can see, these are all indicators that you would expect to provide some insight into your sales performance results, even if there are no guarantees.

For instance, you’d expect that increasing the number of sales calls, emails sent, and meetings arranged would lead to more sales and increased revenue.

All of these lead indicators are also elements that your sales team has some level of control over, which means actions can be taken to boost each of these metrics.

The importance of leading indicators in sales

Below, we’ll break down some of the specific reasons why lead indicators matter in sales.

Direct control

One of the biggest reasons lead indicators matter to salespeople is that they’re the KPIs that are typically under the direct control of your team.

Though you can’t simply look at lagging indicators — like revenue — and then decide to increase the number at will, you do have much more scope to make direct changes to your lead indicators.

If you identify the number of sales calls made as a lead indicator, it’s possible to increase that number through day-to-day activities.

For example, you can encourage salespeople to make more calls, align sales and marketing, generate more leads for follow-up, or hire more salespeople to handle calls.

Similarly, if the lead indicator you’re looking at is website views, you can also find ways to increase this number.

For instance, you can allocate more resources to boosting search engine optimization (SEO) efforts or increase your investment in your content marketing strategy.

Over time, you can track your lead indicators and take steps to fix metrics going in the wrong direction.

Forecasting and targets

Another significant reason that lead indicators matter to salespeople is that they help to set expectations and serve as the basis for forecasting efforts.

By measuring lead indicators and tracking changes over time, it’s usually possible to get advanced notice of significant changes to lagging indicators.

Tracking indicators helps sales teams plan for the future and enables them to make strategic adjustments quickly.

Without measuring and tracking lead indicators, you may not be able to plan for changes in your financial results or other KPIs.

As lead indicators can be directly influenced, they are also useful for setting performance targets.

If you notice that the number of sales calls made or sales meetings arranged starts to drop, you can set a target to push these numbers back up. Generally, this will influence the relevant lag indicators.

Measuring impact

Finally, your leading indicators allow you to more quickly measure the impact of your strategy and your current sales behaviors. As an article by Shopify outlines, lead indicators provide faster feedback on what you’re currently doing versus lag indicators. That’s because your lag indicators will take longer to show up.

When you decide to make changes to your sales strategy, this is especially significant because it allows you to see some early indicators of what the impact of those changes will likely be.

Also, when you continually track your lead indicators, you can understand the extent of their impact on your key lagging indicators. From there, you’ll know which indicators to pay the closest attention to.

Final thoughts

The close relationship between lag and lead indicators means it’s important to continually identify, track and monitor both of these KPIs.

However, lead indicators are predictive indicators, which means they can usually be more directly influenced by your actions and those of your colleagues.

This makes them especially useful to sales teams, as they can be utilized for productivity target setting and sales forecasting.

Although lead indicators give you less certain insights into real performance, they allow you to get a sense of what to expect in the future.

This insight makes it valuable to identify these KPIs and monitor them closely. Over time, they also indicate which actions and behaviors are most critical to your most important lagging indicators.

Capsule CRM is a comprehensive online CRM that helps you and your organization see the big picture.

You’ll have access to sales analytics tools, workflow automation options, task management features, and a summary of your sales opportunities.

It also integrates with tools you’re probably already using, like Google Apps, Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, Xero and Mailchimp. Click here for more information and to access a free 14-day trial.

How to build a high-performing sales team

Jon Davis — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Businesses must build high-performing sales teams. Whether you’re looking to build a team from scratch or enhance an existing one, there are some strategies that you need to consider. Doing so can help you achieve your goals and address unique business challenges.

Modern sales teams face modern challenges, like finding the right balance in business. Customers have access to an abundance of information and may often prefer self-service and independent research. Yet, there are still opportunities for sales teams to offer advice, anticipate needs, help customers, and provide value.

Building a sales team is more than just recruitment. You need to ensure that your best talent is equipped with the right tools and that you have the best management team to help support them. Let’s explore how to build a high-performing sales team, the challenges that businesses face, and how to support and manage successfully.

Finding the right team member

A key part of learning how to build a sales team is hiring the right people with the right skills, abilities, and characteristics. When searching for the right team you need to consider the four sales personalities. These are:

Assertive: Customers that are decisive and goal-orientated. They like to get things done and value efficiency. While they still see the benefit of building trusting business relationships, they tend to skip the small talk and get to the heart of an issue
Amiable: These are prospects that want to build trustworthy relationships with businesses and sales teams. They listen attentively and take guidance from you and your sales team before making their final decision
Expressive: Expressive customers want a mix of qualitative and quantitative data. They make their decisions based on case studies and customer data, while still creating a strong working relationship
Analytical: These clients are fact-driven. They don’t like hyperbole or overselling and instead want a product or service to speak for themselves in a direct and practical way.

By having a differing sales professionals in your business, you can accurately target a variety of prospects leading to more success.

What to look for in a sales professional?

Sales can be a tough industry. It isn’t for everyone, which is why it’s important to focus on a few key traits that make a great salesperson. These include:

Empathy - able to understand other people’s feelings and relate to them
Adaptability - can adjust to new situations or unexpected events
Determination - capable of sticking with a task and keep going, even when things get tough
Natural curiosity - able to ask questions, find answers, and explore new ideas
Resilience - adept at bouncing back following a setback or disappointment.

Resilience is also needed along with a level of tenacity and persistence. Salespeople will experience a lot of pushback from prospects in their careers and up to 80% of sales require five follow-ups. However, research has shown that 44% of salespeople tend to give up after one, leading to less revenue and conversions

Identifying the most crucial skills in your sales team

The specific skills needed for a salesperson vary from one organization to the other. This is because different products and services appeal to different types of customers. What works with one target audience may not necessarily work with another, and different teams face different issues.

One of the best ways to identify the skills your team is lacking is to look at your existing sales team. Pick out the top performers, and consider what qualities and traits they have in common. It can be helpful to explore what sets them apart from sales reps who may be struggling.

You should also use customer feedback to refine your recruitment process. Feedback can help identify issues with communication or technical knowledge skills gaps. You can fine tune your recruitment process to fill these needs.

Implement a clear sales team structure

To be successful in sales, your team needs to have the right structure in place. Without a firm and clearly defined chain of command, salespeople can struggle to correctly manage leads. It’s important to understand that there’s no single ‘best structure,’. There are a range of well-established models and the one you choose will depend on the specifics of your organization. This includes your industry, target market, and what you’re trying to achieve with your sales team.

Here, we’ll explore some common sales team structures and when they can be effective.

The Island model

The Island is one of the more simple sales structures. At the top of the command chain, you have the sales manager. Underneath this role, you have individual sales reps. Each of these reps is responsible for generating and qualifying leads, as well as closing deals.

The primary benefit of “The Island Model” is its simplicity. It’s easy to implement and works well in established industries with relatively simple sales processes. It can, however, generate a highly competitive work culture as each rep is responsible for the whole customer journey.

You can elaborate on this structure by adding additional elements. For example, as well as having a sales manager at the top you could also have some middle managers each responsible for their own team. These teams could be split based on different geographical regions, product lines, or industries. You may also have a separate team for B2B and B2C sales.

The Assembly Line

This is a slightly more complicated sales structure. It works by breaking down the sales process and assigning responsibility for each stage to different employees. So, for instance, you might have some employees responsible solely for generating leads and others responsible solely for closing deals or managing customer accounts.

As a structure, ‘The Assembly Line’ is still relatively easy to implement and works across many industries. It can also boost efficiency and create clear job expectations. It allows individuals to become proficient and skilled at specific tasks and enables them to work collectively as a team.

Great communication is essential with ‘The Assembly Line’ structure. Without this things can quickly fall apart. It also may not be ideal if you want to create a competitive sales environment where sales reps are trying to outperform one another.

The Pod

‘The Pod’ is an evolution of ‘The Assembly Line’ model concept. Like the Assembly Line, employees focus on specific parts of the sales process. However, instead of one big sales team, employees are organized into multiple pods each focused on different customer types or geographical regions.

For example, if you’re organizing pods geographically, you might have one pod focused on selling to American customers, another pod focused on Europe, and another focused on Asia. Within each pod, you would have reps responsible for lead generation while other reps are responsible for closing deals, and so on.

‘The Pod’ model supports the specialization of the Assembly Line model while allowing sales processes to be tailored based on individual regions or product types. However, there are some potential issues, too, such as difficulty in comparing key performance indicators (KPIs) across your whole team.

Create a sense of purpose and set personal targets

It’s easy to see sales as a simple game of numbers, with salespeople focused solely on hitting their targets and earning commissions and bonuses. However, to build a high-performing sales team that delivers for your customers, you need to create a sense of purpose for your team.

Reviewing previous customer interactions can help you in this area, which is why a customer relationship management solution like Capsule CRM can be so valuable. When sales teams have access to valuable customer data, they can better understand how your team helps customers on a day-to-day basis. This helps motivate staff to pursue sales beyond simply reaching a target number.

Take some time to highlight success stories and explain how your sales teams have assisted customers. When a sales team has a clear sense that their work truly matters, it’s easier to maintain high performance. This improves staff morale and overall job satisfaction.

Minimizing employee turnover

That sense of purpose is especially important in the current business landscape. Many sales teams are feeling the effects of the aptly named ‘Great Reshuffle’. This term refers to increased levels of employee turnover that have had a particular effect on sales teams.

This economic trend follows a phenomenon widely referred to as the Great Resignation, which occurred in 2022. Businesses saw millions of people resigning from their jobs in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By helping your sales team develop a real sense of purpose and a better understanding of how their work matters, you can help minimize employee turnover. This in turn creates high levels of employee loyalty which is great for businesses. It can also be beneficial to encourage your employees to set individual targets for themselves so that recognize their own progression and achievements.

Define your sales process or evaluate your existing one

A major part of learning how to build a sales team involves defining your sales process and continually evaluating it. So, what does this mean in practice?

Vincent Burruano of the Forbes Business Development Council defines a sales process as “a written document that outlines your ideal engagement with a prospect from the initial contact, through the uncovering of needs…until finally a decision is reached.” In other words, it’s a documented breakdown of the steps you’ll go through to close a deal.

The process of building and defining your sales process takes time and work. But businesses that put in the effort generate more revenue than those that don’t.

The sales process outline

Most sales processes can be broken down into seven easy steps:

Lead identification - How do you identify leads? What do you do with them once you have them?
First contact - How should reps reach out? Which channels should be used? What tone should they adopt?
Pain point discovery - How do you identify pain points that are affecting your leads? What questions should sales reps ask? Should they speak on the phone or send a survey?
Solution - How should reps explain or demonstrate your solution for those pain points? Do you have written or video tutorials on your product or service? Do you use in-person demonstrations?
Proposal - What steps need to be taken to create a proposal? This might include learning about a lead’s budget or coming to terms with an arrangement. How does a rep approach this? What are the potential pitfalls?
Objection handling - How should reps deal with common objections or last-minute nerves? Do you have materials that can be sent to uncertain leads? Do you have content that can provide further clarification on areas of objection?
Deal closing - How should your reps close deals? What’s the process for collecting payment? How are order confirmations or receipts sent? What’s the process for drawing up formal agreements?

Sales processes can differ, but it’s important that you’re specific with your plan and thoroughly explain what each step involves. This includes what reps should be doing, how each step should be handled, and what your priorities are. You’ll also need to outline what resources and tools are available for each step and how each step connects with the next.

Evaluating your sales process

Once you have a documented process, you need to continually evaluate it. Which parts of the process are working well? What are the main sticking points in the customer journey? If you find that a high number of leads are dropping during the proposal stage, it’s an indicator that you need to look at new ways to approach this.

You should constantly look for new ways to improve your sales process. Your sales reps will have a unique viewpoint of your sales process, so collaboration is key. Have your sales reps notify you of any issues they encounter and keep communication channels open for new suggestions. You should also monitor your sales KPIs to assess performance.

You must keep everyone informed of any changes and amend relevant documentation.

Build around modern omnichannel customer journeys

When building your sales team, you need to think carefully about the modern omnichannel reality. This helps to ensure that you get the most from your team. Today, a sales process can occur across multiple channels and you need to ensure this omnichannel experience is as seamless as possible.

Research has found that the average number of channels B2B customers use during their decision journeys has increased from five (in 2016) to ten or more since the COVID-19 pandemic. These channels may include:

In-person
Telephone
Websites
Mobile apps
Email
Web chat
Video conferencing
Procurement portals
Trade shows
Web search

It’s essential to structure your team in a way that allows customers to progress through the sales process using the channels that suit them. It’s also imperative that your sales reps move customers from one channel to another with seamless transitions, allowing them to pick up precisely where they left off. The same is true for customers transitioning between self-service and more traditional service models.

Provide continuous coaching and invest in improvement

Continuous training is essential when it comes to creating a high-performing sales team. Your reps need to understand more than just the basic sales playbook, they need to know what makes you and your business unique.

Coaching can also help keep your team a step ahead of the rest. Unlike training, coaching is a continuous process, integrated within day-to-day business activities and tailored to the individual. It’s designed to both enhance performance and correct unwanted behaviors. Evidence shows that effective coaching leads to a 19% improvement in sales performance. Effective coaching requires sales leaders to analyze the performance of individual sales reps, identify areas of strength and weakness, and offer solutions.

This does require a serious investment in terms of both time and money. Even when areas for improvement are identified — and actions are taken to achieve these — coaching efforts should continue. There will inevitably be other areas of opportunity to focus on and other skills that can be improved.

Final thoughts

Learning how to build a high-performance sales team is an ongoing process. It combines elements of recruitment, organization, performance analysis, and employee development making it complex. Sales is always evolving, so you need to stay ahead of the curve and prepare for the future.

Capsule CRM is a software solution that allows you to manage your sales pipeline, access sales analytics, automate elements of your workflow, and utilize project management and contact management features.

Click here for more information and to access a 14-day free trial.

Account based selling: Is it right for your business?

Rose McMillan — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Potential customers will bite your hand off at the chance to make business simpler. But often, companies create broad campaigns that don’t always resonate with the customer. They do so to target a large group or demographic. But in business, quantity doesn’t always beat quality.

Account based selling could be your solution. It’s a strategic way to target high-value accounts by identifying and targeting the issues most important to key business decision makers.

But before you put this method into practice, you must understand how it works and what’s needed to ensure success.

Let’s explore what account based selling is and whether it’s right for you and your business.

What is account based selling?

Account based selling is different from the typical sales approach. It’s a business-to-business (B2B) sales strategy that targets high-value accounts by directly engaging with the needs of key stakeholders. To do this, a sales team needs to create an ideal customer profile (ICP). This helps sales understand why businesses buy their products and services, and helps them to identify target accounts. Once your sales team understand the needs of their customers they’re able to create a personalized approach and build stronger, more successful relationships with potential customers.

When does account based selling work best?

A personalized approach isn’t always your best bet. Account based selling is most effective when selling to large organizations with long sales cycles. A targeted approach takes time and money to prepare, so you need to ensure the payoff is worth it.

You have a small number of accounts to pitch to

Account based selling is a marathon, not a sprint. Researching prospects and target accounts takes time and effort so you need to consider whether your resources are better spent elsewhere. If your industry is niche then a targeted approach can help you secure those big business opportunities that’ll help you to grow.

You’re making a high-value sale

Account based selling is great for targeting high-value accounts. The costs of preparing the pitch and campaign are justified as you know that you will receive a large fee in return, if you’re successful.

You have a well-equipped sales team

Account based selling can be tricky. You need to build the right sales team to pull together to complete the process. They will need to be well-equipped and experienced to be able to build a successful strategy that will foster great results.

Examples of account based selling

Account based selling is used in a wide range of business settings. Sales teams will utilize resources to gather information and use this to identify needs in the targeted business.

For example, a car manufacturer may want to have their product showcased by a certain dealership. This could be because of the type of clients they have, or the business’s location, both of which will increase the number of potential customers and sales.

To ensure success in their pitch, sales professionals should understand the needs of the business as well as who the key decision makers are. With this information, your sales team can tailor a pitch with higher levels of success leading to increased revenue.

When is account based selling not useful?

When selling to smaller businesses it may be best to adopt a mass market approach. Focus on the general issues that affect a range of businesses or industries. This can result in a larger number of smaller sales that equals the revenue of a larger account.

Account based selling vs account based marketing

Account-based selling and account-based marketing (ABM) are two similar but not identical concepts. They are complementary approaches that businesses can use to target and engage with their ideal customers.

Account-based selling focuses on personalized sales strategies made to target individual accounts. Account-based marketing, however, takes a wider approach.

Here, you tailor marketing campaigns and messaging to attract a specific audience. Both strategies require collaboration between sales and marketing teams so it’s important to align them.

Without alignment, it can be hard to effectively identify and engage key decision-makers. Meaning businesses will struggle to create a successful account-based strategy that combines personalized relationship building with targeted marketing efforts. This means you could miss out on customer success and revenue growth.

The combination of these two approaches can lead to greater success in engaging and converting target accounts. Account-based selling relies on personal outreach and relationship-building, while account-based marketing leverages digital channels.

Let’s explore the key differences in closer detail:

Core focus: ABM and ABS have different focal points. Account based selling focuses solely on revenue generation, while ABM looks at lead generation and ways to increase revenue.

Operational approach: An ABS specialist will consider ways to close deals through targeted sales tactics. Account based marketing takes a different approach and looks at ways to manipulate data and solidify leads. This is done through market research on ICPs to help convert prospects into clients.

Target alignment: ABM and ABS can and should share audience data - after all, they have the same end goal. Effective communication and collaboration are crucial, otherwise, you could be left with duplicated effort or unnoticed errors. Alignment is the best way to ensure client satisfaction and ultimately boost results.

Securing large accounts: When ABM identifies large accounts with high revenue potential, both teams must work closely together. Account based marketing will focus on targeting ads and web personalization, while ABS will likely use email communication and social media channels to convert the target account into a paying client.

The interplay between marketing and sales

Collaboration between marketers and salespeople is essential for successful account-based strategies. Each team provides valuable insights and data to support one another, as well as valuable feedback about the effectiveness of a campaign and its messaging. This helps to create a coordinated and consistent approach that supports the success of any campaign.

Together, both teams can provide valuable insight when identifying and targeting key decision makers and guiding them through the sales funnel. By working together, these strategies creates a seamless customer experience and provide a comprehensive view of a target account as a whole. Marketers and salespeople can collaborate to ensure they’re on the right track.

Benefits of account based selling

Account-based selling is mutually beneficial for both salespeople and marketers. Personalization is crucial to getting to the heart of a business and strategic targeting of high-value accounts can lead to impressive results. This is because it allows teams to directly address customer pain points. Let’s explore some of the other benefits of account based selling:

Higher conversion rates

Bespoke messaging and directly contacting target accounts yields success because it increases the likelihood of capturing a business’ attention. This is because it directly speaks to an organization’s needs. This approach allows you to allocate your resources and focus solely on high-potential accounts.

This can lead to improved conversion rates. Strong customer relationships with key decision-makers within these accounts are crucial as they improve your chances of closing deals. Ultimately, this strategy enables a more targeted and efficient sales process, driving higher conversion rates and business success.

Revenue growth

Account-based selling primarily focuses on high-value accounts, leading to larger deals. Engaging decision-makers via ABS opens up opportunities for upselling and cross-selling driving revenue growth. Successful ABS strategies not only result in repeat business, it also helps to foster long-term customer relationships and business loyalty.

By targeting accounts with the highest revenue potential, salespeople can prioritize their efforts and therefore, maximize growth.

The personalized approach of ABS ensures that deals are tailored to meet the unique needs of each customer and business. This leads to higher conversion rates as well as higher value deals.

Improved customer retention

Improved customer retention is one of the key benefits of account-based selling. A personalized approach allows salespeople to provide proactive customer support while effectively addressing the specific pain points and needs of their target accounts. This fosters loyalty and reduces churn, as it creates a relationship built on trust and mutual understanding.

In addition, this approach enables your sales reps to engage proactively and prevent customer dissatisfaction creating an enhanced customer experience.

Better marketing alignment

Aligning your marketing and sales teams is crucial for effectively targeting high-value accounts. Adopting account-based marketing strategies, allows teams to tailor messaging and resonate with key decision-makers. Account-based selling further enhances this alignment by facilitating personalized outreach and engagement. This, coupled with leveraging CRM data, means you’ll identify potential customers and find businesses that are the right fit for your account-based campaigns. Utilizing this approach in your marketing strategies helps to develop better alignment between your sales and marketing teams, leading to improved targeting and higher conversion rates.

Creating an account based selling framework

Sales teams must begin by creating an effective account based selling framework by defining their ideal customer profile to identify your target accounts. Developing buyer personas gives sales teams a deeper understanding of the pain points and challenges faced by a target audience. By following these steps, you can build a strong foundation for successful account-based selling.

Identifying key customers

The most crucial step in account-based selling is identifying key customers. Key decision-makers play a vital role in the success of your sales model. So, by identifying this, you can tailor your strategies and ensure a high-touch approach and customer success.

This can be done by following a few simple steps:

Analyze data and customer insights.
Consider average deal size and customer satisfaction.
Prioritize accounts that align with business goals.
Focus on building relationships with customer stakeholders.

Designing a customized outreach strategy

Designing a customized outreach strategy is crucial when implementing an account-based selling strategy. This can be done via the following steps:

Developing personalized messaging and content for each target account
Focus on specific needs and pain points
Leverage various communication channels like LinkedIn and email to reach decision makers
Tailor your outreach strategy to align with the buyer’s journey
Combine your approach with account based marketing tactics
Engage potential customers with automation tools.

This approach can streamline and scale your outreach efforts and increase the effectiveness of your account-based sales strategy.

Targeting key stakeholders

It’s crucial that you understand who holds the power and influence in making purchasing decisions. Different stakeholders have different needs, so sales people need to consider this before targeting their messaging. It’s important to consider what challenges each stakeholder faces and how your product or service can alleviate these challenges.

Personalized approaches help build relationships with stakeholders through high-touch interactions. Collaboration throughout the business is crucial to ensure alignment and further nurture relationships.

Measuring and optimizing campaigns

To ensure the success of your account-based campaigns, it is important to define metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). These could be:

Customer acquisition cost
Retention and churn rates
Average purchase value
Sales per representative
Average cost per lead

This can help evaluate their effectiveness and identify mistakes. Tracking the sales cycle and measuring the impact of your outreach efforts are crucial steps in understanding the performance of your campaigns. By analyzing data and insights, you can optimize your messaging and strategies for better results in future campaigns.

Utilizing customer case studies and testimonials can showcase the return on investment (ROI) of your campaigns. This can help you to further assess your overall success while continuously refining your account-based selling approach.

Conclusion

Account Based Selling is a highly effective strategy for sales teams to close more deals but only if it’s done right.

By focusing on personalized outreach, targeting key stakeholders, and measuring campaign effectiveness, you’ll be rewarded with higher conversion rates, improved customer retention, and better alignment between marketing and sales teams.

But you need to know when it’s best suited.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM, which serves as a CRM and project management tool. This can help you manage account based sales pitches by monitoring effectiveness and outreach methods. You can get started by accessing a 14-day free trial today.

How to use social selling to your commercial advantage

Jon Davis — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Social selling is an increasingly common tactic that sales teams use, often with great success. Increasingly, social networks are used to help salespeople reach potential buyers. In this blog post, we’ll explore this selling method, how it is similar and different from traditional sales techniques, and what you need to establish social selling best practices.

Social selling has been a key part of business sales strategies for years. The idea is to foster relationships with potential customers, similar to building a friendship with a person.

Unlike traditional sales approaches, like cold calls or direct advertising, social selling emphasizes building relationships. Rather than sales reps focusing on one-time interactions, you can share the latest industry insights with your target customers.

Creating relevant discussions that offer value to your prospects is more successful than a hard-sell approach.

The goal of social selling isn’t to immediately close but to position yourself as a reliable partner. By consistently providing valuable insights, you’ll earn your prospect’s trust. This trust will likely guide prospects toward your product or service over a competitor, as you’ve been constantly helpful.

Social selling isn’t a direct sales approach but a relationship-based strategy - an entirely new sales process - subtly steering your target market towards a purchasing decision.

Different ways to socially sell your products and services

Social selling can work in different settings. It isn’t all conducted online. For instance, the traditional method of door-to-door selling allows for personal, direct interaction.

Whether at industry trade shows or community events, networking in local trade associations or business groups can also open the doors to a wide range of new prospects.

Some peer-to-peer selling franchises rely on people gathering the spending power of friends and family to build an income base.

Businesses can replicate these forms of in-person social selling opportunities online. For instance, webinars offer a chance to delve deep into interesting topics, perhaps presenting a product or service in a detailed and engaging manner.

Participating in online forums is another way to connect with potential customers, as you can offer expertise and advice to build your brand’s reputation.

All these methods, whether in-person or online, have their unique strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, they all aim to build relationships, engage audiences and earn trust, paving the way for future sales.

Note that social media platforms provide plenty of opportunities to interact with audiences, share updates, or address prospect painpoints.

As such, many marketing professionals use the term social selling to encompass social media. Although other digital and in-person methods for social selling exist, the true value of lies in harnessing social media.

Define your audience: Try to understand who are the right people you should be targeting. Conduct market research, do internet research, find the right job titles and tally up preferences and the problems your product/service solve. Doing this helps identify the social media platforms your prospects use.

Pick the right platforms: Use the social media platforms where your audience is most active. LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook are used for business-to-consumer (B2C) sales since they have the greatest footfall. However, don’t overlook niche platforms relevant to your industry, especially for business-to-business (B2B) sales.

Optimize your profiles: Present your business as one that is credible in your industry. Use well-taken headshots and write a compelling bio and highlight your expertise and experience.

Listen and learn: Monitor conversations related to your industry, even if they aren’t directly related to your business. Use social listening tools like TweetDeck to track keywords and trends. Gain a better understanding of your audience’s needs and concerns by identifying relevant subjects that people are talking about.

Engage on social media: Don’t just broadcast information, but respond to comments, ask questions and share relevant third-party content, too. Be an active, engaging part of the community by participating in discussions. Provide value: Share valuable content that deals with common queries, solves problems, or entertains. Don’t be tempted to make a hard sell. Educate, inform and inspire instead.

Build relationships: Connect with potential clients through social media. Also, reach out to influencers because leveraging their appeal on social media can be very cost-effective. Build meaningful relationships over time by offering help and guidance.

Monitor and adjust: Track your activities, engagement levels and conversions with social media selling. Use the analytics functions to understand what works and what doesn’t. Review and adjust your strategies as you need to. Social selling should never be used as a ‘quick fix’ to resolve poor sales performance elsewhere. Instead, it should be deployed as a long-term strategy. Like any relationship, it’s about building trust, gradually.

While offering significant benefits, any social sell has potential pitfalls that businesses should consider. Creating quality content, engaging with audiences, and maintaining an active presence on even just one or two social media platforms demands a substantial commitment in terms of time and effort.

For small businesses with limited resources, this can be a strain on resources.

Selling over social media is time-consuming. Building trust and relationships doesn’t happen overnight. Companies expecting a quick win could find social selling frustrating and ineffective in the short term. In addition, there’s a risk of damaging the brand’s reputation if social selling isn’t conducted professionally.

Overly promotional content or inconsistent messaging can turn audiences away. Delayed or inadequate responses to online feedback can have the same negative effect.

Measuring the return on investment (ROI) can also be challenging. Although likes, shares and comments are quantifiable metrics, converting them into actual sales isn’t always straightforward.

Businesses need to build sophisticated tracking and reporting, for example, CRM and analytics packages, to measure the success of their social selling efforts.

Data privacy issues pose a significant challenge with social media selling, too, as it relies on gathering data about prospects in a way that’s compliant with data protection regulations.

Finally, the ever-changing nature of social media platforms can impact all social selling strategies. Algorithm changes sometimes reduce the visibility of posts. Also, shifts in user behavior can require ongoing strategy revisions as trends change.

Companies committing to a social selling strategy must stay current with social trends and remain agile enough to navigate the dynamic digital marketing landscape.

Social selling allows for business relationship-building over time. Use social media selling to position your business as a credible partner rather than just vendor of goods and services. Social media provides a platform to demonstrate industry-related expertise and leadership, both valuable in the B2B sector.

However, B2B businesses should consider their tactics carefully. Posted or shared content should focus on industry insights and business solutions.

Without being too technical, providing detailed product information that meets the needs of sophisticated buyers is more appropriate in the B2B environment.

Platforms like LinkedIn and industry-specific forums or social media pages might be more relevant than general Instagram or Facebook accounts.

Lastly, given the larger order magnitudes in B2B sales, integrating social media marketing methods with a CRM system can help track interactions, manage relationships better and determine the effectiveness of the social selling approach.

Social selling can be done in person or online. When selling, you should consider the different platforms since each has its unique user base, content style and engagement tools. Your choice of platform should align with the nature of your business and, even more crucially, with your target audience’s preferences. There are numerous platforms to research and consider, here’s the four main ones:

X

Often best for fast-paced, short-form content and conversations, X is an excellent platform for social selling and sharing industry news. X is also strong for participating in discussions and responding to customer queries. X’s real-time dynamic can also be useful when announcing time-limited offers and promotions.

A go-to choice for effective B2B social selling, LinkedIn is a professional networking site. It’s a good place to share in-depth industry insights, product updates and company news, such as senior appointments that may prompt new client interest. LinkedIn’s content is generally more professional than other social sites. This makes it a suitable platform for detailed, informative content and professional networking.

Facebook

Facebook offers a more casual, community-oriented environment for selling with social media. It’s an excellent platform for sharing both educational and entertaining content. You can also use it to host live video discussions and tutorials. Facebook’s broad user demographic makes it a platform worth using for B2C and B2B lead generation lead generation.

Instagram

Primarily a visual platform, Instagram is an ideal platform for businesses with eye-catching products or services. Companies can showcase their products and share customer testimonials through captivating images, creative videos and interactive stories.

CRM systems can play a critical role in the effectiveness of a social selling strategy.

By centralizing your customer data within a CRM system, sales professionals can better understand their audience and tailor their online engagements to convert more leads into sales.

For example, when a potential client calls, a sales development representative (SDR) can quickly establish the comments a client has posted online about a particular business solution.

Then, they’ll be able to address the pain points they’re suffering from, overcome sales objections and suggest a solution.

One of the key benefits of a CRM system that integrates with social selling methods is that it provides SDRs with a holistic view of their customers.

A comprehensive CRM system should capture interactions across multiple platforms, including emails, calls and social media engagements.

By having this information accessible, the system should provide a full picture of the customer’s sales journey. Such securely held data should make it simpler for sales professionals to engage in meaningful interactions, strengthen relationships and boost sales revenue.

CRM systems can also enhance productivity by automating many administrative tasks associated with social media selling.

For instance, by tracking hundreds or thousands of social interactions automatically, you won’t waste time manually entering this data into your system.

Also, CRM systems help businesses that sell with social media to identify their most valuable sales activities. By tracking each interaction’s outcome, firms should be able to identify patterns and trends.

In turn, this will assist marketers in understanding which posts, shares and online interactions lead to the most successful outcomes.

Analysis often provides invaluable insights that allow businesses to fine-tune their social selling strategies, gain an edge over their competitors, and see an increased return on their investment.

Bear in mind that businesses need to fully train their teams to leverage a CRM system for social selling. The system’s capabilities can only be maximized if the sales team truly understands how to get the best results.

Consequently, regular training and refresher sessions are vital if SDRs are to keep up with social media integration features.

Finally, businesses should integrate their CRM systems with all their chosen social media platforms, including social selling tools, to enhance customer relationship management. Knowledge of interactions on just one or two platforms isn’t that beneficial if the bulk of them occur on another site, for example.

Multi-platform integration streamlines the process of capturing interactions while ensuring that the CRM system provides the most accurate and up-to-date customer information when needed.

Social selling strategies can encompass everything from building a word-of-mouth network in your area to leveraging friends and family within your customer base.

If you want to be successful in your pursuit of social media selling, then careful planning is required. For example, under-resourcing your marketing team’s ability to deal with online interactions can lead to reputational damage.

In addition, failing to provide sales teams with tools that neatly summarize social media interactions when sales inquiries prevent social selling success.

Many businesses leverage social media selling to their advantage today, so there’s nothing stopping you from replicating their successes.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and access a 14-day free trial.

How to implement a successful sales GTM strategy

Jon Davis — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A sales go-to-market strategy – or sales GTM strategy – is a structured plan companies follow when launching a new product or service. It’s an opportunity to explore how to market and sell a product as well as establish product-market fit. This strategy has multiple applications and can be used by business startups, SMEs, as part of a rebranding exercise requires, or when a complete overhaul of an outdated sales strategy is needed.

Implementing a successful sales GTM strategy helps align your organization. Specialists in go-to-market strategy, McKinsey and Company, define a GTM strategy as a collaborative planning solution that effectively aligns sales resources to opportunities.

Sales go-to-market strategies vary depending on your business and its needs. However, there are a few core traits that all successful GTM strategies share.

Read on to explore the ins and outs of implementing a sale-focused GTM strategy, how it differs from other methods, and how to successfully implement the process in your own business.

Differences in go-to-market strategies

While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, a go-to-market strategy and a go-to-market sales strategy are different. They each serve a purpose and provide varying results, so it’s important not to mix the two up. Before implementing any strategy, organizations need to consider their end goal and the specifics of their situation. Let’s review both and examine their differences more closely.

What is a sales GTM (Go-To-Market) strategy?

A sales GTM (Go-To-Market) strategy is a plan that outlines how a company will bring its products or services to market. It also explores how a business will reach its target customers. This is done by creating strategies for product positioning, pricing, distribution channels, marketing, and sales activities to maximize growth and profitability.

A go-to-market sales strategy is one component of a wider GTM strategy. While a GTM strategy considers all aspects of bringing a product or service to market, a GTM sales strategy focuses solely on the role of your sales team. In a sales-led approach, your team will reach out to prospects to convert them into customers.

Sales managers and directors are often responsible for creating this strategy including how to identify prospects, manage leads, and suggestions on how they will close deals. This will then be submitted to the CEO or COO who will then incorporate it into the broader GTM strategy.

A sales-focused go-to-market strategy should also detail your sales team’s current structure. This can help you assess the channels you have available and which ones are best suited to your plan. This could include inside sales, field sales, channel sales, as well as any other tools you have available. Additionally, it is important to consider the distribution of your product or service. Through what mediums will you sell the product or service? A website, an app, or a third-party distributor? By incorporating an app into your distribution strategy, you can reach a wider audience and provide a convenient platform for customers to access your offerings.

What is a GTM (Go-To-Market) strategy?

A go-to-market strategy (GTM) is a plan outlining how a business intends to sell its products or services to prospective customers. A GTM strategy, also known as a marketing plan, will span everything, from product development to sales and marketing. A successful strategy will consider all aspects of the business and products. Teams must define the target audience, decide which sales and marketing channels to use, their pricing strategy, and much more. The GTM strategy is designed to mitigate the risk of introducing a new product to the market. This is why they focus on including target market profiles and a concrete sales and distribution strategy.

A GTM strategy is a blueprint for how a product or service will reach the end customer. For instance, a software company launching a new program or upgrade might choose a direct sales model. This involves targeting mid-sized businesses via email marketing or social media promotions.

In this example, the go-to-market strategy would outline the software’s unique value proposition, decide on pricing, and identify key metrics to measure lead generation success.

Is a sales GTM strategy the same as a marketing strategy?

Sales go-to-market strategies and marketing strategies share similarities, but they’re not the same. They’re both designed to connect a business’ offerings with its target customers and are rooted in an understanding of the customer’s needs, preferences, and behaviors. Both sales GTM and marketing strategies involve defining a unique value proposition and leveraging different channels to reach the audience.

For example, both a sales GTM strategy and a marketing strategy could use social media to engage with customers. They may also incorporate a pricing structure that positions the products or services competitively within the market. But it’s important to remember that they serve very different purposes.

A marketing strategy should only focus on how to attract and retain customers at every stage of the buyer’s journey. This involves working out the right mix of tactics, such as blending promotional strategies or offering product bundles. You must also decide on the marketing messages, such as the product’s name and slogans, as well as define the advertising campaigns and the media channels needed. The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to ensure customer retention, keep existing buyers happy, and attract new customers to supplement your inbound figures.

A sales GTM strategy doesn’t deal with any of these marketing elements. Instead, it focuses on managing leads generated by marketing activities, including how they can be passed from one stage of the customer journey to the next. Typically, sales teams take over once marketing materials have generated interest and a lead. Sales representatives will then qualify those leads, pushing them further along the buying process until the sale is closed. The content you create at this stage needs to grab and hold their attention from the get-go.

Differentiating between the two types of GTM strategies

The main difference between a GTM strategy and a sales GTM strategy is the depth of planning. A GTM strategy is an overarching plan that covers the whole process from marketing a product to delivering it to the customer. This includes pricing, positioning, production methods, and promotional activities. A sales GTM focuses purely on the sales aspect including who the customer is and their sales methods.

When is the best time to deploy a sales-led GTM?

Sales GTM strategies can be deployed at any time. But there are some instances where they are crucial for business growth and development:

New product launch: When a business introduces a new product, a detailed sales GTM strategy can help you reach your target market effectively and drive initial sales.

Entering new markets: If your business is expanding geographically or into a different sector or industry then, a new sales GTM strategy can help guide your team.

Mergers and acquisitions: Following a merger or acquisition, a revised sales GTM strategy can help to sell the new product portfolio or new market positioning

Competitive landscape changes: If new competitors enter the market, or existing ones change their strategy, then a new sales GTM strategy may be needed to maintain a competitive advantage.

New sales channels: If you’re incorporating new sales channels, such as online sales or franchise partnerships, then a redefined sales strategy can result in more successful channel integrations.

Pricing changes: If you decide to change your pricing structure you may need to revise your GTM strategy. This is because the value proposition to existing and would-be customers may shift.

Regulatory changes: New regulations could mean your product/service needs to be sold differently. So a new sales strategy might be needed to support this.

Shifts in customer behavior: If customer purchasing habits, preferences, or needs change significantly over time, then the corresponding sales strategy should be updated, or rewritten, to help your team adapt.

New business model: If a company shifts its business model, for instance, by moving from a one-time purchase model to a subscription-based model, then a new sales strategy will help manage the transition.

Product upgrades or enhancements: It’s common for businesses to create a new GTM sales strategy following upgrades or enhancements to products or services. Especially if these changes alter the service’s core value proposition or target audience.

Technology disruptions: New technologies can transform an industry and alter customer expectations. Businesses may need to create a new sales GTM strategy to incorporate these new technologies into their sales process.

Sales performance improvement: If a company’s sales performance needs improvement then some sales managers will revisit their GTM strategy.

How to build a successful sales strategy template in 7-steps

A new sales strategy can help your business grow by driving sales and facilitating growth. Here are our seven tips on how to create one:

Identify a problem or need you can resolve

Begin by pinpointing the specific problems or needs your product or service addresses. This is a great place to start as it proves your value as a business and gives you the chance to demonstrate how you can improve your customers’ lives. Once you’ve identified this issue, you’ll be able to create a link between their problem and show how your product solves it.

Establish who your target audience is

Next, define your ideal customer profile (ICP). This is based on demographics, geographic location, behavioral characteristics, or gender, among other attributes. You need to ask what common issues this group faces, and how are they triggered to find a solution.

Research demand, pricing, and competitor solutions

You need to know how big the demand for your product is. To do this, your team must conduct detailed market research. Understanding market demand helps you gauge potential sales so you can assess how big of a task you will be undertaking. Competitor analysis allows you to differentiate your offering to create a unique selling proposition in the market.

Focus on messaging that matches your customer journey

Create messaging based on findings that resonate with your ICP. You should create messages for each stage of the customer journey, all the way from the consideration stage, through to decision-making. Each message should be benefit-led and address any pain points and challenges customers face. This helps you present your product as a helpful solution increasing the likelihood of a sale.

Draw up a sales plan

Once you have a plan in place it’s time to divide the workload and create a plan of action. This includes sales processes, team structure, resource assessments, and each team member’s responsibilities. The plan should describe how you’ll reach your target audience, what your sales pitch will entail, and how sales reps will handle objections and close deals.

Set measurable sales objectives

Set clear, measurable objectives for your sales team. This can include targets for revenue, the number of new customers, or average deal size. These sales goals are often set out as SMART objectives. Whether you utilize that system or not, the idea is to provide direction for your sales efforts and create measurable goals.

Determine where after-sales care takes over

It’s important to pinpoint when post-closure handover occurs. Especially if your product or service comes with a warranty or satisfaction guarantee. Typically, sales teams define when customer service takes over delivery and warranty issues. This enables sales executives to remain focused on sales goals and explore further leads.

Harness the power of a sales GTM strategy

A sales GTM strategy has many benefits that business owners and sales managers simply can’t ignore. Without one, sales reps can overlap activities, leading to customer confusion and inefficiency. With a sales GTM strategy, you can clearly set out your objectives, define how you will achieve them, and measure your performance.

Successful sales GTM strategies rely on quantifiable metrics that are easy to measure with a well-crafted CRM. By implementing a sales GTM strategy, you can ensure greater alignment across your organization, resulting in a more cohesive and effective approach to sales as well as improved customer experience.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and access a 14-day free trial.

Perfect match: 6 new integrations to amplify your Capsule experience

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

For businesses, productivity soars when the tools you use work together seamlessly. At Capsule, we understand the power of a cohesive workflow, which is why we’ve nurtured an ecosystem that blends perfectly with popular business tools.

Nobody wants to waste time toggling between applications, rummaging through notes, or awaiting replies from colleagues. That’s why Capsule integrates with various business tools such as Google, Outlook, Xero, QuickBooks, and Transpond. Integrations which are designed to save you toggling through applications and ensure you stay on the same screen.

We’re delighted to announce six new integrations for the Capsule ecosystem that you can take advantage of today. Here’s more about them:

Osano

Osano discovers and automatically classifies personal data stored in Capsule.

Use case: When a subject rights request comes in, Osano automatically scans Capsule and connected data sources, locating personal information and assisting in compliance.

JustCall

JustCall lets you make receive calls, track missed calls, listen to voicemails and call recordings and send and receive text messages directly from the Capsule dashboard.

Use case: JustCall enables you to get up to speed with newly onboarded clients. You can check Capsule for all previous emails, text messages and listen to call recordings so you’re informed and prepared for the next call with your clients.

Helpwise

Helpwise makes customer service management easier by centralizing all client communications. With a two-way sync, this integration helps your agents view and update key customer and task information in Capsule directly from Helpwise. And having Capsule information available in Helpwise provides customer service teams with more context so they can provide more relevant customer service.

Use case: A customer reaches out for support via email. It’s not a question that you have the answer to and requires help from outside your team. You create a task in Capsule from your Helpwise inbox and assign it to them.

Smith AI

Smith.ai is a receptionist service for calls and website chat. U.S. based receptionists capture and qualify leads, book new clients and build relationships with existing clients.

Use case: A prospect visits your website and starts a live chat. Smith.ai’s receptionists manage the chat and the integration captures the conversation and their details, creating a new contact or updating an existing one in Capsule.

Skyvia

Skyvia allows you to manage data seamlessly with the power of a no-code cloud service for ETL/ELT, data pipeline creation, API sharing, and more. Best-suited to businesses with advanced technical capabilities.

Use case: The Skyvia integration empowers you to sync data between Capsule and other apps effortlessly, ensuring consistent information across platforms.

Proposable

Proposable simplifies the creation, delivery, tracking, and eSigning of sales materials directly from Capsule. Elevate your sales strategy with streamlined sales collateral management.

Use case: Your sales team creates a proposal in Proposable, sends it from Capsule, and tracks its status as the client reviews and eSigns it, all in the Capsule interface.

As you explore these integrations, you’re tapping into a world of possibilities where your workflow is streamlined, data is managed efficiently, and customer interactions are elevated to new heights. These integrations reflect our commitment to giving you the very best value with Capsule, and supporting the way you want to work.

Embrace the power of integrations and harness these new capabilities to fuel your growth. Your journey to a more productive, efficient, and engaging CRM experience starts now. Click here to learn more about Capsule and access a 14-day free trial.

From Monday Blues to Monday Wins: Can CRM Monday Make the Difference?

Jon Davis — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Ah, Mondays. They can be a fresh start or a dreaded beginning, depending on how you look at it.

But when it comes to Monday sales CRM, is it the game changer your business needs or just another case of the Monday blues?

We’re putting Monday CRM under the magnifying glass to see if it’s worth your time and investment.

What is CRM Monday?

Monday Sales CRM is an extension of the popular project management platform Monday.com, designed to manage customer relationships.

It’s used to streamline your sales pipeline, keep track of customer interactions, and improve team collaboration. Essentially, it’s Monday.com’s answer to the growing need for integrated CRM solutions within an existing ecosystem.

CRM Monday key features

Before we delve into the nitty-gritty, let’s take a quick look at what Monday sales CRM software involves:

Contact management – Easily store and manage contact info for sales funnels, as well as delivering better value with project management.
Sales pipeline tracking – Visualize your sales process stages and move deals along the entire sales pipeline.
Team collaboration – Share notes, tasks, Gantt charts, custom dashboards, ready made templates, time tracking options, and updates within the team to improve sales forecasting.
Automated workflows – Automate repetitive tasks to save time and effort.
Customizable dashboards – Tailor your interface to meet your sales reps’ specific needs.
Integration capabilities – Seamlessly integrate with other tools and platforms.

While these features are undoubtedly useful, they aren’t groundbreaking when compared to other sales CRM software on the market.

So, perhaps you:

Already use Monday.com for project management and are considering extending it to CRM
Are looking for an alternative to CRM software you’ve already been using and Monday sales CRM seems like the right option.Have never used CRM for sales operations and searching the right CRM.

Regardless, it’s crucial to first identify Monday’s advantages and limitations. After that, you should explore alternatives to Monday Sales CRM.

Why should you look for Monday Sales CRM alternatives

Implementing a CRM system is not just a technical selection of what to use in your sales team. It’s a strategic decision that can significantly impact your business operations.

While Monday.com is a versatile platform that suits various uses, including as a CRM, being a jack of all trades may mean not excelling in any particular area.

“Some softwares try to do it all and in the process get clunkly and confusing.”

To help you choose wisely, we’ve compiled seven main objections some users have reported about using Monday.com as a CRM.

Each objection is sourced from trusted platforms like Capterra, TrustRadius, and G2 to lend credibility to the claims. All so you can make well-informed decisions.

#1 Complexity and learning Curve

Monday sales CRM offers so many features and customization options that it actually can be overwhelming for newcomers. The steep learning curve can be a barrier, especially for those who aren’t tech savvy.

This review from TrustRadius makes the point:

“In my experience set up and implementation was a nightmare. Reporting was hard to configure.”

This is also a common theme for other reviewers:

“Cons: It is not actually a CRM, the entities aren’t really connected, they are not independent entities but items that stands for themselves only as part of a board. hard to explain! the interaction between each entity had to be done manually, connected, automated. logic and basic features from previous CRMs needed to be re-invented. it takes a lot of thought to make it a proper CRM that contains some complicated features. Some featured remained unachievable.”

#2 Cost

The pricing model of Monday Sales CRM software can be out of reach for small businesses or startups. Advanced features such as multi level permissions, custom parameters, enterprise grade security, and unlimited boards are often locked behind higher-tier plans, making it an expensive for those on a budget.

#3 Lack of native CRM features

While you can customize Monday.com to serve as a CRM, it lacks some native CRM functionalities like automated follow-ups, lead scoring, and advanced sales analytics.

These features are crucial for each and every sales team to manage the entire sales cycle in one app. This is what a CRM should be for, yet it is what Monday Sales CRM lacks. This has been highlighted by some reviewers as well:

“Cons: It is not actually a CRM, the entities aren’t really connected, they are not independent entities but items that stands for themselves only as part of a board. hard to explain! the interaction between each entity had to be done manually, connected, automated. logic and basic features from previous CRMs needed to be re-invented. it takes a lot of thought to make it a proper CRM that contains some complicated features. Some featured remained unachievable.”

#4 Limited integration options

Monday.com does offer some integrations, but they may not cover all the tools your business is already using. This limitation can create bottlenecks in your workflow and sales cycle analysis.

Integrations are crucial, especially if you’re aiming to streamline deal management and optimize sales pipelines. A lack of seamless integration can burden your sales reps with manual tasks such as manually transferring customer data and managing leads, which can negatively impact actual sales figures.

This inefficiency not only hinders the sales process, but also makes it challenging to effectively retain customers in the long run.

Reviewers illustrate problems with basic sales integrations:

“It would be better if it had a direct connection with prospecting tools, such as Apollo.io”

There are numerous reviews about Google Calendar sync (available only on PRO and higher, more expensive plans) and Google ecosystem hiccups too.

“Cons: The lack of integration with Gmail is a killer for us. We would like Monday.com to track and associate emails that pertain to a deal automatically. Emailing from within monday.com isn’t a good workflow for us since not every email is deal-specific. a Gmail integration where I could associate an email with a deal or a contact from within Gmail would be awesome.”

#5 Performance issues

Users have reported performance issues when dealing with large datasets, which can slow down work processes and affect productivity. And while they may work, they are still difficult to understand according to numerous reviews:

“Cons: It is sometimes difficult to get a full overview of all the tasks you are doing and how this interacts with others.”

Given these shortcomings, it might be time for you to consider alternatives to CRM Monday.

Why Capsule CRM Software is a Better Choice Over Monday Sales CRM

When it comes to customer relationship management, the choice of software can significantly impact your business.

While CRM Monday has its merits, Capsule CRM offers many features and benefits that make it a better choice.

1. Easy set-up: Start immediately

One of the standout features of Capsule is how easy its to setup. Numerous reviews have praised this:

It’s a cloud-based application accessible through a web browser, meaning you can start using it immediately. This is useful for businesses that want to hit the ground running without the hassle of complicated installations.

Capsule stands out here compared not only to CRM Monday, but also to other solutions. This review says:

“Pros: As a service provider I have a lot of contacts to track. I tried several CRMs (Hubspot, Monday, etc) but none were as simple to use as Capsule. I had basic needs: track new contacts and set reminders to follow up. While other apps had those features alongside dozens of other tools, Capsule made it very easy to start tracking and reminding right away. And that’s on a free level! The Gmail extension works really well and makes adding tasks quick and easy.”

“Reasons for Choosing Capsule: It seemed to function like SalesForce at a fraction of the cost.”

2. Zero downtime: reliability you can trust

With 99.99% uptime and automated backups, Capsule ensures that your data is safe and accessible whenever you need it. Downtime is not an option for your business, nor is it for us.

3. Online or offline: Flexibility in access customer data sales team

Capsule’s free CRM works both online and offline, offering a mobile app with iOS and Android compatibility. This is a significant advantage for sales teams that are often on the move and need to access CRM data without internet connectivity.

For example, offline mode allows salespeople who fly frequently to update their information mid-flight, ensuring that they can make the most of their time even when they are in the air and often without internet access.

Once they land and regain internet connectivity, all the updated data seamlessly syncs with the cloud, keeping the entire team on the same page. Flexibility like this is invaluable for people who can’t afford to be disconnected from their workflow, even temporarily.

4. Customization: tailor-made for your business

Capsule’s free CRM focuses on the basics but also allows for extensive customization, enabling you to adapt the software to your specific business needs.

This is especially useful for startups and small businesses that require a flexible, scalable solution.

And it’s so easy to use.

5. A CRM for all: versatility across industries

Whether you’re in IT, real estate, or hospitality, Capsule’s free CRM is versatile enough to cater to various industries. You can unlock the full potential of your business, regardless of sector.

6. Scalability: grow with your business

Capsule’s CRM is scalable based on your business size and needs. It’s a CRM that evolves with you, making it ideal for businesses at any stage of growth.

Capsule not only improves customer engagement, but also enhances employee productivity. Its features streamline workflows, making your team more efficient and effective.

Track wins, check custom pipelines, capture leads, adjust sales team goals, and take care of your customer like never before.

7. Feature-rich free plan: Get more for less

Capsule offers a wide range of features even on its free plan. From organizing contacts and customizing your sales pipeline to integrating with essential business software, you’ll find it all.

The free plan provides a comprehensive overview of the CRM, enabling you to make an informed decision if you decide to upgrade.

And it’s free forever. Monday sales CRM plans don’t offer any free version. With Capsule, you can enjoy the free version for two users, 250 contacts, and 50 MB storage per account, plus more.

8. Seamless integrations: Connect without hassle

Capsule makes it easy to integrate your CRM with other essential business software through platforms like Zapier and its own API.

View all integrations

This ensures that your CRM works seamlessly with your existing tech stack, saving you time and effort. Various users highlight how easy Capsule CRM is to start out with, configure, and use on a daily basis:

“Pros: I like the simplicity of the system. It was very quick and easy both to setup (and make changes to) and then to use the system. It has been very easy to train new employees on. The system has some good power around workflows - which have helped us lock down our processes and helped new staff to follow them. It has a good integration with Xero which has saved us a lot of time and has just released an integration into a mail campaign tool (Transpond) which looks to be a nice added bonus.”

Capsule CRM may be a better choice than Monday Sales CRM for a few simple reasons:

Capsule CRM allows sales teams to get started quickly, eliminating the manual work that’s often required with Monday Sales CRM.
Capsule excels in handling customer data, offering customized dashboards and advanced analytics features that are sometimes lacking in Monday Sales CRM software yet are needed by sales teams.
Capsule CRM software streamlines the sales cycle with intuitive lead management, reducing repetitive tasks and enhancing sales rep performance for better headcount planning.
Capsule provides a more comprehensive approach to account and lead management, facilitating better team performance and reducing manual work.
Capsule seamlessly integrates with the tools your business is already using, eliminating the need for additional software and making the transition smoother.

If you want to power up your account management, build your own workflows for sales activities, and retake control over both your sales team’s quota attainment and the sales cycle, the choice is easy. (It’s Capsule, obviously :P)

Key takeaways

Monday CRM offers a variety of features but has limitations in crucial areas, such as native CRM functionalities and cost.
Implementing a CRM system is a strategic business decision that requires careful consideration of both features and limitations.
Capsule CRM stands out for its ease of setup, comprehensive support, and adaptability, making it a more favorable choice for businesses of all sizes.
Given the shortcomings of Monday, it may be time to explore more specialized alternatives like Capsule CRM.

Conclusion

Choosing a CRM is like deciding between a pre-built shelf and a flat-pack from Ikea.

The former is ready for immediate use, while the latter requires assembly, time, and the risk of missing a crucial screw to make it function properly.

Capsule CRM is that pre-built shelf, offering a comprehensive, easy-to-use solution that can adapt to your business needs.

A CRM tool is an investment, not an expense. Discover that with Capsule with our 14-day free trial.

How to align sales and marketing (and leaders viewpoints)

Jon Davis — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“Sales and marketing teams should pull in the same direction and help each other achieve their goals.”

How many times have you heard something like that being bandied around in a meeting with your CEO, business leader, or some sort of motivational speaker?

But you know what the reality really is. Marketing is obsessed with building brand awareness, slowly building their pipeline, and passing down low-quality leads to your sales team. And for the long-suffering Marketing Managers in the back, your sales team is constantly asking you where their leads are.

Both sales and marketing face unique pressures. But, as wishy-washy as this might sound, businesses will only grow when sales and marketing move together as one cohesive unit.

And there’s data to prove it too. There’s a dizzying array of stats on this page from LXAhub but these are the most important:

businesses with aligned sales and marketing teams are up to 67% more efficient at closing deals
aligned sales and marketing teams can achieve up to 38% win rates

Ready to bring your sales and marketing teams together and crush more deals, and boost your bottom line? We’ll tell you how in this blog post.

Defining sales, marketing and alignment

Let’s clear up exactly what sales and marketing do, how they operate, and what their priorities are. This’ll make it easier to understand where friction might occur, where there’s common ground and how you might be able to bring the two teams together.

Marketing function

A marketing team is a group of individuals responsible for planning, creating and tracking marketing activity across an organization.

Its primary goal is to generate as many sales opportunities as possible. Marketing does this by:

making individuals and businesses familiar with your brand name
helping people understand the value of your product and service
converting these prospects into customers
continuing to build long-term relationships with customers.

Sales Opinion

“It’s often the case that marketing sees lead generation as a byproduct of good brand, social, and website work. Instead, if they considered reverse engineering what sales really need: What quality does the lead need to be? Which personas are ready to buy? How do we better qualify leads?

Adopting this approach will result in fewer, well-optimized funnels, less work for marketing and better results for sales.”

Your marketing team typically oversees activities that promote your products and services to customers and generate brand awareness and leads.

However, responsibilities go further, as marketing also conducts market research, identifies target audiences, identifies leads, and anticipates customer needs.

As Penpoin explains, a marketing team will develop a brand’s unique selling proposition, set pricing and develop product strategies.

Sales function

While marketing generates sales opportunities, the sales team is responsible for actually selling them to the people who may be interested in a product/service.

Core tasks will include vetting leads, educating prospects on the benefits or value of your products or services, and closing deals through persuasion and traditional sales activities.

Sales teams are often under pressure to hit sales targets and ensure sufficient revenue is coming in.

Sales Opinion

“If they are well qualified by marketing (ie. the definition of an MQL is clearly understood by both teams, and stage gates are implemented to block low-quality MQLs from hitting the sales desk), then the process of taking a lead from MQL -> SQL is easier, cheaper, and takes less time.

This impacts all the important marketing performance metrics (which often aren’t even tracked or seen as important by marketing leadership) - CPL, CPA, pipeline velocity (time in stage), conversion rate (MQL -> SQL -> Closed Won rates). Marketing doesn’t think they are responsible for the SQL -> Close rate, but guess what? They are directly responsible for bad rates if they offer up poor quality MQLs to work with.”

Marketing Opinion

“In my experience, when I’ve worked with some sales teams, they haven’t been interested in helping set up the process to generate and qualify leads

Many simply want the hot leads that are ready to go because they have a number to hit. This typically reflects the overall approach of the business - quite old school, not particularly tech-savvy, and resistant to change.

It’s my experience that the most rewarding engagements have been with individuals from sales teams. It’s much harder to deal with a team or a group. As a marketer, you have to be quite mentally strong to go into that scenario.

Collaboration in most environments I’ve worked in has been passed to the marketing team to drive - ‘sales have enough on their plate hitting the number without having to drive the process or cultural change.’ That can be frustrating to deal with.”

Sales and marketing alignment

According to an article for HubSpot, sales and marketing alignment, or “smarketing”, is a shared framework of strategies and goals for the sales and marketing departments.

Alignment is characterized by continuous communication between the two departments, as well as a joint effort to work towards shared objectives and provide assistance to one another.

The primary basis for alignment between sales and marketing is their shared goals of attracting customers, generating revenue and achieving profitability.

Sales and Marketing Opinion

Both Steve and Dan think that for sales and marketing alignment to be most effective, there needs to be more than just one meeting a month, with both teams owning the agenda and contributing to it.

Dan found that ABM campaigns are usually the best way to earn sales and marketing alignment, because of the buy-in required from both teams and potential deal value.

Why sales and marketing should work together

For businesses to invest the necessary time and effort into aligning sales and marketing, stepping back to and fully understanding why alignment is valuable. Similarly, given that each department faces its own pressures, leaders must also understand why alignment is so valuable and the strategic benefits it can bring.

Research is clear on the issue of alignment. Studies carried out by Marketing Profs show that organizations that achieve sales and marketing alignment enjoy 38% higher win rates and 36% higher customer retention rates. Conversely, misalignment is worth at least a 10% hit to annual revenue.

Sales Opinion

"Win rate, higher customer retention rate and revenue loss - these are typically performance metrics that the sales leader is responsible for. Sales heads roll when win rates dip, customers churn, and revenue targets aren’t met.

My view is that these stats clearly show that marketing is equally culpable and should be equally responsible for helping sales achieve those goals. Many marketing leaders say they want these metrics to grow, but are they willing to put their job on the line for it?

In my experience, marketing leaders don’t want to be measured on anything beyond mid-funnel, therefore, they aren’t willing to commit to revenue, profit, or CSAT KPIs.

If we want to all achieve the same results, put your money where your mouth is. Didn’t hit revenue this quarter? Look further up the funnel than the sales-owned processes to see if the top-of-funnel metrics were sufficient to support a successful sales quarter.”

The Moments of Trust report published by LinkedIn found that 87% of sales and marketing leaders say collaboration between both teams is key to business growth, while 85% say this is the single biggest opportunity for businesses looking to improve performance.

90% believe aligning sales and marketing messages and initiatives positively impacts the customer experience too.

Marketing Opinion

“I’ve found that the alignment on messaging doesn’t quite happen. For example, it usually gets handled within the marketing team, or outsourced to an agency.

Also, timing is often key. Strategy reviews within marketing often happen in isolation, and aside from the initial situational analysis don’t take an outward view.

There needs to be a collaboration with sales at this point to be truly strategic.”

Although sales and marketing are responsible for different parts of the sales funnel, they both ultimately want the same outcomes: more sales, more revenue, more profit, higher customer satisfaction levels, higher retention of existing customers, more referrals from satisfied customers, and greater business growth. For these reasons, it makes sense that the two departments should be aligned.

Also, there’s a significant crossover between the two departments’ responsibilities and activities. For instance, in most modern sales organizations, responsibility for generating leads is shared between the two departments, rather than the sole responsibility of one or the other.

How alignment benefits marketing

One of the biggest ways alignment helps marketing is centered around content production. Many organizations don’t realize the value or importance of content.

It can be used at the top of the funnel to attract and encourage prospective customers to engage with your organization. And for the bottom of the funnel, content is essential to help sales executives close deals.

According to a study by the Content Marketing Institute, 60 to 80% of all marketing content generated for sales teams ultimately goes unused.

Marketing Opinion

“I’d also say that a lot of the data generated from lead gen can also go unused if it’s not handled in a transparent way. Many, many instances of passing data over for opens and clicks, and no tangible way of measuring follow-up. This is where tech comes in.”

Often this is because of misalignment between sales and marketing, and a poor understanding of content marketing, as well as sales requirements.

Sales and marketing alignment can reduce the time wasted by marketing on unused content. Improvements to communication can prevent instances where sales teams are unaware of content, while sales teams can also communicate their own needs more effectively.

Marketing teams should do more to educate sales teams on the importance and value of content marketing, and how it can be used as a tool to generate leads.

Learning what works and does not work for sales teams can also help marketing teams to tweak their messaging, based on real-world responses.

Sales and Marketing Opinion

Steve and Dan think this is important and something that both sales and marketing functions do poorly.

Steve: “I think sales are guilty of not recording customer feedback in a format that’s useful for marketing, or not recording it at all. Let’s face it: most CRM opportunity records don’t even have the right close dates and deal values, let alone detailed customer insight/feedback that can help marketing refine their messaging.”

Dan: “Marketing is often guilty of doing their value prop research and messaging work in complete isolation, or are scared to get involved in customer relationships in case they cause churn.

This means their view of the customer challenges/needs is misaligned with the reality of what sales reps hear on the phone every day, and the content marketing produces isn’t compelling enough to attract the most engaged leads.”

How alignment benefits sales

Sales teams benefit significantly from alignment with the marketing department. By working closely with the marketing team, sales reps can gain a better understanding of who they should be targeting efforts towards and what messages they should be using to maximize success.

Through close communication, marketing teams can better understand some of the challenges that sales reps face on a day-to-day basis. This allows marketing to work on the kinds of content that will help sales teams to close more deals.

In many cases, marketing departments gain valuable information about leads that the sales team could really benefit from. Therefore, a process needs to be in place so that this information can be passed along before a sales rep makes their pitch.

Marketing Opinion

"I think it’s important to add here, the ‘how’ you share information, and the process you decide on, is extremely important.

Many salespeople that I’ve worked with have distinct routines and have specific way of tackling their leads. You have to remember to be tactful, considerate of their needs and deploy the right approach to get them to really buy into the information-sharing process, but crucially, not a big drain on their time and easy to do.”

For example, marketing teams may know how a lead ended up on the company website, or what problem they are trying to solve. They may also know about the lead’s preference, like how they should be contacted and at what times.

Aligned teams share this kind of information, and this enables sales teams to tailor their strategy and messaging accordingly, resulting in more deals closing.

Why do sales and marketing become misaligned?

Lack of communication is at the heart of misaligned sales and marketing teams. If the two departments aren’t in constant communication and if they do not take an active interest in one another’s success, they are quickly going to find themselves going in different directions.

Marcello Grande points out in an article published on LinkedIn Pulse, that some of the biggest causes of misalignment are because sales and marketing often have different priorities, use different metrics, and have different incentives. This is why strategic alignment is necessary.

Many other alignment problems can be boiled down, to simply that sales and marketing often lack a unified narrative. They don’t share the same vision, or they see the products and services they are selling differently, and this manifests in the way they communicate with existing and potential customers.

Sales Opinion

“Alignment should be owned by the CMO and CRO, but it should be supported by the CEO and the board. This is a major strategic issue for any business, and it needs the full-throated backing of senior leaders across the business for alignment to succeed.”

Both departments may provide messaging to leads without consulting with one another and this can result in inconsistencies and confusion.

For example, marketing may promote a product or service in one way, and then sales may try to close the deal by using entirely different messaging.

The outcome of this could be that a prospect becomes confused about exactly what they’re buying and backs out of the deal. If messaging was unified, the deal would have closed.

Sales Opinion

“I don’t necessarily agree that if messaging was unified a deal would have closed. The reason this happens is that marketing is broadcasting, sales are consultative.

I think It’s ok for marketing to use one message in their campaigns, and for sales to change tact further down the funnel. The reason they are changing tact is that sales can question and adapt their messaging to the customer’s needs.

The important thing is the feedback loop. If sales find that 90% of the leads are actually in need of a different product/service, and this info is fed back to marketing, then marketing can adapt their messaging. Even better, marketing can create funnels that are adaptive to lead-generated information. Eg. Choose your own adventure-style marketing that ascertains the lead’s needs before presenting any solutions. These will be much more qualified and likely to close when they hit the sales desk further down the funnel.”

Marketing Opinion

“I always get the sense that one department always thinks they can do the other’s job. This is of course total nonsense. Making sales is as tough as it gets, and there is way more that goes into messaging and brand development than breaking out the crayons for 30 mins.”

Finally, sales and marketing teams may also have to report to different senior executives and this can also lead to issues with alignment.

How to encourage sales and marketing alignment

Below, you’ll find some tips that can help you to keep sales and marketing on the same page.

1. Agree on shared goals, terms and metrics

You should try to agree some shared goals. Try to make these targets as specific as possible and ensure they’re measurable. Sales and marketing should also agree on some shared metrics, while lead scoring needs to be standardized across the two functions, with both teams agreeing on how leads should be scored.

Try to agree on areas for improvement and work together to achieve them. This could be increasing the number of qualified leads generated, or increasing closed deals. Both departments can contribute to achieving these objectives.

Research published by Adobe illustrates that most businesses don’t have a definition of a qualified lead that sales and marketing have formally agreed to. For full alignment, you should define terms like marketing qualified lead, sales qualified lead, etc, so that there’s no room for confusion.

2. Define the roles of sales and marketing

You should clearly define the roles of sales and marketing. Although some degree of overlap is inevitable, in general, marketing should be concerned with activities related to the top of the sales funnel, while sales should be concerned with activities related to the bottom of the sales funnel.

There are some activities that’ll need to be defined more carefully. For instance, who is responsible for lead scoring? How much responsibility, if any, does sales have for content creation?

Knowing exactly what each department is responsible for can help to reduce confusion and tension. It can also decrease the time that’s wasted on activities that have already been carried out by someone else.

3. Collaborate on marketing content creation

Creating sales and marketing content typically falls under the marketing team. However, some of this content should serve the sales team, so working closely with the sales team makes sense.

Marketing teams need to know what messages are successful for sales reps and which messages aren’t working as well. It’s also important for sales to tell marketing the common questions they receive from prospects, because it may be possible to answer these earlier in the process through marketing content.

Creating a unified narrative is important. Both departments should be clear on what’s being sold, what the product or service is intended to do, who can benefit from it, and the overarching brand story to tell leads and existing customers.

4. Make use of cross-departmental shadowing

Another great way to ensure your sales and marketing teams are aligned is to make use of cross-departmental shadowing.

Harvard Business Review outlines, it can be useful for marketing team members to shadow sales calls regularly and even to attend some sales meetings, so that they can understand prospect challenges better.

Shadowing the other department can help teams to understand the challenges they face. In the case of marketing departments, understanding the sales process and the realities of current sales efforts can help with creating sales content.

It also gives marketing an opportunity to provide useful information on the kind of messaging sales reps can use to boost success rates.

A key part of how to align sales and marketing involves continually sharing progress, insights and analysis. While alignment requires shared goals and objectives, both departments still create their own reports, carry out their own analysis, and have results they can share with the other team.

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of constant communication if true alignment is to be achieved and a great way to facilitate this is to commit to regular meetings between senior figures in sales and marketing.

During these meetings, both departments should highlight their results and progress, share any useful insights and analysis, and be clear on any problems they are facing. It is also important for both sales and marketing to be clear if they need something from the other department, or if they feel changes are needed.

Achieving sales and marketing alignment

There are no simple answers for how to align sales and marketing, as alignment is a continuous process. Nevertheless, at the very heart of the issue, communication channels need to be open, the two departments need to be sharing progress, insights and challenges, and there must be shared and agreed goals and metrics.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM, which serves as a CRM and project management tool. This can be really useful for sales and marketing alignment, allowing information to be shared more easily while increasing overall transparency. You can get started by accessing a 14-day free trial today.

The ultimate guide to small business funding

Jon Davis — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Whether you want small business funding to get a business off the ground or require an injection of cash to take your enterprise to the next level, it’s crucial to understand all the small business funding options available.

Why? Because not every funding source will offer the same opportunities or risks. In short, it’s worth learning about all the funding options available before simply taking the first one you encounter.

As a business owner, you should know the pros and cons associated with all small business funding options. Read on to find out how to get funding for a small business and learn about the commercial implications of each option.

1. Bank loans

Bank loans are among the moat common small business funding options. Their main advantage is the potential they offer for sizable funding. They allow small businesses to undertake larger projects, grow their customer bases and invest in capital equipment.

Historically, bank loans have offered low-interest rates, making repayments manageable. They’re also a good way to secure startup funding for small business ventures, especially since many banks have specialized divisions devoted to new enterprises. Additionally, the regular payments afforded by bank loans aid budgeting and financial planning among SMEs.

However, bank loans can sometimes be hard to get. Banks need a strong credit history and you must also submit a solid business plan. In some cases, collateral - assets that can be seized if repayments aren’t made - will be needed. In addition, loan application processes tend to be lengthy, requiring substantial paperwork.

Even if you know how to get small business funding from a bank and fulfill all their requirements, a bank loan may take a long time to come through.

This process varies from bank to bank, of course, and not all business bank loans are the same or require the same level of checks. Therefore, shopping around for the best one is important, so you’ll have to factor this into your early commercial decision-making, especially if you’re a heading up a startup.

2. Small business administration (SBA) loans

SBA loans are designed for business expansion. Such loans are supported by the US Small Business Administration. Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) runs the government-backed equivalent scheme in the UK, while the European Union offers similar small business funding through its COSME program. SBA loans are often attractive due to their low-interest rates and long repayment periods.

Even better, they’re available in different sizes, accommodating small businesses with different funding needs across numerous industrial sectors. SBA loans can stimulate business growth in new markets or are used to purchase equipment. In some cases, you can also apply for one if you need to expand your premises to grow your small business.

However, SBA loans aren’t always easy to secure. Strict eligibility requirements can exclude specific small businesses, including most startups. In addition, the long-winded application process requires meticulous financial documentation.

In most cases, you will need professional support from an accountant to apply for an SBA loan. In the US, SBA loans typically require a personal guarantee or some form of collateral. If your business fails to generate sufficient revenues to repay the SBA loan, your assets will be at risk.

3. Business credit cards

Business credit cards give immediate access to funds. Relying on them for small business funding means being able to take swift action, such as purchasing stock that a wholesaler is currently selling off at a low cost.

In short, accessing funds without the delays associated with inward investments or bank loans allows entrepreneurs to capitalize on commercial opportunities and deal with unexpected expenses.

Another key benefit is the ease of procuring business credit cards. Also, many business credit card providers offer rewards and loyalty programs, such as cash-back offers or travel points. These programs can add considerable value to routine business spending.

However, the undoubted convenience of business credit cards can come at a steep price. The interest rates are typically greater than those of most business loans. Even worse, business credit cards have escalating costs if cardholders don’t promptly clear their balances the month after the billing cycle.

Failure to make regular payments can harm your credit score and impede access to future borrowing requirements, even if you know how to get small business funding another way.

Although credit cards may help boost short-term cash flow, relying on them for operational costs is rarely advisable. It’s crucial to use business credit cards judiciously and not just to cover systemic cash flow problems, which may result in undesirable debt spirals.

4. Crowdfunding

As a small business funding option, crowdfunding platforms provide access to a vast pool of potential investors. They’re a good way to test how receptive the market is to your business proposal. Using them shows that your product or service is validated and viable, even before you launch.

As such, crowdsourcing startup funding for small businesses has become increasingly popular. In addition to funding, crowdsourcing can generate much-needed publicity for startups, thereby helping early customer acquisition among startups.

However, crowdfunding needs an engaging story and significant marketing activity to attract backers. Campaign management, including an in-depth knowledge of social media marketing, will be required to crowdfund your enterprise. Also, you’ll need to be strong at communicating with your backers and fulfilling promised rewards.

Keeping up with this can be demanding, especially while focusing on getting the business up and running. Bear in mind that not reaching the funding goal you have set might result in receiving nothing from your backers, although this will depend on the rules of the particular crowdfunding platform you choose.

5. Angel investments

An angel investor is an individual who offers small business funding and much more besides. Typically, you’ll also receive mentorship and networking opportunities from someone who has successfully run a business.

Angel investors usually have a high net worth. They exchange their expertise – and financial support – for a share of the business. Angel investors can sometimes provide industry insights and connections, leading to accelerated growth. Unlike lenders, they share the risk, as they don’t expect repayment if the business fails.

Knowing how to get small business funding from an angel investor often means already having existing connections. One downside of this approach is that you may already be well-connected and, therefore, the business associations of your investors may be of limited value.

Also, this funding source is competitive. Many small business owners may be trying to attract an angel investor from the same group of individuals. If you don’t have someone in mind, you may need time to find the right investor — time you could spend on building your enterprise. Moreover, equity is exchanged for funds with this model, leading to diluted ownership and, in some cases, the potential loss of control.

6. Venture capital (VC) funding

This type of small business funding can bring significant capital into your business. It’s often sought after when rapid expansion is desirable. Venture capitalists don’t just provide funds, however, they usually come with a wealth of industry knowledge and an extensive network of contacts.

Although similar to angel investments, VC funding typically comes from professionally managed firms investing large sums from pooled funds, not high-net-worth individuals. As such, VCs often only provide funding in exchange for equity in your business.

VC funding comes with its share of drawbacks, however. Typically, venture capitalists seek high returns on investments, usually through a business sale or an initial public offering (IPO). Of course, this might not align with the long-term vision you have for your business.

In addition, since VCs usually acquire significant equity in companies they invest in, making such a deal may impact the degree of control you have over business decisions. Also, the pursuit of VC funding can be difficult. It requires an impressive business plan and quantifiable signs of growth potential.

7. Personal savings

Utilizing personal savings for business capital is a popular funding option for many small business owners, primarily due to the autonomy it offers entrepreneurs. This method eliminates external influences on business decisions.

Equally, you don’t need to know how to get small business funding from other sources if you self-fund. Ideal if you want to maintain full control over the direction of your business. There are no interest payments to worry about, either. Nor will there be any collateral to offer up and no stringent application requirements to meet, unlike with bank loans.

Furthermore, the simplicity of dipping into personal savings means no waiting for lengthy loan approval decisions. You can get your business plans underway without delay.

However, the most significant risk with this small business funding route is the potential for personal financial loss. If the business doesn’t succeed, then your savings will be gone for good. Furthermore, the available funding is also limited to the extent of your savings. It might not be enough to support the level of business growth you’re aiming for or to recruit the skills you’ll need.

For some, self-funding may not be enough to sustain the business through tough financial periods. Moreover, lacking external financing may mean missing out on the business advice or networking opportunities that investors and lenders can provide.

8. Borrowing from friends and family

Borrowing from friends and family is an accessible, flexible method of raising capital for a small business. Interest rates, when applicable, tend to be low. Depending on the personal relationship with your investor, you may be able to adjust repayment schedules.

Like self-funding, borrowing from a friend or a family member often means you won’t have to research how to get funding for a small business from a more traditional route. Therefore, borrowing from friends and family can save time, allowing you to focus on getting the enterprise off the ground.

However, the funds from friends and family might only be enough to fund a startup. For example, when a more significant investment is needed for tooling or expansion, funds might run out, requiring you to seek alternative small business funding options.

Another downside to this approach is the potential for strained relationships. If the business struggles or fails, it’ll leave you indebted to a family member or a friend. Also, friends and family may want to oversee business decisions, which might undermine your entrepreneurial spirit.

Formalizing any agreement with friends and family with a proper contract is crucial when borrowing money to support your small business. Otherwise, managing expectations and avoiding undesirable disputes down the line can be hard.

9. Microloans from nonprofits

Charities and nonprofit organizations often provide microloans to help SMEs obtain the financing they need to grow their businesses. Due to the smaller sums involved, these credit sources are typically easier to secure than traditional bank loans. They often target firms with a limited credit history. As such, startup funding for small business ventures can often be obtained via microloans when other types of loans are unavailable. Some microloan providers in the US also offer entrepreneurial training or mentoring programs. These schemes can be advantageous for startup business owners with limited commercial experience.

However, the amounts available through microloans may not be sufficient for larger capital needs. If your startup business model or SME relies on significant sums to get going or grow, then micro-financing the company likely won’t provide the solution you seek. Another drawback of these small business funding options is that the interest rates required to pay back microloans can be higher than traditional loans. Furthermore, repayment can still be difficult to meet if the business struggles, regardless of the loan size.

10. Invoice factoring

Invoice factoring offers quick access to cash tied up in unpaid sales invoices. As such, it tends to help established small businesses with cash flow issues rather than startup enterprises. This method can be a viable option to obtain funding for companies that offer clients long payment terms. In short, if your proposed creditor knows you’re owed a substantial sum from your current client base, they may lend to you in the short term, factoring in the value of your currently unpaid sales invoices.

One downside to this approach is that it can be costly, as factoring companies take a significant percentage of the amount you have outstanding with your debtors. Furthermore, this method can lead to a dependency on the factoring service, which can be hard to break free from. Invoice factoring may demonstrate underlying cash flow issues with your business or a failure to have proper credit controls in place. Either way, the debt collection process is also likely to be transferred to the factoring company, which could impact your customer retention if they’re not handled appropriately.

Picking the right funding is essential to grow your business

Knowing how to get funding for a small business requires exploring all the options and weighing up the pros and cons of each method. For instance, what suits a startup may not suit a well-established small business. In addition, some investment sources require a more flexible approach to business equity than others. As such, the price may be too high if you want to retain full control of your company.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and access a 14-day free trial.

How to build an upsell and cross sell program

Jon Davis — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Cross selling and upselling are quick ways to improve your revenue.

You’re engaging with customers that already have a relationship with you, your business and your brand.

It costs you less time and resources to educate, sell and convert, as your customer is already bought in to your product or service.

But how do you build an effective cross selling and upselling programme?

Read this blog post to find out what constitutes upselling and cross selling, whether online or in person.

Understanding upsell and cross sell methodologies

Comparing cross selling and upselling offers insights into both strategies and how you can utilize them.

At their core, both cross selling and upselling aim to boost the value of a customer’s purchase. They both rely on understanding your customer and their needs. Sales personnel should leverage this knowledge to propose products or service upgrades.

The goal of cross selling and upselling isn’t just to sell more, but to enhance satisfaction and customer loyalty by suggesting additional solutions/products to add to their existing suite of products.

Although similar, upselling and cross selling achieve the goal of greater customer satisfaction differently.

Upselling involves encouraging customers to buy a higher-priced product or service, typically an upgraded version of one they’ve already shown interest in. From the customer’s perspective, the focus is on increased value, not spending more — for example, upselling a customer interested in a used car to buy a new model.

Conversely, cross selling means suggesting additional or complementary items. The aim is to increase the total number of products or services the customer purchases. For example, a window cleaner might recommend clearing your gutters on top of their usual service.

Timing may also differ with upselling and cross selling. An upsell is most effective early during the customer journey, ideally when customers are deciding which product to buy.

Conversely, cross selling often occurs at the point of sale since it involves proposing extras to complement the customer’s purchase.

Both sales techniques need a delicate balance. Sales staff must avoid being overly pushy. An upsell or a cross sell should never be a hard sell. The key to both approaches is to demonstrate real value for the customer.

Otherwise, they might not buy anything or return as a repeat buyer.

How to build an upselling strategy

Encouraging customers to purchase a superior product or service add-on will increase the value of their purchase with virtually no additional costs to your business.

How do you develop an upsell strategy to which your sales personnel will respond?

First, pay attention to your best-selling and highest-margin products and services. When deciding which ones to recommend, identify items that are proven popular.

In addition, chosen products should have a strong sales record and a high margin. After all, there’s no good reason to emphasize products and services in your upsell strategy that don’t drive profits.

Upselling isn’t just a matter of convincing someone to spend more. Instead, it should be personalized with their specific requirements.

Use your customer data to identify buying patterns and common needs that your products and services can meet. Understanding your customers’ perspectives will help you target upselling practices more effectively.

When upselling, you need to communicate the benefits of your suggestions well. Never just list product features or service components.

Instead, get your sales reps to articulate how the upsell provides additional value. Customers who see the advantages won’t be as concerned about extra expenses. For example, talk about how the upsell might save them time, resolve a problem or enhance their experience. The more convincingly you can tie the upsell to the customer’s needs in terms of value, the more successful you will be.

Offering premium versions of your products or services is another element of a winning upselling strategy. This process could involve providing service tiers, such as gold, silver and bronze. Providing add-ons, upgrades or designing luxury versions of standard products could also work.

Another way to improve upselling is by incentivizing customers. For example, a small discount on an upgrade or limited-time offer can make it more tempting. Equally, a bundle deal with multiple products or services often makes a more expensive option more enticing.

Finally, measure the success of your upselling efforts. Use analytics tools to track the uptake of your offers and identify which sales staff upsell the most.

Seek hard data that indicates the changes in average transaction value, but also listen to customer responses, especially when an upsell hasn’t worked. This way, you’ll know how to refine your upselling strategy. Identify which tactics work and discard those that don’t.

Eight tips for a successful upselling strategy

Promote best-selling and high-margin products
Understand your customers’ buying habits
Emphasize the value of the upsell product or service, not just its features
Offer premium versions or bundled add-ons
Don’t push too hard – get your sales team to suggest an upsell, not demand it
Utilize incentives to make an upsell more enticing
Review the success of your upselling efforts
Refine your strategy based on customer feedback and performance data.

Building a cross selling strategy

Cross selling involves recommending related or complementary products to customers. The idea isn’t to replace their choice with an upgrade but to increase the total value of their purchase with an associated sale. In common with upselling, implementing an effective cross sell strategy requires attention to detail.

First, understanding your customers is vital. By analyzing the buying patterns of your customers, you can identify which products are frequently purchased together. With this data you’ll know when and which products or services to recommend to your prospects.

Equipped with the knowledge of what goods your customers regularly purchase, you can make meaningful recommendations. The strategy should add value to the customer’s purchasing experience and not just feel like it’s been randomly automated.

If a customer thinks you’re trying to push extra products without good reason, it could put them off from working with your business in the future.

Cross selling at the right time is also a critical element of your sales strategy. It’s often most effective at specific points in the customer journey, such as during a checkout process or shortly after a purchase. This can vary in B2B sales environments, depending on the specific sector.

Offering discounts on combined purchases is a tried-and-tested way to cross sell more effectively. When customers see they can save money by buying a bundle of products, they’ll be more likely to opt for the deal.

If it results in just one call-out fee, adding another service on top of the one they’ve ordered is another common way to cross sell field-based services.

Recommendation systems can, also, boost your cross selling efforts significantly, especially in e-commerce. These systems use data on typical buying patterns to suggest products that customers might want, even if the items aren’t directly related.

For example, when someone buys hiking boots, they may also be looking for a tent, so suggesting a series of tents would be a good crossell opportunity.

Like upselling, you should track the success of your cross selling strategy. Analyze data and review your sales figures to understand what does and doesn’t work for your company’s sales pipelines.

Then adjust your plan accordingly, especially if you manage a sales team and some reps are better at cross selling than others.

Eight tips for a successful cross selling strategy

Establish buying patterns to identify products that complement one another.
Only recommend cross sells that make sense.
Be subtle in your cross selling by only aiming to enhance the customer experience.
Time your cross sell offers for the right moment during the customer journey.
Incentivize cross selling by offering deals on combined purchases and bundles.
Explain how buying an additional service can save time and money.
Personalize cross sell offers based on purchasing histories.
Track the performance of your cross selling strategy and adapt it accordingly.

How to bring your upselling and cross selling programs together

Combining upselling and cross selling strategies offers the complete approach to revenue growth. Integrating your method in both practices can generate a unified customer experience that fosters brand loyalty. Here’s how to bring your upselling and cross selling programs together:

Create a vision of what you want to achieve

While upselling and cross selling require different techniques, sales reps should be comfortable utilizing similar skills. Explain to your team that the shared goal of cross selling and upselling is to enhance the customer’s experience. Only a cohesive vision focusing on this goal will add true value, improve customer satisfaction and boost revenue.

Really understand your customers

To upsell and crossell effeciivley, you need to capture, analyse and undersatdn as many datapoints across your customer’s buying experience.

Consequently, you should merge data sources from different points in the customer journey. Integrating upselling and cross selling data will give you a complete view of your customers’ behaviors, preferences and needs. This unified perspective will help you develop tailored upsell and cross sell offers that will resonate with your customers. It will also help you identify when to upsell and when to cross sell.

Tools like customer relationship management systems, analytics packages and machine learning recommendation systems to streamline your combined strategy. Such technologies help automate personalized upselling and cross selling opportunities. By leveraging technology, highly effective and scalable strategies become possible.

Align sales and marketing teams

Greater coordination between your sales and marketing teams is essential for building a better cross sell and upsell program. Both teams should have a mutual understanding of your common upselling and cross selling objectives.

While the sales team interacts directly with customers, your marketing efforts should reinforce their upsell and cross sell offers through targeted campaigns, personalized emails and customer-specific offers. Regular communication between these teams will lead to a more harmonized approach.

Design bespoke customer journeys for each program

Design a customer journey that logically incorporates both upselling and cross selling. Consider during a customer’s buying process where upselling or cross selling would be most effective, including post point-of-sale recommendations.

Then, integrate these opportunities in a non-disruptive way. For example, offer product upgrades at checkout or suggest related products while customers browse or immediately after each purchase.

Maintain a low-touch approach that doesn’t overwhelm customers with constant sales pitches. Remember, the primary objective is to enhance the customer’s experience. Empathize with your customers and ensure your upsell and cross sell suggestions are appropriate. If a suggestion doesn’t make sense or fit the demographic, review how your upselling and cross selling strategies work together and then tweak your approach.

Using CRM to utilize upselling and cross selling strategies simultaneously

To upsell and cross sell in unison, you should encourage your sales personnel to utilize your CRM system to its full potential. Your CRM should prompt your team to upsell and cross sell by providing the necessary data to make personalized suggestions.

If you want your staff to stop having the ‘upsell vs cross sell’ mindset and think of ways to combine the two practices, then your CRM system is a valuable tool you can deploy. Here’s how.

Segment your customers effectively

Use your CRM to segment your customers based not only on their purchasing behavior but on past interactions, too. Doing this will allow you to create tailored upselling and cross selling strategies for each customer.

Automate certain recommendations

Utilize CRM integrations with automated tools to develop a range of product recommendations. Sales staff can still make the final upselling and cross selling decisions, but data-driven insights will inform their choices.

Track customer interactions

Monitor every customer interaction. Tracking will help you identify the right moment for an upsell or cross sell. Your CRM should help track these touchpoints and trigger timely offers.

Train your sales team

Ensure your sales and marketing teams are proficient in using the CRM. Let them know about the features that support upselling and cross selling activities.

Regularly update your data

Keep customer information updated. Accurate CRM data is important for effective upselling and cross selling strategies.

Integrate where you can

Enhance your CRM’s capabilities by integrating it with other software. Email marketing platforms and customer support systems are examples of what can be integrated with a CRM.

Use a CRM to measure success

Tracking and reviewing the success of your upselling and cross selling efforts is crucial. Your CRM system should make this easier.

Now, build your own upsell and cross sell program

Upselling and cross selling are similar but should not be confused. Although the strategies are often deployed to boost sales, they typically work best together. For best results, think about upsell and cross sell offerings from the customer’s perspective, only suggesting products or services that will be of genuine interest and provide added value.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and access a 14-day free trial.

60+ best ChatGPT prompts for sales and marketing (and how to use them)

Jon Davis — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

ChatGPT, an AI platform powered by a large language learning model has emerged as the frontrunner in the race for AI supremacy.

But as it stands, to get the most out of AI, you need to learn how to prompt it.

Prompts help you give the AI tool you’re using specific instructions on what you want to get out of it.

Whether you’re using ChatGPT to generate some email comms; Midjourney to create photo-realistic digital art; or Boomy to craft an AI tune, the right prompt will help you get better results in all these use cases.

In this blog post, we’ll teach you what a prompt is, how best to structure your own and round up some of the best ones we’ve seen.

[Editors note: if you fancy yourself a bit of a prompt engineer, skip to our top prompts here.]

What are ChatGPT prompts?

ChatGPT prompts are a way to communicate with an artificial intelligence system, to get a desired response or generate specific content. It’s like giving instructions or asking a question to an intelligent program.

When you provide a prompt, you’re giving the AI some context or information to work with. This helps guide its understanding and influences the type of response it generates.

The prompt can be a sentence, a paragraph, or even a longer piece of text.

For example, if you want to generate a short story about a detective solving a mysterious crime, you could give a prompt like:

“In a small town, Detective Foxton was called to investigate a strange murder case.”

Based on that prompt, ChatGPT will then continue the story with its own creative input.

It’s important to note that the quality and accuracy of the AI’s response depends on various factors, including the training it has received, the available data, and the complexity of the task.

How to use ChatGPT prompts

It’s really straightforward to start using ChatGPT. The trick is in learning how to master them. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can start using them:

Identify an AI-powered tool: Do some desk research and find an AI tool that’s easy to use. There are plenty of options online, but we use ChatGPT at Caspule, as we think it’s the best general-use AI available right now.
Determine your goal: Decide what you want to achieve with the AI. Do you need help writing a story, generating ideas, answering questions, or something else? Having a clear objective helps formulate an appropriate prompt.
Write your prompt: Type a prompt that clearly communicates your intention or the information you want the ChatGPT to work with. Keep it concise and specific. If you’re unsure, you can also provide some examples or additional context to guide the AI’s response.
Submit the prompt: Once you’ve written your prompt, submit it to the ChatGPT
Review and refine: After the AI generates a response, look through it to see if it’s any good. If needed, you can refine or modify your prompt to get a better outcome. Iteration helps when fine-tuning ChatGPT’s output.
Evaluate results critically: Remember, AI-generated content may not always be perfect or error-free. It can suffer from hallucinations, a phenomenon where the AI conjures up falsehoods to complete its task. Be critical, and thoroughly assess any output.

Tips for getting the most out of your ChatGPT prompts

Experimenting with what you input into ChatGPT is crucial to understanding its capabilities and expanding its use cases. Here are some initial tips on how to do this:

Talk to the AI as if you’re speaking to a person

So, it might feel uncomfortable initially to treat this piece of tech as a person - but hear us out!

When you’re constructing prompts, consider the little nuances, quips and anecdotes you use to embellish things you’d say to a person.

They give context, provide clarity and help articulate your point. Do this with ChatGPT or whatever AI you’re using.

These little details help it understand what it is you’re asking it and it will produce better results.

Context is key

ChatGPT and other large language model AIs are smart enough to understand context.

Here’s an example. In the image below, I’ve asked ChatGPT to ‘Give me a 10k training plan’.

In its answer, ChatGPT has made some assumptions. It said:

“Certainly! Here’s a 10K training plan that spans over a period of 12 weeks. It’s designed to gradually increase your running endurance and prepare you for a 10K race. This plan assumes that you have a basic level of fitness and can comfortably run at least 2-3 miles (3-5 kilometers) without any issues”

But what if you’ve already got a good base level of fitness and want to run a 10k in six weeks’ time?

Let’s try this prompt:

‘I want a 10k training plan for someone that’s got a good base level of fitness. They do some light weight lifting in the gym once a week and they can run a 5k in 26 minutes. The training plan needs to span six weeks.’

As you can see from the picture above, compared to the first result, ChatGPT has produced a six-week plan, that’s more suitable to the suggested fitness level.

It was a simple case of giving it more detail, and more context around what we wanted from it.

Another example, specifically for sales professionals, I asked our AI Content Assistant (which uses the ChatGPT API) to ‘Write me a 100-word prospect email for a company that sells turtles’

Here’s the result:

Subject: Discover Tranquility with Captivating Turtle Companions

Dear [Prospect’s Name],

At [Company Name], we specialize in offering captivating turtle companions that bring charm and tranquility to your living space. Our exquisite collection features ethically sourced and expertly cared-for turtle species.

Immerse yourself in their enchanting world, from vibrant red-eared sliders to majestic diamondback terrapins. Our knowledgeable team will assist you in finding the perfect turtle companion to suit your preferences and lifestyle.

Enhance your space with the delightful presence of our remarkable turtles. Experience the joy they bring firsthand by visiting [website URL] or contacting us at [contact information].

Find serenity with our enchanting turtles today!

Best regards,

Your Name Your Title Company Name Contact Information

But once again, this email doesn’t quite hit the mark. What if we’re selling to a logistics company based in Kansas? What if we know that the prospect likes Sea Turtles? And what if we know they’ve attended a conference in the past?

Here’s the next prompt:

“Write me a 100-word prospect email for a company that sells turtles. The company you’re selling to is based in Kansas, we know that the prospect likes sea turtles. They’ve attended a big sealife conference on the 6th June 2022.”

Subject: Exclusive Offer: Discover Sea Turtles in Kansas!

Dear [Prospect’s Name],

As a fellow marine life enthusiast who attended the sealife conference on June 6th, 2022, I wanted to share an exciting opportunity. [Company Name] has expanded to Kansas, bringing captivating sea turtles closer to you.

Our commitment to ethical sourcing ensures their well-being. To celebrate, we offer an exclusive 15% off your first sea turtle purchase.

Experience the magic of sea turtles in the heart of Kansas!

Let’s discuss this opportunity further and answer your questions. Together, we can create a lasting connection between you and these awe-inspiring creatures.

Warm regards,

Your Name Your Title Company Name Contact Information

While this writer takes more scrupulous eye when producing that sort of copy, the premise is clear: adding context to a prompt gave the email a much wider, more refined scope.

So, in essence, embellish your prompts with context. Use specific, simple-to-understand language and articulate any useful information.

Get the AI to assume a persona

Feeling uncomfortable about anthropomorphizing AI yet? Well, prepare to feel more uncomfortable: you get really good results if you ask it to adopt human characteristics.

For instance, you could prompt it to write a piece like a pirate, write tweets like Elon Musk, or if you were doing some market research, you could ask it to act like a member of your prospective buying committee.

Here’s an example of the output from ChatGPT when I asked it the following:

Pretend you’re a marketing manager at a small business with 25 employees. You don’t have CRM. What things would you be looking for if you were considering a CRM system?

As you can see from its output, while it is generalized, many of the points it makes are accurate. While ChatGPT has practical uses, it also has an almost complete repository of humanity at its silicon-laced fingertips. This prompt utilizes its literary prowess to produce a rather unnerving result.

The prompt: Write me a cautionary tale about AI in the style of William Shakespeare in about 250 words

To summarize, to hone in your results and to articulate complex points simply, ask AI to adopt a persona - you won’t regret it!

Rein the AI in

In our many interactions with AI, we’ve noticed it does have a tendency to run away with itself sometimes. And we’re not alone.

Reddit is awash with examples. This post from May 2023 talks about how the longer a conversation with ChatGPT goes on, the worse its responses get.

In his blog post, Bernard Marr, a futurist and thought leader, talks about AI hallucination. In his post, he describes hallucinations as “…the generation of outputs that may sound plausible but are either factually incorrect or unrelated to the given context.

“These outputs often emerge from the AI model’s inherent biases, lack of real-world understanding, or training data limitations. In other words, the AI system “hallucinates” information that it has not been explicitly trained on, leading to unreliable or misleading responses.”

So how do you mitigate these issues?

Well, unfortunately, while AI does automate a lot of manual tasks, as of right now, it isn’t perfect, so you need to carefully scrutinize anything it outputs.

Fact check any content. Check customer emails and if you start to see the quality of its responses degrade over time, like the example we posted above, remind the AI what the purpose of the initial query was.

The best ChatGPT prompts

To create this article, we’ve trawled the internet (so you don’t have to) to find some of the best prompts around.

This list is not definitive, but it should be enough to get you started with AI.

Top 5 prompts

#1 - The ultimate prompt Let’s start with the big guns: this prompt is one of the best. It allows you to create better-quality prompts, by instructing the ChatGPT to tease detailed information out of you, the user, to improve the quality of its output.

Once it arrives at a quality prompt, simply execute it and scrutinize the results.

“I want you to become my Prompt engineer. Your goal is to help me craft the best possible prompt for my needs.

The prompt will be used by you, ChatGPT. You will follow the following process:

Your first response will be to ask me what the prompt should be about. I will provide my answer, but we will need to improve it through continual iterations by going through the next steps.
Based on my input, you will generate 2 sections, a) Revised prompt (provide your rewritten prompt, it should be clear, concise, and easily understood by you), b) Questions (ask any relevant questions pertaining to what additional information is needed from me to improve the prompt).
We will continue this iterative process with me providing additional information to you and you updating the prompt in the Revised prompt section until I say we are done.”

#2 - Midjourney prompt maker Midjourney is one of a few text-to-input AI art creators. It takes text instructions and generates imagery based on that. Like ChatGPT, it relies on text-based prompts to generate results.

The quality of the final image very much depends on what you tell Midjourney and the nuance of what you tell it.

MagitekZed has created this prompt generator that produces excellent-quality images. You simply cut and paste the prompt into ChatGPT and then follow the instructions.

Here are a few examples of images and their respective Midjourney prompts:

#3 - Top tier cold email prompt As a sales professional, you’ll always be drafting email communication to your prospects and customers.

Use this prompt to brainstorm ideas for a top-tier cold email and then adjust and amend them as you need accordingly: “I need a cold email idea that will engage my [ideal customer persona] with a unique and compelling perspective on [subject] and persuade them to take [desired action] on my [your website/product].“

#4 - Brainstorm blog posts prompt One of the biggest barriers to writing a blog post is the so-called ‘blank page’ moment, where you can’t think of what to write, or even how to write it.

Thankfully, there’s even a prompt for that now:

“Can you provide me with some ideas for blog posts about [topic of your choice]?”

#5 - Embrace the role play In sales, dealing with objections is one of the biggest challenges a salesperson can face.

By feeding ChatGPT details about your product and your business, and a scenario you wish to rehearse, you can practice how to handle some of the common objections and devise strategies to overcome them. The prompt:

“Pretend you are a lead who doesn’t see the immediate value of our CRM product. I’ll address your concerns and demonstrate their importance.“

Our ultimate list of ChatGPT prompts

We’ve scraped the web and found some of the best ChatGPT prompts for you to use.

They’re divided up by the typical use cases sales and marketing professionals have day-to-day.

And it’s worth booking marking this page - we’ll keep this list updated with new prompts, as and when we find them.

Editors note: Last updated 04/07/2023

Cold email prompts

“Generate a cold email idea that will engage my [ideal customer persona] with a unique and compelling perspective on [subject] and persuade them to take [desired action] on my [your website/product].”
“Create a cold email idea that will establish trust and credibility with my [ideal customer persona] by showcasing the expertise and professionalism of my [your company/brand].”
“Create cold email idea that will provide a unique and compelling offer to my [ideal customer persona] and persuade them to take [desired action] with a sense of urgency and exclusivity.”
“I’m looking for a cold email idea that will showcase the benefits and value of my [product/service] to my [ideal customer persona] and persuade them to make a purchase with a strong call-to-action.”
“I need a cold email idea that will use a personalized and targeted approach to engage my [ideal customer persona] and persuade them to take [desired action] with a clear and compelling message.”
“I need a cold email idea that will provide a behind-the-scenes look at my [company/brand] and persuade my [ideal customer persona] to take [desired action] with a sense of authenticity and relatability.”
“I’m looking for a cold email idea that will provide a step-by-step guide on how to use my [product/service] and persuade my [ideal customer persona] to make a purchase with clear and compelling instructions.”
“I need a cold email idea that will demonstrate how my [product/service] can solve the specific pain points and needs of my [ideal customer persona] in a relatable and engaging way.”
“I’m looking for a cold email idea that will showcase the unique selling points of my [product/service] and persuade my [ideal customer persona] to make a purchase with a sense of urgency and exclusive offers.”
“I need a cold email idea that will compare my [product/service] to similar options on the market and persuade my [ideal customer persona] to choose us with clear and compelling evidence.”
“I’m looking for a cold email idea that will draw in my [ideal customer persona] with a relatable and authentic message, and then persuade them to take [desired action] with a strong call-to-action and compelling visuals.”
“I need a cold email idea that will provide valuable and relevant information to my [ideal customer persona] about [subject] and persuade them to take [desired action] with a clear and compelling message.”
“I’m looking for a cold email idea that will overcome objections and concerns my [ideal customer persona] may have about my [product/service] and convince them to take [desired action] with a sense of urgency.”
“I need a cold email idea that will establish credibility and authority with my [ideal customer persona] by showcasing the success stories of previous customers who have used my [product/service].”
“I’m looking for a cold email idea that will attract the attention of my [ideal customer persona] and persuade them to take [desired action] with a unique and compelling subject line.”

General marketing prompts

Write a minute-long script for an advertisement about [product or service or company]
Write a product description for my [product or service or company]
Suggest inexpensive ways I can promote my [company] with/without using [Media channel]
How can I obtain high-quality backlinks to raise the SEO of [Website name]
Make 5 distinct CTA messages and buttons for [Your product]
Create a [social media] campaign plan for launching an [your product], aimed at [ Your target audience]
Analyze these below metrics to improve email open rates for a fashion brand paste metrics]
Write follow-up emails to people who attended my [webinar topic] webinar
Structure a weekly [newsletter topic] newsletter
Make a post showcasing the benefits of using our product [product name] for [specific problem/issue].
Generate 5 creative ways to use Instagram Reels for [your product or service or company]
Create a social media post that targets [the specific audience] and explains how our product [product name] can help them.
Create a personalized email greeting for a VIP customer
Write a list of 5 YouTube video ideas for [your product or company]
Create two Google Ads in an RSA format (using multiple headlines and descriptions) for an A/B test for “Your product”.
Write a 160-character meta description for my blog post about [topic].

Copywriting prompts

What is the AIDA model and how can it be used in copywriting?
How can I use the PAS formula to create persuasive copy?
What is the difference between a feature and a benefit in copywriting?
How can I use storytelling in my copywriting to connect with my audience?
What are some common copywriting formulas and how can they be used?
How can I use social proof in my copywriting to build trust with my audience?
What are some best practices for writing headlines in copywriting?
How can I use emotional appeals in my copywriting to create a strong connection with my audience?
What is the difference between direct response copywriting and brand copywriting?
How can I use scarcity and urgency in my copywriting to increase conversions?
How can I use the problem-agitate-solve method in my copywriting?
What are some common copywriting mistakes to avoid?
How can I use power words in my copywriting to increase conversions?
What is the difference between long-form and short-form copywriting?
How can I use customer testimonials in my copywriting to build trust with my audience?
What is the difference between copywriting for web vs copywriting for print?
How can I use storytelling in my copywriting to increase conversions?
How can I use the before-after-bridge method in my copywriting?
What is the difference between copywriting for B2C vs B2B?
How can I use the inverted pyramid method in my copywriting?
How can I use the power of specificity in my copywriting to increase conversions?
How can I use the power of the senses in my copywriting to create an emotional connection with my audience?
What are some lesser-known copywriting techniques that can be used to increase conversions?
How can I use humor in my copywriting to connect with my audience?
Can you give me an example of a successful copywriting campaign that was unexpected or unconventional?
How can I use sensory language in my copywriting to create a stronger emotional connection with my audience?

Start using ChatGPT prompts today

Mastering prompts is an essential skill in harnessing the power of AI for sales and marketing purposes. With practice, experimentation, and thoughtful refinement, you can leverage ChatGPT and other AI tools to achieve better outcomes and drive success in your sales and marketing efforts.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and access a 14-day free trial.

Vendor management: tips and strategies for managing marketing suppliers

Jon Davis — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

For many businesses, it’s challenging to carry out all of the core marketing tasks in-house. Organizations may lack the expertise, or hiring full-time staff may not be the most cost-effective approach.

One solution is to work with external marketing suppliers to achieve your marketing objectives.

Depending on the size and nature of your business, you might work with marketing agencies, search engine optimization (SEO) consultants, social media marketing experts, content creators, graphic designers, app developers and web designers.

In this article, we’ll provide useful tips and strategies to help you improve your vendor management skills and keep your suppliers happy.

What is vendor management?

A vendor, also known as a supplier, is an individual or entity that makes goods or services available. There are many different types of vendors, but in marketing, they tend to operate on a business-to-business (B2B) basis, selling services to another business as part of a mutually beneficial agreement.

Often referred to as service providers, some common types of vendors you may turn to for marketing-related services include:

Online marketing agencies
Copywriters or content creators
Search engine marketing (SEM) or SEO agencies
Social media marketers
Advertising agencies
Graphics designers
Website or software developers
Market research organizations

With this in mind, vendor management is the process of managing contracts and relationships with different suppliers. It includes everything from choosing the right vendors and agreeing on the terms of working relationships to assessing performance, keeping costs manageable and ensuring suppliers receive payments on time.

In the past, vendor management primarily focused on contract negotiations and the financial component of working with a partner, such as keeping costs down.

While this is still a critical component of effective vendor management, there’s now a much greater emphasis on managing supplier needs, developing and maintaining positive relationships, developing strategic alliances, retaining services, and leveraging relationships to create a competitive advantage.

Vendor management best practices

Here, we’ll explore the main stages of a vendor management strategy and give you some useful tips so you can get the most from your marketing suppliers:

Defining your expectations, goals and budget

Before reaching out to marketing suppliers, it’s important to know what you’re looking for and what you want to achieve. Do you want to increase sales? Are you hoping to build a bigger social media presence? Is boosting your presence on search engine results pages (SERPs) and attracting more website visitors your primary goal?

Having clear goals help you to understand which vendors to consider. For instance, exploring search marketing agencies with proven track records makes sense if you want to boost your search engine rankings.

The goals associated with working with a vendor should be SMART, meaning they should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. That means you also need to decide on the key metrics or performance indicators that you’ll use to analyze whether or not the marketing supplier’s service is living up to your expectations.

Finally, you’ll need to establish a budget during this early phase of the vendor management process. Typically, organizations spend approximately 7% to 10% of their entire budget on marketing.

From this amount, it’s recommended that 70% be spent on proven strategies, with the remaining marketing budget to be used for experimental campaigns and growth strategies.

Researching vendors or suppliers

During this phase, you need to try to gain a good understanding of what work vendors have done in the past, the kinds of businesses they’ve worked with, and how successful they’ve been.

Good marketing agencies, content creators, advertising agencies and other similar vendors will have case studies of previous work and examples of their successes. In most cases, you’ll find this information on the company’s website.

It could be a red flag if you’re struggling to find information on work previously carried out by a vendor you’re examining. Even if you find information, it’s worth looking for vendor reviews on third-party platforms or asking them directly for additional information.

Alternatively, you could create a request for proposal (RFP) document, which can then be sent to potential suppliers. Doing this encourages suppliers to table a bid for the contract, outlining their proposals.

Hiring your chosen marketing suppliers

After you’ve narrowed down your options or received proposals from interested marketing service suppliers, you need to go through the process of selecting the best candidate. Work through your shortlist, comparing the different proposals or services on offer. Consider how much the services will cost you, how much experience the vendor has, the specific skills they can offer or their proposed plan of action.

Ultimately, you need to narrow your shortlist down to your preferred choice. From this point, you’ll need to work with the vendor to draft an agreement on how they’ll work with you.

This one is the most legally sensitive of all the vendor management best practices outlined in this article. It involves drawing up contracts, agreeing on payment amounts and establishing what happens if either party fails to live up to their end of the bargain. The full scope of the services the vendor is to provide should also be in writing.

Onboarding suppliers and setting expectations

Once you’ve hired your preferred marketing supplier, you should begin the onboarding process.

Take the time to explain the various aspects of your business and ensure the supplier fully understands your needs. You may need to take them through your current marketing strategy and help them fully understand the current situation.

During this stage, it’s important to be clear what you want them to do. Ask questions like: How much work are you expecting them to do? What is the timescale for the project? How will they report progress to you?

Part of the expectation-setting phase of vendor management is also related to payment schedules. The vendor will want to know when they’ll get paid and on what basis that payment will be calculated.

Collaborating and managing your relationships

With expectations set and your chosen marketing supplier on board, you’ll need to work together to ensure that the right work gets carried out. You’ll also need to take steps to ensure you build relationships based on trust.

Don’t be afraid to give feedback on any of the services you’re receiving and be comfortable collaborating so the work is optimized to suit both parties. As your relationship with your supplier develops, take time to make your expectations clear.

Also, pay attention to communication from the vendor and respond to their needs appropriately.

Throughout your working relationship, it is essential to have a system in place to make sure your vendor gets paid on time. Be sure to flag and resolve issues early - it’ll save time in the long run.

Tracking vendor performance over time

As your working arrangement progresses, tracking KPIs should allow you to develop a clear picture of how well the vendor is meeting your needs. Ask things like: Have you seen improvement in the areas you identified? Is progress toward your goals occurring at a sufficient speed? Is the vendor keeping to deadlines or meeting the terms of their contract?

Besides KPIs, you should also explore issues related to costs.

Are you receiving value for money? Are there any points of friction causing increased costs or missed deadlines? Have you identified any areas of risk, and do you have contingency plans in place if risks develop into serious issues?

If performance isn’t good enough, you need to consider the relationship carefully.

Is this a temporary blip? Have they built up enough goodwill and proven to be a reliable supplier? If this isn’t the case, consider whether they should be replaced with a different vendor.

Evaluating the state of your relationship

When performance indicators start to decline, or if you experience friction in other areas, you may need to think about whether to continue with the arrangement or start looking elsewhere.

Research by Indeed.com explains that one of the best ways to manage vendors is to have regular meetings with them. Meetings allow both parties to align, provide updates, explain their current circumstances, share ideas, address any concerns, and generally stay focused on the tasks at hand.

You can also check to ensure your marketing objectives still align with what the marketing supplier or vendor can offer.

Meetings can be arranged in person or using video call technology. The best option depends on your physical proximity to the vendor and the nature of your working relationship.

If vendor performance doesn’t meet your standards, you may have to terminate the working arrangement. Similarly, there may be instances where working relationships were only intended to be short-term, and you’ll need to formally end the agreement when it no longer serves your company’s interests. On the other hand, if they’re performing exceptionally well, consider extending your supplier agreement.

Perfecting the art of vendor management

High-quality vendor management can be the difference between establishing positive, mutually beneficial working relationships and entering into risky partnerships that fail to meet your expectations. The art of vendor management involves taking the time to work through different stages and collaborating with your chosen supplier so that terms and expectations are clear and understood by all parties.

Many vendor management best practices are based on the simple premise of good communication. This can be aided through CRM software so that all communication can be tracked and referenced. Such tracking is especially important when dealing with multiple marketing suppliers simultaneously.

Click here to learn how Capsule CRM can benefit you and access a 14-day free trial.

Sales Enablement 101: Definition, techniques and tools

Jon Davis — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

For employees to work effectively, they need to be equipped with the right equipment, tools and techniques. This basic premise applies to all departments but is especially relevant when focusing on sales teams. It also underpins the discipline of sales enablement.

Our guide covers all the basics, so you can better understand what sales enablement is, why it’s important, what the benefits are, and who should take responsibility. We’ll also explore some common techniques and tools that’ll help your team meet or exceed targets.

What is sales enablement?

Sales enablement describes the process of equipping sales team members with the resources they need to close deals and meet sales targets.

TechTarget describes sales enablement as: “strategies, tools and processes that provide sales representatives with the ability to boost their productivity and revenue generation.”

Think of it like fishing. You can have all the fundamentals necessary, including a basic understanding of how fishing works and what actions you need to take.

However, your chances of catching a fish will only increase if you have a high-quality fishing rod, use the right bait or lure and know where’s best to fish.

This same idea can also be applied to sales teams. Employees may have all the necessary communication skills and background knowledge. They understand, in a broad sense, how to sell. Yet, the likelihood of closing deals dramatically increases if they have access to high-quality tools, software solutions, information and content.

Why is sales enablement important?

Sales enablement can help you gain a competitive advantage. The better equipped your sales teams are, the greater opportunity they have to exceed the performance of rival sales teams.

Sales enablement also helps to make sales teams more valuable. As we covered in a previous blog post, one of the key challenges to modern sales is finding a balance between digital self-service sales and a more conventional approach, where a salesperson attempts to sell a product or service.

For many customers, self-service is now the default, and they’re often relatively comfortable conducting research before making a final decision.

Modern sales teams need to provide information that’s genuinely useful to customers.

For example, giving product or service information that helps make purchasing decisions easier or speeds up the buying process is especially ideal. Effective sales enablement provides salespeople with the right content and tools to do this.

In other words, a sales enablement strategy must sufficiently equip salespeople, enabling them to provide potential buyers with information and insights they aren’t able to find themselves.

Who is responsible for sales enablement?

Instinctively, you’d think sales enablement falls under the responsibility of the sales function.

However, we think sales enablement should be a joint initiative for both sales and marketing teams.

Communication and collaboration between these two departments are extremely important to develop a successful sales enablement strategy.

Also, responsibility can extend even further because C-suite executives, such as the CEO and CRO should be actively involved in sales enablement efforts.

Not only can senior management assist by allocating sufficient budgets to the sales and marketing departments and providing them with the necessary tools, but a Harvard Business Review article states that “sales advocacy from cross-functional leadership teams” is a hallmark of companies with low sales team attrition.

Of course, the lower your attrition rate, the better for long-term sales outcomes.

A great way to keep all these different groups on the same page is to create a vacancy for a sales enablement manager position. This role can be responsible for coordinating operations and implementing programs or initiatives.

Sales enablement benefits

An effective sales enablement strategy allows your organization to:

Improve the tools and resources available to sales reps so that they can perform their duties more effectively
Gain a more comprehensive understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of current sales strategies
Identify trends that help to predict successful sales so that future sales efforts can be improved
Become less reliant on high-performance sales team members by using proven approaches and tools companywide
Refocus sales, marketing and C-suite efforts to boost business outcomes
Make information easier for sales reps to access, speeding up sales processes and reducing delays.

Sales enablement techniques

These are some of the most common ways sales enablement is fulfilled:

Lead qualification

Lead qualification involves assessing potential customers or sales leads and predicting how likely they’ll become paying customers.

Sales leads can be scored based on many factors, including buying power or authority, how urgent their needs are, and similarities with existing customers.

The lead qualification process allows sales teams to focus efforts on the targets that offer the most potential and can reduce time wasted on low-probability leads.

Performance tracking

Monitoring sales enablement activities can help you devise approaches to improve, and also, double down on works well.

This could include tracking the performance of sales reps, such as the number of sales closed, the number of leads generated or demos given.

However, it can also mean tracking the performance of digital content across multiple channels or measuring the reach of email marketing campaigns.

Training and coaching

Sales training and coaching activities play a vital role in sales enablement. Successful programs equip team members with the skills, knowledge and techniques necessary to excel in sales.

Training can also be used to onboard new hires, reinforce existing ideas, teach new approaches, highlight areas of weakness and establish shared objectives.

Tools for sales enablement

Here’s some of the tools you can use to help enable your sales team:

Sales enablement software

These applications serve as all-in-one solutions with tools for customer relationship management (CRM), email tracking, sales performance management, and content management, allowing sales and marketing teams to align properly.

CRM software

CRM software, like Capsule, allows sales teams and other departments to access vital data on existing and potential customers, including contact details, preferences and buying behaviors.

Users can also view past communications with individuals, track sales opportunities and centralize data that would otherwise be spread across various email accounts, spreadsheets, databases and departments.

Sales onboarding software

Onboarding new hires must be brought up to speed as quickly as possible, to maximize ROI.

Sales onboarding software is designed to assist with this by serving as a centralized location for new hires to access learning materials, follow step-by-step instructions and understand the sales process.

Content management system

A content management system (CMS) allows you to manage content creation, publication and distribution.

It centralizes content, including website copy, blog posts, email templates and more. While marketing departments primarily use content management systems, sales teams can benefit, too.

Sales enablement content types

Content is a key part of any sales enablement program. It supports salespeople during conversations with prospects. It’s used to educate, convince and convert prospects. Here’s what content can be used and how:

Email templates

Email templates make it much easier for sales teams to communicate with leads and reach out to existing customers.

A great email template has an eye-catching subject line, interesting or useful content, and a call to action (CTA) that encourages the reader to perform a desired action.

Using templates speeds up email creation, freeing up more time for core sales activities.

Case studies

A factual report of real events, such as a product or service used by a customer.

Potential buyers can use case studies to learn about the practical benefits of a particular solution or to see the results for themselves.

They can be thought of as a way to demonstrate proof that what you’re selling actually works.

E-books

E-books are usually short digital books that provide valuable information to customers, encouraging users to make a purchase.

These digital publications can also help position your business and sales team as expert voices and trustworthy sources.

Whitepapers

A detailed document that outlines an issue or topic and presents your organization’s perspective or approach to solving the problem.

Whitepapers also explore the features of the solution and can help promote a particular product, service, or methodology.

Blog posts

Marketing departments typically produce blog posts, but they’re also be used during the sales process.

A good blog post educates potential buyers or provides information that helps users decide whether to purchase a product or service.

Blog posts are also increasingly produced through AI-powered tools like Jasper or ChatGPT.

Sales scripts

Sales scripts provide structure to sales conversations. They should outline key talking points, sales pitches, and ideal responses to customer questions or statements.

It’s best to avoid using scripts when selling, however, they can be useful as a planning tool, providing sales teams with a basic understanding of how a conversation should flow.

Your sales team should feel comfortable enough to adaptable and steer the conversation around your solution without a script.

Buyer personas

Buyer personas are representations of customers. They’re fictional ‘characters’ representing what different types of customers are like. They’re created based on research and insights gathered from real customers.

Buyer personas describe what customers are like. They explain what their needs are, what challenges they face, and how they make purchasing decisions. They can be used for tailoring sales and marketing content to different target groups.

Unleash your sales team’s full potential

A sales team can be filled with individual members who possess all of the necessary skills to achieve success. However, reaching their full potential will require your organization to provide them with the right tools, techniques, content, and information.

In an age where self-service is becoming the standard, sales teams must offer something special to customers. Essentially, sales should be less like salespeople and more like trusted experts with valuable insights to share.

When sales, marketing and the C-suite work together to fully enable and empower sales, everyone benefits from improved sales productivity, less time wasted on low-value sales leads, improved collaboration between different departments, and a greater focus on tried and tested techniques.

The result is better, more consistent sales figures and increased customer satisfaction.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and access a 14-day free trial.

How to Ramp up Your Marketing Team’s Productivity

Jon Davis — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Many issues can negatively impact your marketing team’s productivity. Examples include workplace distractions, poor morale, lack of professional development opportunities, unproductive meetings, and other examples of ‘work about work’ — activities that take time away from meaningful tasks.

In fact, an Asana survey found that the average employee spends almost two-thirds of their typical office day on ‘work about work,’ preventing them from being truly productive.

However, understanding the leading causes of lost productivity is only half the battle. You also need to know the specific steps that can be taken to overcome these issues.

In this article, we’ll identify the things you can do to improve your marketing team’s productivity.

Make information easy to access

For marketing teams, one of the biggest drains on productivity is a lack of organization, leading to time being wasted looking for information.

Your business has likely accumulated lots of data on existing and potential customers, and your various marketing strategies, but it’s only useful if your marketers know where to find the data.

The best way to solve this problem is to use software to centralize as much data as possible.

Not only will this make data easier to find, because marketers will know exactly where to look, it also allows multiple users to access the data, make changes, and share information with one another.

For instance, a content management system can be used to centralize and manage marketing content.

This then allows multiple users to create, edit, publish and remove content from your website, blog, or social media channels. The centralization of data streamlines content creation processes and ensures everyone uses the same tools and goes to the same place to manage content.

Similarly, a high-quality CRM solution allows you to store customer data and contact information in one place. With a tool like Capsule, you can import Outlook, Google, vCard, CSV and spreadsheet contacts and a quick-search function lets you easily find individual contacts.

For each contact, you can also access past interactions, social media handles, and much more.

Ultimately, the more organized your data is, the more productive your marketing team can be. They’ll spend less time looking for valuable information and use more of their time trying to achieve your business objectives.

Cater to remote and hybrid workers

Remote working models have become increasingly popular, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“According to WFH Research, in April 2023, 28% of all paid working days in the United States were worked from home.”

Almost 12% of full-time job holders work from home, while 29% are on a hybrid model (work from home and on-site). Similar figures can be seen across the EU.

If your marketing team employs remote workers, it’s important to cater to their specific needs. In addition, you can explore some other ideas to improve team performance, including:

Creating a basic weekly schedule for your marketing team to stick to.
Using video conferencing tools to check in with remote workers regularly.
Working with individuals to set clear goals and expectations.
Making important data readily accessible for remote workers.
Creating online learning and professional development material.

The issue of scheduling can be especially important for productivity. While a certain amount of flexibility will be needed to deal with unexpected events — or unforeseeable opportunities — you need to be clear about the work that needs to be done and who’s responsible for doing it.

Again, it’s useful to have scheduling information and details about specific tasks all in one place.

Automate repetitive and predictable tasks

According to WorkMarket and KRC Research, 74% of all respondents — business leaders and employees — believed that parts of their job could be automated.

“Among business leaders, 70% stated that they spend between 45 minutes and three hours working on mundane tasks that aren’t core to their job description.”

Meanwhile, 53% of employees felt they could save up to two hours a day by automating certain tasks.

Various aspects of CRM can also be automated using software. While lead scoring takes many forms, predictive lead scoring is an automated process, which uses machine learning to analyze the data you have collected.

It can learn from trends among your customers and from leads that didn’t close, and will then assign a score to each lead, allowing you to prioritize the most promising ones.

Marketing emails are also simple to automate. The basic approach is to design email templates for specific purposes and then create an automated workflow that sends an email only if certain conditions are met.

For instance, after someone signs up for your mailing list, you could send them an automated welcome email containing a special offer or discount code.

You could also request a customer review after they’ve made a purchase.

The process for both situations can be automated, allowing you to specify how much time should pass between the event that triggers the email being sent and the email actually being sent.

Follow a basic team effectiveness model

Sometimes, going back to the basics when trying to ramp up team productivity levels is useful. This can include using a team effectiveness model to evaluate the current state of your team.

If you’re unsure whether your marketing team has all the components they need to achieve optimal productivity, you can use the GRPI Model of Team Effectiveness to assess the current state.

The GRPI model stands for:

Goals
Roles
Processes
Interactions

According to research from Noel Tichy, who analyzed team conflicts based on the GRPI framework, having no clear goals is to blame for most conflicts.

The remaining issues are primarily attributed to the lack of clarity surrounding job roles and responsibilities.

When those two issues are removed, the leading cause of conflicts is confusion about processes and procedures.

Interpersonal relationships and interactions are the final major cause of problems.

In other words, teamwork in the workplace can be greatly enhanced by focusing on these issues.

First, make sure your marketing team has clear goals and objectives.
Then, you should ensure job roles are clearly defined and leaders are known and respected.
Next, you need to establish clear work processes.
Finally, you need to take appropriate steps to boost the effectiveness, speed, and overall clarity of communication.

Offer professional development opportunities

Giving your team professional development opportunities is a proven way to improve productivity.

In fact, according to research compiled by the Harvard Business Review, organizations with a strong learning culture are 52% more productive.

“Having a strong learning culture, and offering professional development opportunities leads to a workforce that is, on average, 15% more engaged, with employee retention rates between 30% and 50% higher than in organizations without a strong learning culture. ”

Put simply, employees are more likely to take an active interest in work and stay with an organization if they believe their work matters and there are opportunities to develop their careers.

Offering seminars, webinars, and courses that result in employees earning recognized qualifications are all good ways of providing development opportunities.

You can also work with team members to create personal development plans. These plans should clearly outline each individual’s specific goals, while breaking down existing skills and skills they need to acquire to reach those goals.

From there, break the goals down into individual, achievable steps that will lead to the eventual end goal. Objectives should also be organized into priority order.

However, it’s also important to develop a culture that rewards this development through promotion opportunities and internal recruitment rather than always turning to external candidates when vacancies arise. This helps keep employees motivated and will make them feel more valued.

Also, you can aid the professional development of your marketing team by creating a mentorship scheme.

By placing less experienced team members in direct contact with those who are more experienced, competent and further along in their careers, you can improve your team’s productivity in the workplace.

Capitalize on artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is improving rapidly, and it has become a major topic of discussion for marketing content creation.

While organizations have diverse opinions and approaches regarding the use of AI, it can quickly generate content ideas and can be used to create preliminary drafts.

ChatGPT may be the best-known AI tool and it can be used to generate unique content quickly, based on prompts.

However, alternatives, such as Jasper, have been designed specifically with marketing content in mind, making it more purpose-built.

Jasper also goes further, as it can be used to create unique images and graphics, which can also form part of a marketing strategy.

Most AI solutions of this kind follow the same basic process. The user sets parameters and enters prompts, which help to explain what kind of content is needed and what the requirements are for the final text.

The AI then takes this information and generates content, which can then be amended if necessary.

Capsule’s AI Content Assistant feature is especially useful for creating email marketing content quickly. Using this tool, your employees can simply describe the basics of what the email should cover, select the preferred tone and set the length of the email.

The text will then automatically be generated. You can tweak the content or request rewrites with specific parameters since you maintain full control.

“In addition to writing emails and other content much faster, AI can help you overcome writer’s block. ”

When writing, a significant amount of time is wasted trying to develop ideas for content that will appeal to the target audience. With AI, a list of ideas can be generated quickly, enabling you to select the best options.

While you may need to provide some basic training, the good news is that modern AI solutions, such as those powered by ChatGPT, are easy to use and can produce useful and worthwhile results in a matter of minutes.

Make use of analytics

For your marketing team’s time to be considered truly productive, they should be helping you achieve your marketing goals.

That means spending time on the right activities and targeting the right individuals with marketing content.

One of the best ways to maximize the effectiveness of your marketing strategy is to make intelligent use of analytics.

For example, software tools should allow you to view key performance indicators (KPIs) for email marketing campaigns, such as:

The number of recipients who opened the email
The number of people who clicked on links
The number of users who unsubscribed from your mailing list

With these KPIs, it becomes much easier for your marketing team to understand the types of content that work well with a particular audience and the types that don’t perform well or cause people to unsubscribe.

Marketers should also track website and web content metrics. Of course, the metrics that matter most will depend on the nature of your business.

Some of the key analytics metrics to track using tools like Google Analytics include:

Page views
Conversions
Bounce rates
Length of sessions

By making intelligent and effective use of KPIs, you can modify future campaigns and ensure that time is spent creating the kind of marketing content most likely to attract attention or boost sales.

If you start to find that certain types of content are leading to a high bounce rate or low session length, or are failing to generate conversions, you can shift focus to high-performing types of content instead.

Use software to manage and monitor projects

A great way to boost team productivity within marketing departments is to use software to manage and monitor projects as they progress.

Utilizing software that allows this while providing your employees visibility into projects’ progress can be especially useful.

The result is a more transparent project management process, where all members of your team understand the scale of the work ahead and know where things currently stand.

Capsule allows you to manage projects from within your CRM software, making it easy to keep all your important information in one place.

You can create Kanban-style project boards, divide projects into multiple stages, outline the work that needs to be carried out and establish clear goals for the team to work towards.

For each project, it is important to provide easy-to-access updates.

With effective project management, you should know how far the project has advanced and which team members are working on which tasks.

This also makes it easier to find bottlenecks and understand which project areas are taking up the most time so that improvements can be made, resources can be appropriately allocated and productivity can be increased.

Unlock your marketing team’s productivity

Lost productivity is a serious problem within all business departments. For example, productivity issues in the marketing team can lead to lost opportunities to attract new customers or retain existing ones.

By following these steps, you can reduce unnecessary time wasted looking for information, improve employee engagement, monitor projects and cater to employees working from home.

With the right software, you can capitalize on automation and AI technology to reduce workloads and improve your team’s productivity.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and access a 14-day free trial.

How to overcome objections as an SDR

Jon Davis — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Sales development representatives (SDRs) can close more deals by overcoming the most common sales objections they’ll inevitably encounter.

Of course, overcoming sales objections is nothing new — it’s been part of sales for as long as people have been selling. Yet, many SDRs don’t know the techniques involved in getting around objections and, therefore, lose an opportunity.

How do you handle objections when selling? Read these seven most common sales objections examples to find out.

The 7 most common sales objections and how to overcome them

1. Claiming the price is too high

The most common objection or outright rejection that SDRs encounter is price. Why? Because people often use it to try and drive down costs, even when they know they’re going to make a purchase.

Equally, of course, this objection might be used by prospects when they really do think the cost of your product or service is too high.

“Price objections can occur for numerous reasons. Perhaps your prospect is comparing your offer with a lower-priced competitor, or they may be experiencing income or cash flow problems.”

Alternatively, they might simply not yet fully understand the value and potential ROI your product or service can bring.

Overall, price objection causes a widespread challenge in sales across multiple sectors. Because it directly impacts a company’s financial situation, in the mind of many prospects, pricing often means business risk.

How to overcome price objections

To overcome price objections, it’s crucial that SDRs don’t just defend the price. Instead, they should focus on demonstrating the value of their product or service.

Begin by empathizing with the prospect and acknowledging their expenditure concerns.
Next, build a strong case for your product or service.
Clearly state the unique features and benefits of your offering with the specific commercial needs or pain points of the prospect.
Explaining how your product or service solves these issues or improves their current situation will help them see beyond the asking price.
Then, provide concrete examples of the return on investment (ROI) that other customers have realized. Now you’re selling value, not the product or service itself.
If appropriate, consider explaining any flexible payment terms or options, something that can go a long way in helping you to seal the deal.
Above all, be confident in defending your price. Demonstrating that you believe in the value of your product or service can help convince the prospect as well. Simply dropping the price immediately will make your prospect think they were right to value your offering at a lower price point.

2. No need for the product or service offered

Declining products/services can happen because your prospect doesn’t understand the value your product brings.

They may believe their existing solutions are adequate or, they might not understand the problem that your product or service resolves.

How to overcome ‘no need’ objections

Overcoming this objection requires a deep understanding of your proposal. Your main strategy should center on educating the prospect on the problem that your product or service solves.

Through thoughtful questioning about pain points and with active listening, SDRs should seek to uncover the challenges and stresses that the prospect currently endures, perhaps needlessly.
After identifying the pain points, it’s crucial to communicate how your product or service will address the challenges you’ve identified. Be specific. Relate your proposal to the challenge in a meaningful way.
By presenting a clear narrative that links the prospect’s challenges to the benefits and features of your solution, you can create an argument for why your solution is relevant to their needs.
The key to overcoming the ‘no requirement’ objection lies in shifting the conversation from the concept of ‘need’ to solving the prospect’s underlying problems. Shift the conversation from how your product or service is ‘needed’ to one that is presented as an optimized solution.

3. The prospect is happy with their current solution or provider

A common challenge SDRs face is when potential customers resist a new product or service, not because of any shortcomings but because they’re satisfied with their existing system.

“Fear of change fuels this sales objection. Sometimes, people worry about the disruption that could result from transitioning to a new solution or the costs associated with switching.”

How to overcome existing solution objections

How do you handle objections in sales when the prospect claims to have no need to switch?

First, SDRs must highlight the advantages and improvements that their product or service can bring. They can do this by comparing their product to the existing solution, but doing so shouldn’t involve talking down their current system.
Instead, acknowledge the prospect’s comfort with their current system and reassure them that change, although uncomfortable, will offer opportunities to enhance productivity and increase revenue.
After that, identify potential pain points or limitations in their current arrangements. Do this by understanding competitor solutions, of course, but also by asking your prospect the right questions. For example, you might ask your prospect, “If you could change one thing about your current solution, what would it be?” This will give you an opportunity to explain how your proposal would overcome this limitation.
Once these issues are identified, show how your proposal directly addresses these limitations and offers enhanced benefits.
Demonstrating how easy it is to switch can be a powerful strategy. Do this by providing a clear plan for the implementation process, offering support or training during the transition phase, and explaining how your team works to ensure a smooth changeover.
Cite case studies or testimonials from other customers who’ve made the switch, especially those experiencing significant improvements. This is a powerful way to break down this type of objection. Evidence of others’ successful outcomes can reassure prospects about shifting to your solution.

4. The prospect isn’t the decision-maker

A common hurdle SDRs face is interacting with an individual who isn’t the ultimate decision-maker. This objection can seemingly put a halt to the sales process. It may come up because the person you’re communicating with doesn’t have the authority to make purchasing decisions, or they might not be fully invested in the buying process.

Equally, they might be gathering information on behalf of someone else or merely screening potential solutions before presenting options to the true decision-maker.

This situation is common in B2B sales, where buying decisions are often made by a group of stakeholders rather than a single individual.

How to overcome decision-maker objections

Overcoming this objection requires an approach that involves building a strong relationship with your contact while working towards reaching the actual decision-maker.

Work with your current contact and ensure they’ve got all the information needed to become an advocate within their organization for the product or service you’re selling.
Then, through your contact — whether they’re the decision-maker or not — try to gain a better understanding of the organization’s decision-making process.
How does your contact feed information to decision-makers? Is their opinion taken into consideration? Do additional people make the purchasing decisions? All these questions will help you discover what you need to know about the decision-making process and how to bypass the objection, such as asking for an introduction to the right person.

Remember that while it can be frustrating to discover you’re not speaking with the actual decision-maker, your contact may likely play an important role in the sales process and can become a powerful ally in the company.

If you have to reach out directly to the decision-maker without an introduction, ensure you:

Reference your initial contact and the discussions you’ve had. This creates continuity and legitimacy in your conversation.
When communicating with the decision-maker, focus on the value and benefits your product or service can bring to their business.
Be prepared to answer questions about ROI, integration, and technical support, as these are often top concerns for most commercial decision-makers with budgetary control.

5. Your product is seen as overly complex

This type of sales objection usually boils down to a lack of understanding of your solution.

After all, many people worry about the knowledge acquisition associated with adopting a new system, especially one that is technically advanced or innovative.

They may also have concerns over integration difficulties or the additional time and resources it might take up.

“In essence, the prospect may be reluctant to make a purchase because of disruption and productivity loss caused by adopting your proposal. ”

This is an especially common objection in sales among technical products or services, especially when functionality isn’t particularly user-friendly.

How to overcome overly complex objections

Countering this objection means addressing the prospect’s fears directly. For instance:

Demonstrate the ease of use and support that accompanies your product or service immediately. Empathize with the prospect’s concerns about complexity. Assure them that it’s reasonable to feel a little overwhelmed or confused when confronted with new technology.
Once you have acknowledged their concerns, explain how your product was designed with user-friendliness or simplicity in mind.
Offer a hands-on trial to allow the prospect to experience the user interface first-hand. This type of exposure to anything new can help to dispel misconceptions about complexity. It also allows you to showcase your solution’s functionality.
SDRs should highlight the training and support resources available to their customers. Whether it’s a comprehensive onboarding process, the provision of user manuals, access to tutorial videos, or dedicated customer support, make sure your prospect understands that they will not be left alone to navigate their new solution.
Sharing case studies from clients who had similar complexity concerns but found the transition easier than expected can be very impactful. Use them as success stories that can be emulated by anyone.

6. Concerns over implementation time

In many sales development setups, lengthy implementation time is a frequently raised objection.

Typically, prospects say they’re concerned about the disruption that the transition period from their current system to your solution would lead to.

“This worry might be a result of past experiences with difficult implementations or simply a fear of change itself. ”

In business, time is a critical resource. Therefore, any solution that’s perceived to consume an excessive amount of time, especially during the implementation phase, may be viewed as a liability.

How to overcome implementation objections

Handling this objection requires SDRs to be reassuring.

Offer a clear explanation of the process and proof that a successful roll-out can be expected from the experience of other clients.
Note the prospect’s concerns about disruption, acknowledging that it’s a valid consideration in any decision to adopt a new system. Dismissing them can lead to a full rejection.
After that, provide a concise outline of your implementation procedures. Break it down step-by-step to make it easier to understand.
Highlight the efficiency of your approach and how this can alleviate their fears.
For example, in a B2B scenario, if you have a project management structure in place for implementation, such as dedicated project managers or implementation specialists, then SDRs should mention them.
Offer support during and after the transition and explain how this can make implementation simpler.

7. The prospect thinks the proposal isn’t credible

This tends to arise when a prospect doesn’t feel confident in your company’s ability to deliver what it promises. This may be based on past experiences, but it’s more likely an overly ambitious expectation based on exaggerated claims made by competitors.

What this often boils down to is that the prospect is cautious about investing resources into anything they think as being unreliable or unproven.

How to overcome credibility objections

Countering this objection involves a systematic approach to establishing commercial credibility in your sector.

Start by establishing the root cause of their lack of trust. If it’s because of a lack of familiarity, for example, then you should invest time to explain your company’s background. Highlight your business mission, your past successes, and your brand values.
On the other hand, if past negative experiences are influencing them, then show some empathy by acknowledging their concerns, but communicate as clearly as you can how your product or service is different.
If your product or service has won awards, now is the time to talk about them. Equally, credible trade associations or memberships can help alleviate some common concerns that prospects may have about trust.
Mention guarantees, free trials, or other aspects of your business that might help to overcome this sales objection.

Start tackling sales objections

In most of the common objections in sales processes outlined above, SDRs must react with empathy and active or engaged listening to avoid rejection.

By focusing on your prospect’s particular objection, you can still turn them into a lifelong customer, even if you don’t seal the deal there and then.

Like anything in sales, the solution to any objection should be focused on the unique attributes of the individual or organization.

Make sure your sales team is equipped with the right tools to stay on top of their prospects. For example, utilize sales pipeline and contact management solutions so your SDRs can always tailor their responses to meet individual circumstances with confidence.

Click here to learn more about Capsule CRM and get a 14-day free trial.

Capsule achieves SOC 2 Type II accreditation

Dan Duran — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule is very proud to announce that we have achieved SOC 2 Type II accreditation.

Having SOC 2 accreditation is important for any SaaS company. It demonstrates that Capsule takes security and reliability of our systems seriously, meaning customers are able to use it with confidence knowing that the system’s infrastructure is secure and reliable, and ultimately their data is safe.

If an organization wants to achieve SOC 2 certification they must submit independent audit reports from an accredited auditing firm. The resulting report provides assurance that the company is compliant with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) specific Trust Service Principles and Criteria. These principles and criteria include areas like security, availability, confidentiality, privacy, processing integrity and more.

The report not only assesses the company’s security protocols but also provides detailed documentation that is reviewed in real time. This combination of assessment and monitoring makes it much less likely that any malicious actors can gain access to customer data.

“Achieving SOC 2 Type II accreditation is a significant achievement for Capsule, and the result of a culture where we’ve always taken the security of our customer’s data seriously. We hope it serves as a seal of reassurance to anyone weighing up which CRM they should choose.”
Phillip Haines, CTO

Announcing our new Workflow Automation features

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 23 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We all have small admin tasks that we do on a daily basis but have you ever really sat and thought about how much of your day or week they really take up? When you multiply that by the number of people on your team, it’s likely to be a lot more time than you think. 53% of employees believe they could actually save up to 2 hours a day by automating tasks that equates to roughly 20 hours a month. This is all valuable time that could be focused on doing what you do best, winning the sale or completing projects.

We always believe that the best way to support our customers is to build features that really make an impact on their day and help them get some of that valuable time back that is used on manual, repetitive tasks.

That’s why we’re excited to reveal that we’ve just released new features that will allow you to eliminate repetitive tasks, streamline your workflow, reduce human error, and improve collaboration. Introducing Workflow Automation.

You’ll be able to take your winning sales formula and efficient project management processes and build repeatable steps to complete them - structure and consistency for the win! Essentially, you’ll be able to automate business processes, from an initial enquiry, to completing the sale all the way through to delivering the piece of work or delivering your service.

Let’s dive into how that looks in Capsule

What you can do

With Workflow Automation you can automate processes related to Opportunities and Projects. You can set them up to trigger when an Opportunity Milestone or Project Stage or status changes (i.e. if you win or lose the Opportunity) and you can also automate an action based on the completion of a Track. The actions you can automate are:

Send an email
Assign Opportunity/Project to an Owner
Assign Opportunity/Project to a Team
Add a Track
Add a Linked Project to an Opportunity
Change Milestone or Change Opportunity Status to Won / Lost
Change the Stage of a Project or Change the Status of a Project to Closed

Let’s say you have a pipeline that has a “New” Milestone for all new Opportunities. You can set up an action that assigns the Opportunity to an owner or a team and also set up an action that adds a Track to that Opportunity. (Tracks are what we call a series of tasks). When the Track is completed you can set up a subsequent action such as changing the milestone.

Within the same workflow, you might also want to set up an automation for when the Opportunity is won. When you win an Opportunity there often needs to be work done after this and by a different team. Instead of manually creating a linked Project each time and assigning it, when the Opportunity is won, you can set this up to happen without having to lift a finger. The Project will get the same name as the Opportunity, will be assigned to whoever you select when you create the automation and will be added to a Project Board or Stage that you choose.

Automating emails

Send personalized emails automatically when a deal is created, reaches a specific stage in your sales pipeline or your project management workflow.

All you need to do is to create your Email Template and add it to your Workflow Automation. Just to note, you’ll need to be a Gmail or Outlook user to connect your mailbox to Capsule and send emails.

Imagine that whenever a client purchases a service from you, you consistently send them an onboarding email. To streamline this process, you have the option to create an automation. Once the deal is won, the automation will automatically add a linked project to the initial stage in your project board. Simultaneously, it will trigger the sending of a welcome email to your newly acquired client.

With the ability to send emails as part of Workflow Automation you can rest assured that important emails are sent at the right time, your business is consistent with how they communicate with customers and your work is streamlined, allowing you to get more done with less time.

How can Workflow Automation be used?

Marina works in the new business team of a Research & Development company closing sales, usually when the sale is won she manually creates a linked Project and assigns it to the technical team. With Workflow Automation, every time a sale is won a Project automatically gets created for the technical team to take care of the new customer.

Jeff works in a manufacturing company, before he can close a deal he needs to send samples out to his prospective customers. There’s a separate process behind this handled by a separate team. It’s at this proposal stage that an automation is set up that automatically creates a linked project which the sample team then picks up and works on in parallel.

A Bookkeeping team passes Projects between the Bookkeepers and Account Managers in order to ensure all work and administrative tasks are completed. Workflow Automations guarantee the correct person is assigned and tasks are completed at each and every Stage - giving them consistency of delivery.

Check out our support documentation for more details on how to set up Workflow Automation. Note: Workflow Automation is available to all our Growth, Advanced and Ultimate customers. It can be set up by an account Administrator.

Best Xero CRM integrations

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 16 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

When people are looking for a CRM to use alongside Xero, they want one that’s quick to set up and easy to use. The integration should be seamless and prove in a short amount of time that using the two services together will save time and deliver greater business insights.

A lot of popular CRMs out there have a Xero integration but they don’t have the same functionality or can be tricky to install. Some also use a third-party service and can be quite costly in the long run. Make sure you have a list of what you need at the ready when it comes to evaluating CRMs.

Can I use Xero as my CRM?

Xero does a good job of helping organize business finances. It helps you track purchases and payments and gives you an overview of how your business is doing. It limits you though in how it can help manage leads and customers. When you start growing your business it’s important to have a CRM in place. A CRM will help you manage your sales and stay connected with your customers.

Once you’ve chosen a CRM, you’ll soon start to see the benefits of having one in place as well as accounting software. You can see who’s working with which customers, where the leads are in the buying process, all customer communication, and more. In a nutshell, a CRM can give you a 360-degree view of your customers that the whole team can see.

Why should I integrate Xero with a CRM?

When you integrate Xero with a CRM you’ll only need to enter customer, lead, or vendor information once. This saves you a whole lot of time and cuts down on the chance of making an error.

You can also keep your leads and processes involved in converting them separate from your actual customers. Having all your leads in Xero would get messy so keeping them out of Xero makes sense.

Accounting data also doesn’t need to be available to the whole team. With a CRM and Xero connected teams can access and share leads without needing access to Xero. Team members can still create and send estimates, follow up on sales and in general improve the whole customer experience.

7 CRMs that integrate with Xero

Let’s take a look at some of the top-rated CRMs in the Xero App Marketplace.

1. Capsule

The Capsule Xero integration is nifty, quick to set up, and simple to use. Capsule has recent positive reviews on the Xero App Marketplace.

“I love the ease with which I can switch from managing my client workload to managing their finances and billing. It’s all literally at the touch of a button.”

If you’re already a Xero customer that has customer and supplier records stored there then the Capsule integration will auto-import those into the CRM in a few clicks. You won’t have to enter the same information twice or do any manual linking.

Once you’ve hooked the two systems up you can then add sales opportunities to contacts, track communications and keep track of customer relationships.

When you’re set up you can choose which contacts you want to sync so Xero isn’t cluttered with sales and marketing contacts that don’t need to be in there.

As you start to win more sales, you can then create an invoice once the sale is complete. Capsule provides a seamless link and pre-populates the invoice inside Xero.

In Capsule, you can see the customer’s lifetime value, history, and value of outstanding or overdue payments. This makes it easy to get an overview of your customers and their accounts.

Most suitable for: Xero users looking to get started with an affordable CRM. Sales teams looking for an intuitive CRM that integrates with Xero.

Xero Marketplace Rating: 4.6/5 (63 reviews)

Visit the Xero Marketplace and use the “Get this app” button to get started today.

2. HubSpot

Image via HubSpot

This integration developed by Xero offers an invoicing integration alongside a 1-way sync of contacts from Xero to Hubspot for UK, US, NZ customers (at an extra cost of £6 per month for the invoicing feature) and the 1-way contact sync for US customers. You can start a trial with HubSpot using either integration as both will sync data from Xero to HubSpot.

With Xero’s integration, you can sync contacts from Xero to Hubspot and create invoices inside HubSpot that sync into Xero. There are a couple of catches highlighted by review feedback:

it assumes that Xero is the primary source of customer data so you need to update customer data in Xero first before it flows through to HubSpot. This is counterintuitive to the idea that a customer journey starts in the CRM.
you have to be in Australia, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom to use the invoicing feature.

Recent reviews show the frustration of HubSpot customers trying to use this integration. In some cases it’s either not available to them and it wasn’t obvious or the way the contacts sync isn’t right for their business.

“It syncs contacts - cool. But would be nice to see quotes/invoices in HubSpot contact/deal records. Invoices/Quotes when created and an easy way to link to Xero quotes from HubSpot deals”

Most suitable for: Established Hubspot users in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom who invoice in those countries’ currencies.

Xero Marketplace Rating: 4.0/5 (41 reviews) On the HubSpot App Marketplace: Invoicing integration 2.1/5 (37 reviews), Contact Sync 1.7 (11 reviews)

3. Breadwinner for Salesforce

Image via Breadwinner

Breadwinner, a third-party service, built this integration with plans starting at $2,460 on top of Salesforce and Xero licenses.

The integration seems to operate in a similar way to Capsule. Where it differs is that it does claim to have a two-way sync. But, it’s not clear whether this means the Breadwinner integration will pre-populate a new Salesforce account for you with customer information that you already have in Xero. On the Xero integration listing it mentions that the integration works best when you already have 5-100 licenses. This suggests you need to have a level of familiarity with Salesforce before integrating it with Xero - not the other way around.

Having said that, with one of the paid options, you can see invoice statuses inside Salesforce and you can create invoices and sales orders from inside Salesforce. You can also see the financial data of your customers such as outstanding and overdue invoices, as well as total customer lifetime value.

Since it is a third-party paid-for integration there are recent reviews many of which are generally positive.

“When we ran Salesforce, we used Breadwinner but found it very expensive, so moved to a free app in the marketplace - it didn’t sync or create invoices, but it was useful. Anyway if you have the budget, Breadwinner is likely for you!”

Most suitable for: Those already using Salesforce and where budget isn’t an issue.

No longer featured on the Xero App Marketplace. On the Salesforce App Exchange: 4.92/5 (109 reviews).

4. Insightly

Image via Insightly

Setting up Insightly isn’t as intuitive as setting up some of the other CRMs like Capsule for example. Since there isn’t a sync between the two systems, it’s not a great CRM if you want to try out a CRM for the first time as a Xero user. How the integration works is that you have to manually link contacts between the two systems.

Once you’re set up with the contacts that you want linked then you can sync the data on linked contacts. But, users will need to remember to force an update in Xero when they change a contact in Insightly.

You can also create draft Xero invoices inside Insightly. You can then approve them in Xero and Insightly will update the status of the invoices.

Once you’ve linked contacts, you can see the customer’s lifetime value and the value of outstanding or overdue payments. It’s useful to see the financial situation of customer accounts alongside sales opportunities and communications.

Despite having a large number of reviews on the Xero App Marketplace, there are no recent reviews and older reviews indicate that customers are dissatisfied. Reviewers mention that they sense only large customers get the support that they need.

“I used to use it all the time and the link was reliable when updating details of clients. Then it stopped working, then sometimes it would say it was working, and then it did work, and then it didn’t work again. Contacted Insightly and they did not seem to know much about the app. It had very limited functionality anyway so I ditched it.”

Most suitable for: Businesses who don’t need to trial a CRM or who are happy to spend the time to link contacts.

Xero Marketplace Rating: 4.5/5 (124 reviews)

5. Copper

Image via Copper

The Xero integration links and displays Xero invoices associated with a lead, person, company, or opportunity.

It might be helpful to have this information displayed alongside your sales information if you’re already a Copper user. But, if you want to try out a CRM for the first time with information you already have in Xero, this integration won’t be for you. It doesn’t sync contact data at any point.

Unlike some of the CRMs in this list you can’t create new invoices in Copper. You’ll have to navigate to Xero to do that. This integration definitely isn’t as feature-rich as some of the others mentioned.

There are no reviews for this integration on the Xero App Marketplace and it is no longer listed on the Xero App marketplace.

Most suitable for: Those already using Copper who aren’t heavy Xero users.

6. Pipedrive

Image via Pipedrive

The Pipedrive - Xero integration mentioned has been developed by a third-party - SynQ

SyncQ provides a solution to sync records between Pipedrive and Xero in both directions automatically. With SyncQ, users can view quotes, invoices and payments directly in Pipedrive.

There aren’t any reviews of this integration on the Xero App Marketplace. On the Pipedrive Marketplace, there are a few mixed reviews, hence its low star rating.

“As addressed by others, Xero integration does not work. After a full week of communication back and forth trying to get things integrated properly, I got the answer that basically it’s not their problem, and to contact Xero.”

Most suitable for: Sales-focussed businesses who already have tested Pipedrive out and are sure they want to use both systems going forward.

Xero Marketplace Rating: 0/5 (0 reviews) On the Pipedrive Marketplace: 2.5/5 (3 reviews)

Choose the CRM that’s best for your business first

Integrating your accounting software and your CRM is important so that you and your team can get a complete view of your customers. A lot of CRMs on the market are offering integrations with Xero but as we’ve seen they’re not the same.

Make sure that you choose the CRM that you need but that it also has the features you need when it comes to linking it to Xero. It should give you a better idea of your customers, make work easier for your team and save time when completing common tasks.

If you keep the big picture in mind you’ll find the CRM that’s right for your business and one that your team will actually like using.

Unlock your productivity with our new AI Content Assistant

Chloe Lloyd — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

What if there was a way to quickly generate content without wasting time feeling uninspired?

Well, now there is! Introducing AI Content Assistant - your helping hand so you can say goodbye to writer’s block and wasted time staring at a blank page.

AI Content Assistant helps you write relevant emails in seconds at the touch of a button.

All you have to do is tell our assistant what you want to write about, select the type of email, its tone, and it’ll do the rest for you. It’ll generate content that your customers will want to open.

With AI Content Assistant, you always have complete control over the content that you send. You can insert the content directly into an email or copy it to edit and fine-tune the text until it meets your exact requirements. Then, plug in the personalized elements from your Capsule data, ensuring all your emails will always have your personal touch, without the hassle of writing it from scratch.

To get to the AI Content Assistant you’ll need to navigate to a Person or Organization Contact Record, an Opportunity or a Project and click the Send Email button.

When the Email Composer opens up. You’ll see a new button next to the Templates that’ll open up the AI Content Assistant.

Let’s say you want to update your client on how a project is going or perhaps you had a meeting with a client and agreed on some next steps. You can add those as bullet points in the AI Content Assistant and it will build email content around that for you.

Or, maybe you already have an email that you send to a potential customer once someone has sent in an inquiry. If you want to try something new our AI Content Assistant can rewrite that email for you.

Depending on your Capsule plan there are different monthly quotas available for you to use:

Free - 10 Chat GPT AI Content Assists.
Starter - 10 Chat GPT AI Content Assists.
Growth - 1000 Chat GPT AI Content Assists.
Advanced - 1000 Chat GPT AI Content Assists.
Ultimate - 1000 Chat GPT AI Content Assists.

AI Content Assistant is incredibly easy-to-use. No matter your experience level or technical background, anyone can use this feature immediately — saving time, energy and unblocking your productivity issues.

Try out AI Content Assistant today and see why it’s the perfect companion for anyone who needs help getting started with emails quickly!

What is Customer Success? (and should I be using Customer Success software?)

Barry Devon (Akita) — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

What is Customer Success?

Surely every company cares about how successful their customers are?

Of course they do. However, the term Customer Success usually refers to how subscription and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies manage their existing customers.

Why specifically SaaS companies?

Unlike traditional companies, they don’t get paid upfront. SaaS vendors are paid incrementally, in monthly or annual subscriptions. This means they need to work hard to retain customers long enough to cover the cost of acquiring those customers (and make a profit). This is where the practice of Customer Success comes in.

The objective of Customer Success is to help customers achieve their desired outcomes i.e. solve the problems that drove them to buy your software. SaaS Customer Success Managers (CSMs) work with their customers to figure out what they are trying to achieve and provide the required resources and training. This generally involves guiding customers through a structured onboarding and subsequently monitoring how users are engaging with the solution over time. CSMs will generally schedule either regular or reactive meetings to review progress and address potential issues or opportunities. CSMs will also monitor other touchpoints the customer may have had with the company like support tickets, NPS surveys, billing and feature requests.

Does it sound like you should be engaging in Customer Success?

If so, then you may be a good fit for a category of software called, unsurprisingly, Customer Success Management software.

How does Customer Success Management software help?

Customer Success platforms help subscription companies, particularly Software-as-a-Service [SaaS] companies, improve customer retention, reduce churn and grow revenues from existing customers.

They do this by pulling together all of a company’s key customer data into one place and use that data to track customer health, identify at-risk customers and uncover expansion opportunities.

What data is useful?

Some of the best sources of customer data for this type of software come from integrations with other business software e.g. billing platforms, support platforms, chat software, survey software and of course, CRM platforms, like Capsule, that contain much of your customer profile and sales data.

Akita is one of the longest-standing Customer Success platforms on the market and has a native integration with Capsule that pulls in all of the key customer profile, activity and sales details that are held within Capsule. As this data is refreshed every 3 hours - your 360 view in Akita is always up to date.

What are the benefits of Customer Success Software?

Once integrated you can combine your Capsule data with information from multiple other sources to do things like:

Create granular customer segments use comprehensive filters to identify customers that require attention e.g. At-risk customers, Onboarding customers, customers with expansion potential, etc.
Build comprehensive 360-degree customer account views all data is stored and accessible in one place.
Get alerts for changes to your customers’ profile or behavior set and forget. You don’t have to ‘live’ in the platform. Akita will monitor your customers and notify you of changes you need to know about.
Trigger Playbooks to automate some of your essential or repeating processes e.g. Onboarding new customers or managing your customers’ contract renewals.
Build Customer Health Scores use data points from any source as components of your customer health score. The score is updated multiple times per day.

What is Akita? How does the Akita integration work?

Akita is Customer Success Software which integrates with Capsule. Simple. When connected, Capsule data will start to flow into Akita and automatically associate with your accounts and contacts to provide you with a true 360-degree customer view.

For more about how Akita integrates with Capsule see here.

CRM vs ERP: Which One Do You Need?

Dan Duran — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Businesses and organizations looking for software solutions to automate their processes often explore CRM and ERP systems – two of today’s most widely used types of software. It may be challenging to choose between the two while considering your business size, nature and needs. It’s worth finding out about the differences between a CRM and an ERP system, especially if you want to find the best solution that can take your business to greater heights.

In this article, we explore the difference between ERP and CRM to help you understand how each system works and which solution is right for you.

CRM vs ERP: definition

ERP stands for enterprise resource planning, while CRM stands for customer relationship management. CRM is mainly used by the marketing, advertising, sales and customer service side of a business. ERP meanwhile focuses on the entire back-end operations of a business — the day-to-day operations like accounting, supply chain management and project management.

Some features of both software solutions may overlap since both can aim to make a business more successful through automation. In some cases, both of the systems can handle finances, projects, forecasts, contacts and more. This can make it challenging for businesses to pick between CRM and ERP, but understanding the core purpose and features can help you make the right decision.

CRM vs ERP: target operations and implementation

A CRM ensures that all customer needs are being satisfied by the company, improving overall customer satisfaction with every interaction at every level of the organization. ERP targets all operational aspects of the entire business to simplify your processes, increase productivity and reduce your business costs. It’s safe to say that ERP is all about making business operations seamless, while CRM is more about making customers happy and closing opportunities.

Both have their own identifying features to help businesses reach their goals.

Deployment

Deployment of both CRM and ERP applications can be quite similar. Companies can deploy a CRM or an ERP as a standalone software on-premise or through a cloud-based system with remote servers.

Data Gathering, Collection and Storage

Both ERP and CRM software collect, store and share data through a centralized system. This means that employees from various departments can extract and view data from a single database, streamlining the process of recording and updating information based on business transactions and customer data.

CRM vs ERP: features and functionalities

As mentioned, the primary difference between ERP and CRM is the approaches they use to increase sales. They have individual features for front-end and back-end operations of the business.

Main Features of a CRM

Customer Contact Management

A CRM creates a complete view of all relevant information about your customers, including history of interactions, purchases, inquiries and updates affecting customer profile. This makes it easier for sales and support teams to share customer information and take the necessary steps to ensure customer satisfaction.

Sales Pipeline

A sales pipeline is a visual representation of all the stages where a prospective customer becomes a customer. With this representation, sales teams can logically organize prospects, address risks, close opportunities and predict sales based on the behavior of the prospective customers. A CRM allows sales teams to perform these actions directly from the sales pipeline view in one database.

Marketing and Advertising

CRMs often feature marketing functionality to help target your audiences. This can help you run campaigns, plan a content calendar, create personalized content, segment targeted audiences, measure your campaign performance and even see what contacts are doing on your website. The CRM part can help you understand your customer better and target them based on what they need.

Data Analysis and Reporting

A CRM can be used for marketing, sales and support, to gather a information about interactions and transactions. This information can be useful for data analysis and reporting, which can all be done in real time to streamline your marketing campaigns, find sales opportunities and offer customer support.

Multi-Channel Support and Communication

Since CRM stands for customer relationship management, they can offer tools and features directed towards customer service and support, like auto storage of emails and contacts. This can help sales representatives get a better view of where conversations are up to so they can offer a better service.

Limitations of a CRM

CRMs are designed to improve relationships with customers, so there are limits to their capabilities. Some CRMs may not support all third-party integrations your company needs for business functions. This can often be addressed via integration platforms like Zapier or Integromat. They also don’t tend to focus on back office tasks like order processing or the level of stock available.

Main features of an ERP

Supply Chain Management

ERP plays a huge role in supply chain management, the process of organizing how the company manages the flow of goods and services and the supply of raw materials to create final products. ERPs help companies streamline material procurement, restocking processes, and inventory management. It offers a single system where the company can manage all these activities.

Business Intelligence

Through data, ERPs improve a company’s business intelligence by streamlining data flow. It can offer timely data from any department of the company and provide accurate reports in visual format. Key individuals can easily access operational data and have an ERP analyze the data to come up with meaningful insights and actionable knowledge that can improve business performance.

Human Resource Management

If a CRM performs better in customer relationship management, human resource management is the domain of an ERP. It can process and automate tasks for better employee management, including but not limited to attendance, payroll, onboarding, offboarding, time tracking and workflow. Human resource managers will only need to access end-data as ERPs can already automate salary deductions or increases, record attendance and transfer payments.

Order Processing

ERP is especially useful for businesses selling products. Order processing comes with an extensive workflow that requires a huge amount of data, but an ERP can handle all that and even simplify the process. From initial order and product shipment to sales analysis and reporting–an ERP can automate data transfer, so all departments and team members can participate in the order management process easily

Financial Management

ERP software helps manage all financial transactions of a business in a centralized system. You can get accurate and real-time recording of all financial data–the money entering and leaving your company. This feature can be useful for tracking business costs, reducing business costs, and exploring investment opportunities.

Limitations of an ERP

Since an ERP mainly focuses on all the back-end operations of a business, it may have some limitations in requirements for front of house functions that are also critical to business performance. There could be limitations to consider such as customization, timeline of implementation and also the cost to licence the software.

The best way to overcome these limitations is to look for the right ERP system to fit your business and individual departments. ERP systems tend to work better in manufacturing companies, distribution operations, construction, healthcare and industrial services. Internally, you should also ensure proper implementation and planning with the help of your employees to reduce training time and prevent workflow inefficiency.

How to Decide Between a CRM and an ERP System

Your company should create a clear brief and decide based on the features and functionalities it needs. Before you decide, you must first answer the following questions:

What are your current business needs?
What are your business goals?
What are your short-term and long-term business strategies
What is your budget?
How big is your business?
What is the nature of your business?

As you answer these questions, keep in mind the difference between an ERP and a CRM.

A CRM is the main tool for sales representatives targeting customer relationship management, but it can also include features that can be used by marketers or employees who want a tool for project management. If you fully focus on getting leads, boosting sales, and building customer relationships, a CRM is a good software solution for you.

An ERP is for every business process that happens behind the scenes—all the aspects that affect your business but the customers don’t see. If you want to fully focus on supply chain management, inventory management, human resource management and order tracking, an ERP is a good standalone software solution for your business.

The decision to invest in an ERP or CRM depends on the needs and problem areas of your business. In addition, you should also consider the size and organizational structure of your business.

Can CRM and ERP Work Together?

ERP and CRM systems are not mutually exclusive. CRM vs ERP can actually be CRM and ERP. You can actually use both if you think it’s necessary for the improvement of your business performance. Using both a CRM and ERP for your business, especially for day-to-day operations, can offer a lot of benefits. If you can’t decide which of the two to prioritise or you need the individual features of both software solutions, then it might be a good idea to combine both in your business operations. Many companies have a CRM that is fully integrated with an ERP.

Here are some of the benefits you can get by using both CRM and ERP:

More Integrations
The combination of a CRM and ERP will allow you to integrate more data, features, and third-party integrations. This beats the third-party software support limitation between the two solutions.
Improved Sales Processes
CRMs, with their features related to sales pipeline and sales management, can assist with the production planning ERPs handle. You can solve issues raised by customers regarding your products as your ERP can alert your CRM regarding inventory problems, product shortages, shipping issues and more.
Avoid Data Duplication, Improve Data Sharing
With the power across the two solutions, all departments in your company can now have a centralized system with better data gathering, storing and sharing features and more accurate information. Having a CRM with integrated ERP (or vice versa) can avoid content duplication and improve collaboration within workflows.
Accurate Quoting
With an ERP, your sales department can have real-time access to your inventory and product information to offer more accurate quotes, shipping times and production schedule. Combined with a CRM, you can build more loyal customers as you’ll improve consistency and accuracy when delivering your products and services.
Improve Forecasting
With both solutions at your fingertips, you can improve your business forecasting and make use of better business planning. Data is power, and the more data you have, the better. You can easily prevent shortages and excess in your inventory, gather more business trends, and improve customer satisfaction.
Better Workforce
A CRM combined with an ERP can definitely empower your workforce, provided they have proper training. Your employees will have access to tools that can automate their work and make other tasks much easier to handle. When employees throughout your organization have better tools and resources, they work better. You can then improve employee productivity, performance and consistency.

Start your Journey

The success of your business doesn’t only depend on the software solutions you use. So, regardless of whether you use a CRM or an ERP, your business should still focus on the tangibles — its employees, products or services, and customers. Use CRMs and ERPs as solutions to improve your business processes at key points of your journey.

If you’re just getting started with CRM and ERP, start your journey with Capsule CRM. It can help improve your customer relationships as well as your business processes.

QuickBooks CRM integrations - what no one else tells you

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

When we ask our customers what they need when integrating QuickBooks with their CRM it’s that both CRM and integration should be quick to set up and easy to use, the sync should be seamless and this should save time and give more clarity into the business.

A lot of CRMs claim to have a QuickBooks integration. But be careful, not all integrations are easy to set up or have the features you need. Many only integrate through a third-party app, meaning extra costs. You’ll want to pick one that’s easy to set up, easy to use but that also does everything you need it to.

First, let’s take a look at the benefits of integrating QuickBooks with a CRM, and then we’ll look at some of the best CRMs that integrate with QuickBooks & QuickBooks Online, and how customers rated them.

The benefits of integrating QuickBooks with a CRM

QuickBooks organizes your business finances helping you track purchases and payments, and how your business is doing financially. But it doesn’t actively help you manage your leads and customers. Therefore, when you want to start increasing sales and deliver a personalized service to your customers, it’s important to connect QuickBooks with a CRM.

QuickBooks Online isn’t optimized for customer relations

QuickBooks organizes your business finances helping you track purchases and payments, and how your business is doing financially. But it doesn’t do a lot to help you manage your leads and customers. Therefore, when you want to start increasing sales and deliver a personalized service to your customers, it’s important to connect QuickBooks with a CRM.

When you do this, it will make what you know about your customers spring to life. You’ll know where they’re at in the buying process. You’ll be able to record communication preferences and record a conversation history. You’ll be able to make sure someone on your team is responsible for that relationship. And this is a 360-degree view that everyone on your team can see.

You’ll experience a shorter sales cycle

QuickBooks can feel clunky when there are too many people involved. It can even lead to bottlenecking during the invoice and estimate phase. When you aren’t meeting the demands of your sales cycle, it’s a sign you need a dedicated CRM. When you integrate QuickBooks with a CRM, you’ll be able to quote and follow-up with prospects immediately. This will speed up the sales cycle and lock-in new customers before they take their business elsewhere.

You can skip multiple data entries

Limiting the amount of data entry is imperative for any business operation. When you integrate a CRM, you can enter customer, lead, and vendor information only once—syncing it with your QuickBooks account.

Entering this data only once is not only convenient, but it cuts down the chance of data entry errors.

Only put paying customers on the books

Managing a handful of leads in QuickBooks can get messy. While converting every prospect is a nice thought, it’s not a reality. When you keep your potential leads separate from your current business, your productivity will increase, and your accountant will be grateful.

CRMs help business owners see the big picture

Integrated CRM software will offer a comprehensive view of customer data that QuickBooks can’t provide. Most platforms will include a 360-degree view of open estimates, balances, refunds, payments, orders, receipts and other pertinent information. When you have access to all of this information on a single application, you can wield it to speed up deals, prevent delayed payments, and address future needs.

Everyone will have secure access

Rightfully so, some organizations don’t want to make their accounting data public to every member of the team. Using an integrated CRM allows teams to access and share lead lists without everyone having access to QuickBooks. Team members can use an integrated CRM to create and send estimates to customers, speed up every aspect of the sales cycle, and improve the overall customer experience.

CRM platforms can even mirror this data in QuickBooks and create rules to empower or limit individual permissions. The ease of access can allow business owners to delegate tasks, maintain control, and save time.

7 CRMs that integrate with QuickBooks

Now that we’ve mentioned what you’ll get out of choosing a CRM that connects with QuickBooks, let’s take a look at the best rated CRMs.

1. Capsule

Capsule is a smart, simple CRM that’s easy-to-use but also highly customizable to different businesses’ needs. The QuickBooks Online integration that Capsule offers is slick, quick to install, and easy to use. Recent reviews are positive and praise Capsule for how easy the integration is to set up and sync.

“Capsule really makes your life easier and is a great and efficient way to manage customers. It also ensures that you don’t miss a step when managing customers and your work flow. Using the app is simple and intuitive, which means you can get on and do the things you enjoy.”

If you already have customers and suppliers in QuickBooks Online and are looking to get started quickly with a CRM then this integration will auto-import those contacts in just a few clicks. Once connected you’ll be able to add sales opportunities to those contacts, track communications, and nurture those relationships.

Once you’re up and running you can choose which contacts to sync so QuickBooks Online isn’t cluttered with leads and email marketing contacts. Capsule will then automatically update records in QuickBooks Online.

As those sales start coming in you can easily create an invoice once a sale is complete. A seamless link from Capsule pre-populates the invoice form inside QuickBooks Online.

So exactly what financial information can you see inside Capsule? You’ll be able to see estimates and quotes as well as lifetime customer value (LTV), invoice history, and value of overdue or outstanding amounts - right alongside contact details and communication history. This makes it easy to get a complete overview of your customers and their accounts.

Most suitable for: QuickBooks users looking to get started quickly and easily with an affordable CRM and sales teams looking for a less complex, flexible CRM that integrates seamlessly with accounting solutions such as QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Marketplace Rating: 4.5/5 (53 ratings)

Capterra: ranked in 2022 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as an Emerging Favorite with an overall score of 82.

Ready to start a free 14 day trial of Capsule?

Visit the QuickBooks Marketplace and use the “Get app now” button to get started today.

2. Method

Image via Method

Method is tightly integrated with QuickBooks and works with all versions of QuickBooks, even QuickBooks Desktop versions. Method syncs most QuickBooks records to the CRM including customers, invoices, and payments. Estimates and invoices can easily be created within Method.

Recent reviews mention Method’s great customer support.

“Their team is very knowledgeable about their solution and are very hands-on and quick to provide support. Great App!”

If you need this level of integration with QuickBooks it’s a good choice but the complexity does come at a cost as it’s one of the more complex CRMs to master and customize, and it’s also one of the more expensive options on this list.

Most suitable for: Businesses that use QuickBooks extensively and are willing to invest time and money in the customization possibilities.

QuickBooks Marketplace Rating: 4.8/5 (1607 ratings)

Capterra: ranked in 2022 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as an Emerging Favorite with an overall score of 74.

3. Insightly

Image via Insightly

Insightly’s signup flow isn’t as seamless as Capsule or Method. With the other two integrations you can quickly sign up from the QuickBooks App Marketplace but with Insightly you first have to sign up for an Insightly account and then install and connect the QuickBooks integration within Insightly.

Recent reviews are generally negative and many reviews focus on cost, support, and lack of true integration.

“There was no support, unless I paid double the list price. The app does not have true QBO integration. You have manually input the contacts into Insightly.”

Once the integration is connected you then have to manually link contacts between Insightly and QuickBooks Online - it’s not automatic. When you have linked data, you’ll be able to see financial information about customers such as LTV, invoice history, estimates, and value of overdue or outstanding amounts. The thing is though that once this link is set up the data isn’t kept in sync. That’s not the only thing lacking - there’s not an easy way to create invoices either. If having an integration that is easy to set up and that is kept in sync is essential for your business then it might be best looking for another CRM.

Like the other CRMs on our list, Insightly will give you the complete history of a customer so your team will be able to get a deeper understanding of who they’re dealing with and offers a suite of marketing and project management tools (at a cost).

Most suitable for: Companies that want project management features in their CRM platform and where budget isn’t as much as a concern.

QuickBooks Marketplace Rating: 4.4/5 (232 ratings)

Capterra: ranked in 2022 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as an Established Player with an overall score of 77.

4. Salesforce

Intuit has recently released their own integration between Salesforce and QuickBooks. The integration focuses on automatically creating invoices when a sales opportunity is won. This is a narrow focus, and as a result, you miss out on the functionality that other CRMs offer such as synchronization of customer data, and a 360-degree view of the customer record in the CRM. This limited functionality has already been noted in the first review in the marketplace.

“The connector works as intended and does it’s job well. This will be a very useful tool once the functionality is expanded.”

Most suitable for: Businesses with deep pockets that want the complexity of Salesforce and don’t mind the limited functionality of the QuickBooks integration

QuickBooks Marketplace Rating: 2.6 (9 ratings)

Capterra: ranked in 2022 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as a Top Performer with an overall score of 96.

5. Copper

Image via Copper

While Copper’s integration isn’t listed on the QuickBooks Online marketplace, it does seem fairly easy to set up, with some customization options around how much information is displayed. What it doesn’t do however is pull in any contact data from QuickBooks itself - so unless you already have decided to use Copper as your CRM first and have contacts in there then the integration won’t do much.

The integration itself displays information similar to the other CRMs we’ve mentioned. QuickBooks invoices associated with a lead, person, company, or opportunity in a section next to that record. It might seem surprising then that there’s no way to easily create an invoice or estimate.

Most suitable for: Companies that don’t mind putting in the extra effort to manually keep customer records updated in both systems.

QuickBooks Marketplace Rating: Does not feature on the marketplace.

Capterra: ranked in 2022 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as an Emerging Favorite with an overall score of 81.

6. HubSpot

HubSpot’s integration is listed on the QuickBooks online marketplace but it has been built via a third party. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad or not as good as a native integration but it does mean that you will have to pay extra for the integration (SyncQ’s prices start at $29/QucikBooks company/month). And unless you’ve already decided that this is the right combination for you, it doesn’t give you a lot of room to give it a try before you buy. It’s hard to evaluate this integration based on testimonials as it’s only received one review so far.

That being said, the integration delivers similar functionality to what you get from Capsule and Method: it brings in estimates and quotes, you can easily create an invoice once a sale is complete, brings in accounting data such as lifetime value and invoice status, and syncs contacts. With Capsule and Method, you don’t have to pay extra to take advantage of using the integration whereas with HubSpot you do.

Most suitable for: Businesses that don’t necessarily want to hook everything up with their QuickBooks Online account straight away and want a while to play around with a CRM on its own before deciding if it’s right for them.

QuickBooks Marketplace Rating: 3.6/5 (17 ratings)

Capterra: ranked in 2022 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as an Emerging Favorite with an overall score of 83.

7. Pipedrive

The Pipedrive integration is very similar to HubSpot’s and is built by the same third-party developer. So again you’re going to have to pay not only for your CRM subscription but also for the integration on top of that (SyncQ’s prices start at $15/user/month).

Again the functionality is similar to what you would expect: it brings in estimates and quotes, you can create an invoice after a sale is complete, it brings in accounting data such as lifetime value and invoice status, and syncs contacts. However, there’s quite a bit of manual setup and configuration - probably why the integration receives positive feedback for support - as this is necessary to get the integration set up correctly.

Most suitable for: Sales-focussed businesses who have already played around with Pipedrive and aren’t daunted by the prospect of manually configuring an integration.

QuickBooks Marketplace Rating: 4.1/5 (35 ratings)

Capterra: ranked in 2022 Capterra Shortlist for CRM Software as a Top Performer with an overall score of 85.

Choose the CRM that’s best for your business first

Integrating your accounting software with your CRM is important to get a complete picture of your customers. That’s why so many CRMs these days do have an accounting integration and in some way, many are offering an integration with QuickBooks Online.

And if you do use QuickBooks it’s important that not only does your chosen CRM have an integration, but this integration must do what you need it to - offer more insight into your customers and accounts, saves time when creating invoices, and saves time on data input. If you keep this bigger picture in mind, you’ll find the CRM with features that are right for your business and one that your team will actually use.

Capsule announces new CEO

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I’m pleased to announce that Steven Ledgerwood has joined Capsule as our new CEO.

It’s been a fantastic journey since we launched Capsule in 2009. I’m grateful to have led the team through this period, and very proud of what the team has achieved. I’ll continue as a director and advisor to the business.

Steve, our new CEO, joins at an exciting time. We founded Capsule because we wanted to create an easy to use CRM that enabled businesses to get started in minutes not months. With the acquisition and integration of our marketing tool Transpond in 2022, Capsule now also offers that same easy to use approach and fast start for marketing. We’ve also recently added project management functionality, making Capsule a single platform that supports all departments in a business, from customer management and sales through to marketing and project management.

Steve joins us from FINDOLOGIC where he was Chief Revenue Officer. He brings 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and customer success, and most of that in technology businesses. His background and skill set makes him a great fit as Capsule continues its journey to the forefront of CRM, sales and marketing tools.

Steve adds “It’s an exciting time to be in the CRM space, particularly for SME’s where Capsule is well placed. It is really easy to use and built with advanced functionality but with a simplified approach so that users can maximise the value quickly. I have a huge amount of respect for the founders, who have built a people-first culture, with a high performing team and an impressive global footprint with very happy customers. It’s a fantastic time to be joining this company and I’m looking forward to leading the organization into the next chapter of growth.”

Over the next few months Steve will be working alongside me to ensure a smooth handover. I’m excited to see Steve take the business forward as our CEO.

Duncan Stockdill, Co-founder of Capsule

What we brought you in 2022

Dan Duran — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It’s time for our roundup of what we’ve delivered over the last year, and 2022 was our biggest yet. Let’s take a look.

More added to our Outlook Add-in

As always, our starting point was what our customers were telling us that they would like to see, so we began by adding further functionality to our Outlook Add-in. This included the ability to:

Store entire conversation threads on the Growth, Advanced and Ultimate plans
Enable automatic contact storage
Add Tasks from the Add-In
Use the Add-In from the iOS Outlook App

If you’re an Outlook user and haven’t tried our integration yet find out more here.

Set up your Facebook Lead Ads trigger

Zapier lets you create trigger-based workflows called Zaps. In this instance, when a lead is collected in Facebook we’re sending this information over to Capsule. You can create Zaps from scratch but here’s a quick template we’ve made to get you started. This will add a Facebook lead to Capsule as a new Contact.

A seamless integration with Transpond

In Transpond we have an intuitive marketing tool to match our CRM. When you use it alongside Capsule it should feel like a natural extension of the experience you already know.

We released our new integration with Transpond in June, which enables you to get started and import your contacts within minutes, as well as use your Tags within Capsule to segment data. Syncing data between apps couldn’t be easier as it’s managed via either Capsule or Transpond. From within Capsule, you can also check a contact’s engagement with your communications via the dedicated sidebar.

This is just scratching the surface as Transpond provides a whole host of powerful features, including website tracking, web forms, transactional emails and powerful analytics.

Find out more about Transpond here.

We made managing projects more intuitive

June was a very busy month! We also released our revamped Project Management feature (previously known as Cases).

Renaming Cases was the first step. We focussed on making it easier to understand exactly where your work was up to, without having to switch between apps. Project boards allow you to add Projects and define critical stages, a kanban lets you quickly move work between stages and the feature makes it easier to collaborate as a team.

Find out more about Projects here.

Other improvements you may have missed

We also kept plugging away behind the scenes to provide you with a range of other updates including adding more recipients to your email templates within Capsule, and the ability to disable Drop Box tasks.

Read about them here.

So another busy year with some great features delivered. Why not give them a try today or contact our Support Team if you’d like to find out more? We look forward to bringing you many more in 2023.

How to add Facebook leads to Capsule with Zapier

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Advertising can be pricey, so it’s a huge win when someone clicks on your ad or submits a form from your Facebook page. But, it’s only truly worth that investment if you manage to make a sale.

When it comes to converting leads, it’s essential that you follow up quickly while your business is still fresh in your lead’s mind. The sooner you reach out, the better chance you have of winning them as a customer.

That’s why it’s important that you get leads into your CRM straightaway. If you do this manually, you could miss the timeframe in which engaged leads expect a response. You also run the risk of making a mistake with data entry or worse - forgetting to add the lead to your CRM at all.

You can make the whole lead creation process much simpler. Using Zapier you can sync these leads into Capsule just like that.

When a new lead is created from Facebook, you can get this automatically sent to Capsule as a new contact, new opportunity, new project or new task. Follow our guide below to get your Facebook leads into Capsule.

Things you need to check before you start

You’ll need admin access for the Facebook page you want to use, the associated ad account and access to leads. You may need to reach out to the page owner or Business Manager admin to request those permissions if you don’t have access.

You’ll also need to create a form in Facebook Lead Ads and have one lead or more. If you just want to test out the integration and don’t have any leads yet you can use the Facebook Lead Ads Testing Tool

You’ll also need to be on a Zapier paid plan or on their two-week trial to set up and use the Zap.

How to add leads from Facebook Lead Ads to Capsule

Set up your Facebook Lead Ads trigger

First, you’ll need to set up your trigger (this is the event that starts the Zap). Search for and select Facebook Lead Ads as the app and New Lead as the event. Click Continue.

Next, you have to connect your Facebook account. Click on Choose an account. If you’ve connected Facebook and Zapier before you can select an account or if not, click +Connect a new account.

Next, select the specific page and form you’d like your Zap to trigger from. You can choose a specific form if you’d like, or you can choose to trigger the Zap when any form is filled out. Once you’ve done that click Continue.

Next, you’ll need to test that the trigger is working. Zapier will find a recent response to the form selected earlier. This will be used to set up the rest of the Zap. Click Test trigger.

Once you see that Zapier has found a lead and it’s working properly you can click Continue.

Set up your Capsule action

Now it’s time to set up the action (the event that the Zap will perform once it’s triggered). Select Capsule CRM as your action app and Create Contact as your action event. Click Continue.

You’ll then be asked to connect your Capsule account to Zapier if you haven’t already done this. Click on Choose an account. If you’ve connected Capsule and Zapier before you simply need to select your account. If not click + Connect a new account and click Continue.

Now you need to set up the Capsule lead. You can pull in data from your Facebook Lead Ads form responses by clicking inside any empty field where you want the data to go and selecting an option from the Insert Data dropdown menu. This includes your lead’s information, like first name, last name, email address, company etc. Once you’ve finished adding your fields click Continue.

You’ll also need to test this action. When you click Test & Review or Test & Continue, Zapier will create a record in Capsule depending on how you have customized the fields.

Is the test looking good? Then your Zap is now ready to use. If something doesn’t look quite right you might need to go back and tweak things until it looks right.

Speedier Sales Cycle

Now your Zap is set up, every lead that’s collected in Facebook will get added to Capsule automatically, straightaway. This also works if you want to use a Facebook Lead to add a Project, Task or Opportunity. Now you and your team can follow up quickly on any leads and hopefully close more deals. Plus, you can also trust that the data will be more accurate as you eliminate the need to add leads manually.

Why now is the time to switch to a cloud-based phone system

CircleLoop — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Unsurprisingly, there’s been a 10 percent drop in face-to-face interactions over the last few years. The pandemic and the continued rise of remote work have shifted the way we communicate with both our colleagues and our customers.

Effective communication is what drives business. From the smallest start-up to global powerhouses, without the right communication tools in place businesses are hindering growth. The phone system is one tool that, when utilised effectively, can boost productivity and improve colleague satisfaction.

Here’s why cloud-based telephony systems in particular are making the difference for businesses around the world.

Better Support for Remote Working
Boost Productivity
Fewer Time-Consuming Hardware Problems
A System That’s Future Proof
Fast and Seamless Integrations

Better Support for Remote Working

Staff no longer must work next to a static, landline desk phone. Many of us are working remotely, or as part of a hybrid approach where we split our time between the office and home. Wherever we’re working, we need a phone system that can move with us – even if it’s to a nearby coffee shop.

A traditional phone system just doesn’t offer the necessary flexibility that this new way of working demands. You’d have a set phone that wouldn’t be able to move around the office with you, potentially decreasing productivity.

Cloud-based phone systems are more flexible and versatile, allowing you to be mobile while still available. Any device, from a laptop to a mobile phone, can be your business phone – it doesn’t need to be a handset at a desk. Staff are always accessible and your customers will have no idea they’re not calling the office.

Boost Productivity

To put it simply, cloud telephony systems are just more advanced. They offer a wide range of useful features that staff can utilise while working. Tasks are carried out faster because it’s easier to communicate with others and get the answers someone might need.

With access to call recording, easy transfers and detailed analytics, staff can use the phone system to be more productive and collaborative with each other. They’ll have the tools they need to manage calls easily and make sure clients are speaking to the right people.

Productivity is boosted by sophisticated call funnelling and staff won’t need to deal with frantically searching the office looking for the person that’s needed on a call, while the client waits impatiently on the other end of the line with an issue.

Fewer Time-Consuming Hardware Problems

Switch to a cloud telephony system and you won’t have to worry about outdated and bulky hardware. This can free up valuable space in your office, giving your staff more room to work. There are no longer any huge capital expenditure costs because cloud systems often operate via a service model that will scale as you need it to.

You won’t have to think about how many phones you need to invest in for your growing business. Simply add users as new members join the team or remove them if you’re scaling down after a complex project has come to an end.

You’re in complete control and can have as many or as few accounts as necessary. The setup process is simple and straightforward, allowing your team to spend more time on the tasks that contribute to business growth.

A System That’s Future Proof

Traditional phone systems are exactly that - ‘traditional’. They’re sometimes not equipped to deal with some of today’s ever-evolving business issues. Cloud-based telephony systems are in constant development with new features and improvements added all the time.

As your business grows, you need a phone system in place that’s ready to scale alongside you without falling behind in performance. A legacy system that once worked perfectly might soon become obsolete as your demands change.

Fast and Seamless Integrations

The more streamlined and cohesive your tech stack is, the faster your team can work. Seamless integrations reduce awkward bottlenecks and ensure staff have the data and resources they need to work quickly and efficiently.

CircleLoop, for example, is a cloud-based phone system that integrates with a huge range of other applications to make your life easier. Capsule, Help Scout and Xero are just some of the integrations with the phone system to speed up tasks.

CircleLoop enhances your Capsule experience, by adding the full capabilities of a business phone system right inside your CRM platform. Allowing you to log all call activity, add different numbers for your users and its very own call analytics. These work well alongside Capsule’s own CRM analytics to give you an oversight of what’s going on with your sales pipeline. You can check out our integration with CircleLoop here: https://www.circleloop.com/integrations/capsule

Our Teams plan (Hint: It’s not just for teams)

Chloe Lloyd — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This blog post mentions a historical Capsule plan. See the pricing page for the most accurate description of plans and their features.

Don’t be fooled by the name. Despite being called Teams, our Teams plan is not only for businesses with very large departments or many teams. In fact, the average number of users on the Teams plan is just 6. This includes a wide variety of use cases. Sometimes one department within a company such as sales needs a CRM and is using Teams. Sometimes a small business uses Capsule on Teams company-wide.

We first rolled out our Teams plan in 2018 with a focus on access controls and user restriction features as well as the ability to organize an account into teams and assigning records to a team. These features helped to distinguish it from our Professional plan. Since then the plan has evolved and we thought we’d summarize some of the exciting additions we’ve made over the last few years: Let’s take a look.

Set up Workflow Automation

Workflow Automation makes work easier, quicker and more consistent. With Workflow Automation you can automate processes related to Opportunities and Projects. You can set them up to trigger when an Opportunity or Project milestone or status changes (i.e. if you win or lose the Opportunity) and you can also automate an action based on the completion of a Track. The actions you can automate are:

Assign Opportunity/Project to an Owner
Assign Opportunity/Project to a Team
Add a Track
Add a Linked Project to an Opportunity
Change Milestone or Change Opportunity Status to Won / Lost
Change the Stage of a Project or Change the Status of a Project to Closed

When you use automated workflows your team always knows what they need to do next, bottlenecks are reduced, so you can get back to doing the work you need to do most.

Manage Projects

We’ve recently added Projects to our suite of features. We’re already seeing customers loving this new addition. In a nutshell, Projects gives customers greater visibility into workload and the status of various projects. With the Teams plan, you can create multiple customizable project management boards for different processes that your company follows. You can have one for marketing, one for onboarding customers and one for delivering a service. When you follow the same processes in your business again and again you become familiar with what you need to do and it becomes quicker and easier to get work done.

Managing projects alongside customers and deals also means you have better visibility across your entire business. You’re kept in the loop on project status and any customer-facing team members can update customers. It’s also easy to link a sales opportunity to a project so you can refer back to the sale specifications when you need to. Any team and project managers can understand the businesses workload at a glance and see who’s working on what, who’s free to take on the next project and can see if there are any bottlenecks holding projects up.

You don’t always need to have a sales-related project. Projects can be used in a variety of ways such as setting up a project for the way you manage events, staff training, and staff onboarding. These are just some of the examples of ways our customers use Projects to document and follow a process.

Multiple Sales Pipelines

Having more than one sales pipeline lets you tailor your sales cycle to different products, services and markets that you serve. Having Multiple Sales Pipelines gives your company a more accurate picture of your sales process. You can then breakdown and understand those different sales cycles better and in turn this helps to close more deals.

View Advanced Reports

On both Professional and Teams plans you can access sales and activity reports that show you things like how many calls your team are making and how many leads they’re generating. You can then compare volume, activity type and user side-by-side. With Teams you get the added bonus of being able to set up your own custom activity types and split out the reports by team. You also have access to greater insights into your sales cycle and sales performance.

Answer questions like; How many opportunities am I winning and losing? Who is our top salesperson? Which team is performing the best? The exact reports you get are:

Won / Lost Opportunities - See the number or value of won and lost opportunities by person or team. This report helps you spot trends across the year or teams and identify any performance issues before it’s too late.
Leaking Pipeline - Use this sales report to see exactly where you’re losing sales. You can dig deeper and see what you can do to improve your processes or workflow to prevent a drop-off in sales.
Average Time to Won - See how long it takes to close a sale. Spot the most efficient salespeople and see those that need more training or support.
Average Sales Value - Track the average size of your deals to spot trends across individuals or teams. See if your deals are increasing in value each month.
Lost Reasons - Track the reasons why you’re losing sales opportunities and drill down to see where individuals or teams are losing sales.

Important Fields

There’s nothing more annoying than setting up a CRM only to have it managed like the wild-west. With Important Fields you can mark Custom Fields and fields within Data Tags as Important. When adding or editing a record, Important Fields show up as highlighted. This makes it easier to enter the right information in the right place. Any Important Fields with missing info have a small indicator on them to let you know you still need to add to them. This helps train Capsule users to enter the correct info when creating new sales opportunities and helps any new starters get into the habit of what information they need about the customer. It also helps manage compliance. You can record if a customer consents to being contacted again. By showing which Important Fields are missing information, it also speeds up the process of completing them.

Higher Volumes

With the Teams plan you also get more email templates to scale your communications, shared mailbox connections as well as more contact and file storage.

As you can see there are a bunch of valuable features suited to all types and sizes of businesses who want to scale. This includes features we’ve had since day one of the release such as being able to organize your users into teams and control who can see what by applying one of the three user roles available.

If you have a specific query about our Teams plan, contact our friendly support team and they’ll help you out.

How would Transpond improve your business?

Dan Duran — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

We recently introduced our email marketing application Transpond. It offers a seamless experience when integrated with Capsule and helps you to make the most of every opportunity with your clients.

In this blog we’ll take a closer look at some of the features that make Transpond such a good fit for Capsule customers. Email is one of the best digital marketing tools you can use to grow your business. It’s relatively cheap and when done right provides a great ROI - around $50 for every $1 spent.

Up and running

Getting started with Transpond is easy. If you’re using Capsule you can connect and sync your contacts in minutes. A key feature is you can use your tags as segments straight away, meaning you don’t have to spend days thinking about your long-term goals. After all, if you’ve been using your CRM to segment your customers and grow your business already, it shouldn’t really need to be any different when you segment your communications. That can be a big time-saver and ensures your marketing and sales operations are fully in tune. Alternatively you can upload your contacts from a worksheet, or simply add them as you go.

Moving from another solution can seem like hard work, but if you’re using Mailchimp there is a built-in migration tool that helps you to move your templates, contact lists and merge fields very easily.

Using Transpond every day is easy too. The UI has recently been updated to enhance its intuitive nature.

Send beautiful emails

Your choice of email marketing application will often come down to the features available and the price. But the real challenges can start once you’re using it. With some email tools, designing templates and building campaigns can sometimes feel like a struggle and if you really want to push the boundaries of your designs it can be quite limiting or require some significant workarounds.

This is where Transpond stands out. It has an intuitive drag and drop email template editor that is very easy to use, but also lets you dig deeper into the design when you need to. So you can either start from an existing pre-built template and adapt that, or go for something more bespoke if you have specific brand requirements.

When it’s time to send your emails, the Transpond Campaign Wizard ensures you’re selecting the right contacts and lets you know whether your campaign is likely to reach inboxes or hit spam filters. This is a standard feature which is tested across the world’s top email providers. It really helps with making sure your messages are well targeted and getting seen.

Deliver the right experience

There is so much to be gained from offering a great onboarding experience and timely notifications around purchases. These kinds of emails tend to have the highest open rates because customers are fully bought into their purpose.

If you offer a great transactional experience it can really drive long-term loyalty. In fact 93% of consumers would consider switching the brands they use if they have a poor experience with transactional emails. But get them right and you’ll ensure that repeat business underpins your growth. That’s why Transpond lets you easily set up emails to send from your website or app. It’s also possible to trigger alerts or communications based on when a contact visits a specific web page.

Automate your setup

Part of the appeal of using technology in business is that it helps you to achieve much more with the same or even fewer resources. That’s where Transpond’s automations really drive big benefits, particularly when you use them with Capsule.

You can either use a pre-built automation like a welcome email, or you can create a new one from scratch based on your own triggers and actions. For example, you could set up alert emails when a task is completed within Capsule.

Tailor your content

Wouldn’t it be great if you could serve tailored messaging to your contacts, and not have to worry about creating hundreds of emails to address each specific segment?

Well now you can. With Transpond you can serve specific content to contacts based on the rules you set. This makes it possible to pull in multiple blocks of content to create one single flowing email.

This can save a lot of time day-to-day, with the main requirement being updating content whenever you need to make changes. This is a major time-saver compared to communicating with each specific segment with separate emails.

Pause sends!

We’ve all had an email that was sent by mistake, or an apology email clarifying that some information wasn’t quite right. So wouldn’t it be great to have an added layer of confidence when you’re sending that big campaign?

When you press send within Transpond, you always have the option to pause things if something strikes you as not quite right. This feature minimizes the scale of having to sort things out if the worst does happen.

See what’s happening

A big part of sending email campaigns is seeing the impact they have, and refining them further for the next time. Transpond provides an impressive analytics suite that lets you see who has opened emails, where they’ve clicked and also where they’ve visited on your website after they’ve clicked. But that’s not all. You can also see where they are in the world and what device they’ve used to view your comms.

If you integrate Capsule with Transpond, you’ll also be able to see engagement stats for contacts within the Capsule sidebar, meaning you won’t even have to switch between platforms - it’s all right there at your fingertips.

Transpond has many more features that could provide great results for you. We see it as a communication tool that will continue to evolve in much the same way as Capsule has. It’s free to use with up to 1,000 contacts, and beyond that limit the plans are competitively priced.

If you already use Capsule and would like to give Transpond a try, go to your Settings page and you’ll find the integration listed. We also have some helpful information in our Support pages.

If you’d like to find out a bit more about Transpond, why not visit the website?

Affiliate success stories: an interview with Julia Blake

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This is the first interview we’ve ever had with one of our affiliates. We wanted to give you a sneak peek into one of our top affiliates, Julia Blake of Blake Consultants. We’ll cover who she works with and why, why she recommends Capsule, and the success she’s had with the program itself. Learning how to be a successful affiliate takes time and you should have good knowledge of the product you’re promoting. We hope that Julia’s insights will give you an idea about why she recommends Capsule and why she loves being one of our affiliates.

To start off, please tell our readers a little bit about yourself.

I’m the owner / director of Blake Consultants. We accelerate business growth for service-based business owners who know they have the potential to maximize more sales opportunities and retain more clients. We do this by developing clear and effective systems and processes, which support rapid growth. More revenue is generated, costs are reduced, ultimately leading to an increase in net profit and a happier business owner.

What types of businesses do you usually work with?

I work with predominantly service-based businesses. I usually work alongside passionate business owners who are frustrated and know they can do more. They usually come to a point where they realize they don’t have enough time, they’re missing out on sales opportunities or they’re reinventing the wheel too often. In the end they know they need a system that supports this. I work with them to work out where they want and need this support.

Alternatively, they might also be looking at bringing extra people into their business and they’re looking at setting up processes so that the team do things in the way that the owner wants them done. Having Capsule helps shorten the onboarding process of a new team member, and assists workflow and communication when they are up and running. Ultimately, it’s about making more of the business owner’s time - giving them the ability to be more productive with the limited time they have.

In a nutshell, where does Capsule fit into this?

I often talk about Capsule being a clone of your best self - so I work with the business owner to get the systems and processes sorted so that they literally have another person in their team. It also helps them be productive even on a bad day. We all have bad days, but if you have a system that’s prompting you to do the right things then a bad day is not an unproductive day.

So, the systems you put in place, they help businesses achieve more and they act as support when things might not be going well?

Yes. This is really important, and I talk about this a lot. I also think it’s important to talk about the peaks and troughs. Because when you are an owner/manager, you can’t be doing the business development when you’re also responsible for managing everything and delivering your service.

Is that one of the main reasons you started your business?

Yes. I first started my business and started working with Capsule because I realized businesses need more support for those high and low points. When you’re delivering your service, you can’t be developing your business and getting new clients on board and vice-versa. Sometimes, you’ll be in a period focused on business growth and other times it will be all about delivering your service. Because this can be erratic and stressful, there’s a need to ensure as many tasks as possible can tick over in the background. So, by having a system in place it helps you smooth out those highs and lows.

Coupled with other marketing and accounting solutions, you then have support across the whole business. You’re still making sales, you’re still doing the marketing, even when you’re delivering your service.

Also, even the best of us can simply forget to do stuff! But, if you have a system that’s been put together using best practice then it can prompt you to do what you need to do that you might have otherwise forgotten.

What other things does Capsule do that supports your clients?

The pipeline is covered; the marketing is covered when it’s coupled with an email marketing tool; and what you actually deliver is covered as well. It’s brilliant. Not only that but you can manage your own internal projects in it. My marketing plan, my business development plan and my strategy - it’s in Capsule. It’s a Project within Capsule. You can use it to manage your own business as well as using it to support what you deliver to your own clients. All in all, it covers most bases for the service-based business owner.

How long have you been a Capsule affiliate for?

It’s probably been more than 6 years now, but I’ve been using Capsule and have been helping businesses with Capsule for over 10 years. I didn’t start working with Capsule because I saw it had an affiliate scheme. I started working with Capsule because it’s a great system and then I noticed there was an affiliate program and obviously it made sense for me to join. I think the idea of being an affiliate is much more out there now than it once was.

What are the benefits of being a Capsule affiliate?

I have a great relationship with the Capsule Support team - I think they’re excellent. I’d like to think I would have a great relationship with them regardless of whether I was an affiliate or not. Obviously for me the big benefit is that I have a steady revenue stream of passive income which as a small business owner myself is quite hard to come by - it supports the reduction of those peaks and troughs that I was speaking about.

It’s also helped me grow my business as I have the surety and ability to progress my business in a way that I wouldn’t be able to if I didn’t have that steady income stream. It gives me the reassurance and confidence to accelerate my own business growth.

Its beauty is in its simplicity. It’s brilliant. It’s intuitive. It’s simple to use. You can literally take it and start using it. But, it also gives you the ability to make a more sophisticated system if you wish to. It means that I can have a system tailored to my clients, and they have a system tailored to theirs.

On top of that, you have the ability to manage your pipeline. So many business owners do not have eyes on their pipeline. Business owners constantly wear multiple hats - you can have a view as a sales director as well as that of a salesperson. You can see the individual sales opportunities as well as the bigger picture. The pipeline dashboard is incredible - you can see conversion rates and other key data. The fact that you can capture the reasons why you’ve lost sales opportunities so you can work out if the leads are the right quality or if you need to tweak your marketing is also vital to running a business. You can also look at different revenue streams by setting up different pipelines or using tags.

It also integrates with so many other great systems such as Xero, QuickBooks, Mailchimp, GSuite, Microsoft 365. Plus, you can use it to manage what you deliver. You can work out your processes and best practices and build it into Capsule. It’s like having a clone of your best self or having another member of the team.

The mobile app is also fabulous. You can click on a phone number, make the call, and then dictate a note about it when you’re out and about and it’s available on all devices and for all users.

It’s also incredibly good value - to have all of that for a very low monthly fee is just phenomenal. There’s also no hidden costs. There’s no tie-in.

While we’re here, anything else you’d like to add?

I’d love to give a shout out to the Capsule support team. I just think they’re phenomenal. They are so supportive. They’re just brilliant. I’d also like to commend you on how receptive you are to suggestions and feedback. Thank you Duncan and everyone at Capsule!

If Julia’s message resonated with you and you’d like to see how, with some help, you can maximize your business opportunities then you can contact Julia Blake at Julia.Blake@blakeconsultants.co.uk or you can visit our Affiliate Program page to find out more about becoming a Capsule affiliate partner.

Introducing our redesigned project management tool

Chloe Lloyd — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve been working away behind the scenes on a very exciting new feature. We’re happy to reveal that we’ve revamped how you can manage projects in Capsule.

While we were investigating how we could make our project management tool, Cases, easier to use, it became clear that users struggled to understand what it was based on the name alone and didn’t really know what it was used for. With this in mind, we’ve renamed Cases to Projects and extended the features that are available. If you’re currently a Cases user, don’t worry, you’ll still have all of the flexibility that you’ve always had to use Projects how you want to. If you’re using the Capsule API that won’t change either.

Our customers told us they loved the visibility that the sales pipeline gave them and wanted the same visibility for their workload - they wanted clarity of what work they had on, where things were up to and where there was opportunity to take on more work. With this in mind, we designed Project Boards that you can add Projects to. You can define the critical stages that make up Project Boards and with our Growth, Advanced & Ultimate plans you can create multiple boards.

Sales opportunities contain many details that make up the project work. It made sense to us that you should be able to manage that work in the same place as you manage the deal.

Our goal when redesigning Projects was to help customers deliver as much of their work as possible and easily communicate with their customers about what’s going on without having to switch between tools.

Having a CRM with built-in project management features means you don’t need as many tools to get the work done. It also increases visibility into workload and priorities and enhances collaboration between employees.

Let’s recap the project management features Capsule already had and take a look over the new ones too.

Create a Project

You’ve made the sale and you want to continue to deliver an exceptional customer experience. When you close the sale in Capsule, you’ll have the chance to immediately create a linked Project. Creating the project straight away means no details slip through the cracks. You can also add any Projects to a Board and Stage if you have them.

Customizable Project Boards and Stages

To make use of the new features in Capsule, you’ll first need to decide on a process that’s broken down into stages. You could have a process for onboarding clients and another one for delivering the work. Or you could have different Project Boards for different teams in your organization. The choice is yours. Once you’ve created the board with these stages. You’ll then be able to add your Projects to the Project Board.

If you don’t know where to start we’ve given you a helping hand with a sample Project Board template to get you started.

Defining your own processes means that you can deliver an efficient, consistent service every time. It also can empower team members to take the next step as they’ll know what to do next.

Kanban Board

The Project Board acts in the same way the sales pipeline does. You can add Projects to the Board. Once on the Board, you can move Projects to different Stages or to completion. What’s more, the Board gives you powerful filtering options. You can filter by Board, Owner, Team, and Tag. You can also transfer Projects to different Boards.

Having your projects laid out on one Board gives you increased visibility into your workload. If you’re managing a team or project you can see the project’s status and the team’s workload. Any team member who is communicating with the client will also have greater visibility into where the project is at and can communicate with the client.

Project Summary Cards

On the Boards, you’ll be able to see a summary of the Project including the organization it relates to, who owns the Project, the expected close date, and the number of related tasks, documents, and notes.

Progress Bar

When viewing a Project, you’ll now be able to see a progress bar to see how far along your project is and how far you’ve got left to go before you complete it.

Projects List View

Just like with Cases, you’ll still be able to view Projects in a list as well as on a board. There are now columns for the board and stage they are on and can even be filtered by those too.

We hope we’ve given you a greater insight into Projects and that you’re keen to try them out. We believe that Projects will allow for greater collaboration between team members, greater accuracy when storing project information, and an enhanced process that enables you to deliver the best service possible.

What type of work can Projects help me manage?

There are many ways that Projects can be used to help you and your team manage their workload. Projects is a flexbile feature. Here are just some of the ways you can use it:

Post-Sale: Manage work when the deal is done

Imagine you’ve just sold a service to a customer, you can then turn that Opportunity into a Project and all of those sale details are linked to the Project. You can then manage any agreed work with Projects. As the work goes from planning to completion, all the details are there for your whole team to see and whoever is responsible for keeping the customer up-to-date can do it easily.

Events: Keep all your information in one place

A Project provides you with an area for keeping track of all related communication, tasks, attendees and files when you’re hosting or attending an event.

Marketing: Warm up your leads

Before your sales cycle begins you can use Projects to nurture leads, for storing marketing materials or for planning marketing campaigns.

We have also found different industries who use Projects in their own ways. Here are some industry examples:

Travel

Travel companies use Projects for managing different tailored tours.

Real Estate

Real estate companies create a Project for each of the properties they have for let and sale and then move them through their Project Board based on where they are in the selling or letting process.

Construction

Construction companies use Projects to capture specification details for building projects, while running the job from start to finish.

Accountancy

Accountants use Projects for managing tax returns and year end processing.

Technology

Technology companies create Projects for managing the beta period of new features.

Check out our support article for more information on managing Project Boards and Stages and if you need any help with Projects or Capsule in general then you can reach out to our support team.

Finding balance in the modern day sales challenge

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

One of business’ greatest challenges is striking the balance between the digital self-serve and a more traditional face-to-face sales approach. In my experience, most customers today are happy to do their own research at their own pace to find their perfect solution - especially when it comes to SaaS applications such as Capsule.

But, in many other sectors trying to work out what you need can be more challenging. We’ve all been there - comparing tech specs and features, but not sure what’s best for us and our organization.

While the preference may be to do our own initial research without engaging in a sales call, there can be times when we’d like them to knock on the door.

Tuning in & turning up

High performing salespeople have a knack for entering the room just at the right time. They understand the power of listening and responding to what customers are really looking for. Tuning into their needs and closing knowledge gaps for the organization while closing the deal.

The challenge is usually working out when to make that call, send the email or pop-in with those samples. In other words, how to ‘tune-in’ remotely and use technology to add a human touch.

Virtual transfer

The past two years in particular have forced businesses to rethink their approach. And in many cases it’s been a challenge for people to transfer their interpersonal skills online - especially without the right tools and know-how to operate in a virtual selling environment.

In fact, many B2B professionals admit that they’re not as successful selling ‘virtually’ as they are in person. According to McKinsey*, this figure could be as high as 20%.

*McKinsey ‘B2B Sales: Omnichannel everywhere, every time’ (December 2021)

Success leaves clues

But we also know that hybrid working is set to continue and grow. So, it’s crucial that sales teams can continue to listen to their customers and are set-up to capture and track their conversations - regardless of whether they’re interacting face-to-face, over the telephone, on social media or on email.

This is where a well-matched and configured CRM makes a big difference. Because success always provides a trail to pick back up on, and by using a CRM to capture what the most successful approach was, you can replicate that again and again.

Lost opportunities

Buying online means more data and therefore more potential insight into customer behaviors, product usage patterns and potential buying triggers. But, spotting the right time to connect can often be lost in a sea of disjointed spreadsheets and departments.

From what we see, part of the problem is that many businesses invest in over-complicated solutions that are too daunting or time consuming for people to manage. Another challenge is mindset.

Most people get excited about the potential that all this digital data presents. However, few are as thrilled about capturing and sharing it consistently.

Supercharged teams

Yet, we believe that a user-friendly and intuitive CRM space has the power to supercharge the sales team. It should be a knowledge bank that everyone can easily feed with information to make sure that sales have the ‘clues’ that the wider team is picking up on everyday at their fingertips.

That means having a system that doesn’t slow everyone down and introduces another layer of process, but integrates and interacts with other tools the business is using. It also means that everyone treats every piece of customer information as an opportunity to build rapport and help keep the sales team on the front foot.

For example, a note from customer service may give the sales team a reason to reconnect, listen and help them. Or, a brief entry from a previous call might remind the salesperson to check-in on how the customer’s extension is coming along - or how their daughter’s soccer team is doing.

Because, as every salesperson knows, a reason to ‘call’- whatever shape that takes in our digital world - is an opportunity for them to connect and work their magic. Human to human.

Top 3 tips to humanizing digital ‘selling’

Give your customers the option to speak to someone if they want to
Treat every bit of customer ‘data’ as sales gold dust
Invest in a simple ‘knowledge bank’ - your CRM

Recent Integrations: Leadinfo, Paycove and Office RnD

Chloe Lloyd — Wed, 25 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve recently welcomed 3 new integrations to our marketplace. Let’s take a look!

Leadinfo

Leadinfo is a lead generation tool that gives you greater insight into your website visitors and their buyer intent information. The two-way integration with Capsule allows information to flow between the two tools, making it easy to send leads and company information either automatically or manually from Leadinfo to Capsule. All you have to do is create a trigger in Leadinfo based on lead behavior and other characteristics that are important to you.

Paycove

Paycove is an invoicing service that integrates with Capsule to provide an automated quoting, invoicing and payments solution. Paycove captures, transforms and displays Capsule data as a quote or invoice so you don’t need to manually create one. Once a customer has paid the invoice, Capsule is updated to reflect that.

Office RnD

Office RnD is a workplace management platform that enables Coworking Spaces and Serviced Offices to handle all operational processes involved in managing a flexible workspace. Workspaces can use Capsule to manage their leads, prospects and sales and then transfer any necessary data to Office RnD when it comes to customer onboarding. You then have two systems using the same information that is maintained in just one place.

Looking for a different type of integration? Check out our complete list of integrations.

If you’d like to find out more about these integrations or would like support in setting them up you can contact our customer support team who will help you out.

3 great features to keep your Capsule account tidy

Dan Duran — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

One of the big benefits of using a CRM is being able to keep your data more organized so that you can interpret it in a consistent way. Capsule helps you to do this by not only being intuitive to use but also providing key features to help you along the way. In this blog, we’ll cover 3 of them that you can start using straight away.

DataTags

DataTags are a great tool to help you organize your data. Think of them as a sort of label, to help you visually categorize your records. Using them means you can filter and segment your data more easily. They ensure that you capture key information when you add a Tag to your records. In these instances Capsule prompts you with any Custom Field that you’ve created for that Tag. For example, if you’re working with a lead you could Tag it and record the source and date the original inquiry was made.

Find out more about DataTags here.

Generated Links

This feature is a great way to save time, as you won’t need to manually attach documents. You can also keep documents associated with Customer Records tidy and consistent, and save on space in your account. A Generated Link is a way to link out to documents from a Customer Record that may be hosted outside of Capsule. For example, you may host a range of documents related to a customer on a Google Drive rather than within Capsule.

Find out how to use Generated Links here.

Custom Activity Types

With activity types you can keep track of all your interactions with Contacts, Opportunities and Projects. By default within Capsule, you’re provided with 3 activities: Note, Meeting and Call.

On our Growth, Advanced and Ultimate plans, you get the bonus of being able to create custom activity types easily. This might be logging a site visit, or an activity specifically related to an invoice. The status of these activities then pulls through to the Reports tab, so that you can get a real-time overview of the type of work that has been completed by your users.

Find more about Custom Activity Types here.

If you need any more advice about the features covered in this blog, please contact our friendly support team, and we’ll gladly help you out.

What’s new in Capsule: Updates you might have missed

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

We’re always making adjustments that make Capsule easier to use. We wanted to summarize some of the enhancements the team has been working on in the first few months of the year.

Updates to Email Templates

You can now add more recipients to a single email from Capsule. Click on CC BCC and start typing to find the contacts you want to include when sending an email.

When you want to send an email from Capsule you can now include attachments with a total size of up to 25MB too.

Required Xero 2 Factor authentication (2FA)

A new condition from Xero has meant that 2 Factor authentication (2FA) is now required when setting up the integration between Capsule and Xero.

Adding 2FA to your account ensures an extra layer of security in place for all users on the account.

Existing accounts don’t need to set up 2FA. But, if a user disconnects the integration for any reason and then connects it again, 2FA will have to be set up. Users can set up 2FA by going to Preferences - Password and Security. Find out more about how to set up 2FA.

Disable Drop Box Tasks

Previously, when you forwarded or BCC’d an email to your Capsule Drop Box, Capsule created a contact and added a follow-up task for contacts that did not exist. Creating a follow-up task might be useful for some users but not all. Now you choose whether or not you want the follow-up tasks automatically created or not. Users can turn off this feature or enable it again by going to their Preferences - My Preferences and checking or unchecking the relevant box.

Expected Close Date on Cases

You can now give Cases an Expected Close Date. This will help you manage your workload and give visibility to other people about when work is due.

New filtering on Opportunities and Cases

You can now filter for Opportunities and Cases by whether they have active tasks or not. This can help you see where you might have outstanding tasks to complete to close a sale or complete a project.

We hope you enjoy using Capsule and these new enhancements. If you have any questions or need any support, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly support team.

Capsule Named in the Capterra Shortlist Report 2022 for CRM Software

Chloe Lloyd — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

We’re happy to announce that Capterra has named us as a top CRM software product.

The Capterra Shortlist Report places us in the Emerging Favorites section for CRM software, as well as a range of other categories for the 2nd year running. Emerging Favorites rate highly or outperform Top Performers with regards to customer satisfaction.

We currently have a 4.5-star rating from 138 reviews on Capterra. We’re grateful to our customers for giving us this impressive rating and appreciate the time our customers have taken to write their reviews.

Besides our standing in the CRM category, Capterra has also placed us as an Emerging Favorite for 2022 for Contact Management Software.

Capterra Shortlist is an independent assessment that evaluates user reviews and online search activity to generate a list of market leaders in the CRM Software space that offer the most popular solutions.

You can see Capterra’s full CRM software shortlist report here: https://www.capterra.com/customer-relationship-management-software/#shortlist.

How to Write Great Sales Emails (With Examples)

Chloe Lloyd — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Did you know that over 293 billion emails are sent and received each day? That also means that, just like you, your current and potential customers might receive countless emails every day. That’s why you need to make sure what you’re sending stands out and makes an impact.

If you want to learn how to get your email recipients to open and read your emails, we’ve got you covered. We’ve put together some helpful tips for writing sales emails that convert and examples that you can use in your business.

Tips on Writing a Sales Email

There are five main things you should keep in mind when writing a sales email. They include:

Have an eye-catching subject line
Draft a solid opening line
Write valuable and relevant body copy
Incorporate a call-to-action (CTA) at the end
Include a professional signature

Email subject lines should be enticing yet short. The goal of them is to grab your reader’s interest so they open your email without sounding insincere. Your subject line should also be personal, like including your reader’s name.

Some subject line examples include:

Can I help you with [prospect’s goal / challenge]?
Are you ready for [industry specific date / important annual event]
Can you spare 5 minutes, [First Name]?
[First Name] Have you thought about [service/product recommendation]?

Try to avoid spammy words, like “final,” “unique,” “complimentary,” and “sale.” They’re overused, and people don’t pay as close attention to them.

Your opening line should be impactful as well. You can start your email off with a phrase like “I noticed you” or “congratulations on.” Get straight to the point by discussing something important to them.

Your body copy should show value to your reader by connecting them to your business. It should include relevant information that aligns with their goals.

In the closing of your email, you should have a strong call-to-action (CTA). Your email should have a goal and a clear action that the recipient should take such as replying to the email or scheduling an appointment.

Some CTAs include:

Do you have 15 minutes to connect tomorrow?
Are you ready to book your next stay?
Do you have any additional questions?
Have you looked over our proposal?

Your CTA should prompt a response from your reader.

Finally, a sales email should close with a professional signature. Keep it short and straightforward, including a link to one of your online profiles. Avoid using quotes and complicated/large images.

Some Examples of Email Templates

Let’s go over some of the best sales email templates. Feel free to tweak these in accordance with your business and products. If you’d like to use any of the emails here, all you have to do is copy and paste them or click the icon on the bottom-right of the email to copy it.

Introduction Email Template

Hi [First Name],

I’m reaching out to local businesses to offer our company’s [insert specific service]. [Your service] plays a vital role in every business and having expert advice can save you time and money.

Our company [name] is based nearby on [street name]. We’re a team of expert [insert profession] that are known for providing high-quality services to local businesses.

We’re offering three free consultations for anyone interested in our services. Do you have 15 minutes later this week to chat about how [company name] can help your business thrive?

Regards,

[Your Name]

Cold Email Template

Hi [First Name],

I work in the [specific industry], and I saw that you recently [action] at [their company name].

In my experience, I’ve seen that [issue] becomes a significant priority when that happens. I thought you and your colleagues would be interested in discovering how we’ve helped [similar company] succeed without any hiccups.

If you’d like to learn more, let’s chat. Are you free [times and days]? Let me know, and I can send out a calendar request.

Best,

[Your Name]

Follow-Up Email Template

Hi [First Name],

It was great to meet you last week at [event/conference]. I hope you had an enjoyable time. I particularly enjoyed [insert anecdote].

I’d love the opportunity to connect virtually with a quick chat to learn more about your experience with [project]. The services we offer at [your company] could help you save time and money with that venture.

What time this week can I schedule a 15-minute chat?

I look forward to connecting soon!

Best,

[Your Name]

First Email for Sales Introduction Template

Hi [First Name],

I hope you’re doing well! I just checked out your website and it looks like you’re starting to [specific goal]. I don’t want to make any assumptions about your company’s goals, but I believe that [your company] can play an essential role in your upcoming success.

If you’re not familiar with [your company], our customized solutions help businesses just like yours accomplish four primary goals:
- [Goal]
- [Goal]
- [Goal]
- [Goal]

Accomplishing these goals will set your business up for success.

What’s your availability on Wednesday and Thursday of this week? I’d love to schedule a 20-minute call to discuss your company’s strategy for your new venture.

Regards,

[Your Name]

Demo Request Template

Hi [First Name],

I saw that you requested a demo of [your product]. I’ve worked with many companies in your industry. My goal is to help you through the evaluation process and how [your product] will work for your business.

The first part of our demo process is a quick chat so I can understand what you hope [your company] can help your business with. I also want to get a grasp of what your business goals and strategies are in general, so your demo can be customized.

I’d love to schedule the first part of your demo. What’s your availability early next week? My schedule is flexible.

Regards,

[Your Name]

Use Our Sales Email Examples to Grow Your Client Base

With the Email Send feature in Capsule CRM, you can connect your email mailbox and send emails directly to your customers that include your professional signature. You can also create and save email templates in Capsule so feel free to copy and paste the examples we’ve given and tailor them to your needs. You’ll then have a set of emails that you can use time and time again to save time and grow your client base.

Learn more about how Capsule CRM can help streamline your sales processes.

New: the latest updates to our Outlook Add-in

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Introducing our latest enhancements to the Capsule Outlook Add-In that help you get more done. New features include the ability to:

Store entire conversation threads
Enable automatic contact storage
Add Tasks from the Add-In
Use the Add-In from the iOS Outlook App

Store whole conversation threads

Available on the Growth, Advanced and Ultimate plans. You can now store entire conversation threads at the click of a button, helping you to concentrate all your communication in Capsule.

Plus, you’ll have the option to store all future emails from a contact and choose whether to store previous emails from a contact too.

These new additions will help you to automate more of what you do and save time. You’ll no longer need to store each message manually - Capsule will do that for you. Plus, you’ll never forget to store a message again as it will be done automatically.

Action emails by creating tasks

You can now add Tasks to Capsule directly from the Outlook Add-In so you remember what you need to do to follow up from an email. When creating a Task you can add a description, add details, select a category and choose a time and date when the Task is due. If this is a Task you need to do regularly then you can also set it to repeat.

From the Add-In you’ll be able to see any Tasks due on the current day, any upcoming and also any overdue Tasks. If you’ve completed a Task you can also mark it as complete right in the Add-In.

As well as adding individual Tasks to Contacts, Projects and Opportunities, you can also select Tracks to add to Projects and Opportunities.

Use the Add-In from the iOS Outlook App

Using an Outlook App with an iPhone or iPad? The integration now works with Outlook there too, so you’ll be able to use our Outlook Add-In from whatever device suits you.

Not already using the Capsule Add-In for Outlook? Learn more about all the features here, including how to install it in your Outlook account.

We hope you enjoy using these new updates to the Add-In and if you have any questions or need support, contact our friendly support team.

Capsule - Approved CRM vendor for UK’s Help to Grow: Digital

Chloe Lloyd — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Please note this programme ended on 2 February 2023. Discounts issued for eligible software must be redeemed within 30 days from the issue date.

We’re pleased to announce that Capsule is an approved CRM vendor in the UK government’s Help to Grow: Digital Scheme. The UK-wide scheme aims to help small and medium size businesses (SMEs) to grow by giving up to 50% discount on approved software products as well as free, impartial advice.

Duncan Stockdill, Founder & CEO at Capsule, said: “We’re pleased to make Capsule available through the Help to Grow: Digital scheme. The last few years have significantly changed working practices. Businesses now have to be flexible across home and office while still having clear visibility into what’s happening on a day-to-day basis. The software that’s available through the Help to Grow: Digital Scheme, such as Capsule can help businesses achieve this, whilst also providing the tools to increase productivity and growth.”

By incentivising the adoption of digital technology, the government hopes to help businesses adopt digital technology that’s proven to increase productivity and profits, and help businesses become more resilient in the future.

The scheme will also offer SMEs advice on how technology can help their business. A new online hub will help businesses identify their technology needs, assess purchasing options and advise on how to implement new technology in their operations.

For eligible UK-based businesses who are interested in trying out Capsule, the Help to Grow: Digital scheme will give you a voucher to cover 50% of the costs.

More on Help to Grow: Digital

Discounts on software will be available in voucher form and will be available for software that helps businesses build customer relationships and increase sales, make the most of selling online and manage their accounts and finances digitally. In short these categories are:

Businesses that will be eligible for the voucher must:

have between 1 and 249 employees
be registered at Companies House or be a registered society listed on the Financial Conduct Authority’s Mutuals Register
have been trading for more than 12 months
be purchasing the approved software for the first time

Apply for Help to Grow: Digital

To register for the scheme you just need to head over to the Help to Grow: Digital portal. It might help if you have your Companies House registration number to hand as you’ll need this to register your interest.

If you have any more questions about how the Help to Grow: Digital scheme works in relation to Capsule then get in touch with our friendly support team who will be happy to help you out.

The Inside Track: What CRM customers really think

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Modern technology enables an incredible amount of valuable data. Like many businesses we spend a lot of time looking at what the data tells us to figure out where we can improve. Numbers can tell you what is happening but they don’t always tell you why. Giving the customer a voice and taking the time to listen is the essential context that gives meaning to the numbers.

Over the years we’ve collected a stack of valuable feedback from customer requests. We track this on a Trello board, bringing different themes together to help us understand the level of interest in different ideas. This guides our product teams in deciding what we build next, but we also take care not to compromise on our founding philosophy which is to make CRM easy to use and accessible to all businesses. Every project we start begins with real customer feedback and the problem a customer is trying to solve.

As we look to the future, we wanted to step back from our Trello board of requests and come back to a simple question - what are the key expectations of CRM? In addition to our ongoing feedback processes, we’ve invested in getting to know more about our customers. Not least because we’re promoting a platform that allows businesses to do just that - to get to know their customers better.

So what do the results of our research reveal? Well, for anyone that’s felt baffled by too many bells and whistles in a CRM or frustrated by lack of buy-in across a team, it should be a reassuring read as participants reported similar pain points across the board.

Here’s what you told us takes precedence when considering a CRM platform:

1. Ease of use ranks top in decision making

The events of the past 18 months have significantly changed working practices across all industries. In fact, 78% of respondents said they’ve changed the way they work because of Covid.

It’s clear that increased visibility is needed to unify teams spread across home and office. What does this mean for CRM? Customers need a tool that will capture a complete record of interaction. A single version of the truth from which to make decisions. As one user put it: “Visibility on every account. That’s how it helps. When people were contacted last, what happened, why the numbers were reported this way.”

What this boils down to is ease of use. If a CRM is intuitive, easy to use and get started with, the full range of benefits will follow. Capsule prides itself on this and it’s great to see our customers agree too. 92% rated Capsule as easy to use and 93% think it is easy for beginners.

2. Important integrations can be a dealbreaker

As well as unifying teams, a CRM should offer the most important integrations to capture any and all information which may provide additional customer insights. Bringing together data from other systems that are linked with the CRM, allows teams to not only save time by avoiding unnecessary manual data input but to also better see opportunities - capturing what’s going on across all business areas, at a glance.

Helping customers achieve an improved level of visibility without compromising ease of use is a core consideration at Capsule. When the research revealed that around a third of our prospect base use Office 365 and Outlook, Capsule synchronised in real time with Outlooks’ email and calendar functions to power the customer experience. Capable of seamlessly working alongside software, businesses can get set-up and ready to work quickly. Key integrations also include Xero, Gmail and QuickBooks.

Our customers think our commitment to considered integrations that stay true to ease of use pays off too. Zigger Web Design says the integration with QuickBooks was “very easy to set up, very easy to link to QuickBooks. If you have to look up what you have to do to do a particular thing then it has already failed to an extent. I found Capsule really good at being blindingly obvious about how to do things. The integration with QuickBooks is very simple and straightforward.”

3. Scalability is a must

Selecting and deciding your chosen CRM tool can be a time consuming process that shouldn’t have to be replicated often. Businesses want scalability and a solution that grows with them - over half (58%) said so. That’s why Capsule offers a range of plans including Free, Starter, Growth, Advanced and Ultimate. With multiple options to choose from, these CRM plans are designed to help your business shine whatever stage you’re at. Capable of growing alongside your business, Capsule’s CRM offerings are perfect for growing businesses.

One of our Team’s customers says, “In a nutshell, I love it! Everything I need in a CRM is included for an outstanding price per user… Capsule CRM allows me to be more of an expert in my customers rather than an expert in CRM software.”

To conclude, tech can be powerful but what makes it truly valuable is the approach towards its development. Focusing too much on technology for technology’s sake results in over-engineered, under-used solutions. Zoning in on the human element helps focus the product development track in ways that truly benefit the customer - rather than providing category bragging rights. That’s how Capsule has built trust with thousands of businesses worldwide.

Why not explore our Customer Stories to find out the types of businesses we help and how we help them overcome their business hurdles.

Explore Capsule’s Customer Stories here.

Wave goodbye to writing repetitive emails - say hello to email templates

Chloe Lloyd — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

We’re delighted to announce the release of Email Send & Email Templates.

We know that throughout your business you’re more or less sending similar if not the same emails to customers whether it’s at the prospect stage or when they’re a fully onboarded customer.

Repeatedly drafting the email again and again, or copying and pasting the email from a document to your email client and then personalizing the email with the right details can take a long time.

It’s not only time-consuming but confusing too because you need to switch between different systems all the time and make sure you’re inserting the correct information.

We hear you. That’s where our new Email Templates come in. Now, you can draft your email just once and save it as a template in Capsule.

You’ll easily be able to personalize the email too using a range of merge fields such as first name, last name and organisation. You’ll even be able to add your own email signature and quickly insert your phone number if you want a customer to call you back.

Once you’ve finished creating your template you can save it to use it over and over again. What’s more - once a template is created it will be available for the whole team to use.

Send emails from within Capsule

When it comes to sending an email simply connect your mailbox (Gmail or Outlook), select the contact you want to send an email to and compose your email from scratch or select one of the templates you’ve already created, populate the email and hit send. This sends the email from within Capsule via Outlook or Gmail. If you’re on one of our paid plans you can also connect a shared mailbox so that all Capsule users can send from the same email address.

Sending emails from within Capsule will help you block out noise from your inbox so you can easily do the work that requires your full focus.

This feature will help you to:

Store templates specifically to be used for Projects and Opportunities as well as Contacts.
Save time by drafting an email only once and saving it as a template for future use.
Insert fields to automatically populate your emails with details from the Capsule record.
Ensure your team is sending emails that are consistent with your company’s brand and tone of voice.
Stay focussed on the job at hand and get more done.
Share the most effective email templates so your whole team wins.
Respond to emails more quickly and move sales through your pipeline faster.

Email Send is available on all plans. Email Templates are available on:

Plan	Templates	Shared Mailboxes
Starter	5	1
Growth	50	3
Advanced	500	5
Ultimate	1000	10

Head here if you need any more information about how to send emails from Capsule and set up templates.

We hope you enjoy using this new feature and if you have any questions or need support, contact our friendly support team.

Meet our refreshed brand, a more expressive Capsule

Ollie Jackson — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A little background

In 2017 we commissioned Focus Lab to design a new identity for the Capsule brand. Four years on and after reviewing how we’ve utilized the previous brand guidelines, we are today unveiling the next evolution of our brand. A bolder, more expressive Capsule, underpinned by our core brand descriptors; simple, playful, trusted, approachable.

This blog post provides a high-level overview of the changes we’re making and why we’re making them. We’ll be rolling out the refreshed brand over the coming weeks, starting today with our new look website.

What’s changing

Just as we do with our product, we’re always striving to move the Capsule brand forward. In recent months, we’ve recognised that some areas of our brand guidelines would benefit from a refresh.

The changes we’re making provide a foundation for us to:

Have the freedom to express ourselves whilst still maintaining a consistent brand experience
Fulfil our ongoing commitment to meeting accessibility standards
Establish a clear design direction for our marketing website and to make it more maintainable

The Capsule Logo

Our logo comprises two elements; the geometric mark and the “Capsule” wordmark. We will continue to use this going forward, but you will notice a couple of small changes with how it’s presented.

Firstly, we have transitioned to using just the wordmark on its own when we don’t wish to emphasize the whole brand. And secondly, we’re replacing the pink and green variation of our mark with a monochrome version.

Color Palette

Our new color palette is flexible, accessible and expressive - with various possible color combinations. Our new core blue is supported by a varied palette of both vivid and natural tones.

Iconography

We’ve also designed a whole new set of iconography as part of the brand refresh. Inspired by our mark, the geometric iconography will appear in the support docs and as part of the in-app experience.

Our website

We’ve updated our website to reflect our new brand guidelines. We’ve applied our new colors, fonts and icons. We’ve introduced a different illustration style, increased our use of photography and redesigned several pages. But the changes aren’t just visual, we’ve also made lots of usability improvements along the way.

Whether you’re trying CRM software for the first time or are switching to Capsule, our website is the ideal place to learn more about our features and find useful resources to help you get started.

Going forward

We’re really excited about the next evolution of our brand. It’s important to us that our brand continues to reflect who we are as a company and what you can expect from Capsule - the simple but powerful CRM.

Announcing Multiple Sales Pipelines

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, having one single approach to something doesn’t suit everyone.

Take sales pipelines for example. They visually represent your sales cycle and the stages that deals are at. For some businesses, simply having one sales pipeline doesn’t accurately reflect all the nuances involved in selling different products or services, or even selling to different markets.

With the introduction of Multiple Sales Pipelines to Capsule, you can now build pipelines that represent different sales cycles - giving you and your team a more accurate picture of your sales process and helping you to better forecast sales.

Let’s say you have a different sales process for first-time customers and customer renewals, or you serve both other businesses and general consumers. You’ll now be able to create separate pipelines for each of those, with different milestones for each pipeline.

You’ll also be able to add unique workflows to each pipeline using Tracks, so the standardization associated with one pipeline isn’t compromised when using several others.

Reporting is made a lot easier too. You’ll be able to filter reports by pipeline, and therefore more accurately forecast sales for different services, products, markets, or any other factors.

To summarize, this feature will help you to:

Tailor your sales cycle
Better plan and manage sales activities
Report more accurately
More easily view and track sales opportunities

Multiple Sales Pipelines are available on the Growth, Advanced and Ultimate plans. Read our support docs to find out more about how to set up Multiple Sales Pipelines. We hope you enjoy using this new feature and if you have any questions or need support, contact our friendly support team.

Moving to the Cloud: 8 benefits for large businesses

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Is your business still reluctant to migrate to the cloud?

Although cloud computing has become widespread, large enterprises often prefer to invest in their on-site IT infrastructure.

But by using cloud technology, enterprises can save time and money—as well as boost their data security. Switching to flexible cloud solutions ultimately means you can direct more valuable resources into growing your business.

Migrating to the cloud is a big step. For that reason, it’s vital to know why your business is ready for cloud computing, which features to look for, and the benefits of making the switch. This guide shares all of that (and more.)

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing simply means that most of your business functions using digital tools. This includes platforms like:

Software as a Service (SaaS): Tools that have an application—either web-based or downloaded to a device—and function using the internet. Examples include Dropbox, Zoom, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms.
Platform as a Service (PaaS): Tools that developers can build on to create their own custom cloud computing software. Examples include Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): In this case, you only pay for the infrastructure you need to do business online. Examples include Rackspace and Google Compute Engine.

The digital transformation era means more businesses are switching from traditional platforms to flexible online tools. It’s why the entire cloud computing market is set to reach an estimated $362 billion in 2022.

Why are large businesses reluctant to move to the cloud?

Previously, office workers would run programs or applications from downloaded software on a desktop computer in a physical office. Companies would manage everything related to their own hardware themselves—including downloads, installation, updates, and security.

There’s the saying, “if it isn’t broken, why try and fix it?” that often comes to mind. Truth is: an IT system shouldn’t have to be broken before a business decides to improve it.

Here are some of the most common reasons why large businesses haven’t yet made the switch to cloud computing yet.

Large businesses have traditionally used on-premise solutions

Some big companies prefer to employ in-house technicians and IT leaders to install and maintain hardware. It’s often perceived to be the best all-around solution as they think they’ll always have trained staff members on hand to fix IT issues.

Outsourcing is sometimes associated with higher, unpredictable costs, and unreliable solutions.

Large businesses with legacy IT infrastructure may be reluctant to migrate, too. It’s more convenient to stick to their current IT solution.

Most have already made a significant investment in legacy systems (which makes it harder to consider other options.) Large businesses that have been using the same system for years aren’t always looking for a change. As a result, they’re unaware of cloud computing options.

Data migrations are perceived to be time-consuming

Isn’t switching IT systems glitchy and complicated? When thinking about changing IT systems, businesses worry about the knock-on effect on productivity.

After all, productivity and uptime have a direct impact on a business’s bottom line. Businesses may believe that exporting years’ worth of data is inherently risky—and often, not worth the hassle.

Potentially complicated onboarding processes that require hours of team training are also reasons for putting off cloud migration.

Businesses don’t trust cloud security

Managing company hardware and IT security in-house gives businesses a perceived sense of control over their data security.

Business leaders only need to hear news of one major data hack to feel concerned. They worry that the same thing is going to happen to their business if they store their data in the cloud.

Enterprises that handle sensitive data may worry about how security compliant cloud computing providers are, too. For instance: healthcare organizations handling patient details need to be extra vigilant about how safe their data is.

The sheer variety of options to choose from

With so many cloud computing solutions out there, it can be hard to differentiate between features and pricing. How do you know which is worth trusting with your business’ most sensitive information?

Time-short business leaders often don’t know where to begin their search for cloud computing solutions. They give up before they’ve started.

The benefits of cloud computing for large businesses

Let’s take a look at the eight biggest benefits of cloud computing for large businesses:

1. Access data when working remotely

2. Simple onboarding processes

3. Keep your data safe

4. Cost savings

5. Work more efficiently as a team

6. Better manage your workflow

7. Cut time spent on repetitive tasks

8. Join up all of your systems

1. Access data when working remotely

Businesses need flexible data solutions now more than ever.

Research shows that 44% of employees are currently working from home for five days or more. Another 42% of staff with a remote work option are planning to work remotely more often within the next five years.

Downloadable programs or physical hardware simply can’t offer the flexibility that cloud computing can. After all, it would be somewhat unreasonable to expect every single employee to install hardware at home and download all company-related data to their laptop.

Cloud computing frees your employees from having to work from a specific location. When all your business-related data is up in the cloud, team members can work from anywhere—so long as they have an internet connection. They’re no longer dependent on physical company hardware.

2. Simple onboarding processes

Migrating your data to a new cloud service is simple. Once you figure out your business’s critical data, and the best way to export your data, your data migration should run seamlessly. Most providers even offer to help people migrating from legacy systems.

Cloud-based applications can more easily mirror a buyers’ low-touch experience, too. Similar to consumer-based software, cloud solutions usually involve minimal human contact during the onboarding process.

Always look for cloud computing systems with simple features. Easy-to-use cloud platforms are often a lot simpler than traditional office hardware—and are easier for your team to get onboard with.

3. Keep your data safe

One of the top reasons for moving to cloud technology is that businesses won’t need to manage their own data security in-house.

Cybersecurity attacks are on the rise. Sadly, they’re also becoming more sophisticated. In 2020, 156 million sensitive information records were revealed in the U.S. alone.

This is where cloud computing solutions trump legacy systems. Businesses often struggle to handle data security in-house. It can be hard to source and hire cybersecurity pros—it’s estimated that 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs will remain unfilled this year.

The good news is: most cloud platform providers are security compliant and follow strict data security protocols. While you’re investigating different cloud solutions, look out for:

PCI-DSS certifications for payment collection
EU GDPR compliance
HIPAA compliance for healthcare companies
Two-factor authentication for data access
Data encryption that’s supported by the latest secure cipher suites and protocols
Access control that enables you to control who to invite to your cloud account
Low historical downtime with minimal outages
Physical servers that are based in multiple secure locations

Once you have your data up in the cloud, your data is always available so long as you have an internet connection—which means there’s no longer a need for backup plans. Your provider will automatically back up your data.

You also won’t need to worry about company laptop losses and the sensitive data that thieves could potentially access. Data will be stored securely on the cloud, not on the device—removing data theft as a problem.

4. Cost savings

Creating and running an in-house data center is expensive. Whether you’re implementing a new system or fixing a glitch, you’ll need to hire technicians.

But regardless of whether you hire contractors or full-time employees, it’s expensive and time-consuming to hire and onboard IT talent. Keeping all your IT in-house can quickly add up and eat into your business’s budget.

When you store your business’s data off-site and in the cloud, you’ll free up your IT team to spend more time on other pressing tasks. For instance, instead of having to be on constant call for data disaster recovery, they could be spending time on implementing those changes on your new business website.

Plus, given the flexible nature of cloud solutions, your business will likely save money on software and physical hardware it wasn’t really using.

Gartner reports that one large construction materials company switched from their legacy data storage software to a cloud alternative. They estimate that saved the company upwards of $1 million each year.

Why? Because cloud solutions grow as your business does. You can simply upgrade your package with your cloud provider as and when you need to.

Providers usually charge based on the number of users, features, and amount of storage space. It’s easy to adjust your package to suit your exact needs. Full access to Capsule’s CRM, for example, will set you back just $54 per user, per month. It’s a small price to pay for storing your sales data in the cloud.

5. Work more effectively as a team

When you store all of your business data in one place, it’s much easier for team members to collaborate on projects and easily share data with one another.

Cloud CRMs, for example, come with built-in team management features to help you hire and manage teams. Within the team management feature in Capsule CRM, you can easily assign contacts to a particular person or department, delegate tasks, and review recent activity.

Keeping all your customer and business data in one place also means it’s easier for team members to cover work when others go on vacation or leave the business.

You’ll be surprised at how much more streamlined and under control your business’s day-to-day operations are when everything is in one centralized location (rather than an office whiteboard that everyone forgets to update).

6. Better manage your workflow

Cloud solutions, especially CRMs, can help optimize your business’ workflow and boost productivity across the board. It’s easier to share data across different divisions with team members from other departments.

Look out for cloud systems that enable you to tag your data. For instance, within your CRM, you may want to add different labels to help you categorize and organize all the data you upload.

You could add labels to:

Opportunities
Partners
Customers
Projects

…to help you categorize them. Search functions allow you to segment the data and build lists with the tagged data.

Since data is shared in real-time, updates are instantly made available to the rest of the team. This removes the need for multiple back-and-forth email conversations requesting certain pieces of data.

Analytics tools and reports can help you track every aspect of your sales cycle, too. Try using sales reports to give you in-depth insights into every element of both won and lost opportunities.

Once you have access to an in-depth report, you’ll be able to analyze all the relevant data to better equip your sales team for future opportunities down the line.

7. Cut time spent on repetitive tasks with automations

Cloud tools can save you time on otherwise manual tasks that eat up hours of productive time during the workweek.

You may decide that within your CRM, you want to set up automatic events when customers or team members complete a specific action. In Capsule CRM, a track is a sequence of tasks that help you build smart workflows.

In basic terms: you can follow the same process every time a specific action is completed.

You could set up a track for every time:

You onboard a new customer
A customer cancels their plan
A team member makes a sale

The end result? Your business is consistent across the board, and you provide customers with the same great customer experience during every interaction.

8. Join up all your systems

Using a cloud CRM doesn’t mean you need to completely overhaul your current systems. Instead, it should make your life easier by linking up your current systems so you have everything in one place.

CRMs with integrations to different software apps link all your systems up and save you the inconvenience of jumping between different apps or internet tabs.

For example, Capsule CRM integrates with hundreds of different cloud applications that handle invoicing, inventory, and POS. You get a view of everything you’re already doing—all in one place.

Migrate to the cloud today

Migrating to the cloud is a great way of saving resources and improving productivity.

When implemented effectively, cloud platforms make it easier to manage all of your business’s data. It’ll ultimately bring your business functionality and flexibility—something that’s more important now than ever.

Four in five companies said their resilience had been tested in the past five years. With the coronavirus having a major impact on the way we work (and the way consumers buy things), cloud computing is the way to build that resilience.

Unlike with physical hardware, your team will be able to access data from anywhere with an internet connection while maintaining high levels of security.

Before committing to a platform, think about the features, integrations, and tools that are most important to your business. Find a cloud platform that handles all of those, while also showing their commitment to keeping your data secure.

Ready to migrate to the cloud and boost your business’s growth? Try Capsule CRM for a free 14 day trial and see the difference for yourself.

The (not so) secret ingredient - simplicity

Duncan Stockdill — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

As a concept, CRM is over 30 years old, and during that time there have been many variations on what it entails. With such a broad definition of CRM, there’s almost a limitless amount of functionality you can get from CRM solutions in the market. But, in a strange way, that’s the problem. It can become too complex and unwieldy before you know it. More feature creep and complexity is not what CRM needs right now. It’s more usability and simplicity.

You’ve got to be in it to win it

Despite CRM becoming the technology platform of choice for customer centric businesses, adoption rates can be low when it comes to sales teams. Research shows that more than half fail to fully adopt their CRM and, as a result, customer records become outdated and unusable.

While the Big Tech firms constantly configure ingenious ways to capture data for commercial gain, the business community has been less energetic at mining their own profiles of customers. Part of this is due to a lack of adoption and an element of CRM phobia from some users. With that in mind, it’s worth taking a look at our latest article about CRM adoption. If you’re looking to make the most of your investment in this technology, our hints and tips will go a long way towards that aim.

The beauty of simplicity

We know from experience that many users find some CRM tools incredibly complex and frustrating to deal with. Businesses of all sizes often switch platforms for this reason alone. But the problem is arguably more acute for smaller businesses where it’s difficult to dedicate more resource to the problem, or deal with the hassle of migrating to another vendor altogether.

An article in Forbes magazine highlights the issue: “When CRM becomes over-customized it also becomes overcomplicated. Instead of making it easier for people to do their jobs, it requires additional manpower just to operate the system. Once you’ve created enormous complexities within your CRM, most often the only solution is to rip the Band-Aid off and start over with a more efficient model that makes customer data actionable in its simplest form.”

Is the answer more training and education? We say, yes. User adoption is one of the things that businesses struggle to maintain beyond the initial honeymoon period when a CRM is introduced. You can read more here about best practices when choosing a training program that suits your needs for now and in the years ahead.

In the future, let’s hope that CRM complexity isn’t a lingering issue. We at Capsule will be doing everything in our power to ensure that every feature release on our own platform is purposeful and user friendly. That’s our (not so) secret ingredient…and we protect it fiercely.

Work in Microsoft 365? Now Capsule does too

Chloe Lloyd — Wed, 05 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

If you work in Microsoft 365, it makes sense that your CRM works alongside this too. That’s why we’ve been busy working on a set of features that make this possible, like integrating with Outlook so you can work from your inbox, adding your Outlook Calendar events to Capsule or allowing for swift and secure login via Microsoft Single Sign-On.

Capsule Add-In for Outlook

If you’re comfortable and familiar with Outlook then actioning those emails just became a lot easier. With the Outlook Add-In you can now add contacts, create Sales Opportunities and set up Projects directly from your inbox.

If the person that just emailed you already exists as a contact in Capsule, you’ll be able to see their contact details as well as any custom fields, Opportunities, and Projects in your inbox too, so there’s less time spent switching back and forth between the two.

If the contact already exists in Capsule but they’re not matched to the contact in Outlook, you’ll be able to search for them and match them there and then.

If you’ve got multiple people in an email conversation you’ll also be able to quickly see who all of those contacts are, giving you a clear insight into the contacts without needing to leave your mailbox.

And you’ll have the option to store an entire conversation thread in Capsule too.

The Add-In keeps Capsule front-of-mind with users, which means that it’s more likely to increase usage, leading to data being added and managed more consistently. This helps to ensure your Capsule account is kept up to date.

Find out more about the Capsule add-in for Outlook or if you want to add it to your account now - head to the Add-In Marketplace. Our support article is on-hand if you need help with the set up.

Outlook Calendar

Gain visibility in Capsule of what events are happening throughout your business with the Outlook Calendar integration.

Integrating your Outlook Calendar with Capsule means you can check availability of other team members more easily, and see any historical or future meetings for your whole team’s prospects and customers. The more of your team that connect their calendars, the better visibility everyone will have.

One powerful aspect of this feature is that you can see a complete agenda view of events that are happening for a particular person or entire organisation, helping your team to schedule meetings at an appropriate frequency and avoid double-booking meetings.

We’ve also provided quick ways to open up Outlook Calendar, book or amend meetings and join Microsoft Teams and other video conferences straight from Capsule.

So, what does this look like in Capsule?

Once you’ve connected your calendar, you’ll see any already scheduled or previous events in a dedicated card in the sidebar for your contacts. If there are events on the current day, we will show up to three upcoming events in a collapsed view. If the next upcoming event is not on the current day, then we only show one.

To see more details about an event, you can hover over the event card to see details such as attendees and the event description. If the scheduled event is a Microsoft Teams meeting, we’ll show a join button so you can join the call directly from Capsule. For other services, such as Zoom, you’ll be able to click a link to join the meeting. If an attendee is a contact in Capsule, you can click through to view their record. Also, if there is an attendee on the event who isn’t a contact in Capsule already, there’s a + option allowing you to easily create a brand new contact record for them.

From the Capsule sidebar you can also click to open up Outlook Calendar and quickly add new events with the attendee email address already populated. Or, from the event card you can quickly click to access the event in Outlook and make any changes as necessary.

You’ll also see your set of Today’s events when viewing the Outlook tile on the dashboard next to your Latest Updates. This will show all events that are both upcoming and past for that day.

We’ve chosen to respect when an event is scheduled as private, and have taken into consideration the Capsule user restrictions. For example, when an event is scheduled as private in Outlook only users who are attendees will be able to see the event in Capsule.

The integration also supports shared and delegate calendars.

To install the Outlook Calendar integration on your account, go to My Preferences within Capsule and navigate to Calendar & Feeds and click to connect Outlook. You’ll then need to choose which calendar you want Capsule to connect to. Note: All Capsule users should connect their own calendars individually. The more users that do connect their calendars, the more events you’ll be able to see happening with regards to a contact or organization.

Find out more about the benefits of integrating your Outlook calendar with Capsule or read our support article if you need help with the set up.

Microsoft 365 Single Sign On

Provide a single, secure login experience for your employees by using our Microsoft 365 Single Sign On Integration. Access both solutions with just one set of credentials, helping to keep accounts safe and saving you time.

Find out more about the Microsoft 365 Single Sign On integration or read our support article if you need help with the set up.

We hope you enjoy using these new features and if you have any questions or need support, contact our friendly support team

CRM Adoption Rates: Why They're Low (and How To Change it)

Chloe Lloyd — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Are you struggling to get your team using a new customer relationship management tool (CRM)?

Poor CRM adoption isn’t a challenge unique to your business. More than half of sales team members neglect the CRM their company uses.

You might have some team members only entering data when they remember; others may use their own processes. Both mean you aren’t developing consistent data—and likely missing out on opportunities.

So, how do you boost CRM implementation, and make the tool your go-to place for sales-related data?

Here are nine ways to build a CRM adoption strategy, and make your software work harder—whether you’re introducing a CRM system for the first time, or making the switch from one tool to another:

1. Be clear about the objectives and benefits

2. Involve your team in the decision-making process

3. Let them test different options

4. Set up workflows and automations

5. Nominate a CRM champion

6. Set aside time for CRM training

7. Create data confidence

8. Get team leads to set a good example

9. Hold regular reviews

1. Clearly communicate the benefits

For your sales team to really buy into the idea of your new CRM tool, you have to be very clear about the benefits and reasons why you’re using it.

We’re all more likely to use or do something if we can see a benefit for us, right? The same applies to introducing a new CRM. The more your team understands how it’ll make their life easier, the more chance you’ve got of boosting user adoption rates.

So, highlight positives for your team when encouraging them to use your CRM—like the ability to access customer data more rapidly, or automation that can simplify the sales cycle so they can focus on developing client relationships.

For your CRM project to succeed and deliver results, your teams need to know everything about it. They need to:

Understand the reasons why you’re introducing it
What it can do (and how it’ll make their work life easier)
Receive regular updates on new features, changes to workflows and processes
Stay updated on how it’s making an impact once they do adopt the new CRM

Julie Aragon, Owner and Consultant at Julie Aragon Lending Team explains:

“Make sure it’s clear that using the CRM is mandatory from day #1. Not only did we mandate it, but we showed how using our CRM was actually essential to the business functioning properly. Showing examples of processes that were triggered from the CRM and underscoring the importance of those processes.”

Communicate how your CRM software supports your overall goals and objectives, too. Talk about how having all your data in one place allows you to work smarter, not harder. After all, you’re investing in software to help make their job easier, to help them close more sales, and to help grow the company to secure a strong future.

The bottom line is: if your CRM project is poorly communicated, people won’t fully engage with it. They won’t understand why it’s so necessary—and could resort back to their own inconsistent ways of recording and using data instead.

2. Involve your team in the decision-making process

In some companies, the first mention of a CRM is usually when training rolls out.

This can be a costly mistake. People like to feel involved in the process—like they’ve had some say in the tool they’ll be using daily for years to come. By not being involved in the process, and leaving it up to stakeholders to decide which software their team uses, reps are disengaged right from the start.

Introducing a CRM platform to a surprised crowd is an uphill battle. You’ll be trying to put in the work to sell the benefits and convince the team of your decision, when really you want to be onboarding and training.

This delays your project, creates division, and encourages further resistance.

The good news is: you can remove opportunities for friction, and help improve CRM adoption rates, by getting your team involved in the decision-making process.

Announce that you want to find a CRM solution and that you need their help in finding the perfect software; one that has the features most important to them.

Not only will your team feel like they’ve played a role in choosing the software, but they’re more likely to engage with future projects if they’ve had an input.

3. Let them test different options

Speaking of getting your team involved, give them a chance to test different options before declaring one as your next CRM.

Most CRM providers (including Capsule) offer a free trial. This gives your sales reps time to explore features at their own pace. They can enter sample data and see how it’d work for their daily tasks, answering questions like:

“Which metrics can I get access to?”
“How easy is it to store customer information?”
“Can I load the CRM on a mobile device when I’m working remotely?”

With 54% of companies swapping CRM systems because of a lack of features, this is a great way to make the right decision the first time.

How many times have you given up on a website or app because of poor user or customer experience? You’re not alone. Almost all (90%) of us have stopped using an app due to poor performance and user experience. The same realization applies to CRM use.

If you introduce a new system that isn’t user friendly, your CRM users aren’t going to be too happy about it. Your team wants software that makes their tasks feel smoother, easier, and faster to achieve. Bad design, poor interfaces, and time consuming workflows make this a challenge.

Malte Scholz, CEO and Co-Founder of Airfocus agrees:

“In my experience, the most important thing is to prepare employees before introducing a new CRM. This means asking them for what they need and taking into account the feedback. New CRMs should be chosen based on the need of both business and individual employees.”

Your team doesn’t care about the cost per head or how long your contract is—they care about the software making a positive impact on their daily workload.

So, get them involved during your CRM search to find a platform that fits their needs.

4. Set up workflows and processes in advance

When the time comes to onboard your team to your new software, have as much in place as possible. In an ideal world, the experience will be smooth for them. They shouldn’t need to waste time configuring their profiles before the tool does what it needs to.

Creating workflows and business processes in advance solves this issue.

Think about the needs of different users and teams within your organization, and create a customized experience for them.

That might include:

Creating categories of users and setting their permissions
Building workflows for repetitive tasks, like following-up with a prospect
Integrating your CRM with email, project management, and invoicing tools

With the new CRM set up and ready to use, all your salespeople need to do is log in and they’re ready to go. This type of rollout reduces friction, creates a cleaner onboarding experience—and increases CRM adoption rates as a result.

5. Nominate a CRM champion inside your sales team

If you really want your CRM project to succeed, give someone the responsibility and opportunity to be your CRM champion.

This CRM champion is your salespeople’s first port of call for any questions, concerns, ideas, and feedback. They’re a dedicated support person within your organization who can help their coworkers navigate the CRM, solve problems, and use it to its fullest.

They can also help communicate benefits, product updates, and examples of how effective CRM use has helped within your organization.

To find your CRM champion, look at people who’ve followed other systems you’ve created previously. If they’ve stuck to a tool religiously in the past, there’s a higher chance of them using your new CRM, too.

Your champion should also be someone that your team trusts and aspires to be like. That could be your top-selling rep, for example. Other team members want to be just like them; explain that following their example (and using your CRM) will get them closer.

6. Set aside time for CRM training

Any new piece of technology comes with a learning curve. There are some CRMs that are very easy to start using (like Capsule!), and others that are quite complex.

Moving from spreadsheets to a CRM is challenging for some, but even moving to a new CRM can create potential barriers for teams.

Without the right training, your teams may not have the confidence they need in themselves, your software, or your data. What happens then? They’re likely to avoid using it whenever possible, and you could see the return of all those dreaded spreadsheets.

The best way to tackle CRM’s steep learning curve is through a great training program. Walk them through how to do the day-to-day tasks your CRM is designed to handle, such as:

Forecasting
Managing the sales pipeline
Enriching customer data

(It also helps to choose a CRM with on-demand content to answer any of their questions during the first few weeks. For example: Capsule is easy to get started with, but we also have an online library of help guides and a supporting YouTube channel that walks through some FAQs.)

As with all sales training, make sure you personalize this time to account for different people’s needs, abilities, and how they’ll use the system.

Remember: top performing companies are twice as likely to offer personalized training for salespeople than their competitors, according to McKinsey. That’s because it gives your teams the confidence, support, and knowledge they need to thrive as salespeople.

7. Create data confidence

Data is ammunition for sales reps. It can be used to:

Contact leads using contact methods they’re most likely to respond to
See what type of customer tends to convert sooner (and prioritize them)

A CRM can house all of that data, and make their jobs easier.

The end result is closing more deals—something all sales reps want to do. So, reframe your CRM system as the perfect tool to help them collect, edit, and use data with confidence.

Research by LinkedIn has shown that top performing salespeople show more confidence in their CRM data. Over half (53%) of the ‘top’ group—those who achieved 125%+ of their quota—showed more confidence, compared to 32% of the ‘non-top’ group.

Yet to create data confidence, everyone needs to be using your CRM system effectively.

Data entry, storage, and CRM maintenance must happen regularly so your sales team always has the right information for their prospects and customers. Create processes for each of those activities, and reinforce the importance of having clean data to work with.

If your sales team is confident about data quality, they’re more likely to use your CRM.

8. Get team leaders to set an example

Resistance by other salespeople in using your CRM system can encourage their coworkers to act the same way. After all, why should they use software if their coworker doesn’t?

Everyone needs to feel like they’re working together as a team, or you run the risk of people’s non-adoption impacting the overall success of your CRM project.

For your CRM adoption strategy to work, your leadership team needs to sing its praises and demonstrate just how useful it is. They need to actually use the software themselves, and be active in the promotion and support of it.

A vote of confidence from leadership gives your strategy impact. It’s a central driving force for any great sales team, and can also clear-up any ideas that leadership teams aren’t using the CRM because it’s useless.

The best part? Strong leadership and buy-in from your senior leadership team and sales managers doesn’t just help with CRM adoption.

It’s great for accountability too, as reports will be pulled from the system to help identify opportunities and wins. Knowing that they are playing their role in helping the CRM system stay active and relevant, and that their effort is being seen by others can help motivate your team to stay engaged.

Regardless of how you prove that leaders are using your CRM, they have a huge impact on your sales organization, too. Up to 70% of the variance between bad, good, and great company cultures comes from the talent, skills, and knowledge of your leadership team.

This culture trickles down and affects how likely your salespeople are to engage with CRM adoption.

9. Review your CRM usage regularly

Your role in helping your teams understand and use CRM effectively doesn’t stop once the onboarding and initial training is finished.

Teams need on-demand access to relevant support to help them:

Navigate challenges
Solve issues
Get the most from the technology

Often, there’s nobody within an organization that’s responsible for providing CRM support.

This means salespeople are left to their own devices in trying to solve problems, or have to contact the software’s own support team.

If you have an all-inclusive package or their support team is highly rated, that’s great. Your CRM provider will be able to walk your sales team through any questions, new features, or functionality.

Still, you need someone available in-house that knows how to troubleshoot, train, and support. This is likely to be your CRM champion.

Holding regular reviews with your team helps you identify challenges and opportunities, too.

You might discover that your sales team would benefit from a new workflow that better matches their sales process, or that there’s a more effective way you could be storing customer records.

Reviews are also a great way to identify creative ways that team members are using the software, so you can roll this out across your organization. You can also identify training or support needs, which will help maintain CRM adoption with team members who might be at risk of disengaging from the software.

Now it’s your turn to improve CRM adoption

Embedding a successful CRM into your organisation could be challenging, but with a few tweaks to your approach and support from your leadership team, you can improve your CRM adoption across your entire sales team.

The key is to frame introducing (or switching to) a new CRM system as an opportunity for your sales team to gain performance, productivity, and feel-good benefits. Take your team on the journey with you as you trial systems to choose the right CRM, give hands-on training, and review usage regularly.

There’s no doubt that you’ll get more sales reps onboard with your CRM.

Want to find a CRM that your team loves? It’ll make user adoption 10 times easier. Try Capsule free today.

Why Sales Training Matters & How to Find the Right Program

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Companies are investing more now in training than ever before. It’s reported that sales organizations are spending upwards of $20 billion a year on training alone.

If you’re not investing in training your team, you can bet that your competitors are training theirs.

Becoming a sales expert doesn’t happen overnight. Sure, you might have a handful of reps with a unique ability to sell anything you put in front of them. But for the majority of reps, it takes time, experience—and the right training.

In this guide, we’ll share our take on why sales training is so valuable, and how to find the perfect sales training program for your team.

What is sales training?

Unsure what sales training really is? Here’s a simple definition:

Sales training is the process of upskilling your sales team with relevant knowledge, skills, and insights to help them work at their best.

These can take the form of professional development programs developed by experts, or simple feedback given from other members on your team. There’s a range of options out there, including webinars, role-play workshops, or two-day in depth courses.

Generally speaking, popular sales training programs cover topics like:

Prospecting
Sales calls
Proposal writing
Negotiation
Closing sales
Client onboarding
Sales management
Sales methodology
Sales strategy
Account based sales
Consultative selling
Proposal writing
Social selling
Moving from field sales to remote

Alongside those hard skills, sales training programs can also give your team a boost in other areas. They’ll often walk away from a skills training course with a deeper understanding of soft skills like:

Listening
Presentation skills
Confidence
Empathy
Problem solving

Regardless of the format, the best sales training gives your team a helping hand to build key sales skills and techniques they’ll need in their daily role. It’ll give sales reps a fix for their challenges, and helps you move past them with confidence.

6 reasons why you should invest in sales training

If you have the budget, investing in sales training should probably be at the top of your list—especially if you’ve noticed your team isn’t hitting sales targets, or if you want to build a super team of sales experts.

There are plenty of great reasons to invest in sales training. Here are some of the best.

1. Upskill your staff

Sales training programs can give your teams a healthy boost in those essential selling skills—like negotiation or how to close a deal. It’s no wonder upskilling is a priority for more than half of learning and development pros as we head into 2021.

Not only that, but sales training can be especially useful if your sales reps are switching focus. If employees are making the move from field sales to remote sales, for example, offer a crash course that explains how they can transition their skills and techniques in their new role.

The following courses might be useful to them:

Remote Sales Training Program by The Sales Coaching Institute
Virtual Sales Training Courses by Mercuri

You could offer upskill courses to underperforming reps, too. Teams with inexperienced or unsure staff are unlikely to hit targets or exceed your expectations. That’s no fun for anyone.

Instead of waving goodbye, give your team the power to make a positive impact on their sales performance by training them on key sales techniques and skills. And don’t be afraid to send people on refresher training too—we all forget sometimes.

(Even if you have a bright candidate for a leadership position, sales training isn’t off the cards. Send them on a sales strategy course and give them room to grow.)

Remember: each skill they build through a sales training program can help them close more deals when they’re back at their desk.

2. Increase sales

Is your sales team failing to hit their sales targets? Do you want to bring on more customers? Professional sales training can help get you there.

Research by CSO Insights shows a strong relationship between effective training and increased quota attainment. The results were especially impressive for social selling, with a 33% uplift in closed leads as a result of the specialized training.

Review your sales process and see where your stumbling blocks are. Prospecting not looking so hot? Send your team on a course about how to seek out new business more effectively. Proposals letting you down? Invest in some top quality proposal writing training.

The great thing about investing in sales training to drive sales is that it ends up paying for itself. The money you spend on training now is likely to come back to you in the form of future sales opportunities your team are better-equipped to close.

3. Empower your team to feel confident and motivated

Knowledge isn’t just power. It’s also a great way to motivate your teams.

You can encourage your sales representatives to feel more confident at every stage of the process with best-in-class training.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses. One of your team might be wonderful at negotiating but struggle to close the deal. Over time, that can really get to someone. Nip the issue in the bud and send them on a specialized sales training course that gives them the confidence to close deals like a pro, like this one:

Confidence Training by Kirsty Hulse

You’ll always benefit from a team that’s happier, more motivated, and productive. They’ll feel more driven to chase leads, impress with their presentations, and exude the kind of confidence your customers will notice. Talk about a triple threat.

4. Gain a competitive advantage

Sales training can help you get a competitive advantage. But don’t just take our word for it. It’s proven that leading organizations are more than twice as likely to invest in tailored training programmes, with nearly half saying they spend “significant” time and money on training.

Knowing how to manage the selling process (and impress your customers) can give sales professionals a real edge. So, make sure your sales team is hot on the latest technology and sales techniques, and that they know your product and market inside out.

Their insights and confidence might win that new customer over.

5. Support your team’s careers

Sales isn’t just a job. It’s a profession, and a career that many sales reps feel passionate about.

Encourage that spark, and support their careers, by providing access to high quality sales training to everyone on your sales team.

This has a knock-on effect on future plans. For example: training your brightest sales representatives in sales strategy or sales coaching gives you a way to smoothly transition them into a management role. The following sales courses, all offered by LinkedIn are therefore worth looking into:

Regardless of how experienced your sales professionals are, support each team member by creating individual training plans for them.

Get a feel for what their career goals are, and which area of sales they want to specialize in. If employees have clear goals and the right challenges, they’ll be more likely to succeed. Give them relevant sales training resources so they can develop their career.

Not everyone will stay with your company for years. That’s just how things work out sometimes. But, chances are, these future sales leaders will reflect on your company as the place where they were given the freedom to learn, grow, and become the sales pro that they are today. And that’s great for building a world class culture.

6. Retain your best sales representatives

Recruitment is expensive. On top of salary and bonuses, recruiting new sales staff means paying out for recruiters, training new hires, and a bunch of other costs. It’s no surprise why hiring a new employee can cost upwards of $7,000.

Avoid these costs—and keep your sales team around for the long haul—by being generous with your sales training programs.

Companies that invest in training are much more attractive than those that squabble over $200 for a sales training course. (You’d be surprised how many organizations aren’t flexible when it comes to learning and development.)

Why? Because people love having access to development opportunities. Research shows that 42% of millennials rate learning and development opportunities as the most important benefit when deciding where to work.

That desire to learn and improve doesn’t stop once they’ve joined your company, though. A massive 94% of people said they’d stay at a company longer if it invested in their career.

An easy way to do that—and cut retention and hiring costs—is by investing in training programs that help them learn new skills.

How to find the most effective sales training program for you

Investing in sales training feels like a win, right? Not only will you convince staff to stick around, but you can turn all of your representatives into top sellers.

The sales training landscape is vast, which is great because it means there’s plenty of choice.

That can come with a downside though; too many options equals a tough decision. Plus, not all programs are top-notch. Some 26% of reps rate their sales training as ineffective—potentially making it a waste of money if you choose the wrong programs.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you find the most successful sales training program for your team:

Focus: What do you want your team to learn? Which sales skill should the training focus on? Choose a program that focuses on that particular skill. It’s the best way to dive deeper into a topic, and learn things they might not already know.
Relevancy: Is the training relevant to your sales reps’ roles? If it isn’t now, does it fit with your plans for the future? Prioritize those you answer “yes” to.
Results: What results are you hoping to see from the sales training program? What have past learners gained from this particular training course? Generally speaking, the courses that have helped your reps most in the past should be on your list for other staff too.
Audience: Who will benefit most from this training? Should you send your whole sales team, a handful of people, or just sales managers?
Duration: Is the duration right for your team? What’s better: a half day, one day, or multiple day course? Would shorter sessions over multiple weeks work better?
Format: What format suits your team’s learning style best? Should you look for in-person workshops, consultancy, coaching, conferences, e-learning courses, or webinars?
Pricing: What’s your overall sales training budget? Is the training program you’re thinking of within this? Can you negotiate a discount? Would online sales training be more affordable? Or perhaps an in-house skill sharing session?

Research suggests the average company spends $1,400 per salesperson annually on training. So, think about the cost of training and whether it fits your budget, but also consider your return on investment.

If sending your sales team on a $2,000 course helps them land a $10,000 customer, there’s a potentially great ROI.

These questions might sound overwhelming when you first start looking into which sales training programs your team needs. But, that upfront work into building a shortlist of courses helps to make sure you’re getting maximum value from the ones you do invest in.

Bonus: get the most out of your sales training

Sales training is a huge investment. Not only in costs, but in time, energy, and direction. It makes sense to get the most bang for your buck.

To help you do that, here are some bonus tips to maximize the value you’ll get from your sales training program:

1. Create an in-house champion

Every company has that one person who’s great at working with others, and absorbs knowledge like a sponge. It’s smart to make them your in-house champion and have them become the go-to person for support and tips.

(Remember: this doesn’t have to be your top seller. It can be the person who everyone wants to talk to in the office; someone who’s opinions they value.)

This approach works especially well if you’ve just invested in sales tools like a CRM. Your champion can give the rest of the team a guided tour, run helpful training sessions, and be around to help with troubleshooting and advice.

Your sales training champion will end up knowing everything about the software you’ve just invested in, and they can share that with your team. Training that comes from a person they already know (and trust) can be more enjoyable—making your investment even more powerful, relevant, and impactful.

Plus, it’s a great way to support your champion’s career and give them something new to get excited about.

2. Encourage a culture of learning and improvement

Most of us jump at the chance to learn something new. It can take us away from the daily grind for a few hours and give us new tools and techniques to refresh us when we return.

That’s why we recommend fostering a love for innovation within your company. By adopting a culture of learning and improvement, you can create your own sales training playbook in-house—and get everyone excited about it.

The best part? You don’t have to head out to an expensive, consultant led sales training course every time you want to learn something new. In fact, 68% of employees prefer to learn at work, and 58% prefer to go at their own pace.

Set up internal training programs where your reps can learn from each other, stay up to date on industry news, and get the lowdown on the latest technology.

Encourage teamwork and let your brightest sales reps inspire the people around them.

3. Always focus on your customers

Sure, you’re sending your team on a sales training program ultimately so you can increase your sales and your profit. As a business, that makes a lot of sense.

But it also makes sense to think about how your sales training can create a better experience for your customers.

Data from LinkedIn shows 88% of people consider the sales representatives they eventually did business with to be their “trusted advisors.” People love passionate experts, and that expertise comes from both experience and relevant specialist training.

As you consider your sales training program for the future, think what your investment also means for your customers. Training your team to be better negotiators and manage their sales pipeline more effectively means a smoother sales process for your customer.

That can do wonders for those all important customer relationships… and increase the odds of you meeting those ambitious sales targets.

The bottom line? Keep your customer at the heart of what you do and your training programs. Not only will it deliver strong revenue results, but it’ll win you the trust and loyalty of your customers, too.

Ready to train your sales team for success?

There’s no doubt that sales training is one of the most valuable investments you can make in your business. It can drive customers your way, boost your rep’s confidence, and equip them with the skills to sell to anyone.

You don’t have to rush out and buy the best sales training programs if you’re just starting out.

Take some time to think about your company’s development plans. Think about how sales training can help you make a real world impact on your sales goals. Then, work with your team to create personalized learning plans—and make sales training a priority.

It’s the best way to keep your reps’ skills up to date, and get a ROI from your sales training investment.

Organize your CRM with Important Fields

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Data is key to running any successful business but it’s having all the right data in one organized place that’s going to drive growth. Having inconsistent and unorganized data makes it very hard to accurately report on, making it more difficult to run your business.

How you get to this point can vary but it’s usually because a business has no defined strategy for managing data, i.e. what’s important to us and what’s less important?

That’s where this new Capsule feature, Important Fields comes in. You can now mark Custom Fields and fields within Data Tags as Important. When adding or editing a record, Important Fields will be shown automatically and also highlighted. This makes it easier for users to enter the right information in the right place.

Any records which are missing information in Important Fields will have a small indicator to let you know they need to be updated. The indicator is shown on the record itself, on the list view and the Sales Pipeline kanban view.

This feature will help you to:

Train Capsule users to input the correct data and information when creating new opportunities.
Train new starters to get into the habit of collecting the same information consistently.
Manage compliance. For example consent to being contacted again or being subscribed to a newsletter.
Speed up the process of adding missing data as you know exactly what information is missing.
Have better conversations with customers as there will be fewer gaps in your team’s knowledge.

Important Fields is available on the Growth, Advanced and Ultimate plans. Head here if you need any more information about how to set up Important Fields. We hope you enjoy using this new feature and if you have any questions or need support, contact our friendly support team.

2020 at Capsule - what we shipped

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

As we all know, 2020 was a difficult year. There were a wide range of challenges that we had to deal with, as individuals and businesses.

Despite this, we’ve tried our best to keep developing important product updates and new features that we believe you’ll find useful.

We thought it would be good to summarize these changes and improvements here for you.

Cross Record Filtering

Technically we released this enhancement this year, but we still wanted to let you know about it. You can now filter People & Organisations by whether they have any related records or not. The new filters added are:

Has Projects
Has Opportunities
Has open tasks

These can all be found in the ‘More filters’ dropdown on the People & Organisations page.

Notification Emails for Tasks, Opportunities & Contacts

Keep on top of what you’re responsible for by opting in to receive an email whenever a task, contact, or opportunity is assigned to you. You won’t have to turn this on for new users - it will automatically be enabled.

Learn more about Notification Emails.

Report Breakdowns

Landing at the end of September 2020, the latest enhancements to our sales and activity reports let you drill down into that data, to see what it consists of.

To get a breakdown, all you have to do is click on the chart or in the table of the report to see the underlying data. You can also export these reports for external use. A few examples of what you can do with report breakdowns are:

Performance Management - Understand user performance, and find areas to improve by knowing the activities completed by each user.
New Starter Onboarding - Monitor activities that new team members are completing, dive down into those activities to make sure their outreach fits your company’s usual approach, and notice any areas where they may be struggling.
Pipeline Insights - See exactly which Opportunities have been won or lost, and compare which users/teams are converting the most leads.

Learn more about Report Breakdowns.

More Capsule data available in Looker Studio

Our Looker Studio Connector, available on our Growth plan, can now be used with additional Capsule data such as Projects and Contacts. This is a great way to combine Capsule data with data from other sources, to create unique reports and dashboards.

Learn more about how to use Capsule with Looker Studio.

At the very beginning of 2020, we announced our new sidebar that replaced the way some of the information from integrations is represented. Initially, this hosted Xero and QuickBooks Online accounting integrations, but we’ve since expanded it to host Twitter and Tasks too. You can switch between different integrations so you can see the information that’s most important to you at that moment in time.

We hope you enjoy using Capsule and these new enhancements. If you have any questions or need any support, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly support team.

9 best practices for customer retention

Chloe Lloyd — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

“One new sale.”

When you see that notification come through, don’t assume it has to be a brand new customer—one that’s never heard of you before and is trying your product or service for the very first time.

In fact, the same notification from a person who’s already purchased before could be the fuel you need to generate more revenue and reach profitability faster. It proves you’re retaining customers and encouraging them to make repeat orders.

In this guide, we’ll share what customer retention is, alongside nine strategies to retain your existing customers.

What is customer retention?

Before we get to the strategies, let’s take a look at what customer retention actually means.

Customer retention is the process of trying to keep as many customers around for the long-run. Retained customers are those that continue to purchase from you—hence why it’s an important thing to focus on if you want loyal customers.

How to calculate your customer retention rate

You calculate your customer retention rate by seeing how many people you’ve retained over a certain period of time. Most often, that’s per month, quarter, or year.

Here’s a simple formula to calculate your customer retention rate:

As an example, let’s say you’ve got 1,350 customers at the end of a given month. You acquired 50 customers throughout, and you had 1,600 at the start. Your customer retention rate would be 81.25%.

Why is customer retention important?

There are tons of metrics you’re keeping an eye on—conversion rate being one of the most important.

Let’s dive into two big reasons why customer retention rate is so important to keep track of, too.

Boost brand loyalty

Customer retention proves that customers enjoy your product or service enough to purchase repeatedly. Those people are ideal brand ambassadors.

Company ambassadors are people who praise your brand to their own network. They’ll refer to you wherever possible. In fact, 66% of marketers say this type of referral is responsible for the most B2B marketing leads.

The best part? You don’t need hundreds of customers, each making repeat purchases over years, to develop brand ambassadors. Some 37% of customers consider themselves to be loyal to a brand after five purchases. Most of the time, that’s the holy grail number you’ll need to reach to create an army of loyal brand ambassadors (who are generous with word-of-mouth referrals.)

It’s no surprise why 43% of consumers spend more money at businesses they’re loyal to.

Reduce costs (and increase profitability)

Speaking of extra revenue, research shows that it’s 7-13% cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one. You don’t have to go out and find a brand new target customer group to market your products to.

You’ve already got a pool of loyal customers who know, like, and trust your brand—three things that make them much easier to sell to than a cold lead.

Not only that but squeezing more value from each customer helps drive up the return you’re getting from your Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC).

Let’s say your CAC is $50, for example—that’s how much it costs to acquire a brand new customer, on average. Having no repeat customers with an Average Order Value (AOV) of $80 means you’re only making $30 on each sale. But if you retain each customer and they pay the $80 AOV every month, you have a much higher customer lifetime value from the same CAC.

It’s why increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by at least 25%.

9 customer retention strategies to try

Ready to improve your customer retention rate? Here are nine customer retention best practices that’ll help you keep even more loyal customers.

1. Start early with strong onboarding

It might seem counterintuitive to think about a customer leaving as soon as they make their first order. But as soon as they’re a customer, they also have the possibility to be an ex-customer.

Make sure that a first-time customer has everything they need to be set-up for success when using your product in the early stages. A strong onboarding sequence can deliver this to them. It’s a chain of emails that explains how they can use your product—and get in contact with a customer support team, should they need any extra assistance.

A good onboarding sequence that introduces them to your brand will teach them how to use it properly. Once that learning curve is over, there’s a much higher chance of them sticking around. It’s easier for them to use your product than starting from scratch to learn another.

2. Prioritize support to deliver a great customer experience

It’s no secret that customer expectations are at an all-time high. We live in a world where products can be delivered to your door within hours of ordering them online. That fast-paced demand doesn’t stop there, though.

Demand is high for customer support responses: 26% expect responses to their queries within two hours. That’s poles apart from the actual average response time of 7 hours and 4 minutes.

The bottom line is that customer support needs to be front and center of your business if you want to retain customers. Why? Because more than half of potential customers have canceled a purchase due to poor customer service.

If they can’t get a response from you that answers questions or it takes too long to receive it, they’ll head to the door.

3. Proactively ask for customer feedback

It’s not uncommon to fall into the trap of only asking for feedback once a customer has churned. Understanding why people churn is the key to keeping future users around, right? Not necessarily.

You should be proactive in making sure that your customers are happy. It cuts off the chances of them churning, in the first place. Catching them whilst they’re unhappy—but not yet made the decision to leave—gives you the opportunity to turn it around.

The good news is that this is very simple. In touch points you have with customers throughout their entire lifecycle, link to a feedback survey that asks how their experience is going. This could be front and center of your website (using pop-ups) and within onboarding emails.

Keep an eye out for those who indicate they’re not happy with your product, or the service they’re getting. Your customer support team can supply them with all the information they need before it’s too late.

Chances are, you’ll spot that some problems are affecting other existing customers, too—like struggles to add another team member to their account. Fixing it not just for that individual customer, but tweaking your entire onboarding process to ease it, improves the experience for future customers. If there’s no need for them to leave, they won’t.

4. Recognize the signs of customer churn for your product or service

Most customers give indications they’re about to cancel a product.

Some obvious signs of churn include:

Customer complaints
Negative reviews
Low customer health scores

5. Don’t treat all inactive customers the same

Did you know that the vast majority (95%) of customers expect businesses to communicate proactively, not reactively? Customers want to hear from brands before they have to contact them on their own accord.

However, this doesn’t mean sending them a generic message that encourages them to keep their subscription.

The perfect message—one that stops your customer from churning—depends on that individual person. A wide variety of things influence what they want to hear at that moment, such as their contact preferences, how long they’ve been a customer, and the product or service they’ve purchased.

Let’s say one customer has explicitly stated that they don’t want to receive emails from you. Emails are a hugely popular way to improve customer engagement. But ignoring their contact preferences can make them even more frustrated. That’s a surefire way to push them further towards leaving, not the other way around.

A CRM is the perfect tool for managing this process. You’ll see each customer and their interactions with your brand. If you spot signs of churn, note that in your CRM software and have someone reach out as soon as possible to rectify the problem.

Take some time to get to know each of your customers. (If you have thousands of them, group similar traits, personalities, or qualities together.) That way, you can understand what they really want to hear when they’re thinking of churning. A one-size-fits-all approach isn’t as effective as you’d think.

6. Create a customer loyalty program

Some of the biggest brands in the world have customer loyalty programs. You might even be part of one:

Amazon Prime
Starbucks Rewards
Tesco Clubcard
CVS ExtraCare

Customer retention is a huge reason why these brands create loyalty programs. Research shows that members of loyalty programs spend 12-18% more per year than other customers. The more integrated you feel with a brand, the more you’ll be loyal to them.

7. Recognize that some customers will always leave

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to make every customer stick around for the long-haul. Changes in their personal life, or changes to your product, might mean that it’s not a fit anymore. That doesn’t mean you should neglect them entirely.

Always make the cancellation experience as easy as possible. A negative and stressful experience when they’re leaving can make them less likely to return in the future.

Think about it: if it was complicated and expensive to cancel a subscription when you no longer needed it, would you choose to renew that subscription again in the future? You wouldn’t. Neither would your customers.

8. Keep in touch with old customers

It’s not just current customers that you should keep in regular contact with. Marketers falsely assume that their efforts are best spent acquiring new customers. But in reality, keeping track of people who have left could bring them back in the future.

When customers are churning, ask if they’d also like to unsubscribe from your mailing list. Create a new group of those who choose to stick around. Use your emails to let them know you’re still there by sharing:

Details about new products
Coupons or discounts on a future purchase
Improvements you’ve made since they left (bonus if it relates to the reason why that individual customer left in the first place)

Regardless of how you’re following up with people, every customer relationship matters. Staying top-of-mind even when they’re not actively looking to buy from you helps build trust. You’ll need that if (or when) they decide to come back.

Now you’re armed with the customer retention practices that’ll help you keep more customers around, make sure your knowledge is shared throughout your organization (if appropriate), and doesn’t just sit with one person.

You’ll have different teams that engage with a customer at each stage of their customer journey. Staff who understand churn, and know the importance of retention, can keep these strategies in mind as they work through the lifecycle.

Sales teams, for example, can spend more time guiding customers through the best plan for them if that’s a huge reason why your customers leave. Customer support agents can keep an eye out for people giving negative feedback, and try to get them back on track.

A team-wide approach is the best way to retain customers at scale. The better experience you can give throughout the entire sales journey, the more likely they are to become loyal customers.

Remember: your customer’s success is your success

Great customer service underpins brand loyalty. Going above and beyond for your customer will make you memorable. So, be proactive with asking for feedback, and understand the signs of churn so you can nip cancellations in the bud.

There’s no reason why your customer retention program can’t see people loving, engaging with, and purchasing from you for years to come.

Dive deeper into performance with activity & sales report breakdowns

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Better insights lead to a better understanding of your business and even better interactions with your prospects and customers. Our latest activity and sales report enhancements allow you to drill down into activity and sales data, making it easier to monitor your sales opportunities and customer relationship activities.

You can now see a breakdown of any activity or sales report by clicking on the bars of the charts or clicking the rows in the tables. These can all be easily exported for external reporting.

Each of the reports can be filtered by date, providing a clear snapshot of activity carried out in a specific period. Filter reports to focus on a particular quarter, month, week or a customized timeframe.

Let’s take a look at what reports contain the breakdowns, how the report breakdowns have expanded the reporting functionality and some examples of how this can be useful.

Performance Management

Use the Activity Completed by User/Type reports to see exactly what activities are being completed by different users and the number of those activities. The report breakdown gives a really easy way to see if people are reaching activity quotas that are set out for them or completing specific activities related to sales opportunities.

If you have someone new on your team, you’ll not only be able to see which types of activities they’re completing, but you’ll be able to dive down and make sure their outreach fits your company’s usual approach and notice any areas they’re struggling with - helping to diagnose any training gaps and strengthening your company’s onboarding process.

You can also filter the report to show specific users and/or teams. If you only want some activities appearing on the report you can toggle these on and off by clicking on the activity name on the right-hand side of the chart.

Lead Conversion

There are 3 reports in the Won/Lost Opportunity series. These reports show you the number or value of won and lost opportunities, over time, by team or by owner. The reports can be extremely useful when trying to spot trends, such as which team member is converting the most leads and what is the most successful month.

The report breakdown makes this data even more effective as you can see exactly which sales opportunities have contributed to the total of won or lost opportunities.

Let’s say you had a particularly good month in June and want to investigate why this was. You can click on the won opportunities for June and see all the opportunities that were won that month, when they were won, by whom and which team they are in. From there you can click directly on the opportunity to see which activities contributed to that being a successful sales opportunity.

Lost Opportunities

The Lost Opportunities reports allow you to see the lost opportunities on their own split out by owner, team or reason. This allows you to spot if a certain team or user is losing more opportunities than normal and drilling down into them you can see exactly which ones they were.

The lost reasons report is particularly useful when diagnosing why opportunities are being lost. Let’s say you have quite a significant number of opportunities being attributed to the price being too high, you can click on that reason in the chart or table and see those exact opportunities. Perhaps you’ll find that the organizations were wrongly qualified which is why they found the price too high.

Pipeline Insights

The 8 reports relating to the pipeline allow you to easily dig deeper into your pipeline and forecast sales.

The Leaking Pipeline report for example allows you to spot at which stage in the pipeline opportunities are being lost and where you might need to focus your attention to fix that.

The Pipeline by Owner/Team reports let you see what people are up to easily and the Pipeline by Milestone report is a great way to identify at which stage sales opportunities might be being held up.

Another report that can help with this is the Average Time to Won report, so you can see how long a won sales opportunity has spent at each stage in your sales pipeline.

Capsule customers like HASBEAN have found the Sales Forecasting report to be particularly helpful in accurately predicting sales and planning for the future.

As you can see there are several uses for the reports from analysing team performance to diagnosing problems in your sales process. The report breakdowns take this one step further allowing you to connect the dots and get real actionable insights.

To learn more about these updates and their availability here’s a quick guide.

Our guide to build a successful sales team

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

You’re responsible for closing all the deals your business generates. But you’re becoming so busy that you need a dedicated sales team to help close more deals.

The only problem? You don’t know where to start.

Hiring a new member of staff is tough, especially if they’re working in sales. Your new hire will be representing your company in front of new customers. And if they don’t make any sales, you’d be losing money by hiring them.

In this guide, we’ll share everything you need to know about building a successful sales team, from deciding when to hire your first rep, right the way through to keeping your new team engaged.

The value of a dedicated sales team

There are two main routes for businesses to sell products or service to their customers:

Through a dedicated sales team
Through a customer’s own self-discovery (such as browsing your website)

Chances are, you’ve seen some success with the second self-discovery route. Advertising and marketing campaigns direct people to your website. Those leads browse your product or service pages, read a few blog posts, check pricing, and then choose whether to purchase or contact you for more information.

But that can only get you so far. Potential customers might have stumbling blocks before their decision to purchase. Pain points such as the price, delivery, or simply knowing whether it’s the right product for them can hold them back.

The self-discovery route can’t always answer those questions which results in a lost sale.

However, having a dedicated sales team on-hand is the perfect way to solve your potential customers’ issues before purchasing. There’s someone to ask their questions to and reaffirm that they’re doing the right thing by purchasing your product.

When should I start building a sales team?

You can think about starting to build a sales team if:

You’ve started to sell products or services both online and in-person to your own network.
You’re the only one actively finding new prospects and closing deals—and you want a sales team, who’ll dedicate their entire working day to helping customers make a purchase decision.

But one of the hardest things about growing a business is deciding when to start hiring your first salesperson.

After all, hiring too early might put you out of business. You need to pay another salary, yet if they don’t have enough deals to close, you’ll be losing money by hiring them.

The bad news? There is no secret formula to help you determine when to hire salespeople.

However, building a dedicated sales team brings tons of benefits. That includes:

Understand your customers’ buying journey better: Your salespeople will spend a significant amount of time trying to understand why people would want to buy your product or service, and what objections they have which may stop them from proceeding with their purchase. Learning what customers need can be incredibly valuable to your business.
Increase your revenue and accelerate your growth: Hiring intelligent salespeople with integrity and passion can help to target the right customers, win them over and close more sales. It’s their sole job to find, nurture, and convert new customers.
Simplify complex sales processes: If you’re selling a B2B product or a high-ticket item, prospects need more convincing before they purchase. They can’t always do this through self-discovery. A sales team can make you appear more credible and therefore, easier for prospects to buy higher-priced products or services.

How to build a winning sales team

Are you ready to start building your sales team?

Here’s how to pick your first hire, and continue growing your sales team as your business grows.

1. Set initial expectations for your first few hires

Before diving in with the hiring process for your first salesperson, take some time to set expectations for your new team.

Building an entire department is tough; you don’t want to rush things.

The first salesperson you’re hiring will initially focus on learning about the business, including:

The product or service they’ll be selling
The market and industry
The customers

They’ll also be building a more specialized skill set based on the tasks they’ll be handling during their first few months.

In these early days, your first salesperson won’t know what works best. This is where historic company data comes into play. Ask your new hire to start with repeating what has worked well in the past, with some guidance from the owners of the business.

For example: the founder of the company attended three big trade shows in different cities. They found that customers in London were prepared to spend more money at the event itself, so salespeople should prioritize that location when making their first few deals.

However, you’re hiring your first sales rep to grow your sales—not do the same thing you’ve already done.

So, encourage your new sales team to try new things from their own experience. They might have an idea to create a sales email script that saves time. Or, they might want to test whether responses for cold calling differ at different times in the day.

The key is to learn from each success and failure, and continue to refine the process as they go.

Ongoing analysis such as performance reviews with their manager help to welcome your first salesperson, giving them the tools to succeed (whilst also allowing them to try new things.)

2. Define what you’re looking for in your sales team

Next, you need to start thinking about the types of people you’ll have to fill your next open role.

So, what does a good sales person look like in 2020?

Soft vs. hard skills

Sales representatives need a specific set of skills to thrive.

We can break these down into:

Hard skills: Tangible skills relating to an activity or technique such as objection handling, goal setting, and the ability to use a CRM.
Soft skills: Qualities relating to their personality are a lot harder to teach such as confidence, the ability to listen, and emotional intelligence.

Each sales representative you bring onboard needs to have soft skills. Those can be taught gradually but are much harder to teach and to learn.

Hard skills, on the other hand, can be built as your salesperson progresses in their role. You can show them how to use a CRM, and how to handle difficult conversations; most of those skills come with practice.

Make a list of the hard and soft skills you would ideally like a salesperson to have by listing the tasks they’ll do. Bear in mind that this might be different for each job level; a junior representative won’t necessarily have the same skills as a sales manager.

Whichever skills you deem necessary, include them in your job description. Scan the resumes of candidates that apply, making note of those who mention the skills you need.

Aligning with company values

You can pick the most qualified person to fill your new sales job opening. But if they don’t align with the company values and make a positive contribution to the company goals then they might not be the right person to hire for your organization.

One way to attract salespeople is by referencing the company values and work environment—both of which can help candidates determine if they’ll be the right fit before applying.

Obviously in order to do this you’ll need to define some core values that all your team can get behind. This can be as simple as writing 3 to 5 statements about what the company stands for, what the company exists to do and how you’re trying to do that. Taking a more value-driven approach ensures that you can ask all candidates a standard set of questions to gauge how well they might align with these values and goals - it also helps new hires figure out themselves if they’ll fit into your company.

3. Assign a compensation structure

Once you’ve got a list of skills your sales representatives need to have, you can start to think about the compensation you’re offering them.

Salespeople usually have one of these three compensation structures:

Salary focused: They’ll receive a set salary each month, regardless of how many deals they close.
Bonuses and commissions only: They’ll receive a percentage of each deal they close. Their pay can differ every month, but if they don’t close any deals one particular month, they don’t get any compensation. The average commission is 20–30% of the gross margin on each deal. (For example: If you make $100 profit per customer, your sales rep will earn commission between $20—\$30.) However of course this varies across verticals.
Base salary plus commission: They’ll receive a lower salary than usual, but it’s guaranteed. A percentage of the deals they close will be added on top. They’ll always receive the same salary, but their commission value can change month-to-month. A common structure for this is 60% salary with 40% commission.

Regardless of which compensation structure you’ll offer, it’s hard to determine how much to give your sales team.

Offering too much can leave you with little-to-no profit margins, but offering too little means there’s a risk of your salespeople quitting to find a higher-paying position elsewhere.

A good place to start is by searching for the average salary for salespeople in your area. Websites like Glassdoor can show this information:

You can be slightly above or below the average but not by too much.

The compensation you’re giving to sales representatives is one of the biggest incentives for them to work for you. Make it too low and candidates won’t apply.

4. How to keep sales staff onboard

You’ve already done the hard part of building your sales team. But now you’ve got a small team of sales reps to work for you, it’s crucial to make sure they want to stick around.

After all, when you add up recruiting costs, training costs, and lost sales, the average cost of replacing a salesperson is \$97,690. That’s money (and time) you can’t afford to miss.

Here’s how to keep your new sales team onboard and engaged:

Invest in training and coaching

A key part of building a successful sales team is ongoing training.

Why? Because companies that invest more on training generate 24% higher profit margins on average than their competitors who don’t.

Not only that, but there are always new technologies, tools, and best practices for your sales team to test. Offering ongoing training makes sure they’re always updated with industry standards, whilst also giving them new opportunities to learn - something 82% of employees believe is important.

Failing to provide ongoing training means your staff can get disengaged. Plus, you’ll fall behind with best practices - potentially opening the floor for competitors to sweep up potential customers.

And if that wasn’t convincing enough, the best sales training will improve the performance of an individual sales representative by as much as 20%.

Similarly, carve out time to coach your new sales team. This is different from training because it’s development focused; working to build your sales team’s skill and make them the best they can be.

Coaching can take many forms, including:

Facilitating discussions around what has been working well (and what hasn’t) so the entire team can learn from each others’ successes
Helping the salesperson to remove roadblocks they’re facing, such as identifying which leads to prioritize
Listening to sales call recordings and identifying areas for improvement as a team

In theory: you’ll get a better sales conversion rate by training and coaching your team regularly.

Empower your sales team

Ongoing sales training and coaching isn’t always enough to motivate your team.

It’s proven that motivated salespeople can increase revenue by about 9%. Empowering your sales team, and encouraging them to work hard, is what will see you through.

You can empower your team by encouraging them to try new things and be creative. One report suggests that autonomy — the freedom to work how they see bestn — is essential to any organisation. But for sales reps, it’s even more important.

Not every sales rep will love working from a script, and some people might feel more confident cold emailing their leads than cold calling. Allowing them the flexibility to work how they prefer will make them more motivated to do it.

Recognition is important when empowering sales teams too. People are more motivated to do things when they’ve been praised for it before. So, make an effort to celebrate any achievements — such as closing a record number of deals in a month, or finding a new (and more efficient) way to store leads in your CRM.

Schedule regular check-ins

The vast majority of employees think that regular check-ins with their manager is important.

That’s because the meetings, also known as performance reviews, gives salespeople and their managers a chance to:

Find out what they’re struggling with
See whether they have any new ideas they’d like to test
Discuss any tools that would make their workday more productive
Set goals and sales targets for the next review

The overall goal of a check-in is to confirm that your sales representatives are happy in their job. The happier they are, the more effort they’ll put into their work, which is a win-win for everyone involved.

Celebrate small wins

You’ll create sales targets for your new hires to meet.

However, it’s easy to get stuck in the cycle of only celebrating when they’ve met these targets such as closing a huge account, or meeting their deal value.

Creating a culture of celebrating small wins helps with employee engagement. Your sales representatives will feel motivated to close the most deals if they know they’ll be rewarded for it. They don’t have to work themselves to the bone to earn recognition.

So, make a conscious effort to celebrate small wins even if that’s the first customer your new salesperson converts. Each small win adds up to a bigger win for the entire sales team.

Master new staff onboarding

Onboarding is the process of bringing your new hire up to speed with the company.

It’s when they’ll get access to the software they need, learn what tasks they’ll need to complete, and integrate with team members in other departments.

Yet, if your first salesperson is the first team member you’re bringing onboard, you probably won’t have much experience with onboarding staff.

So, start to think about how you can onboard new salespeople and convince them to stick around. This might look like:

Setting clear expectations and targets for your new hires, such as “close \$100 in deals per week” (whilst also reinforcing that coaching and training is there for them).
Sharing your brand guidelines so new hires know what your company stands for, who you help, and the tone of voice sales reps should use when talking to prospects.
Creating a list of tools they need access to, along with tutorials or product demonstrations, for them to do their job immediately. Scheduling check-ins every week during their first month to check progress.

The bottom line? Make sure you’re available for your new sales hire anytime during their first few months.

It’ll take some time for them to settle in and start meeting adventurous targets. But by coaching them through, and helping them build strong relationships with their co-workers, you’ll help to keep them onboard in the long-run.

Start building your new sales team

The guide we’ve shared here is designed to take you from one-man-band to growing sales team.

But remember to take your time as you go through the hiring process. Define exactly what you want your future sales team to look like and work from there; hiring people who have the sales skills you need.

Compensation and salary isn’t everything; salespeople can quit if they don’t have ongoing training and feel like they’re not valued at work.

Commit to keeping your new hires engaged and there’s no reason why you can’t build the sales team you envision.

Investing in Capsule

Duncan Stockdill — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Last year we celebrated our 10th anniversary of Capsule. It was a chance to reflect on how Capsule has grown with thousands of customers in all corners of the globe. Over the past two years, our team has doubled in size to 32 employees, enabling us to expand our marketing, customer facing teams and also deliver new updates faster.

Looking ahead we see a big opportunity to extend Capsule’s focus as an easy to use customer management, sales and marketing tool. We also recognise having more structure and support to our business is an important part of the next stage of Capsule, and that working in partnership with an investor helps us with that.

Talking to potential investors has been a valuable experience to validate our plans. Amongst the investors we spoke to, one stood out for us when we first met at the end of last year. They understand our approach of putting the product and customer experience at the heart of what we do. The investor is Newlands Capital, a new investment firm, with a team that has years of experience helping businesses grow. They are taking a minority investment in Capsule with the support of Hermes GPE , a global investor in businesses.

What it means for our customers

Capsule continues as an easy to use solution for building stronger and more valuable customer relationships. All supported by our friendly customer facing teams.

You’ll also see us building more value in Capsule for our customers as we refine our product roadmap. One of the first major updates will be an integration with Microsoft 365 in early 2021, which follows on from our recent integration with QuickBooks and updated integration with Xero.

We’re excited to be taking this step, and working on the next stage of Capsule.

Our guide to build and maintain a winning sales process

Chloe Lloyd — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone goes through a specific journey when they turn from lead to customer.

Fine-tuning that journey, and building a process that your sales representatives follow alongside it, is crucial for any business… If you want to close more deals, that is.

Harvard Business Review proved that companies with a documented sales process generate more revenue. But almost half (44%) of executives think their organization is ineffective at managing theirs.

In this guide, we’ll share what a sales process is, and how you can refresh yours to boost your close rate.

What is a sales process?

Before we dive in, let’s be clear on exactly what a sales process is.

A sales process is the list of steps you go through when closing any deal. It starts with that first initial contact, and follows you right through the sales journey until your lead becomes a paying customer.

For example: let’s say you’re selling a B2B SaaS tool. Your sales process for each rep might look like this:

Use LinkedIn to find the best person to pitch to
Add that person as a lead in their CRM
Send a pitch via email that asks your prospect to schedule a demonstration
Host the product demonstration
Send a follow-up email with a discount code
Sale is closed

The sales process for your business might have more (or less) steps than this example. But, the point is: every company needs a sales process.

It’s their representatives’ go-to roadmap whenever they’ve got a new lead to close. That’s why 40% of sales teams don’t have a playbook, yet companies with one are 33% more likely to be high performers.

How to refresh your sales process

You’re likely here because whilst you’ve documented the process your sales reps need to go through in order to seal the deal, it’s not as efficient or organized as you’d like it to be.

Here are three simple steps to help you refresh your sales process (without the headache).

1. Review what you’re currently doing

The first step to refreshing your sales process is to look at what you’re already starting with. You can do this by outlining which steps your reps take when they’re trying to convert a lead.

Do they start their first contact with a phone call? Is their last interaction usually an email? What happens after a lead finishes a product demonstration?

This step is crucial because a new or improved process will need to be familiar to what staff are currently doing—even if it needs to be more formalized.

The people making the sales are key stakeholders. It’ll be tough to get buy-in from them, and encourage them to actually use your new sales process, if your new process is completely alien to them.

Listing your process as it currently stands is a good start. But you’ll also need to take some time to research:

What’s working currently
What activities are done and when
How long those activities typically take
What’s not working and why

Talking to your sales representatives is the perfect way to do this. You can ask people actually on the front-line, and those who know your customers best, by asking things like:

Which channel do your leads tend to engage more with (email, SMS, social media message, etc)?
How many attempts does it take to successfully contact a lead?
What percentage of leads attend a product demonstration or webinar?
How do you prepare for calls scheduled with your prospects?
What situations make a lead more likely to pick-up the phone for a sales call?
Which communication methods do you tend to avoid and why?
Which communication method has the highest close rate?
Do you have any ideas to communicate with leads that we’re not already using?
How long does our typical sales process last?
Which parts of our current sales process do you find the most challenging?
What information do you need to manage and track during our sales process?

Remember: your sales reps are the people who will actually be delivering your new sales process. They know your customers best, and have already worked with your existing sales process to know where things are working—and which areas need improvement.

It’s vital to have their input from the get-go.

2. Define your new sales process

Now you have a solid understanding of where you’re starting from, you can start to tweak different stages of your sales process to make the entire process more efficient.

We can do this by breaking down the stages of your sales process, and the activities your sales representatives should perform at each stage.

Here’s what that might look like:

Identify leads: This part of your sales process should explain how you identify leads, and what you do with them afterwards. For example: that might be diving into the form submissions on your website. Can you spot any leads that might make good prospects based on the answers they’ve given?
First contact: In this stage, you should define how sales reps make the initial contact with your new lead—such as emailing them directly, sending a connection request on LinkedIn, or making a cold call.
Pain point discovery: Once the interactions with a lead turn into a two-way interaction, they then become a prospect. It’s not unusual for a prospect to need some guidance after the first contact—especially if you’re selling a B2B product. Those buyers need to know their investment in your product is worth it. At this stage, you could find the pain points your prospect is suffering with by sending surveys or hopping on a phone call. You could also monitor which emails they open from your newsletter. The topic could give you an idea of what they need help with.
Solution: Once you’ve found the prospect’s pain point, you want to deliver them a solution: your product or service. Your sales process should explain how to do that. For example: you might give a personalized product demonstration, or send links to your bottom-of-funnel content.
Proposal: It’s important to demonstrate that you clearly understand the specific needs of the prospect, based on earlier conversations. This is a great time to link the challenges they are looking to solve with the benefits of your product or service. Make sure they have everything they need to be able to make a well-informed decision on whether to buy. This can include things like clarifying budgets, agreeing on terms, and defining the next steps
Objection handling: Some prospects have a last-minute panic before buying something. Your sales reps should help you identify these common sales objections, which are usually tied to price, timing, or comparisons against a competitor. Your sales process should list how to handle these common objections—such as sending them links to case studies or customer reviews.
Close the deal: Once a prospect agrees to purchase your product or service, you’re in the final stage of your sales process. Here, you should explain how your sales reps actually make the deal. Do they send a link to your online checkout page? Do they take payment over the phone? How do they send order confirmations?

As you start to define your new sales process, constantly place yourself in both your reps and prospect’s shoes. Remember: the goal is to make it frictionless for your reps to sell, and your leads to convert.

3. Merge your old and new sales process

You’ve outlined your new sales process and have a clear list of activities for your reps to complete at each stage.

But what good is a brand new overhaul if you don’t take the research from your existing sales process?

So, take a look at the feedback you got from your sales reps in the first stage. Use their answers to merge your new process with the old, based on what worked (and didn’t work) in the past.

You might find that sales reps voted phone calls as the most effective way to make the first contact. However, your new sales process didn’t take that into consideration, and you’ve asked your reps to start with an email.

It makes sense to take advice from your sales reps, right? They’re the people who know what works best for your leads.

Make this easier by mapping your sales process in a visual way for all to see. In Capsule, for example, you can effectively manage your sales pipeline by adding your sales stages as columns in the pipeline. Once you’ve added your leads to the pipeline you can then move the opportunities through the pipeline as they progress through their buying journey.

But if you don’t have a CRM, don’t panic. There are several other ways to visualize your sales process, such as a list or flowchart.

Bonus: 4 common mistakes to avoid

Ready to switch your entire sales department over to your new sales process?

Whilst the guide we’ve shared is a great way to improve your existing process, you’re not ready to roll it out just yet. Make sure you haven’t made one of these four mistakes first.

1. Being too strict with your new sales process

You’ve already taken your sales reps’ thoughts into consideration. It was the first stage of refreshing your sales process because they’re the people actively talking to your leads day-in, day-out.

But be wary of being too strict with your new sales process.

Not allowing sales agents to use their natural personalities to bring deals to close can be frustrating. It takes the fun away from their work and limits autonomy—something that motivates most sales reps.

Plus, it goes without saying that not every sales experience is the same. Some might skip the objection handling stage, for example. It wouldn’t make sense for your sales rep to guide someone through common objections if the lead isn’t actually suffering with them, right?

2. But don’t leave it open to interpretation

This might sound contradictory given the first mistake, but you’ll also need to be wary of leaving your new sales process open to interpretation.

Clear steps that guide your reps through each stage shouldn’t be too unclear that your staff are hesitant to take the next steps. You don’t want them to second-guess whether they should take someone to the next stage.

The entire point of having a sales process is to eliminate those questions, and have your sales reps take people from prospect to customer without any friction.

You can find out whether your sales process is too relaxed (or stringent) by getting feedback from your sales team. Do they know what needs to happen at each stage? And is clear enough that they’re able to use their own judgment throughout?

3. Not acknowledging that sales processes are always a work in progress

Refreshing your sales process isn’t a one-and-done job. Whilst you’re taking the time to refresh your sales process now, it shouldn’t be the last time you do it.

Why? Because markets and technologies change. The tools, tactics, and communication channels you’re using now likely won’t be the same ones we’re using in a few years time. (Much like how SMS has come back from the dead in recent months.) According to one report, 58% of consumers agree that technology has significantly changed their expectations of how companies should interact with them.

Sticking with the sales process you’re currently using forever means you can’t work-in those up-and-coming technologies. You’ll constantly be behind—and potentially have your competitors take over.

We need to be open to new ways of selling, hence why you should make a point to refresh your sales process every few months. Is there a new communication platform your customers are using more and more? Is the success of your cold calls diminishing? Do customers want to attend a webinar before converting?

Without taking those changes into consideration, your sales process will become less efficient over time.

4. Forgetting to report and analyze results

We already know that sales processes are always a work in progress.

But to get the most effective process, you need to continuously report on your results. That’s how you can focus on what’s working—and see problems before they become bigger issues.

Let’s put that into practice and say you’ve analyzed your most common reasons you’ve lost a deal. Each sales rep asks prospects why they’re no longer interested, and logs their feedback in your CRM.

Looking over this data can help you get a better idea of tweaks you’ll need to make to stop more prospects exiting your sales funnel. For example:

Is any sales team training required?
Are the team selling the right products to the right customers?
Are they pulling in help at the right time to progress the sale?
Are they using a specific channel that customers don’t like?
Are you pitching to the wrong person in the company?

It doesn’t make sense to continue with your new sales process if it doesn’t close deals. But you won’t recognize why your prospects are exiting the sales process if you’re failing to report on results.

The same concept applies to other areas of your sales process, too. Carve out time to dig into your sales data at least once a month. Figure out which areas are working, and which aren’t—so you can fix them before your funnel leaks even more.

Ready to master your new sales process?

Say goodbye to your old, tired sales process that doesn’t really work, and hello to a fine-tuned blueprint your representatives can use to close more deals.

The steps we’ve shared here make sure you’re not ditching your entire sales process and starting from scratch. You’ve likely already got tons of data you can use to perfect your process, and get buy-in from the most important people: your sales team.

June 2020 Product Updates

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Receive Task Assignment Emails

Stay in the know by receiving an email whenever a task is assigned to you. You can opt in to this. To turn this feature on, go to My Preferences > Preferences > here you will just need to check the box to ‘Send a notification email when a task is assigned to me’ > save your changes.

Now you’ll always be aware of what’s next on your to-do list. Any new users added to Capsule will have this feature automatically enabled. Learn more here about Task Assignment Emails.

Create Customizable Titles

To make Capsule more flexible for all businesses and their customers we’ve introduced customizable titles. You can now create your own professional, formal and personal titles to address your contacts in the most appropriate way, giving a more personal touch to your communications. Additional titles might include things such as Mx, QC, etc. These aren’t simply more titles that we’ve added but now you’re free to add your own titles so you can customize Capsule even more.

Administrators can create custom titles from their Account Settings > Custom Titles > Add Custom Title. Learn more about creating Custom Titles in our Help Centre

See Xero Quotes

We’ve improved on our Xero integration by adding in Xero Quotes. Any quotes added to Xero will now be pulled into Capsule alongside that contact.

You can also easily create quotes for your Capsule contacts at the click of a button using the ‘Add Quote’ option.

Increase Security with Anti-Virus Scanner for Files

When uploading files to Capsule we now perform a virus scan to identify any known malware to help protect you and your devices. Any malicious files will be ‘quarantined’ to protect your account and to let you know something isn’t right. The file will still be accessible by emailing support@capsulecrm.com if should you need it.

Take a Look at Our New Support Docs

We’ve always maintained a help center containing all you need to know about Capsule however we realized that it could be more user-friendly and user-focussed. We overhauled our entire support documentation to consider how a customer would best benefit from setting up their account and building out our topics this way instead of being more feature-focussed. We’ve also made it easier to search and navigate as well as giving all the support articles a fresh new look that complements design changes we’ve made in Capsule. We’re hoping that the improvements we’ve made will help our customers be more successful on their own by being an excellent time-saver when it comes to problem-solving. Why not head over to our support documentation and take a look.

Thanks for reading our update that highlights recent product enhancements we’ve made so you can easily stay up to date on what’s new. As always our Support Team are happy to help with any questions you might have.

Key tools to help run your business remotely

Chloe Lloyd — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

You might have been quite flexible already with where people work in your business or working remotely might be completely new to you. If you’re going to be able to properly support your customers there’s a real need to become a fully remote business. With nearly all sectors on lockdown, your business must make the most of the available online and cloud resources, so you can continue to do business and maintain contact with your customers.

We’ve highlighted 5 key areas you need in place to keep your business running.

1. Remote working set-up

With everyone except key workers now self-isolating at home, your business won’t be able to operate from the usual office space. So, having the ability to work remotely is going to be crucial.

Many businesses will already have embraced cloud technology in some form. A lot of companies already use Google Drive which is a great place to collaborate on text documents and spreadsheets. While you might have been used to managing work and projects as they arise in the office this doesn’t often translate well when you don’t see people in person. To manage projects more efficiently while working remotely, tools like Trello are often used.

2. Video calling platform

Contact with your customers is obviously going to be limited during the current lockdown. So, most of your communication is likely to happen online.

A video-calling platform allows you to have group meetings, reviews or one-to-one confidential meetings with your customers, without leaving your home. Video platforms, like Google Hangouts, Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft Teams, provide the audio-visual functionality needed to see your customers in real-time – allowing you to connect with them through these challenging times.

3. Online messaging for your team

Staying in touch with your team when you’re all working from different locations will be tricky. Some form of online or instant messaging will be vital if you’re going to overcome this.

Obviously, you can still pick up the phone to talk to each other, but online messaging can be more productive, allowing the whole team to interact. A team messaging app, like Slack, can help to build some team feeling when working remotely. And having a WhatsApp group for the team makes it easy to quickly send out short messages and updates to each other. Staying in touch and keeping motivated is likely to be a critical factor in success while in lockdown.

4. Emergency updates for clients

Keeping your customers updated as the crisis evolves is a vital service, allowing you to reassure your clients and provide some proactive assistance.

Many small businesses are facing a highly uncertain future over the coming months, so any resources, tips, links and advice you can share will be incredibly helpful. Online communication is likely to be a key part in starting conversations about how you can help customers.

5. Cloud-based CRM system

Managing your client interactions, inquiries and follow-ups can be hard enough under normal circumstances, but it’s more difficult when your team is working remotely.

To stay fully in control of client interactions whilst in lockdown, you need a client relationship management (CRM) platform that works in the cloud. An online CRM system, like Capsule, provides one cloud-based point of truth for all your client information – allowing everyone in the team to access and update client notes, campaign details and contact information.

CRMs give you online control over your client information, emergency communications and follow-up tasks during the tough times that lay ahead to base your emergency emails around – and a key suite of tools to help you stay in control of your conversations with affected clients.

We hope you found some useful tools from our team and feel more confident about working away from the office.

Stay in contact with customers the authentic way

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

There’s never been a more important time to stay in contact with your customers. Nearly 20% of the global population is in lockdown, most companies have moved to 100% remote working and many people are just starting to get used to their home office. It’s been a huge shake-up to the way we work and it’s likely to be quite some time until we are back to any form of normality.

Emergency communications

Depending on your industry, your customers may be concerned about what happens during the next few months and be looking for reassurance. If you haven’t started already, consider sending out an update on your business, how the team is adapting and highlight any impact on your customers.

Think carefully about which customers or potential customers you want and need to communicate with. Many people have been overwhelmed with emails and messages from companies that they might not have heard from in a long time and then suddenly hear from them again. Rather than coming across as concerned, this can seem inauthentic. Try segmenting your customer lists and reach out to those customers who you’ve actually been in contact with recently.

Staying in touch

Messaging and tone that was used or planned weeks ago aren’t likely to be relevant or appropriate today. We know this first-hand. We’ve had to adapt our messaging and content too. Our focus has shifted to helping our customers navigate, adapt and remain successful during the current situation.

Many people are taking on additional responsibilities that they might need support in understanding. The best way you can really know what your customer’s world looks like now is to simply ask them. Break down your customer base by industry and assess what pain points need addressing now. Once you’ve done your research you’re then in a more informed position to start contacting customers and have real conversations about how their industry has changed and what’s proving challenging for them.

Don’t forget to check in with potential customers too. Even if your services might not be needed now you might be thought of when that need does occur.

Adapting messaging

Every week we’re receiving new information. Consequently, new decisions have to be made. Therefore it’s never been more important to be timely and adaptable.

You probably have newsletters, emails and blog posts planned and feel like it’s a pity to waste all the time and effort that’s gone into their creation. If the content still adds value then go ahead and send or publish it but if not think about how you can update the the message and its tone so that it’s more current.

If your messaging is changing then all teams within your business need to be made aware of this so that your messaging is consistent yet current. Consider working with your customer-facing teams to adapt messaging and then make sure other teams are aware of the changes. Some key areas that might need to be addressed are your website, ads, emails, newsletters and blog and social media posts.

Your messaging and outreach also might need to be adapted to different industries. Some industries have been harder hit than others and you’ll want to adapt your messaging accordingly. For those who have been hit hardest, simple, empathic messages such as “How can we help?” go a long way.

There will be other audiences who might need your services now more than ever. Identify what those are for your business and adapt efforts and budgets.

Adapting frequency

Staying closer to your customers and your own teams should mean you have a better understanding of what’s relevant. This is key to knowing how much and how often you should be staying in touch. Even if email has always been your preferred method of communication keep in mind that now everyone is resorting to online communication platforms, people have been overwhelmed by their inbox. As part of your review process keep in mind whether a certain email or social media post is adding value to the current conversation.

Adapting channels

People are online more now than ever and your budget for communication through online platforms might want to be updated to reflect this. What’s more, even if people don’t need your products or services today - investing in developing content for areas that you own, such as a blog, means that this content can be discovered long-term.

You’re more likely to be memorable too if you can produce content that is helpful and valuable. If you and your team have insights into how your work has changed and what you’re doing to stay motivated and communicate as a team - there’s no doubt that your audience will find this valuable but also this kind of authentic content makes your business relatable.

We’re also seeing more online events and webinars popping up. This is a great way to keep in touch with customers, contribute something valuable but also maintain a social presence even if you’re not physically with your customers.

Keep moving forward

A knee-jerk reaction might be to stop communicating altogether and let people come to you. This may mean that you don’t post or write anything that’s not relevant, but it also means that your customers are left in the dark and aren’t sure you’ll be around when things go back to normal.

If you don’t know where to start, start with yourself. Nobody expects anyone else to have all the answers right now so the best place to start is with what you do know. Communicate with your customers about how you’re doing, what you’re doing and any advice you have that you’d like to share. Keep an eye on how your blog posts, social media posts and emails are being received and you’ll soon spot which type of messages are resonating with your audience.

The situation that we find ourselves in is a huge change to what we used to consider normal. We’ve not been faced with this situation before so there really is no right or wrong way to respond to it. The only thing that we can all do is to take a moment and recognize that all we can do is to try our best.

Let's get more women in tech

Jo White — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The software industry leads the way when it comes to innovation and disruption. It’s certainly helping businesses stay connected while we all transition to remote working. So it’s strange that such a forward thinking industry is so far behind when it comes to closing the gender gap. Women only account for around 16.8% of total workers in the UK tech sector and 23% in the US. And the proportion of women working in specialist roles fall as seniority rises.

Inspiring the next generation

A recent PWC study found that 78% of students couldn’t name a single famous female working in technology and only 3% of females claim a career in tech would be their first choice.

What can we do to help close this gap and inspire more females to work in tech again - after all women were a critical part of the computing sector during World War II and until the 1960s.

There are many areas to inspire young girls to explore IT, one is through stories. Parents are likely to talk about rockets to the moon, some may talk about the first man on the moon so why not mention the women who got them there too, such as Katherine Johnson and Margaret Hamilton.

Being mindful of the stories we tell our children is important to ensure they get a balanced view of a woman’s role in the world. There is a range of books celebrating female achievements in Science such as Woman in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World or Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.

Encouraging girls, as well as boys, to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through play has a positive impact too. There are many toys on the market to help develop these skills, the most obvious one being Lego, which is loved by all.

But what can businesses do to attract more females into these traditionally male dominated roles and sectors?

Review your recruitment style

We focus very strongly on creating a gender balanced team here at Capsule and now over a third (34%) of the team are women. While this is a higher proportion than some tech companies, we still have some work to do. Here’s what we’ve been doing to increase the number of females applying for a role.

First we changed the way we advertise jobs. We read research that found the author of a job description will unintentionally use gender bias language when writing a post. When we realized we were using more masculine language to advertise opportunities we stripped it out and used this tool to check we were on the right track.

Less tick lists, more storytelling

Research shows that when women apply for jobs, they feel they need to meet every single criteria on the description while men usually apply after meeting about 60%.

When we reviewed our job posts, they were a bit too prescriptive about the skills required with not enough emphasis on what life is like at Capsule. It seemed the wrong way to attract people to our company, especially knowing what we did about tick-lists putting women off applying.

As a result, we took out the bullet point lists of the things ‘you need to do’ and replaced them with more of a story around the job along with what it is like to work at Capsule. We wanted to help candidates see how well they would fit into the organization.

Our posts are now more balanced and welcoming. They cover things like what you’ll do day-to-day, the tools we use, how we decide what to work on, how we manage releases, and what to expect from your co-workers. We get a good mix of people applying and are more confident we’re attracting the right person for the job.

Two way discussions at interview

We changed our approach to interviews too. They are more of a two-way discussion now, where candidates have the opportunity to see if our culture will work for them and we get to see if they will work well with us too.

Our discussions highlight Capsule’s inclusive approach which underpins our ethos and describe our flexible approach to work and sharp focus on team bonding – which are appealing to both male and female workers.

As we attract more females, it’s now much easier for us to give a woman’s perspective of what it’s like to work at Capsule. Candidates are encouraged to chat with the female members of the team to get an idea of what it’s like to work with us before they make the decision to join.

Diversity-first website

The first place people usually visit when applying for a job is your website. It was important for us to rewrite part of our marketing site to include more pictures of our female team and avoid stereotype-reinforcing images.

We try to demonstrate what it’s like to work at Capsule online to give candidates a good feel for our business before they meet us. When we do invite people into the business, feedback is positive and candidates say our welcoming approach matches their expectations.

Gender neutrality works

We benefit greatly from more gender diversity in Capsule. Simply having different points of view is immensely helpful when we face business or development challenges, as you get a new perspective.

As we recruit more females to Capsule we grow the number of role models in the business so those interested in applying for a role will be inspired to see so many women in a variety of roles. We still have a way to go with the gender balance but we are much further along than we were just 12 months ago. We know the proactive actions we’ve taken do work and we are sure there are others we can implement too.

There are an extraordinary amount of tech job vacancies alongside a shortfall of women leaving university with appropriate qualifications. The tech industry faces the dual challenge of hiring employees with much-needed skills and narrowing the gender gap in an overwhelmingly male sector.

Here at Capsule, we’re doing our bit to attract more females to our industry and we know other businesses are too. Let us know what you’re doing in your company to close the gender gap so we can continue to learn from each other and help improve those statistics.

The easiest way to organize your CRM data

Jo White — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

One of the great things about a CRM you can fully customize is that you can store every piece of data you need.

But if you create lots of data fields in Capsule, your records can look quite messy if they are all empty. The best thing to do is create some DataTags then you’ll only see the relevant data for each record. They’re very easy to create.

Let’s start with a Tag

Before we explain DataTags, it’s best to explain the purpose of a Tag. It’s a label you can add to a Person, Organization, Opportunity or Project to help you categorize them. You can search on Tags too, which is super useful for segmentation and creating lists using the filters. This is how you create a Tag.

Here are some example Tags you can create in Capsule:

Customer type Tags eg, Leads, Customer, Supplier
Product type Tags eg. Free, Starter, Growth
Customer stage Tags eg. Onboarding, Adoption, Growth

What’s a DataTag?

A DataTag is a neat way to store extra details. So, for example if you use a Tag to label a new contact a ‘Lead’ you may want to know the source of the lead - was it from the web, event or an advert?

Once you create the ‘Lead’ Tag, you can very easily turn it into a DataTag to store this information.

A DataTag can be a text, date or number field, a checkbox or a list. In the example above we used a list.

Why do I need a DataTag?

The best thing about a DataTag is it keeps your Contact, Opportunity and Project data in check. It stops your records from getting cluttered with empty boxes so it makes it easier for you to see the information you need.

The other huge benefit is when you’re updating your records. If you add a Tag that’s been converted into a DataTag, Capsule will automatically ask you for the extra data when you add it. It’s a useful prompt to remind you to store specific information.

Tags and DataTags are super helpful for segmentation. If for example you use the ‘Lead’ DataTag, you can search for all the leads you acquired at an event and invite them to your next one.

You can also import DataTags into Capsule, so if you have data you wish to upload, simply add columns to your spreadsheet for each Tag plus every additional field and they’ll automatically be created.

If you’re a whiz at Looker Studio you can report on the DataTags you use in your sales opportunities too.

Other examples of DataTags

Capsule customers span across many industries, so there’s a huge range of DataTags in use but here are some of the more general ones we see:

People

Events attended (Title, Date, City)
Role (Initiator, influencer, buyer, user)

Organizations

Health Score (Red, Amber, Green)
VAT (Number, schedule, filing date)

Sales Opportunities

Contract (Date sent, Date signed, Date received)
Package (Gold, Silver, Bronze)

Projects

Property (Number of rooms, Garden, Pool)
Department (Marketing, Finance, HR)

We hope you find DataTags a useful way to organize your data and if you’d like more information on setting up a DataTag this guide tells you all you need to know.

How to be social when you’re distant

Jo White — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The majority of people reading this will have found themselves working from home and the novelty of being in your own environment may be drifting as you began to miss the social buzz of the office.

We all work remotely at some point at Capsule but we have a lovely city center office to go to for meetings or social interaction. Not having that central place at the moment is proving difficult for some of the team, so here’s what we’ve been doing to stay social with the remote team.

Zoom water cooler

We’ve set up a zoom call to run throughout the day for people to drop into whenever they feel like a chat. We’re trying to create those office moments of bumping into a colleague while you’re making a drink. It’s been a nice way to connect face to face online at random times throughout the day.

It’s really easy to set up too. All you need is a licensed user to host and book a recurring meeting, making sure you enable ‘join before host’ so the host doesn’t have to be there all the time.

You can minimize the screen on your desktop and stay looped in all day if you like, handy if you’re used to working in the communal area at work.

If you have a paid Zapier account account and you use Slack, you can link everything up so you get a Slack notification when someone pops into the water cooler. It saves people having to send a message if they’re on their own. When it’s set up it looks like this:

Here are some step by step instructions to set up notifications

In Zapier choose ‘Make a Zap’ and the ‘Webhooks by Zapier’ app as Step 1
Select ‘Catch Hook’ as the Trigger Event and click ‘Continue’
Copy the ‘Custom Webhook URL’ to your clipboard
In a new tab or window goto https://marketplace.zoom.us/ and sign in using your Zoom user details
From the ‘Develop’ menu select ‘Build App’
Create a ‘Webhook only’ app
Enter a meaningful name for the app, e.g. ‘Water cooler notifications’
Complete the required fields on the Basic Information screen then click ‘Continue’
On the ‘Add Feature’ screen toggle ‘Event Subscriptions’ on and then click ‘Add new event subscription’
Give the subscription a meaningful name, e.g. ‘Participant Joined Events’ and paste the Zapier ‘Custom Webhook URL’ from your clipboard into the ‘Event notification endpoint URL’
Next click ‘Add events’ under Event Types, check the ‘Participant/Host joined meeting’ event under the ‘Meeting’ Event Type and click ‘Done’
Click ‘Save’ on the Event Subscriptions screen then click ‘Continue’
Back in Zapier click ‘Continue’ on the Customize Hook screen. This will take you to the Find Data screen. Click ‘Test & Review’. Zapier will start waiting for an event
Now join your water cooler Zoom call - this will trigger a webhook to Zapier which we can use as an example event to build the rest of the Zap. It’s OK to leave the Zoom call once Zapier shows a sample that contains the ‘payloadobjectid’ that matches your water cooler meeting ID.
For Step 2 you’ll want to choose the ‘Filter by Zapier’ app - The webhooks set up in Zoom will send events for all meetings in your account. Use the filter to only pass through the events for the water cooler meeting.
In ‘Filter Setup & Testing’, for the first box, select ‘Payload Object ID’. For the second box select ‘(Text) Exactly matches’. And for the third box enter the meeting ID for your water cooler without any spaces or dashes
Finally for Step 3 choose the destination for your notification. At Capsule we use Slack

Once a month we get the whole team together online for a social and we’ve covered some of the games we’ve played in this blog. The one we’ve used most is Kahoot! as it is easy to set up and great fun to do.

Another is Jackbox. You simply buy a game and invite people in to play it. Some games have a limit on the number of people you can invite but any extras can usually be audience members and vote on answers. This video talks you through the easy set up. The games most highly recommended are:

Fibbage is a game similar to Balderdash (if you’ve ever played that), where you make up false answers to a trivia question and try to convince other players your lie is the truth.

Quiplash is a game where you say what you want. There are no rules or correct answers. Your answer goes head-to-head with another player and the winner is the one the audience votes to be the best. Simple and hilarious.

Civic Doodle is a creative game. Two players draw at once, adding bits to a simple starter drawing. Other players react to the drawings with on-screen emojis in real time. When time’s up, everyone votes on the best drawing, and the winner becomes the new “base drawing” that the next two players make additions to.

Stay connected to your community

If you can’t get out, there are community groups on facebook of course but the Nextdoor app focuses solely on your local area. Once signed up there’s a useful map that shows all the local people signed up. You can post messages to all your neigbors or just a selection and it’s a great way to stay connected and check everyone is OK.

There are a lot of live fitness streams at the moment, which are a fantastic way to release endorphins when you’re stuck inside, even better when you know you’re part of a global team doing it together. Here are a few the team have tried this week:

@thebodycoach, Joe Wicks is based in the UK and is doing a 30 minute workout each night on Instagram. It starts off steady then gets more advanced as the minutes progress. It’s free, just click on his account at 7am GMT each night. He’s also doing a PE lesson every day at 9am GMT from Monday 23 March to keep our children fit too.

Daily Burn has a new live workout every day at 9am EST. They have a free 30 day trial and you can choose from a variety of strength, running, yoga, HIIT, and cardio classes.

If Yoga is your thing, Down Dog is free until April 1 and until July 1 for all students and teachers (K-12 and college). You get to choose where to focus the practice and for how long.

We’ll be trying lots more things over the coming weeks and will share any stand out ideas we think you’ll find useful. We’d love to hear how you’re keeping up your team social life during these challenging times so please let us know.

Our remote workers share their challenges and tips

Jo White — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

There are many great things about remote working, the main one being flexibility - especially in the current climate. We looked more deeply at all the benefits in the ‘How to make remote work’ blog.

While we’re familiar with the business challenges people face working remotely around communication, collaboration and forming team relationships, what about the personal challenges? We spoke to some of our remote workers to find out how they overcome their own challenges.

Snacking

One of the most common challenges when working from home was with snacking. Most of the team tend to reach for the sweet stuff during the day instead of healthy alternatives like crunching on carrots.

“My consumption of cookies has increased dramatically since working remotely. So I make rules about how many cookies I can eat per day.”
Joshua UK Support

If there’s too much temptation in the house and you need a bit more help with self control here’s an interesting solution:

“We have one of these clear plastic lock boxes. I can see the treats in the house but can’t access them - I don’t know the code!”
Andrew Developer, UK

On the flip side, some of the team forget to eat, especially when working across different time zones. Meetings can tend to run through lunch time, so you end up skipping meals.

The best advice was to schedule out a lunch break in your diary so people know when you take lunch. It’s also useful to have healthy meals prepared in advance to eat straight after the meeting.

The team were also more likely to miss meals if they had breakfast too late as the rest of the day gets out of sync. If you have your breakfast before you start your work day, you’ve got more chance of eating at regular intervals.

Falling for fast food

Sometimes the hours can fly past before you realize you’ve not eaten anything at all. Then suddenly you’re ravenous and need something quick. That’s when it’s easy to fall for fast food. This is especially true if you don’t live in the city with lots of nutritious options on your doorstep. Best advice - prepare healthy food you can grab on the go.

“I’m out in the suburbs, so it’s not as easy to grab a quick, and might I add, nutritious lunch. So I have to be organized and make sure there is something here so I don’t resort to fast food that isn’t healthy.”
Liz Customer Success, US

Here’s a tasty recipe for fast food that’s full of goodness, Maple Drizzled Pistachio & Avocado Bagel Toast, especially if you drop the maple syrup. But Ollie, our UK Designer says that’s what makes it!

Josef, from our US Support Team has actually found he eats super healthily now he works remotely. He prepares wholesome lunches every day and has never felt so good. Here’s one of his nutritious bowls.

Forgetting to clean your teeth

Talk of all this food highlighted another common challenge - forgetting to brush your teeth. Something so ingrained in our brains to do before we leave the house strangely seems to slip when you work from home. We all admitted to forgetting at some point. Some of us remember just before lunch then decide to leave it until after lunch. It’s only when our partner comes home that we’re reminded again that our teeth are not clean!

Those that remember more consistently follow a morning routine that’s the same as the one they’d have if they worked in an office. Others have turned to an app called Streaks - it helps form good habits!

Cabin fever

Working remotely involves being indoors, usually on your own, for most of the day. If you have all your supplies in and no meetings, it’s not long until you get a bit of cabin fever. Here’s how the team overcome that in the current climate.

“I think regular video calls completely removed any cabin fever.”
Dom Lead Designer, France

“Azul, my dog, forces me to get outside a couple times a day.”
Liz Customer Success, US

“Getting out for a quick lunchtime run or a brisk walk helps break up the day and boosts energy for the afternoon.”
Jo Marketing, UK

Human interaction

One of the biggest challenges is with daily social interaction. It’s great working on your own but we all need a bit of human interaction throughout the week.

We use Zoom meetings at Capsule and it’s a great way to interact with the team on a daily basis. Having a couple of those meetings a day instead of using Slack has definitely helped the team feel less isolated.

When social distancing is lifted and some form of normality returns, here are some other ways to meet people when you work remotely.

“I attend Jelly, an informal co-working event on a Wednesday, it’s full of other remote workers and we all sit around a table in a cafe and work next to each other.”
Andrew Developer, UK

“Every so often I go to a Support Driven Meetup, maybe once a month for remote people and others. I’ve also got at least two social running things each week too”
Josef US Support

“During the school year I volunteer in my kids classrooms once a week during my lunch time.”
Liz Customer Success, US

A few other challenges popped up for our full-time remote workers such as their neighbors thinking they sat at home all day doing nothing. Aside from dropping their job into conversation, we didn’t really have a tried and tested answer to that challenge.

We hope you found some useful tips from the team and feel a little bit more confident about working from home.

How technology affects our brain

Jo White — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

According to our research, we’re all at risk of digital amnesia - our ability to remember everyday details as we become more dependent on technology.

We surveyed over 2,000 people recently and found that many had difficulty remembering events if they were not stored in their phone.

1 in 4 don’t know their own mobile phone number
69% don’t know their partner’s number off by heart
63% can’t recall their best friend’s birthday

Are we too reliant on tech?

It’s likely that with access to everything at our fingertips, we’ve forgotten how to recall information from memory, the flip side is we probably have more space to be more creative.

But what would happen if all our trusted devices suddenly stopped working? We know people would find it difficult to contact friends, but we also discovered that a whopping 73 per cent will end up missing their vacations as they need to check tech for their dates.

The roads would be an interesting place to be too as people would struggle to find their way to their destinations - 64 per cent rely on tech for directions.

In truth, we rely on our devices for the majority of our daily activities instead of our brain.

45% use tech for shopping
39% use tech to access transport
38% use tech for times and dates of events.

Those surveyed also admitted to reaching for their devices to carry out simple, basic tasks, such as a math calculations or spelling.

On the surface this may not seem important, why do you need to remember a phone number if you have it stored in your phone? You don’t, but the brain is a muscle and it helps to exercise it every day.

Simple tactics such as spending a few minutes trying to recall information instead of instantly reaching for your phone will help, along with being mindful during every activity. Perhaps taking less photos and trying to remember all elements of an experience will help us recall more memories too.

Keep data safe

If people put so much trust in technology it’s worth backing up data and keeping it secure.

We know passwords are easily forgotten, around 8 per cent of our users reset their password each month. But it’s still best to use strong, unique passwords and not store them in obvious places. Tools like 1Password are useful as you can store all your complex passwords there and you only need to remember one to access them all.

It’s also a good idea to review privacy settings to make sure your personal data isn’t being shared with third parties.

It’s good to be organized

Almost a third or our respondents (31 per cent) described themselves as disorganized.

24% have been late for appointments in the past 12 months
23% have missed birthdays
21% have forgotten to pay bills
15 % double booked or missed social events, respectively.

Being disorganized was also having a negative impact on their work life too with 29 per cent saying they missed deadlines and arrived late to meetings.

There was a clear link between technology and being more organized with two-thirds (64 per cent) of all respondents saying they use technology, such as online calendars, digital to-do lists and reminders, to keep their lives in order.

Our reliance on tech is showing no signs of slowing down and when used correctly it helps keep us more organized. But it’s probably not a bad idea to exercise our brains regularly and test our memory - so let’s have a go - when exactly is your best friend’s birthday?

How to improve sales conversion rates

Jo White — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

What is a conversion rate?

A conversion rate is the percentage of people who take a desired action. The action could be to sign up to your software, webinar or proposal.

Conversion rate = Number of those taking desired action / Total number * 100

If you are trying to find the conversion rate for people signing up to your software online the calculation would be:

Conversion rate = Number of signups / Total visitors * 100

If you have 2,000 signups a month and 6,000 visitors your conversion rate is 33%ß

Why is conversion rate useful?

It’s a strong metric to assess the effectiveness of your marketing and sales tactics. If, for example, you’re running PPC ads, your conversion rate will show you how well the ad is performing. If you only have a 1% conversion rate, it’s worth looking at your ad content again and improving your message, call to action or offer.

If you have a sales process in place with many stages, it’s useful to calculate the conversion rate between each step. You can spot where people drop out, uncover the reasons why and put steps in place to improve it.

Calculating your overall conversion rate from the first point of contact to a won deal helps you forecast more accurately. It also helps the marketing and sales team focus on the amount of interest they need to generate to hit their sales objectives.

A conversion rate also helps you manage your team more effectively as you can see who and what activities result in more sales. Once you know this you can share best practice across the team.

Now we know what a conversion rate is and why it’s useful - how do you improve it?

1. Understand your audience and their buying behavior

It’s crucial to understand your audience, everything from their pain points to the time it takes to make a buying decision. Once you know exactly who you’re trying to attract and how to entice them, you can target them more effectively through a clear proposition alongside targeted marketing and sales activities.

When you know their buying behavior and their decision making process, you can craft a more accurate sales pipeline to track your opportunities and your conversion rate.

2. Dive deep into your sales data

If you have a CRM in place, this should be quick to do. If you’re using spreadsheets, it’s time to do some formulas!

You’re looking to get a good understanding of your current conversion rate and what activities or people have the greatest success. It’s important to see what currently happens at each stage of your sales process and how this differs by salesperson. You’ll also be able to see how well the team’s activities reflect the insights you’ve uncovered earlier on.

An example is finding out the decision-maker in your industry is the Head of Sales, but in your current process, you’ve been communicating with the Marketing team. This could be one of the reasons why you lose opportunities at a specific stage. Pro-actively engaging with the Head of Sales throughout the sales process, will increase your conversion rate.

3. Define your sales process

Once you understand your audience and their decision-making process, together with your team, you can define a solid sales process. It’s likely your sales team has already settled into a familiar way of working but if this isn’t effective it’s worth getting together to test a new way, that plays to their skill sets.

4. Focus on the relationship, not the sale

Understanding how your salespeople sell is also a good way to uncover potential areas of improvement if your conversion rates are lower than expected. Shadowing them as well as talking to them about their tactics is incredibly useful.

It certainly helps improve conversion rates when a salesperson builds a good relationship with the customer from day one. There are many different ways of doing this depending on your industry. If you have a high-value customer and product, for example, starting with a discovery meeting or consultation puts the focus on the customer’s needs, instead of the sale. The meeting helps the salesperson truly understand the challenges and more able to qualify the opportunity as genuine.

If you sell directly to customers online, a consultation or discovery call may not be cost-effective so it’s important to have all the information you know a potential customer needs easily accessible on your website. FAQs are useful along with the clear benefits and testimonials from businesses relevant to their industry. Genuine proof your product solves their problems always helps to improve conversion rates.

5. Ask the right questions early on

Conversion rates can be affected by many things such as poor sales qualification processes. You may get 1000s of leads into the business, but not everyone is a potential sale. If you don’t distinguish between the two early on, you run the risk of focusing the sales efforts in the wrong places and creating a lot of noise in your sales data.

For face to face sales, asking the right questions when you first engage with the person interested in purchasing your product or service, will help you understand the potential opportunity straight away. Examples include:

What budget is available?
What are the decision criteria for this purchase?
Who are the key decision-makers?
What timings are they working to?
Is this solution a priority for the business?
What are their expectations for the next steps?
Are they reviewing other solutions?

If the budget is not yet signed off and the key decision-makers are not yet involved, this could be a non-starter or a slow burner. Experience will tell you how these opportunities play out and you can make a call on whether to include them in your sales data.

6. Regular, relevant communications

Once you’re confident the opportunity is real it’s time to nurture the sale through your process. How you do this is dependent on your business model but we do know that regular, relevant communications have a positive impact. Whether this is an onboarding email automation program or more personal communications on a one-to-one level.

However, there’s a fine line to staying in touch and being a pest so it’s important to tread carefully.

As a busy salesperson, it can become quite difficult to stay on top of every opportunity without a bit of help from technology. This is when a CRM becomes a critical tool as it will keep you organized and in control of your sales pipeline. You’ll easily find all the important notes and details from prior interactions on your device, saving your time and memory.

Most CRM systems, like Capsule, will also notify you when it’s time to get in touch with the person you spoke to last week or the week before - they’re like you’re very own Personal Assistant. Spreadsheets and calendars, on the other hand, can be very difficult to synchronize.

Another incredibly useful feature of a CRM system is the ability to help standardize a process when you’ve figured out a winning formula. In Capsule, for example, you can create a list of linked tasks that a salesperson can add to every new opportunity. This list can guide them on the qualification questions and follow-up activity, so everyone is following best practices.

7. Measure your progress regularly

When looking at improving conversion rates, you’ll have lots of ideas you’ll want to implement straight away. But where you’re unsure of the impact, it’s worth doing some AB tests. Testing your new activity on 50% of your opportunities for a set time period will help you see if it’s having a positive effect.

When you’re improving your sales processes and activities, be sure to measure your conversion rates regularly. Again a CRM system will make this a lot easier for you to do as it’s done automatically.

Other useful features to help accurately calculate your conversion rate include the prompt to record the reason for a lost opportunity. This is critical information to help you understand what’s going wrong at each stage.

Sometimes an opportunity is dropped for reasons outside of a salesperson’s control such as huge organizational change or a key driver in the decision-making process leaving the business. Certain CRMs, like Capsule, will let you omit this lost sale from your overall conversion rates, ensuring the figure you have is only based on the activities under your sales person’s control.

Understanding your conversion rate and identifying positive steps to improve it will have a positive impact on your sales and the overall team performance. If you’re looking for a CRM system to help you track and improve your conversion rate, try Capsule for free for 14 days.

Customer loyalty helps your business grow

Jo White — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When you have a great product, which people love, it’s worth focusing resources on building loyalty as much as on acquisition.

As you start to look after your customers, you build a loyal fan base that stays with you and refers business your way. In fact a 5% increase in customer retention can increase profits by 25-95%.

“84% of B2B buyers now start the purchasing process with a referral, and peer recommendations are influencing more than 90% of all B2B buying decisions.”
Harvard Business Review

Growth of a company is dependent on attracting new customers too but it’s an expensive business. On average it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. With loyal customers naturally promoting your brand for free, it makes commercial sense to focus on building brand loyalty as well as acquisition. But how do you do it? Here are some proven ideas to get you started:

Have a remarkable product

Loyalty starts with a remarkable product or service that people feel compelled to talk about. When you make a promise, your product must deliver consistently and exceed expectations. Whether it’s a promise to increase sales or improve health, your product must deliver the desired result. Trends come and go, so it’s also important to stay close to your customers, understand their changing needs and adapt your product or service to keep you relevant to their lives.

Welcome new customers authentically

When you onboard new customers you have a huge opportunity to stand out and make them feel special. Whether this is an online or face to face process, add some personal touches along the way. Something as simple as a handwritten sign welcoming new clients to your business, like The Sharp Agency’s example here - it makes people feel special.

If your onboarding process is online it’s worth reflecting on those you’ve experienced yourself over the years or try some out. What did you like about them, how did they make you feel?

Usually it comes down to authenticity.

When you feel an interaction is genuine and the person cares about you, you remember the experience favorably and want to experience it again. Translating this feeling into an email is easier when it comes from a real person that’s truly welcoming a new customer as if they were face to face.

Provide information they need in a friendly way, just enough to have the confidence to start, as you don’t want to overwhelm. Pointing out key features, directing them to useful communities and opening the door to support is always useful. Keep things light and simple with a focus on being friendly, welcoming and helpful.

Discover why loyal customers love you

Every product has loyal customers, what’s important is scaling this up to a much bigger tribe of advocates. A useful exercise is discovering why customers love you. This can be achieved by chatting to customers or doing a regular survey at scale such as the Net Promoter Score survey.

You’ll get instant feedback on how your customers feel and see comments about what they like or dislike. Don’t forget to dig deep into low scores too as you’ll quickly identify the gaps in your product or service.

Thank your biggest fans

When your customers feedback, recommend or promote you on social media, remember to reach out and say thank you. If they spend time talking to you, giving you useful insight, don’t forget to show your appreciation afterwards.

Saying thanks to your most loyal customers helps retain their custom as it shows you care, it’s a nice thing to do. This can be a simple email, handwritten note, response on social media or you can offer some exclusive perks such as discounts, invitations to events, extra support - anything you know they will value and communicate to them that you care.

Deliver exceptional customer support

In a competitive marketplace it can be easy to replicate a product but it’s much more difficult to copy an experience. Supporting your customers in your own unique, positive way can help build customer loyalty.

When people feel supported and taken care of, they’re more likely to buy from you again. The great news is, when you’re a SME, it’s easier to deliver a more authentic customer service than the bigger companies. You can usually be more agile and empower the team to do what’s right for the customer instead of being wrapped up in bureaucracy. With this approach you’re more likely to exceed customer expectations, which is a sure fire way to improving loyalty.

Be honest and transparent

People expect transparency in business and truly value honesty over anything else. It’s more powerful to acknowledge when things go wrong and show empathy if a customer feels dissatisfied. It shows you’re human and you care - all positive attributes to build trust and loyalty.

Connect and communicate

Regular, helpful communications help build a connection with your audience and foster loyalty. Especially if it’s two-way. Being accessible and responsive shows you’re there for customers when they need you. Keeping people up to date on new product launches, feature changes and providing helpful, relevant content all helps build trust and loyalty to your brand.

Be kind

In summary, all of the above is about being kind to customers, treating them how you expect to be treated. It’s a simple concept but one that’s easily forgotten as businesses grow and get busier.

Technology can help automate some of these processes and a CRM like Capsule is a great place to store and organize all your customer information so you’re more able to look after customers.

How to get teams using your CRM

Jo White — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

A CRM can be life changing for a business, especially when it’s a step up from spreadsheets. Suddenly all your data comes alive as you easily spot trends in your buyers behavior, see what activities bring in the most leads and more importantly know exactly where your future revenue is coming from, so you can forecast sales more easily.

“I started with a spreadsheet and as a small business I thought, do I really need CRM tools? It all seemed a bit too grown-up. Silly really as the sooner you get them in, the better, as they actually help you grow.”
Sue Keogh Director at Sookio

But a CRM is only as good as the data in it, which means your teams need to keep it up to date and accurate. It’s therefore important to choose the CRM that suits their needs.

While you’re choosing a new system, we’ve found it’s easier to implement a CRM and get people using if it is:

Easy to use

As with any software, it has to be easy to use. The people using your CRM will be busy and when they need data from the CRM or have to update records, they expect it to be easy and quick to do. The minute they get frustrated trying to work something out, they’ll likely stop using it or use it incorrectly. Sales reps spend more than 60 percent of their time in technology and time is precious. So, the easier your CRM is to understand, the more they will use it.

Quick to implement

Depending on your business type, you may not need all the fancy features of some CRMs, so choose wisely. The more complex a system is, the longer it takes to roll out and CRMs don’t need to be complicated. Find a CRM that’s easy to implement - the less training the better. It’s always best when people can get started straight away.

Packed with time saving features

Related to the above, the core features of your CRM should save you time not add to it. Automating tasks and processes are the most time-saving qualities of a CRM. Automatic reports, conversion rates, workflows all shave time off a busy day. Integrations can help too, as data is automatically synced between software giving you all your customer data in one place.

Keeping your CRM alive

Once you have implemented your CRM, it’s important the team continues to value your investment. Here are a few tips to help keep people engaged in your new software.

1. Encourage advocates

Super users are incredibly influential, the more you have dotted around the business the better. These are people who understand the power of CRM, support it wholeheartedly and naturally enthuse about its benefits. They will hear any grumblings on the ground, be more able to respond and turn people around quicker than a sole project manager.

2. Promote the benefits

It’s worth continually promoting features and their benefits throughout the year. Regular communications will remind people why they should use the CRM and the benefits of doing so. If your CRM has a mobile app, ensure everyone has downloaded it and is using it correctly. Being able to access your data on the move is a big pull to those that may not be fully onboard yet.

When new features or updates are released, promote the benefits to the team to encourage them to try them out for themselves. And if you tailor the message to specify the relevant benefits to each department it will have more impact.

As people start to enjoy using your CRM software, find out what it is they love and share it with the rest of the business. It’s motivational to hear the tips and tricks that make people’s day and it will encourage others to try them too. Make the most of people’s ‘fear of missing out’ and use your communications channels to show how useful your CRM is to others.

4. Publish CRM activity

You’ll get statistics from your CRM to show you who has logged in and how often. You will be able to correlate this quite easily with their general performance, particularly if they are working in the sales team. There’s a strong correlation between CRM use and the health of pipeline. If you find this and can share it with the team, those that want to be as successful as their peers, will be more motivated to use it.

5. Train and refresh

Hopefully your CRM will be easy and intuitive to use. But even the simplest CRM needs introducing to the team as it’s a new way of working. Making sure people have access to quick guides, support documents and understand who to go to for help, will help with adoption rates. As new features are released, hosting a quick session or recording a short video to show how to use it will invigorate interest in the system.

6. Keep it clean

If the data in your CRM gets out of date or disorganized, people will start to distrust it. They may find other sources of data to rely on and soon you’re in a vicious cycle. To prevent this from happening, it’s important to clean up your data at least twice a year. This includes closing lost opportunities, updating contact details and checking the integrations are working as they should. If each contact and opportunity is assigned to a person, this exercise becomes more manageable.

7. Listen to feedback, resolve issues quickly

There are always teething problems with a new system as people adjust to a new way of working. This is especially true if people have moved from another CRM so it’s important to listen to people’s concerns and resolve any issues quickly. You should have a line of communication with your CRM provider to ask questions and suggest features. Most will respond promptly so you can report back to the team quickly. Listening and responding to your team will send the right signals that the CRM is here to stay and you’re supporting everyone on their journey.

We hope our tips help you select the right CRM for your business and encourage greater use. If you would are looking for a new CRM, why not have a free trial of Capsule.

Win more deals, build relationships

Jo White — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In business and life, when looking for a solution to a particular challenge, you reach for your mobile and start to search for answers. Asking peers and people in your network for recommendations is another natural step. But speaking directly to a new supplier to ask them questions is quite rare.

It’s no surprise to see that 68% of people prefer to research on their own online before making a purchase decision. Millennials also like to research before making a decision and they now make up 73% of all B2B purchasing decisions. So when a buyer meets a sales person, they’re already very informed about the product or service and think the solution is potentially a good strategic fit. The last thing they’ll want to spend their precious time doing is listening to the marketing messages all over again.

This is where the traditional sales approach needs to focus more on building a relationship with the buyer.

When you have the best product, or market leading brand you win more sales. Some businesses want the best in the market, they will gravitate towards the market leaders as they believe they are the most trusted solution, so are relationships that important? If you sell a niche product or service, competition may be low so does the traditional approach really need to change?

In both scenarios, yes, building a strong relationship from the very first encounter is essential. It increases up sell, cross sell opportunities and the more a customer purchases from you the more likely they are to stay and refer you to others. If there is an opportunity for a competitor to disrupt an industry, it can happen almost overnight. And whilst features and processes can easily be copied, relationships cannot.

The old saying, people buy from people, is very true today. So when you meet a new prospect who’s researched your company and your solution, how do you make a good first impression and start to build a positive relationship that leads to a sale? Here are some proven tips to get you started.

Do your homework before you meet

Research, research, research. Search for all the latest news, PR releases, social media and speak to your network to see if anyone has worked with or for them in the past. Try to get a feel for their culture and decision making process. Research their market, competitors, consider any political or legislation changes that may affect their business going forward plus simple things like acronyms and key phrases. The aim of the research is to help you feel confident you understand the business and can have an informed conversation about their future and how you can help achieve their objectives.

Storing all the information you’ve found is just as important as the work itself. There are many options but if you use a CRM system it makes sense to store everything there. Not only will it be easy to find before the meeting but others can access it too. This is especially important if another opportunity for the same business is picked up by another member of the team.

When you’re fully informed, you’ll likely find the meeting is more focused, conversational and constructive as you won’t need to spend time understanding the basics. This all helps to build an easy rapport quickly.

As a buyer, when a sales representative has thoroughly researched the company, you respect the time and effort they’ve spent doing so and immediately feel valued. Even if the solution is not a strategic fit, you regard them highly and potentially refer them to others or get back in touch later down the line with a different opportunity.

Listen more, talk less

Your first meeting with a potential client is sometimes referred to as a ‘consultation’ or a ‘discovery meeting.’ Whilst you may have researched the broader market, competitive landscape and business, you don’t yet know the details of their particular challenge.

To truly understand, ask the right questions and listen intently. Take note of the body language of the buyer and between colleagues. Glances across the table after a particular question can sometimes tell you all you need to know about the future deal.

The ideal meeting is conversational rather than a Q & A, which is why the research is so important. It’s easier to provide useful insights and fully understand their pain points, which has a results in more winning deals.

Being fully present in the meeting and actively listening is key to success too. Balancing this with note taking can be tricky if you don’t want to lose the chemistry during your discussions. It’s certainly worth documenting all that you’ve seen and heard straight after the meeting so you don’t forget the detail. The usual place to store your notes is in your CRM. You can make efficiencies here too by assigning tasks, while you make notes, to the people who can help deliver next steps. More importantly you can schedule the next follow up so you don’t forget.

Add value early on in the meeting

While people may have a clear idea of how you can help them before you meet, they won’t have thought of everything. This is where you can really stand out from the competition and get great value from the insight you’ve gathered early on.

Share your perspective on untapped opportunities or future challenges you’ve identified that are in context with the buyer’s situation. This is especially powerful if they’ve not already recognized any of the points raised. But even if they have, it’s impressive to see you’re strategically aligned. When the buyer feels this and the empathy you’re showing towards the business, they’ll instantly start to feel a connection with you.

“45.6% of B2B buyers want to hear new ideas at the beginning of a sales conversation”
CSO Insights

Be honest and authentic

Without honesty and authenticity all the above can be a wasted effort. When you believe in the product you’re selling and have a real passion for helping businesses overcome their challenges, selling becomes a much easier process. This authentic belief in your product is infectious and when it’s coupled with complete honesty around what can be delivered and when, it’s proven to have a positive impact on sales conversions.

It’s easier to connect with people who are honest and authentic - they’re also very difficult to forget.

Sometimes being honest may end up with you not being the right fit for the buyer but this loss can sometimes be a win further down the line. No business works in isolation, so it’s highly likely that if you connect with a buyer they will recommend your company to others too. If it’s a timing issue, people will likely come back.

Honesty builds trust and trust is one of the key foundations of a successful relationship.

Communicate, don’t pester

Communication is another ingredient to building strong relationships. It’s important to stay in touch after the meeting and keep people up to date on any progress but there’s a fine line between this and pestering.

Whilst the deal is at the top of your priority list it may not be at the top of your buyers. A week can fly by in a busy office so staying in touch more often than that (unless already agreed) can quickly become an annoyance. If the business is considering your solution and someone else, the more often you chase the more likely you are to lose the deal.

There is no winning approach to follow ups. If you actively listen, ask the right questions during your discovery meeting and reflect on how easy it was to set up the initial meeting, you’ll get a good sense of what’s right for that person. It’ll be different for everyone.

A useful approach is arranging a followup date before you leave and suggesting how often to catch up afterwards. If you know they’re about to hit a busy period, you’ll be less likely to worry when you don’t hear back straight away. Use technology, like your CRM, to record this information and schedule the next followup so you don’t forget.

Staying in touch doesn’t always have to be an email or call asking for an update.

If you learned something new during the meeting and have some relevant content to send, such as a whitepaper, a webinar or some useful stats, making this the focus of the message is a more positive way of staying in touch. Adding extra value to the followup message will always be received more positively.

“Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads”
The Annuitas Group

What if you don’t hear back after your follow ups? It’s best not to leave the opportunity hanging, find a way of kindly asking if your solution is no longer relevant and make the difficult job of them saying, ‘no’ slightly easier.

Follow up on your promises

Always follow up on your promises, which is always easier to do when you set realistic expectations. When people keep their promises it builds trust in the relationship. It signals a sign of respect to the buyer and that carries a lot of weight early on in a relationship.

“Only 46% of vendors deliver on what is promised”
Gallop

Delivering on your promises is also an area where you can differentiate yourself from the competition.

Research shoes it takes seven positive experiences to counteract one negative one, so it’s not something that can be rectified quickly. Agreeing to something you can’t actually deliver also puts a lot of strain on the rest of the business as people frantically try to deliver the impossible for the buyer.

Building strong relationships with a potential buyer during the sales process will help you convert more sales and increase referrals. Following the steps above will make it easier for you to adapt your approach and have a strong, successful year.

How to be more organized

Jo White — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

New year, new goals. We all start off the year with big ideas and the best intentions. After a usually chaotic end to the year, January can feel like a fresh start - a chance to reset and be more productive.

If you’ve made any New Year’s resolutions, it’s a sobering thought that 80% of us fail them by mid February. So if you’re aiming to be more organized and work more efficiently this year, here’s how to boost your chances of succeeding way beyond February.

Understand your role and what’s expected

This may seem obvious but it sits at the heart of being effective at work. When you have a clear understanding of what’s expected of you and your role, it’s easier to prioritize your work load. If your business plans a year or six weeks ahead, know your contribution so you can be sure you’re focused on the right things each day.

Set clear and realistic goals for the week

Depending on your business this could be for the week or month ahead. Here at Capsule, we all publish our goals for the week ahead on Basecamp and reflect on the important things that happened the week before. It’s a useful weekly reminder to spend 15 minutes reflecting and prioritizing for the week ahead.

Focus rather than multi-task

A week is a long time in business, a lot can happen to derail your plans but that shouldn’t put you off planning.

To help you be more organized at the start of the week, some people find it useful to schedule the most important tasks for each day and record them on paper or in an app. They focus their time on those tasks alone and won’t work on anything else until they are complete.

Key to ending the week feeling fulfilled is having realistic expectations of the time each task will take and keeping the number to between one and three per day.

Others prefer to organize their day in two hour segments. They work on a task solidly for 90 minutes then have a 20 - 30 minute rest so they’re working in line with their ultradian rhythm.

There will be an approach to focusing at work that will best suit your work rhythm but the key is focusing, not multi-tasking. Switching back and to from one task to another leads to a smaller IQ and probably a more stressful day.

Choose the right tools to keep you on track

You’re not short of options here, they range from something simple like a notepad and pen or software such as Apple Notes, Excel, Trello or Notion. But before you go searching for new software, review what you already have as there may be some handy features you’ve not yet uncovered.

Take Capsule for example, you can create:

simple task lists that can be repeated and linked to your main work calendar
segments of customers that automatically update every time a customer meets specific criteria. So if you have a contact list for all the people you haven’t contacted in 14 days, they’ll drop off the list when you add an activity and new ones will automatically be added when they go over 14 days without contact
a sequence of tasks that work towards or from a set date and run automatically, called Tracks. Excellent for breaking big tasks down into small actionable steps
alerts in the sales pipeline to highlight when an opportunity needs a nudge by setting the maximum number of days you want to leave between contact
teams to allocate specific contacts, opportunities, tasks so each member of the team is completely focused on the activities relevant to them.

Where possible try to consolidate your alerts and the number of places you need to go to for information to do your job, it’ll help you work more efficiently. If you struggle remembering passwords and waste time resetting each week, a password manager tool like 1Password can be a game changer too.

Turn off distractions

How easy this is to do in reality depends on your job but it always helps to schedule time to look at your apps and switch off all notifications in between. It takes an average of 25 minutes to recover from an interruption - whether it’s a ping from an email or a person. Constant interruptions can leave you feeling unfulfilled from a long day and more disorganized as you play catch up.

Meetings could also be classed as a distraction depending on your role within them. When invited to a meeting, confirm your role and consider the value you can add there compared to working on your important tasks. Some people are invited to meetings as a comfort blanket, there to make the organizer feel confident they’ll get the desired outcome from others. Attending in this capacity can derail your day for no real benefit to the business so assess attendance wisely.

If you set a meeting up, write an agenda and reduce the duration by 25%. Those 15 minutes saved from an hour’s meeting add up during the month to five hours. An agenda with less time and a strong chair will be more focused and beneficial to the business.

Clear your desk for a clear mind

Clutter is also a distraction, the more you see the easier you’ll be distracted according to a study conducted by the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. It’s difficult to give something your full attention when you’re surrounded by numerous other things you’re yet to deal with. This applies to both your on and off-line workspace, including your inbox. So a quick way to get more organized is to clear up your desktop.

Take plenty of refreshing breaks

When you turn off notifications and focus on the task in hand, hours can fly by as you do deep work. But the brain only works for so long before it starts to fatigue, some say 90 minutes. After that time you should take at least a 20 minute break.

Use this break to catch up with colleagues and have the small talk you’d usually have at the start of your meeting and generally be sociable. But be mindful not to distract people from their work. Better still, why not take a stroll outside to appreciate nature and get inspired along the way.

Review your success at the end of the week

Once you’ve changed your approach to work and reviewed the software you use, you’ll certainly feel more organized. But the proof will be the amount you’ve achieved at the end of each week. So it’s worth spending 15 minutes reviewing your successes and reflect on what’s worked so you can do more of it.

With some simple changes, you’ll feel more organized straight away, which will have a remarkable impact on your working week. Good luck!

Announcing our new sidebar

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Today we’re announcing our reimagined way of representing integration information in Capsule with our new integration sidebar.

As someone who’s dealing with clients all day you’re going to want to respond to them as quickly and accurately as possible, trying to convert leads into sales or resolving a customer issue, whilst remaining informed and maintaining a personal touch.

To help with this we’re trying to bring as much information into Capsule as we can on one page without having to switch out to other apps or other pages in Capsule. But, as we expand our integrations we realize that having too much data in one place at the same time can be overwhelming.

That’s why we’ve released the new sidebar, so you’ll still get all the context you need to inform your conversations, you’ll still be able to sync data and you’ll still be able to easily navigate to external tools but we’ll keep some of this information separate in a new sidebar. You can toggle between different integrations and easily see the information that’s relevant to you at that moment in time.

If you’ve already switched on the QuickBooks Online integration then you might have already seen the sidebar but we’re now extending this capability to our Xero integration too.

Formerly, information coming from Xero could be seen above the conversation history alongside the pipeline value and number of open cases. We’ve moved this so that the information coming from Xero is still on the record but kept tidily to the side so you can see financial information separately to the rest of the information in regards to that contact.

For those not already familiar with the integration, connecting Capsule with Xero enables you to see invoice statuses and details in Capsule. All open, paid and overdue invoices can be seen in the sidebar alongside other contact information. You can also view invoice details such as number, due date, reference and balance total. And, if you want to create a new invoice for that contact then you can easily navigate over to Xero with a click of the button.

You can find QuickBooks Online and Xero on our integrations list and we’ll have more apps coming to the sidebar this year.

Cheers to 2019! Here's our year in numbers

Jo White — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

How to propel your lead generation efforts in 2020

Jo White — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

As 2020 draws nearer, real estate agents are making resolutions to boost their business in the coming year. Improving your lead generation efforts can be one of the surest paths to increasing your revenue. Here are five keys to propelling your lead generation efforts to new heights in 2020.

1. Set lead generation goals

Getting more leads begins with setting lead generation goals. Start by reviewing your current activity to establish a baseline. How many leads are you currently generating per day, per week, per month and per quarter? What percent of your leads convert into home buyers? How much revenue does this create per quarter? If you’re not already tracking these numbers, doing so should be a preliminary step.

Once you’ve taken an appraisal of your current activity, you’ll have some numbers to help you set some concrete lead generation goals for the coming year. How much revenue would you like to achieve in the upcoming quarter? At your current lead conversion rate, how many more leads would you need to generate in order to achieve your revenue goal? Try plugging in different numbers to get a realistic sense of what your lead generation goals should be.

2. Schedule lead generation activity

Setting goals provides target numbers to shoot for, but in order to turn your goals into reality, you’ll need to make sure you’re taking enough action. What measurable actions are you currently taking to generate leads, and how much additional action would you need to take in order to hit your lead generation goals?

For instance, how many calls does your sales team currently make a week, and how many leads does this generate? How many more calls would you need to make to generate the number of leads you need to hit your revenue targets? You can apply this type of questioning to all your different categories of lead generation tactics, including social media posts, emails and texts.

Once you know how much activity you need to reach your revenue goals, you can create a schedule to make sure you’re taking enough action. Automate this process by using a customer relationship management tool that lets you schedule automated reminders. Today’s best real estate CRM solutions let you add tasks associated with each of your contacts, making it easy to schedule and complete lead generation activity.

3. Upgrade your CRM strategy

Just as CRM software can help you automate scheduling lead generation activity, having the right CRM tool and strategy can increase the efficiency of your entire lead generation process. A cutting edge CRM lets you manage your lead contacts as well as your listings and transactions from your mobile phone. This makes it easy for you to pursue lead generation activity even when you’re busy on the go.

Storing your contact data in a mobile CRM allows you to strategically streamline your workflow. You can store all data relevant to a lead in one place, including notes, emails and documents, and access it right from your phone instead of searching through multiple apps. You can further see where each lead is in the sales cycle and which leads are most ready to buy. This empowers you to retrieve relevant data instantly, maximizing your lead generation productivity.

A mobile CRM also allows you to share listings with your leads. You can link clients directly to properties from sources such as Zillow or Rightmove, allowing them to see the property and find it on Google Maps. This can save significant time when you’re preparing for a showing.

4. Integrate your CRM with marketing automation tools

Advanced CRM tools yield maximum lead generation when you integrate with marketing automation tools. If your CRM integrates with marketing software, you can pull leads directly into your contact database. For example, there are over 700 multiple listing services (MLS) around the US that contain regional property listings. Online real estate sites pull listings from the MLS database. You can mine leads from MLS listings by creating daily reports on a geographical area showing new activity, relistings and price reductions. You can use a similar strategy to collect leads from Zillow and other sources.

Your CRM tool can also integrate with your social media profiles and your email autoresponder. Syncing contacts from these marketing platforms with your CRM program lets you send out messages to your entire contact list at once, or to targeted segments of your list. You can alert contacts to listings, to new content on your blog or to third-party links that provide informative tips for home buyers.

5. Automate your follow-up process

When a lead expresses an interest in a listing, your response time can determine whether you lose the lead or you gain a sale. While many real estate agents recommend responding to an inquiry within five minutes, Zillow research shows that you can get results over 400 percent better by responding within two minutes.

Furthermore, the California Association of Realtors found that 94 percent of customers expect a response within an hour or less, but only 36 percent of real estate agents meet this expectation. You can gain a major competitive advantage by automating your follow-up process to respond to leads quickly.

Your CRM can help you automate your follow-up procedures to accelerate response times. By utilizing CRM integrations, you can set up your own automated response system. For instance, you can set up your system to send an automated notification immediately when an inquiry comes in. Meanwhile, your app can schedule a follow-up task assigned to that lead’s name, add it to your calendar and send an automated reminder to complete the task. This will ensure your leads receive the follow-up attention they need and help you achieve your lead generation and revenue goals.

Take your lead generation to the next level this year

The energy you invest in lead generation bears directly on your revenue level and business success. If you aim to generate higher revenue in the coming year, increasing your lead generation productivity should be a priority.

Setting lead generation goals and scheduling corresponding activities lays a foundation for success. Tools such as a CRM, marketing software and the MLS can help you streamline your lead generation activity and ensure that your leads receive the best experience when purchasing a house. Following these tips can help catapult your lead generation to unprecedented levels in the coming year.

Virtual Christmas games to bring teams together

Jo White — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

As the sound of Christmas cheer surrounds us, you may be thinking about getting the team together to celebrate the year.

But if you’re one of the 70% who work remotely at least once a week, you may be wondering how easy it will be to join the party games.

Wonder no more. There are some superb party games to play with remoties and the office team. All you need is video conferencing with a good microphone.

Team games everyone enjoys

Bringing the whole team together is more than a bit of fun, it’s key to building a strong team spirit.

Many of us at Capsule work remotely, so it’s important to create opportunities for the team to get to know one another and understand each other’s personalities. It helps remoties build connections outside of their teams, which is quite difficult to do when you’re not physically there. And what better time to do this than at Christmas?

We usually have a team game once a month and here are a few favorites that worked well with our Stateside and European teams.

1. What we’ve got in common

A very simple yet fun game to play.

You all get into groups, office based mixed with remoties who dial into the video conference. Everyone then spends the next 10 minutes trying to discover the 10 things you all have in common - beyond being human!

It can get quite ridiculous as time ticks by and you struggle to find common ground with very different people around the table - you certainly learn a lot about your colleagues during this exercise.

When the time is up, get everyone back together to share the list with the whole team. This sparks its own set of conversations and lots of laughter.

A great game for bringing different teams together and especially good for new starters.

Another great exercise. Print five pieces of paper with a different image on each one.

Everyone takes a turn to pick a picture and describe how to draw it to the team. At the end everyone holds up what they’ve drawn. The winner is the person who gives the best instructions so has the most drawings that match the original.

When it was the remote person’s turn, we simply held up the image to the screen then put it face down on the table. A good tip here is to use thick paper, if you don’t it’s super easy to cheat!

We all came together at the end of the game and had a quick game of pictionary. It was a case of picking a word out of a hat and drawing it until the right answer was called out. It was such good fun. You get a real insight into how people’s brains work!

3. Kahoot!

Either play as individuals or create teams - both are entertaining. This is an online multiple choice quiz. You can choose any topic and even create your own questions, we chose a general knowledge theme.

It’s really simple to set up. You have a quiz master who logs into Kahoot! to get the pin. The players download the app for free and enter the same pin. Once the game starts everyone sees the questions on their phone and the game begins.

A leader board of the top four players flashes up after every question, which ramps up the competition. It’s not until the end when you see how well everyone has done.

We played once as teams using our video conferencing. We conferred on Slack before one member of the team chose the answer for the team - this too was a good laugh, especially when you’re on the losing side.

4. Codenames

Based on the board game, two teams compete against each other.

The teams selects a spymaster and then multiple words appear on the screen for everyone to see.

Each word belongs to a team, but only the spymasters know which ones. The spymasters take it in turn to give their team clues to the words that belong to them.

If the team chooses a word from the other team’s set, they lose a point. The team to choose all their words first, wins. But there’s a twist. One word on the screen is the ‘assassin’ if your team chooses that it’s game over.

One of our developers built the game for us to play virtually but you can download a version here for free.

Once you get the hang of the rules, which comes quickly when you begin to play, it’s an enjoyable game with lots of laughter.

5. The traditional pub quiz

It’s a simple concept, break everyone into teams and choose the quiz master.

The quiz master asks the questions, which also appear on screen for the remoties. Teams confer and write down the answer. We usually put the remoties together so they can discuss quickly on slack. They probably get to hear our discussions more easily too as they always seem to win.

We tend to mix up the general knowledge questions with fun facts about people within the team. It’s always entertaining trying to match a fact to a person, you get some interesting insights.

Lesson learned

As we’ve hosted many of these games for the remote and office team we’ve learned a few things along the way. Here are a few tips for a smooth experience:

Find video conferencing software that works for you. We use Zoom and have dedicated Zoom areas around the office.
Do a test run before everyone gets together to make sure all the tech works.
Allocate people to teams ahead of the game.
If people have to download an app before the game, give them a few days notice and remind them again on the day.
Give remoties more time to answer, conferring online takes a little longer.
Have good quality sound in place - it can be hard for remoties to hear clearly when everyone gets excited in the office.
If you have an echoy sound on your video conference, it could be the walls in your room. We installed sound boards in our zoom rooms, they look good and work a treat.

Good luck organizing your team games and if you have any recommendations we’d love to hear about them too - tweet us @capsuleCRM

Nurture customer relationships
with a simple list

Jo White — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We recently exhibited at XeroCon in London, UK. If you’ve not heard of it, it’s a conference that celebrates the innovative leaders of cloud accounting software and it’s hosted by Xero. It’s affectionately known as the ‘Glastonbury for accountants’ due to its high energy, fun and inspirational atmosphere.

Accountants and bookkeepers from all over the world visit the show to discover new technology, be inspired and contribute to the future roadmaps of the many exhibitors.

It was our first time exhibiting at an event and we loved it, it was a huge success. We spoke to hundreds of new customers, all keen to find out more about Capsule and how it can help them, and their clients, build relationships.

As with all events we captured a lot of data over the two days. On return to the office our focus quickly shifted to nurturing these new found relationships.

It’s no surprise to hear we used Capsule to do this. But there’s one particular feature that’s been a revelation to marketing, and we want to tell you all about it.

A simple list to keep you on track

Some people live by lists in both their personal and work-life. You can’t beat the simplicity of seeing everything you need to do in one long list and the feeling of satisfaction when you cross each one-off.

Our XeroCon leads started off as a list in a spreadsheet, exported from our lead capture devices (as unfortunately there was no api to feed directly into Capsule). We reviewed the list when we got back to the office, but there’s not a lot you can do in a spreadsheet. So, we imported the data into Capsule, tagging each person as XeroCon so we knew the lead source.

Now this is the exciting bit for anyone who likes to feel organized. Because instead of the new leads being buried in the CRM, we created a list of all the XeroCon leads so everyone could access them quickly.

Here’s some example data to show how easy this was to do.

Lists to nurture relationships

As we started to nurture relationships with our new customers, it was important to keep in touch say every week or so in the early stages. Using the simple list again in Capsule, it was incredibly easy to do.

By filtering the list of leads, we could see who hadn’t been contacted in the last 7 days. Those on the list were marketing’s focus for the week.

Even better, because the list is dynamic, as another week passes, anyone not contacted is back on the list.

This is a very simple yet effective way to nurture leads before adding them as sales qualified to the pipeline.

If you have sales people following up on leads after an event or campaign, this could be their weekly call list or you can send the list over to Mailchimp to create a new email campaign.

With everyone able to access the data in Capsule, it’s easy to track the leads and see how they are progressing. It certainly beats exporting out spreadsheets from your CRM and uploading them somewhere else.

Many of our customers tell us that Capsule helps them become a better version of themselves and when you use our CRM you can understand why.

Relationships are built on meaningful connections between people and the only true way of creating them is by staying in touch, remembering little details and being thoughtful. It’s much easier to achieve all of this at scale when you have software that keeps you super organized.

This is just the tip of the iceberg with what you can do with Capsule lists, if you’d like to try them out for yourself, choose one of our plans for a 14 day free trial.

The QuickBooks Online integration is here

Chloe Lloyd — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Want to have just one place to connect with customers, collaborate with your team and stay on top of finances? Say hello to the new Capsule and QuickBooks Online integration.

In July, we gave you a sneak preview of the QuickBooks Online integration but we can now announce that it’s live. With Capsule connected to QuickBooks Online, you’ll no longer need to have your accounting information separate from your leads and contacts - the new integration brings all that vital information together in one place. Now, you’ll get a complete picture of your customer, from your very first interaction right through to invoices and payments.

Let’s dive a bit deeper and show you exactly how Capsule and QuickBooks can help businesses.

View invoice and estimate status from Capsule

As your business grows, communication between different people and teams gets more difficult. People in sales lose track of invoice updates and those working in finance find it difficult to keep salespeople updated when invoices are issued and payments are made. Let’s bridge that communication gap - now QuickBooks invoices can be seen in Capsule alongside invoice statuses and details.

All open, paid and overdue invoices for any linked contacts are visible in a summarized form in Capsule. You can even view the invoice number, due date, payment terms and balance total. Vendor bills will also be displayed on the linked contact record in Capsule if you choose to add vendor information. Want to create an invoice for a Capsule contact? Easily navigate over to QuickBooks where you can create an invoice for them.

Update contacts once in Capsule

Once the integration has been set up, Capsule will keep updating your QuickBooks customers with any changes you make, so you only have to update information in Capsule for it to be carried over to QuickBooks. Let’s say you wanted to change an organization’s address, you only have to make the change in Capsule for it to change in QuickBooks too.

You’ll notice that with the arrival of the new integration comes a new sidebar. This sidebar separates your contact record from the QuickBooks Online information so you won’t be overwhelmed with the addition of more customer information.

For more information about the integration and help with setting it up, read here.

How to Pick the Right Sales Pipeline Software

Jo White — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The right sales pipeline management software can organize your leads, predict revenue, generate data-driven insights, and even motivate your sales team. When chosen carefully and used effectively, this powerful tool has the potential to be your new best friend for making connections and closing deals.

You’re going to get the best results out of a software solution if you start with accurate data and a program with features aligned with your needs. Optimize your sales pipeline software with these proven strategies from the experts.

Define your sales process

Before you even begin researching software options, ask yourself: Is there a unified, clearly defined sales process for our sales department? No software solution can substitute for clear, strong processes.

Sales pipeline management starts with strategy. The software will help you execute the systems you’ve built to reach your goals and KPIs.

Sales naturally attracts highly motivated, independent workers who feel comfortable setting their goals and strategies. Having the insight and adaptability to tailor your sales technique to a specific lead is an asset. You’ll see stronger results across your sales if you have some unity and consistency in your approach, though. If you haven’t coached your team on the sales techniques that work best for your target market, put that on your urgent list.

Do your homework

The fact that you’re here, reading this, is already a good indicator that you know it’s smart to research your options before committing to a purchase. You’re not facing a shortage of CRM software to review and consider. It’s a matter of finding the right solution to drive results.

One of the best pieces of advice about evaluating your options is to think about what it’ll be like to use the software from day to day. These qualities set you up for success:

Clear

Being able to access statistics in a few clicks is key, plus the data you see should be easy to digest. It’s also worth using cloud-based software so everyone’s view automatically displays the most up-to-date information and choosing a dashboard that’s easy to navigate.

Responsive

Do you need to check pipeline activity by team, by milestone, by forecast? Do you want to compare lead conversion by location, or year over year? Look for software that lets you decide how you want to view your data. Reviewing stats on your terms makes it easier to plan next steps.

Future-thinking

While we’re talking about next steps, your sales pipeline management software should make planning easier, too. After all, a large part of tracking a pipeline is predicting revenue. Being able to predict pipeline growth and conversion rates means hitting more KPIs. Software that generates reports lets you monitor your entire sales cycle, so you can base improvement strategies on real data about your past wins and losses.

Go beyond default settings

No matter how sophisticated your software is, you still know more about your specific business and industry than the provider. Key points in the pipeline look different depending on how your clients make decisions. The stage that has a 75% chance of converting to a win for one company could translate to just 50% for another. Your software is supposed to give you an instant read on your pipeline’s health. You’ll get the most out of your tech if you customize the settings to reflect your business reality.

Update in real-time

Task batching works great as a productivity tool in some situations. The idea is that crossing off several similar tasks in a row lets you stay focused on a specific skill and use the momentum of completed tasks to drive you forward. Examples could be working through a list of brief touches with Sales Qualified Leads, or preparing demo materials for several clients in a row who are further down in the pipeline.

One area where this doesn’t work as well, though, is updating your sales pipeline CRM. Procrastinating means you’ll end up having to retrace your entire day, or even the whole work week, trying to remember every action you completed.

Instead, get in the habit of updating your sales pipeline management dashboard as you go. Encourage your team to do the same. This makes the software’s mobile app super important, the easier it is to update on the fly, the more chance it will get done.

Plus, you have the added benefit that with a shared interface, updating in real-time means you can see coworkers’ progress so you don’t replicate their work.

Make a review appointment

Set a reminder in your calendar to assess how your new software is working. Some great questions to ask include:

Who’s enjoying using the software? Ask them to share the things that make them go ‘wow’ and improve the workflow so others benefit
Are tasks being updated more efficiently than before?
Does the pipeline match revenue targets?
Is the pipeline a true reflection of all our ‘real’ opportunities?
Are all leads in the pipeline qualified?
Are sales moving as predicted, or do we need to troubleshoot a spot where we’re losing more often than expected?
Why are we losing opportunities? Is there a trend based on activity, team or individual?
How can we address the top reason for lost opportunities, either by screening leads more effectively or tweaking key milestones further down the pipeline?

Your sales pipeline is the lifeblood of your company, which means the software you choose to manage it makes a huge difference. A program that combines easy-to-use features with a sophisticated ability to capture meaningful data will give you the tools you need for a more productive sales team and more accurate sales forecasts.

Take a look at Capsule’s sales pipeline or start a 14 day free trial today.

Sales Analytics: Definition and the Fundamentals

Jo White — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

You can collect and measure data on just about every area of sales and consumer activity. It can be tempting to dive headfirst into a data-gathering spree but before you pour resources into tracking every metric, make time to define a strategy.

Your KPIs determine which metrics you should track, not the other way around. By building a process for your sales analytics and tying it to your performance goals, you will empower your team to turn data into action.

What is sales analytics?

Sales analytics is the process of using data to describe and interpret trends and metrics in sales. Tracking consumer behavior and sales activity can uncover patterns businesses use to analyze the results of past sales efforts and predict future sales success.

There are many KPIs more easily achieved with sales analytics data in hand. Examples include: revenue targets, per-customer transaction or revenue targets, sales team productivity goals, and quote-to-close ratios.

The aim of sales analytics is to predict revenue more accurately and make the most of the opportunities in your reach. Continue reading for the fundamentals you need to create a solid sales analytics strategy and generate insights for your team.

How to track sales analytics

Achieving your goals starts with a thoughtful strategy. This step by step guide will position you to track and analyze data you can put into action.

Select data sources

Gather the data for your sales analytics from your actual target market. Your business type will help you understand the best place to find and analyze your customers.

Actual customer foot traffic at a mall or shopping center can show you who’s coming in contact with your store.
Meanwhile, website data from Google analytics or other online data tools are the digital equivalent of a busy crowd.
Collecting survey data is a sales analytics favorite. The structure and consistent questions provide qualitative data that goes deeper into the psychological and behavioral traits behind the actions.
Your past business transactions are a rich source of data. Your real customers’ purchases, and purchasing behavior, can serve as a blueprint for improving your marketing and sales approach.
Similarly, your sales pipeline is full of prospective customers. Mining this resource for insights can help you make the most of marketing and sales qualified leads.

Determine the analysis schedule

Designating regular times to run sales analytics will give you up-to-date data you can use to plan your next sales cycle.

As is often the case, the best sales schedule will vary from business to business. Often, a monthly or quarterly review will suit many companies.

Consider your available resources and sales cycle length to find your best fit. One additional factor to consider is whether you usually see seasonal spikes in sales. These periods could be valuable opportunities for additional insight, so plan to run additional analytics checks during these times.

Choose your team

Who will take ownership of running sales analytics affects the results you’ll get. Your top sales representatives understandably want to focus their best efforts on selling. Giving this responsibility to the wrong person almost guarantees sales analytics will stay on the back burner.

Instead, find people who have the background to use tech solutions and analyze metrics effectively. Communicate results in different areas of your organization, such as marketing, tech, web management, and of course your sales team. Presenting results in a way that engages your team and shows them how the data can influence their goals can motivate your sales representatives.

Choose metrics

Find your critical metrics by focusing on your end goals. Ask yourself key questions such as: What decisions do you want to make with sales analytics insights? Do you need a high-level overview or a more detailed and granular look at particular sales patterns? How many variables do you have the employee hours to analyze in-depth?

Your answers will guide you towards a sales analytics strategy scaled for your business.

10 Essential sales metrics

Almost every business will benefit from insights on these key areas:

Sales growth
Opportunities
YTD and Year-over-year comparisons
Lead conversion
Lead velocity
Sell-through rate
Product performance
Average purchase value
Sales rep performance
Quote-to-close ratio

These metrics will give you a view of your sales strength, historical trends, and how effective your current pipeline is at converting new customers.

Sales analytics outcomes

Once you have data in hand, it’s time to analyze for patterns and trends you can use to drive sales. See which of these goal types are at the top of your list.

Create product promotions

Reviewing purchasing patterns can generate ideas for new marketing strategies. Products that consumers frequently buy together can make an exciting bundle offer. You should also be on the lookout for under-performing products.

Instead of discontinuing these lackluster sellers, talk with the marketing team first and discuss the data insights that may open up new avenues to promote these items more effectively. A great product deserves the right marketing messaging to get the sales numbers you deserve. Finally, think about fresh ideas for top products and seasonal bestsellers.

Investigate new opportunities

With data in hand about your ideal customers’ purchasing behavior, you can develop a more targeted marketing strategy. Segmenting target markets enables you to customize your approach. Patterns and trends can also inform your sense of how to price new and existing products and services to stay competitive.

Set smarter sales targets

Sales metrics apply to your sales team as well as your customer trends and transactions. Reviewing your sales reps’ performance can highlight problem areas in the pipeline that impact revenue and ability to meet KPIs. You may also notice opportunities for coaching to strengthen your sales representatives’ skills. Recent data on how leads move through the pipeline (or where they get stuck) provides important context to set revenue and other sales performance quotas.

Want to learn more about how pipeline insights can strengthen your sales? Capsule is a great place to start - try your 14 day free trial now.

Easier search and faster forms - new design updates

Gavin Williams — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Our aim is to keep CRM simple and we continually review our design alongside customer feedback to find more ways to improve the Capsule experience. This week we released some new designs to much loved features, here’s a summary of what to expect next time you log in.

Search is even easier

Some customers loved the ‘recently visited’ information in Capsule, others didn’t see the value, so we’ve kept the concept but designed it more intuitively. Now you have to click in the search bar to see the recently visited contacts. This move gave us more space to work with, so we added a person’s image or company logo to the name displayed in search, making it even easier for you to recognize your contacts.

With search being such a powerful part of Capsule, we wanted to make it more noticeable so everyone can benefit. When you enter a keyword into the search bar, it scans notes and other logged activity, as well as contacts, opportunities, and cases. If you can remember a conversation you had, but not who it was with, no problem. Simply write the words from the conversation, and the note you’re looking for will pop up instantly.

Another useful Capsule feature sometimes missed is the ‘Add’ button. It’s a quick way to add people, organizations, opportunities, cases or, import multiple contacts to Capsule. We’ve made it more obvious in this release so everyone spots it straight away.

Faster forms, easier to fill

We’re developing the technology we use to run Capsule so it’s more responsive and works even quicker than before. This new technology makes it easier for us to enhance certain form features too, so here’s what we’ve done.

We’ve increased the size of fields on the new contact, opportunity, and case forms. This makes them easier to tap when you’re working on a tablet or any other touch device. It also makes it more accessible for keyboard users as it’s more obvious now when a field is selected and when you use the the tab key to go through the fields, it does so in a more natural order.

Tidier lists when creating new opportunities and cases

When you add a new organization, opportunity or case, we’ve improved the way you add additional contacts. Instead of a long list taking up lots of space, it’s now an expandable list. When you preview the list, you see people’s profile pictures so you know who is involved at a glance.

It’s now also much easier to remove a contact from a list in an organization, opportunity or case. Simply hit the cross when you need to delete them.

Our custom fields and data tags work a similar way too - you can collapse or expand the sections whenever you need them.

Easier tagging

We’ve also refreshed the way tags look and work. Now you can add and remove tags while you’re editing a record.

Create organizations wherever you are

When creating a case or opportunity in Capsule, it doesn’t matter if the organization you link to doesn’t exist in Capsule. You can add it straight from the form.

Press ‘enter’ to save

When you’ve finished updating your contacts, cases or opportunities, you simply press enter and it saves. This is supper useful for quick edits as you no longer need to scroll to hit save.

Everyone will see the updates to the opportunity and case forms but we’re still updating the contact forms. We will release these when they’re ready over the next couple of weeks.

We hope you like the new updated features and would love to hear your feedback.

What is sales tracking software and do I need it?

Jo White — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Managing a sales team effectively plays a critical role in continuous growth and the long term stability of a business. Before your team can meet targets and goals that are set, they need to be able to view their pipeline from the lead generation stages through to the forecasted close. This is where sales tracking software can help. And as a business owner or sales team leader, the investment you make into sales tracking software needs to generate the desired results.

While “best” is relative, the top choice for sales tracking software boils down to your unique business needs and goals. Ask yourself, what are your pain points and goals and which options best accommodate those?

Finding the right tool for your team is crucial for a clear-cut sales management process and this guide will help you make your decision.

Why you need sales tracking software

According to a survey by Certify, almost 70% of small businesses use manual processes to plan budgets and track spending. If you’re still using lots of spreadsheets, clunky file cabinets, or handwritten ledgers, take it from us - there’s a safer and much easier way to track revenue and sales activity.

A sales tracking software solution does more than save hours of employee time and reduce your risk of data entry errors (although those things are important, too). Gaining insights into your sales processes helps you achieve goals like these:

Improve pipeline processes.
Identify top sales reps and products.
Catch and correct performance issues earlier.
Predict future sales figures.
Use forecasts to develop more targeted sales and marketing strategies.

What sales tracking means for your business

The exact features that make a particular sales tracking software the best for your business depend on how aligned they are with your needs. Looking for software that can give you insight into the following areas is a good place to start.

Sales activity tracking

Who was the last rep to contact a particular lead in your pipeline? View where your sales employees are putting their efforts and how many sales tasks they’re completing. Reviewing sales activity against the actual sales coming in gives you the insight to improve coaching efforts and assign future pipeline loads.

Team sales performance

If you have teams in different locations, this metric can show you how each one is performing. A friendly competition can boost productivity and morale. You can also decide if a particular team needs a modified system, perhaps to tailor their approach better to the local market.

Predictive analysis

Without time travel, there’s no way to know for sure what the future holds for your business. Some software algorithms can give you the next best thing by reviewing your pipeline data and generating a forecast to predict future revenue stats and opportunities.

Lost sales analysis

Your wins teach you what you’re doing right. Your losses can be an even richer source of information. Understanding why an opportunity didn’t close can reveal blind spots, a leaking pipeline, and vital areas for improvement and growth. Two of the best loss sales factors to analyze are:

What stage in the pipeline: Lead qualification, lead nurturing, and proposal stages need to operate smoothly to close a deal. If you lose a higher percentage of leads at a particular point in the pipeline, focus extra attention there.
The reason you lost the sale: Sometimes, a simple question leads to answers that open a range of new possibilities. Learning more about which reasons pop up over and over again gives you the information you need to remove an obstacle for your next leads.

Why UX matters in sales tracking

How much ROI you’ll get from sales tracking software depends partly on the features. The other half of the equation is how easy the software is to use in your actual, day-to-day operation. For many businesses, the goal of using sales tracking software is to gain sophisticated insights into various metrics, without bogging down the sales team with a lot of time-consuming tasks.

Sales reps already deal with a high volume of contacts and tasks in their daily rhythm of following up and nurturing leads. Cutting even a few minutes from routine tasks with automated processes adds up to many hours saved.

Automated reminders and prompts

Regular “touches” are part of the process of guiding a lead from the first contact to a sale. Automating reminders prevents promising leads from falling through the cracks.

Shared interface

Siloed systems can easily lead to frustration and miscommunication. If a lead gets bombarded with the same messaging from multiple reps, you can lose out on what would have been a lucrative deal. Sales employees or even entire teams in different locations can miss important updates. Instead, look for cloud-based sales tracking software that lets all users access the same, up-to-date interface, wherever they happen to be. You’ll see more streamlined, consistent sales processes when everyone is on board with the same system.

Customizable options

A cookie-cutter fix doesn’t always have the features you need to take your systems to the next level. Look for software that lets you customize what you need and integrates with the tools you already use and love.

Sales tracking software: The bottom line

The real results from sales tracking come from the improvements you make in your systems, coaching, and lead management. If you’ve found a software solution that’s easy to implement and use, and that tracks the metrics that tie most closely to your goals, you’ll get information at your fingertips. From there, you can predict future opportunities and perfect your systems to win more sales.

Lead Management: the What, Why and How

Jo White — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Managing a sales pipeline is a tricky process. Excelling at effectively tracking sales and anticipating an opportunity’s value takes seamless collaboration between departments, smart tactics, and the ability to create meaningful connections.

A well-defined lead management process boosts marketing ROI and improves sales results in several ways. Read on to learn how to develop a more effective lead management process.

Communicate and collaborate

Sales, marketing, and customer service should agree on KPIs, quotas, and criteria for qualified leads. If the marketing team is following a wildly different set of benchmarks, or a vastly different understanding of what counts as a qualified lead, this division from the sales team can make it harder for both departments to meet their goals.

One essential area to plan in conjunction with the marketing team is your definitions for marketing-qualified leads and sales-qualified leads, or sales-accepted leads. Generally, the distinction can break down like this:

Marketing-qualified lead: A lead who has responded with interest to marketing materials and engaged with your brand, but who isn’t yet actively engaged in a sales conversation.
Sales-accepted lead: A lead the marketing team believes is a promising potential customer, and who the sales team agrees to take on for follow-up and lead management.
Sales-qualified lead: A lead who is behaving in a way that indicates an active sales opportunity.

As you can see, the sales-accepted lead stage is the most important area for clear communication between departments about what makes a lead a good candidate to transfer to the sales team.

Differentiate and segment leads

Your sales team needs information to determine the best approach to cultivate each lead. If you’re not already capturing data early from your leads, setting up this system should be at the top of your to-do list.

Gather information about each lead’s industry, size, budget, scope of the project they’re considering, urgency, and any specific requirements that apply. Ideally, collect this data when you gather contact details, so you can generate a profile for the lead as early as possible. Any contact forms, online or in-person, and inbound calls are opportunities to get this information to help the sales team categorize and follow up the lead.

Set manageable limits

More isn’t always better. If you have thousands of “leads” in your funnel, this can be more of a red flag than cause to celebrate.

A bloated funnel indicates there is an issue with the initial qualification process. Don’t waste time chasing contacts that don’t fit your buyer profiles. Instead, keep a sales rep’s funnel to a few hundred more targeted leads. You’ll have an easier time measuring the results of a healthy sales pipeline and identifying the right decision makers to contact.

Use personalized messaging

You’ve gathered key data to profile and segment leads, and you’ve assigned a manageable load for each sales team member’s pipeline. The next step is to utilize personalized, targeted messaging to take advantage of what you already know about the lead.

Effective lead management works through a combination of diligent screening, and a commitment to nurturing a relationship that fosters genuine loyalty. Personalization gives qualified leads a compelling reason to choose you over another company. This can come through a mix of personalized email, tailored content recommendations, and direct contact with the sales team.

Integrate CRM technology

Managing leads manually, or through single-department systems, creates way too much work and destroys effective communication. A well-integrated CRM system lets everyone see a qualified lead’s contact information, profile details, pipeline value, and the last action taken to further the relationship.

Tracking history and keeping important documents in one place makes it easy to stay organized or catch a teammate up on actions to date.
Managing tasks helps everyone follow the department’s preferred sales process.
Sharing information between colleagues ensures everyone is working with the most up-to-date information.
Most importantly, a clear sales process and strong management leadership provides the strategy and support you need to get the most out of CRM technology.

Reward great habits

Some salespeople may like to develop their own system, hoping this and excelling as a top performer, will impress management more than falling in line on a standardized approach. But committing to using the same method gives you more power to collect valuable metrics on both the deals you close and the ones you lose.

With the right information in hand, you can improve your overall sales process over time to strengthen your quote-to-close ratios. So how do you get the sales team to comply? A mix of information sharing and incentives may be your best bet. Make benefits, both short-term and long-term, clear to your sales team. Tying lead updates into the sales goals that carry incentive rewards can also encourage better rates of adoption to your preferred system.

Every company faces its own challenges and blockers to a smooth lead management process. Implementing these techniques, and testing their efficacy with regular reviews, will help you eliminate obstacles and strengthen your system.

Be brutally objective, bold and creative to grow your brand

Jo White — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Learning and development is a key part of Capsule’s culture. When you join the team, you receive a Kindle with an established library of business books - you can add as many new titles as you need to develop your skills. You’re also encouraged to attend a conference each year, anywhere in the world, for professional inspiration. We always come back with lots of ideas to share and full of energy to try new things.

With conference season in full swing, the Capsule design team flew out to Stockholm this month to the Nordic.design and Nordic.JS events and marketing attended London’s Festival of Marketing.

We thought we’d share some of the key takeaways from The Festival of Marketing from this time last week. It was packed full of inspirational content to discover, learn and celebrate all that is marketing. It’s suitable for all levels, people who are new in industry and those already established. It was a fantastic opportunity to hear how different industries apply marketing principles to help them grow.

With an abundance of quality topics and content on offer, the only regret was not having the ability to be in two places at once.

There were some outstanding talks and here are some key learnings from the likes of Premier Foods, Honda, GSK, Britvic, Tesco, Carlsberg and Deliveroo.

Establish your brand before you play with it. Mark Ritson, Marketing Week Columnist

Apply and reinforce your brand over and over again until it’s as recognized and established as the likes of KFC, Cadbury, Veuve Clicquot, Sephora. It’s actually a good thing if your creatives are so bored of the consistency they want to leave. It means you’re doing everything right.

You may think consumers are bored of your brand but remember they don’t live and breathe it every day, they need consistency to help them make decisions. It’s only once you’ve established your brand that you earn the right to play with it.

Take part of KFC’s brand - Colonel Sanders. It’s an old guy, so potentially not the most exciting for a creative. But they have used him so consistently over a lifetime that now it is so well known, they can breathe life into the brand with some fun interpretations of the Colonel. We were shown the recent ‘Chickendales’ advert, which is very amusing and another great example is the ad featuring the first female Colonel Sanders, Reba McEntire.

Another company playing with the brand to disrupt our thinking and boost activity is Cadbury. They recently removed the words from a special edition Dairy Milk to highlight loneliness and their partnership with AgeUK. A bold move to remove all the words from your packaging but after many years of consistency, it worked.

Create content partnerships and advocates to promote your product. Louise Furneaux, Honda

It gets harder and harder to reach customers, so find out what channels they are using and go to them there - don’t expect them to come to you. Use the talent the channels have with their audience, borrow that trust and leverage it.

Honda partnered with Virgin Radio, What Car?, Auto Car and Classic FM on a recent campaign to reach different customer demographics. For their launch of the Honda CR-V Hybrid they wanted to create advocates and developed a reader clinic with ‘What Car?’

Car enthusiasts were invited to test drive Honda and competitors, which resulted in real people giving authentic reviews of each car. The results were outstanding, 63% preferred Honda and 53% took action afterwards, such as booking a test drive.

With such an openness to partnerships, a creative opportunity arose last Easter when they were asked to be part of the Cadbury’s Egg Hunting Season campaign. Being part of the campaign, helped increase Honda’s reach amongst a different demographic and it allowed them to show the fun side of their brand.

Use emotional, creative campaigns, strong branding and innovation to grow. Yilmaz Erceyes, Premier Foods

Angel Delight, Bachelors and Mr Kipling have turned around their brand’s decline to solid growth over the last couple of years. Through deep understanding of their consumer tastes in today’s world, they altered recipes (Angel Delight), innovated their packaging (Bachelors), brought back established brand assets such as the tagline ‘exceedingly good cakes’ (Mr Kipling) and introduced more emotive marketing campaigns. Together, this activity stimulated real growth for the brands.

The Mr Kipling ad from earlier this year is a great example of how understanding people’s relationship with food can provide insight that strikes an emotional chord and makes it memorable.

A panel discussion with disruptors in the food industry said if they had £1m to spend on marketing they’d push it into sampling and great shelf presence. Having a great product and getting it directly into people’s hands so they can taste it is the most important way to market your product - no Google ads needed!

Olivia was the only supporter on the panel for building advocates on social media. She proved that a lot of people buy after seeing her posts on social media. Her first advent calendar sold out in an hour, after one post on Instagram - an impressive statistic!

Design for your audience, not yourself. Andrew Barraclough, GSK

“Listening with your eyes” is a designer’s skill that’s valuable across all departments.

But unfortunately everyone becomes a designer when they’re presented with work, it’s an occupational hazard. To help create some objectivity and get people thinking about the customer, GSK create a 3D visual of their brand language for each product such as this for Sensodyne.

Once this is in place, it takes away personal preference because if the design hits the brief and talks the right language, it works. As Andrew pointed out, you shouldn’t love the work if you’re not the demographic because it’s not made for you, but you should appreciate the quality and be confident it suits the target audience.

Brutal objectivity is key in turning around a brand. Dave Lewis, Tesco.

Brutal objectivity was key in Tesco’s turnaround. People were not buying as much or as often as they used to, favoring the German retailers for certain products. Everyone said it was because buying habits had changed but had they changed because they wanted to or because they had to?

When Dave joined shoppers on their experience in store, they all said they had less time. So why were they using different stores for the weekly shop?

Staring right into the brand and understanding why it is the way it is, helped face the harsh reality that the Tesco shopping experience back in 2015 was just not good enough. People at Tesco didn’t want to face this but when they did it helped stimulate one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent history.

Find the key truths for your product, find simple solutions and communicate at the right moment. Matt Barwell, Britvic; Magnus Djaba Saatchi UK

The squash category was in decline for about 10 years as it was seen as adding ‘bad stuff’ to good water. But by focusing on some key truths and finding simple solutions the Robinsons brand turned this around.

The key truths were:

Robinsons evokes memories of good times when you were a child
It’s associated with goodness
We live in a complex, hard world
People are trying to be healthier but it can be expensive
You should drink 6-8 glasses a day
82% of people would drink more if water tastes nicer

Once they knew this, they started to think about solutions and the idea of a child expert was born. By focusing their communications on key ‘water moments’ such as in the workplace along with packaging innovations and introducing a premium brand, the category grew by 6%. There’s one long-term objective they’re still striving to meet - for people to reach for a Robinsons at the end of the day instead of their weekly glass of wine - good luck!

It pays to be fearless, bold and brave with your campaigns - people respond well to honesty! Lynsey Woods, Carlsberg UK

What do you do when people misinterpret your brand and stop buying your product? Promote all the bad stuff people say about your brand on twitter of course.

Carlsberg’s ‘mean tweets’ campaign was just the beginning of them facing up to the brutal reality of people’s perceptions of their brand. They shared all the bad stuff people were saying online, created amusing videos of their staff reading them out loud and were ready on social media to start a new conversation.

Outdoor and indoor media played with the strapline, ‘Probably not the best beer in the world’ and used the attention to educate people on how their beer was a new, more premium brew. Different formats of the message were used depending on how long people had to read the copy. Every touchpoint built on the premium message: a new challis glass and beer font were introduced in pubs and their advert back in May brought the new story to life.

This bold and brave campaign encouraged people to give Carlsberg another try and the response was positive. Will it result in more people choosing Carlsberg, probably.

Understand your own personal USPs and exhibit these every single day to grow like a bad ass unicorn. Alice Ter Haar, Deliveroo

Ever thought about your own USPs, the 3 things that make you unique at work? It’s worth spending a minute thinking about it and how often you exhibit these skills day to day. Then think about your purpose, what you love doing. Matching this self awareness with your core values will result in you being your best self and will help you grow at pace - like a unicorn.

This session was by far the most inspirational talk seen over the two days and this final slide sums up the four key areas that helped Deliveroo become a unicorn and how you can apply those success factors to yourself and become a bad ass unicorn!

Why is lead time so important to sales teams?

Jo White — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

At its simplest, lead time is the time it takes from the beginning of a process to its execution.

If you manage a sales team you probably already know that many factors contribute to a successful sales conversion rate. And tracking (and reducing) this rate is likely what you’re most interested in.

A shorter lead time can reduce overall carrying costs, streamline operations and improve productivity of your team and entire operation as a whole. So, why is tracking the time it takes to convert a deal more important than pounding the pavement and ensuring that your pipeline is always full of leads?

Wouldn’t more leads naturally lead to more revenue and isn’t more revenue the ultimate goal? Well, yes, increased sales is always good but ensuring leads actually turn into a customer should really be your top priority, and knowing exactly how long that takes (and where in the process your sales team hits snags) is crucial information. So, how can you effectively track lead time in your sales pipeline? Read on to find out.

Lead time affects sales forecast

Your sales pipeline gives you an overview of all the prospects your team is currently targeting, no matter how long it might take to convert a lead into a customer. In order to know if your sales pipeline is healthy, you need metrics on your sales cycle, or the anticipated lead time to close a deal.

A sales forecast, where you estimate how many deals are likely to close in a particular time period, is just as important as your sales pipeline. Businesses rely on accurate forecasts to make effective adjustments to the pipeline or marketing and sales strategy. Leaders in sales and CRM know that understanding the lead time needed to close is a critical factor in determining the perfect number of leads in a healthy sales pipeline.

Lead time helps categorize prospects

If you know your typical sales cycle, you’re in a better position to ask the right questions about customers who don’t fit the mold. The longer a prospect lingers at one stage, the less likely they are to advance through your pipeline, according to Inflexion Point. That is, in most cases. Other times, a valuable prospective client may have longer-than-usual legal processes, or more people who need to approve a decision.

There are of course, exceptions. Some clients, in specific industries, may have an unusually long decision making process and need multiple people to sign off before they can commit to a new deal. You need to make a judgment call about when it makes sense to continue actively working with a prospect or focus sales efforts elsewhere.

Lead time can’t be rushed…too much

Refining your sales process to eliminate unnecessary steps and keep momentum going is an exciting idea. While there are certainly actions you can take to prevent hot leads from fizzling out in your pipeline, Jill Konrath, author of More Sales, Less Time, offers an important warning.

Pushing too fast will chase away someone who otherwise might have been a valuable customer. When she downloaded a free ebook from an interesting site, Konrath found herself hounded with three emails and a phone call within the next hour! The takeaway is that respecting a reasonable lead time to build a genuine relationship is a far better strategy than pushing to hit an agreed target.

Lead time impacts sales growth

Matt Smith, of Sales Hacker and Full Stack Sales, points out that increasing revenue is often a matter of making minor improvements to several different elements of the sales process.

Your sales cycle, conversion rates, average deal size, and number of open opportunities all work together. Focusing too hard on stuffing your pipeline with hundreds of new prospects won’t do you any good if the sales process lags too long to bring in revenue the company needs. You might get a greater impact from working more effectively with the leads you have than trying to collect as many new potential targets as possible.

Lead time doesn’t stop with the sale

The sales pipeline gets a lot of attention, and rightfully so. Experienced sales pros know that closing the deal opens another relationship that needs just as much, if not more, careful nurturing. The customer lifecycle has its own lead time rhythm to grow a one-time customer into a devoted advocate for your brand.

Connecting sales, marketing, and customer service into an integrated partnership builds a stronger foundation for customers to get the attention they need. Lead time here is a matter of answering:

How long does it take for the customer to receive and implement the product?
When do they need a check-in to make sure everything is working okay?
What schedule will we follow to introduce other opportunities?

The ultimate goal is to pinpoint the right balance between following through with outstanding service on the purchase the customer already made, and identifying opportunities for up-selling or cross-selling to deepen the relationship. A strong customer relationship time line follows through on the genuine rapport you established in the pipeline, building trust so the customer becomes a natural advocate.

Lead time captures far more nuance than a simple number about customer conversion time. Understanding this metric will enable you to more accurately predict revenue and nurture customer relationships, both before and long after the first sale.

Need help tracking lead conversion times for your sales team? Capsule’s pipeline view organizes your opportunities under their current milestone so you can track their sales as they progress through the sales process, ensuring you have a strong handle on each team member’s conversion time throughout their individual pipelines. The visual layout ensures all team members can see what they need to do to get their job done. Contact us today, let us help you track and manage sales opportunities so you can easily see how well your business is doing.

Time to trust technology to build business relationships?

Jo White — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

As technology advances to a point in our lives where robots can read our children bedtime stories and we trust Alexa to secure our homes, are we ready to use similar technology to help build our business relationships?

Technology to improve business efficiency

You only have to look back 5 to 10 years to see how much technology has improved our day-to-day work processes. Take the administration of running a marketing campaign as an example. Now we can decide on a campaign, create the journey in Marketo, Intercom, Dotmailer or Mailchimp and let it run automatically while we concentrate on something else.

Project management more generally has transformed the way we work too, tools such as Drift, Asana, Monday and of course CRMs all keep you on track and in control. Take Calendly, a simple tool that automates event booking with clients and saves a huge amount of time compared to the back and forth of old. AI has also proven to be beneficial to business too.

We have a love-hate relationship with chatbots, but if they answer common, simple questions quickly, they can work well for both business and their customers. A recent survey by Usabilla reports:

“54 percent of customers said they would always choose a chatbot over a human customer service rep if it saved them 10 minutes.”

“Only a third of people (36 percent) say they’d prefer to use a chatbot over speaking with a person when they have a simple request, question or issue, indicating that brands must work to balance tech-enabled automation with human interaction.”

Be more human

We can use technology to automate a lot of our business administration or transactional work, that is clear. The benefit being, it actually frees up time to be more interactive with customers and well, be more human.

A great example of this happening is in the accounting industry. Over the last few years, cloud-based accounting systems such as Xero and QuickBooks has started to take care of the transactional work, giving accountants back time to spend with their clients to provide more profitable, advisory services. It’s a shift that’s proving successful.

Across all industries, the closer your relationship with your customer, the less likely they are to move to a competitor. So understanding your business processes and automating as much as you can, will help free up your time to focus on getting closer to them.

Building customer relationships

Once technology has automated your processes, how do you build customer relationships as your business grows?

When you start your business every customer gets close attention, you tend to know everything about them because you need to. You find the time to connect with them and and are fascinated with what you hear. As you grow, this naturally becomes harder to maintain and scale so what do you do?

1. Adopt a customer-centric approach

This is all about putting your customer at the heart of your business, understanding them deeply and thinking in their shoes when you make a business decision. When you’re customer-centric you create a positive experience for every customer from the very first interaction with your brand and throughout their customer journey.

Understand your customers by connecting with them through their preferred communications channels. Find out about their lives - their likes, dislikes, pains, gains etc. Whether this is through social media, email, online forums, face to face, on the phone or sending out surveys, it’s important to ask the right questions and take all responses on board.

2. Listen with both ears

It’s often said in business that we have two ears and one mouth and they should be used proportionately. Listening to what customers actually say rather than what you think they are saying, can have a profound impact on your relationship with them and future customers too.

Listening with an open mind uncovers interesting insights and you truly learn to see things from their point of view. This not only aids decision-making but it also helps you show empathy during every interaction, which is an important factor when building a relationship.

3. Store everything you know

As you learn more about your customers, and as you grow, others do too, having somewhere central to store all your customer information is key. A CRM is perfect for this, especially one that allows you to categorize or tag your customers based on their preferences.

If part of your sales process is meeting your customer, pitching an idea or doing a demo, having a central place to store your research is super helpful. You can create a solid picture of your customer’s business before you meet, showing you value the relationship right from the start. Adding to your notes after the meeting, builds on this picture and helps lay the foundations of a strong customer relationship.

4. Communicate regularly

The more you interact with someone, the deeper the relationship. To help build trust, it’s important to ensure your communications are clear, simple and honest.

As you grow, it’s not always easy to communicate intimately to every customer but you can use your insight to personalize communications to a large audience. If you understand your customer’s preferences you can segment them based on the communication channels they prefer, the information they want to receive and when they want to receive it. Personalizing your messages in this way will resonate with your customer and have a deeper impact on their relationship with you.

Be creative in how you interact too, you don’t have to rely on written or video communications. Voice messages can be quite powerful and extremely quick to do. Instagram for example allows you to Direct Message a 60-second audio clip, and customers can feel pretty special when they receive one, it feels more personal and authentic.

5. Repeat what works

When you discover the activities that have a positive impact on your customer relationships, make a note and repeat. Standardizing your approach to building customer relationships will ensure every interaction with anyone in your business is positive, which will help build trust and loyalty.

Every customer and situation is different and we don’t want employees behaving like robots, but standardizing key steps when delivering a service in either your CRM or other business software will give people a helpful framework to follow.

6. Empower the team to make the right decisions

Customers expect decisions to be made by the people they speak to. Long gone are the days when you’re put on hold while they find a manager, it’s just not acceptable anymore.

Many of the companies known for their stellar customer service empower all their employees to make decisions - Zappos, Ritz Carlton, Virgin America to name a few. At Zappos, all employees have the freedom to do whatever they feel is right for the customer and guess what, it gives them great job satisfaction too. Happy employees equal happy customers.

If every customer’s experience with you or your business is enjoyable and consistent, your relationship will deepen and it will be a much harder decision for them to move to a competitor. If mistakes do happen, they’ll draw on their past experiences and if they’re positive, they will forgive you more easily.

7. Surprise and delight

We mentioned earlier about repeating what works but not being bound by a set process. It’s important to go the extra mile for some customers, to surprise and delight. When you do this, the commercial benefits are clear - people’s relationship with you will strengthen and they will want to share their experience with their peers and friends - the best form of marketing.

Delighting customers isn’t about spending lots of your budget either, it’s about knowing them well enough to do something that shows you care and appreciate their business. It could be as simple as a card with their favorite animal on the front and a thoughtful hand-written message. If you use a CRM or other contact management software, it will be very easy for you to find this information and act upon it.

So, do we need more robots in our business lives? Maybe not just yet.

We certainly do need to make the most of the automation software available to us and choose the right tech stack to make us work more efficiently. This will free up time to build stronger, deeper relationships with customers through personalized experiences, making them feel valued and compelled to share their experience with others.

If you’re looking for software to help you understand your customers better, Capsule is a great place to start - try now for a 14 day free trial.

Sales Pipeline Management: 7 Tips for Success

Jo White — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Sales success doesn’t come down to just one factor.

You need great leads. You need solid systems in place to cut down time on less productive tasks. You need your team to be agile, proactive, and knowledgeable enough to identify the right solution to offer to the right lead, at the right time.

Managing your sales pipeline, or the process you use to qualify leads and close deals with customers, joins all these factors together into your unified plan for better sales.

Make every action you take more effective by following top performers’ strategies.

Start early

Procrastination can happen to anyone. On the other hand, it seems that putting things off until the last minute happens more often to the middle and lower-end performers. Research shows that average sales performers make way more calls at the end of the quarter - and those calls are almost always less effective than calls in the first two months.

The simple fix here is flip the script!

Commit to starting the quarter with a surge of activity, instead of ending with a scramble for the last few deals. You may find that if other companies fall into the trap of waiting until the last month, you’ll encounter less competition for your target customers’ time and energy.

Keep in mind that a recurring pattern of procrastination can signal larger issues with your sales process or team motivation, so make a note to look for solutions to these challenges too.

Automate where you can

Succeeding in sales means getting comfortable with lots of follow-up. If you’ve got 100 potential leads in the pipeline, and it takes 18 calls to connect with a buyer, that’s a lot of contact to remember!

CRM technology can organize client rosters and help sales teams plan when and how to reach out next. Voicemail automation tools, tech to log calls and dispositions, and list building solutions can also dramatically reduce the time sales employees spend on critical tasks.

Identify the best leads

Not to be overly simplistic, but the key to closing more deals is concentrating on the best leads in the pipeline. Figuring out which leads are the most promising is challenging, but not impossible.

Using the data you collected via tech solutions and automated processes can highlight subtle shifts that an individual salesperson might miss. Check for indicators that a lead is getting warmer, like an uptick in engagement with your emails. You might also want to schedule some extra coaching support for sales employees preparing for important demos or negotiations.

Focusing on the prospects that are likeliest to be customers soon puts your best efforts where they can make the most impact.

Add time for coaching

Your sales team work hard to build connections, qualify leads, and close deals. If you’re not checking in with them regularly, though, you could miss gaps in knowledge or experience that might keep employees from meeting their best potential.

One-on-one coaching, including practicing ways to work through challenging scenarios, is one of the best ways to strengthen each employees’ sales skills.

Pressed for time? Many sales managers are. Hold a group meeting with sales staff to brainstorm solutions for a common challenge. Aim for at least a few more individual coaching sessions than in the last 90 days to gradually incorporate regular coaching into your schedule.

Pace conversations the right way

The overwhelming majority of sales connections happen over phone conversations. Cultivating talent for genuine connection over the phone will make a major impact on your ability to close deals and keep existing customers happy.

First, emphasize listening. Practicing talking points often gets more attention yet listening well and understanding a lead’s concerns is at just as important. Talk with your sales team about the strategies that help them listen more effectively, such as removing distractions and taking notes during a call.

Next, space out questions. It can be tempting to front-load questions, either to gain information quickly or to try to direct the tone of the conversation. The problem is asking too many questions at once can backfire by overwhelming your prospect. Asking questions throughout the course of the call leads to a more natural, give-and-take balance.

Review and refine the sales process

If there was one perfect approach to sales, everyone would do it. In reality, while there are proven guidelines for success, every sales manager has to tweak the details of the sales process to fit their team and their industry. Set a reminder to review your pipeline and sales reports to analyze what’s working and where you can improve.

Look for early warning signs, even minor ones, that could hint at a larger issue. One rough week won’t necessarily throw off the quarter, but a week that turns into a lackluster month could. Catching a faulty technique or missing step early could save you from a much larger sales slump.

Set high, achievable goals

Defining what success looks like is an essential part of meeting your goals. Take time to set clear goals at the individual level and for the entire team.

Goal-setting boosts morale by clarifying expectations. Sales employees may appreciate a chance to weigh in on strategies they’re proud of, or ask for feedback on any concerns. Making goals collaboratively can encourage team camaraderie and help sales managers get to know the team better.

Want even more impact in your sales pipeline management? Turn to tools that work and support you can rely on. The more clearly you can visualize the opportunities already waiting in your pipeline, the better prepared you’ll be to connect with the right leads at the perfect moment.

5 Tips to Build a Stronger Sales Pipeline

Jo White — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The one universal business need, regardless of your business size or industry, is customers.

Breaking the all-or-nothing cycle depends on an effective system to build new customer relationships. If you want to provide the best support to your sales team and get insight into your future revenue, it all starts with a well-crafted sales pipeline.

What is a Sales Pipeline?

A sales pipeline is the structured process sales teams use to guide a contact from potential lead to enthusiastic customer. The sales pipeline consists of distinct stages of contact, qualification, proposal, negotiation, and closing the deal.

Wait, I thought that was a funnel?

The terms sales pipeline and sales funnel sometimes get thrown around interchangeably. While a sales pipeline is similar to a sales funnel in that they both track a target customer’s progress toward a sale, these models measure different aspects of the sales process:

The sales pipeline tracks the volume of potential customers and the total value of prospective sales. It’s a great tool to analyze the sales team’s behavior and strengthen processes.

The sales funnel is your best tool to measure rates of conversion for customers. You’ll get a clearer sense of how well your outreach strategies are connecting with your target audience (or where they’re turning away).

5 Tips to build a stronger sales pipeline

Once you develop a clear sales pipeline, you can look ahead to estimate how much new business you’ll generate in upcoming quarters. Try these strategies to pack more power into every step through the sales process.

1. Write ideal customer personas

Tasks are easier to accomplish once you’ve got some momentum, which is why lead generation is named over and over as the biggest sales challenge. CSO Insights found that nearly half of sales reps cited lack of leads as their hardest barrier to effective sales.

Finding the right customer starts with you. You know your business better than anyone, so it’s on you to determine which customers will gain the most from choosing you. Write out a profile for each target customer.

What makes them tick? What are they great at, and what’s their biggest challenge?

The clearer you can envision your ideal customer, the easier it will be to identify and connect with real people who fit the description.

2. Prospect for better leads

Finding leads with real potential is an art as much as a science. Timing matters. So do customer pain points, budget, and various other factors that can fluctuate from quarter to quarter.

Use LinkedIn to find contact info for leads, as well as information about their education and work history that can help you build a more genuine connection.
Ask for referrals to increase the number of warm connections.
Do your research. Don’t waste time pursuing deep connections with people who don’t have any decision-making power.
Aim to know the prospect’s products and services as well as you know your own, so you can offer in-depth insight into why they’re a natural fit.

3. Don’t rush the relationship

Have you ever been accosted by one of those people handing out flyers on the street, only to see an overflowing trash can just a few feet away? Getting too pushy, too fast is an all-but-guaranteed way to lose a sale. While it’s tempting to strike while the iron is hot and jump into a mini-demo at the first sign of interest, resist the urge.

Until you’ve qualified the lead, you don’t know if you’re wasting your time on someone who can’t say yes, even if you nail the presentation.

Start by offering value and nurturing the relationship. Giving leads plenty of information will filter out fruitless opportunities, so you can invest your efforts in qualified leads who are more likely to become customers.

4. Standardize your process

Your sales team should tailor parts of their approach to suit each lead, of course. But on a high level, you want the sales pipeline to follow the same process. This is important for a few reasons:

Easier training for sales reps
Easier to scale as the business grows
Improved ability to track results
Smoother transfer if the sales team needs to redistribute accounts

You’ve developed a process based on your target persona, so the idea is you’re already optimizing the sales pipeline for the best results. The best-performing sales teams tend to work together, rather than having each person create their own method.

5. Review Results

The benefit of developing a healthy sales pipeline for your company is having a concrete system to analyze and improve over time. At least once a year, and more often if you’re a new business or going through a high growth period, review your sales processes and results.

Are you generating enough leads to close on the level of revenue you need?
What channel brings in the largest percentage of qualified leads?
How many times does the sales team reach out before scheduling a demo, or entering negotiation?
What forms of outreach are getting the best response rate?
How long does closing a deal take? Which steps take longest, and are there opportunities to shorten that time?
Review successful pitches. What do they have in common?

Continue to refine your sales pipeline over time, and you’ll keep discovering additional ways to set your business apart from the competition and close deals with confidence.

Need help managing your sales pipeline? Contact us today and let us help you visualize and manage your open sales opportunities and easily determine how your business is doing.

What I’ve learned after ten years in SaaS

Duncan Stockdill — Fri, 06 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Earlier this summer we celebrated our tenth anniversary. It’s a massive milestone, and we took a day out with the team to celebrate. It was also a chance to reminisce a little with the team about the early days. I think it’s fair to say some of us had more hair and looked somewhat younger!

I was asked about how we built Capsule and if I’d do anything differently if I did it all again. I’m sure I would as starting up today would be a very different experience to the one I had back in 2009. But I have learned a few lessons, some the hard way while growing Capsule and here are a few of them. Some relate specifically to building an online service, but I expect they can be adapted to other businesses.

1. Invent a unique brand name

I’ve been a fan of two-syllable brand names for as long as I can remember - easy to say and catchy. Google, DropBox, Twitter, Facebook, Kodak, Nikon, Sony are just a few of the many big brands that have been successful with two syllables.

When we set about launching in 2009, I wanted a two-syllable name with a .com domain name, one that was memorable and loosely related to CRM.

Initially, we went with Javelin but learned the hard way to check for trademark use. After a rebrand we settled on Capsule, loosely aligned with the idea of a data-driven, secure container for your customer relationships.

While it worked out well for us, what I didn’t consider at the time is how much harder it is to keep track of mentions of your brand, compared to a name that is unique, like Facebook for example.

2. Check for Trademarks

I did some due diligence (i.e. Googling!) with our first name Javelin, but simply put, I didn’t do enough research.

It wasn’t long until a company got in touch through their lawyers to say they already had Javelin trademarked in a somewhat related space. Given our tiny size in 2010, we decided our time was better spent building a great product rather than on legal disputes, so we had to change our name.

Although it was painful at the time, it worked out okay as we created some buzz with our new name and the rebrand increased traffic to our site and signups.

Today all trademarks are online and you can easily search before you brand your business. It’s well worth taking the time to do a trademark search and read up on trademark advice.

3. Adopt a recurring model and don’t become reliant on a few large customers

I’ve had experience working for a company that was over-reliant on project income from a few big customers. It’s risky, and ultimately drove a less than successful outcome for that business.

Instead, we chose a recurring revenue model through subscriptions. It creates a more stable revenue stream and a lower risk business, especially when you combine that with many customers rather than relying on a few large customers.

The product benefits too as we now have a community of over 11,000 customers that provide a daily stream of feedback and who we can validate ideas with, rather than being driven by the requirements of a single large customer.

4. Have belief in what you’re doing

It does take time to build up the recurring revenue, and the early days are tough. It took us two years to become profitable.

We started with a handful of customers in the first month and after 12 months we had just 419 customers and our revenue for the year was a modest \$15,000. Anyone starting up a new business knows it’s tough and it really is.

During the first 12-18 months we questioned whether it was working. But we had belief in what we were doing, so we stuck with it and I’m glad we did! What we worked out is that we were also growing at 20%+ every month, and that exponential growth rapidly increased our revenue so that by the end of our second year we had a profitable business.

5. Don’t assume investment is the only route to success

Startups and their funding is big news in the tech industry. As a bootstrapped business, we took a different approach to building Capsule. When we launched ten years ago, it was just after the financial crash of 2008. The simple truth is we didn’t have the luxury of building a business with someone else’s cash. Or at least not on terms that we’d have been happy with at that time.

Once we accepted that we weren’t going after investment, we could focus on building a business that aimed to be profitable early. And once we got there, we realised we could continue to grow the business without giving away equity.

As a profitable business, we aren’t reliant on the next round of funding to keep us running, and we get to decide with the insight from our customers, where we go next.

Bootstrapping might not be the fashionable choice, but there’s plenty of opportunity to build a profitable business in areas that are overlooked by Venture Capitalists and investors because it’s not big enough or there isn’t a clear exit strategy.

6. Offer annual contracts to bring cash in early

To help in the early days of a startup, if you follow a recurring revenue model like we did, it can be helpful to secure annual contracts with some of your customers early on.

We didn’t do this when we launched and I don’t recall why exactly. Probably because we had to roll our own billing system since the likes of Stripe didn’t exist back then, but also SaaS was still relatively new and it was hard enough to get someone to pay monthly let alone annually! These days most businesses are familiar with buying subscriptions for online services, and a percentage will be happy to take an annual commitment especially if you provide an attractive discount.

Our way around the cash flow gap in the first year was to do some consultancy and design work on the side to increase our cash flow. It worked and we had fun, but obviously it’s not the fastest way to get a product to market.

7. Be first in marketplaces and communities

We saw a lot of growth when we got into the G-Suite Marketplace early. We joined a community group called the small business web, and the Google G-Suite team found us there and invited us to join the launch of their new marketplace.

Once we were in Google marketplace, because we were one of the first apps, we had a huge amount of traffic which meant we were one of the top 5 installed apps and that drove further signups.

It’s worth looking for a large complementary product in your market and if they introduce a marketplace or other opportunity to cross-sell, get in early to maximise your visibility with their customer base.

8. Make a part of your product viral

The fastest growing SaaS products have a viral element to their product which helps generate exponential growth without throwing money at customer acquisition.

Slack, Zoom and Basecamp are examples that have benefited from this approach - it helps drive rapid growth as new users need to invite someone else to use the product. More recently the industry has started calling this Product Led Growth (or PLG) and there are playbooks such as this one from OpenView for making the most of it.

9. Your most important metrics should change over time

When we launched we were growing so fast that the number of new signups dwarfed any churn we had. As a result we could simply focus on a few simple metrics like signups, revenue and Net Promoter Score. As a product matures and your customer base grows, the impact of churn becomes more significant.

These days we naturally focus on a deeper set of metrics. Signups and revenue are still important but we now spend more time optimizing conversion and retention rates by, for example, helping customers best understand how to get more value from Capsule.

10. Create a rhythm to the business

Having clear company objectives and goals is important.

Doing it in a simple way that creates a rhythm to the business by working in cycles is what has worked best for us. Every three months we decide, as a company, what we want to get done next, and then go to it.

That doesn’t mean we wait until the end of a cycle to release updates - if a change is ready we ship it right away. Sometimes urgent things pop up, so we have a dedicated review at the 6-week mark, to adjust priorities if need be.

We’ve previously tried shorter cycles. In the early days I’d say it was less “planning” and more ad-hoc decision making as a team finished up on a project. But this becomes a reactive process where you constantly have the pressure of finding the next thing for a team to work.

Equally in our experience, planning out beyond three months in any detail often results in wasted effort. As a business we are constantly learning, which rightly means priorities should change. Three monthly cycles with a 6 weekly review point is a sweet spot for us right now.

11. Relationships with customers always matter

This should be obvious, but in today’s business environment where there is so much focus on technology, automation and deployment of bots, it’s easy to forget that it’s a human buying from you. The relationship you build with your customers is just as important as it ever was.

As a customer, I really appreciate finding a business that recognises touch points are an opportunity to engage and turn customers into advocates, rather than a cost to be managed. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve introduced a friend or co-worker to a product or service because I liked the total experience. A key part of that experience is the touch points and how effortless and friendly those interactions are.

I’m grateful to work with our humble and truly wonderful customer facing team who get so much kind feedback from our customers for their empathetic and helpful approach. We don’t have 1st line, 2nd line or 3rd line support teams like big companies. We don’t bounce customers around different support systems. We simply have a friendly team who are there to help our customers solve their problem, and we use a mix of technology, including CRM and support tools, to help streamline and enrich our customer understanding, rather than be defined by technology.

A really helpful book I first came across over on HelpScout’s blog is called The Effortless Experience, and it’s well worth a read if you really want to understand how to create customer loyalty.

Automatically log calls in Capsule

Jo White — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We know what it’s like when you’re working on the go, especially in sales. It’s easy to forget about the admin as you go from one call to the next.

Sometimes you don’t have time to update your CRM with the day’s activity until you get home or back in the office the next day.

It’s tough remembering everything.

A potential client may say something subtle during a call that makes you think the deal is going to go through. Or you could get a feeling the deal isn’t looking too promising anymore due to the tempo of the conversation, their tone of voice or the way the call ends.

Either way, it’s easy to forget these details if you don’t record them straight away. But it’s useful to remember them as they give context to those opportunities you have faith will convert, and those that lose momentum even though the data says something different.

Log calls without doing a thing

So what if, after each call, an activity was logged automatically in your CRM along with a call note? Better still a little box popped up when you ended your call to prompt you to add notes straight away?

This little bit of magic happens after you make a call from the Capsule mobile app. Take a look…

Clever isn’t it?

Using the Capsule mobile app, this useful feature will help you work more efficiently and remember every part of your call.

It will also help you keep on top of your sales targets as every call from the mobile app will automatically be logged in Capsule and show in your activity reports.

It’s well known that multitasking reduces productivity and actually lowers your IQ by an average of 10 points. But if you focus on the task at hand, you’ll be far more productive.

This feature does exactly that, it keeps you focused on the sales opportunity until you’ve completed your notes. As you’re doing your admin on the go, you’re more likely to remember all the details and, get your time back at the end of the day.

We’re always developing Capsule to make life easier for our customers, and here’s a feature we launched last month on the mobile app. Caller ID support - it lets you see who’s calling your mobile phone, even if their details aren’t stored on your device. Super helpful!

If you’d like to give Capsule a go, take a look at our plans to see what’s right for you and enjoy a 14 day free trial.

10 things to do in Manchester

Jo White — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Manchester is the second biggest city in England, surrounded by the beautiful Pennine mountains. It’s a hub of activity, well known for its iconic music scene and pioneering innovations in engineering and science.

We’ve enjoyed all this city has to offer since we were founded here in 2009. And as it’s our 10 year anniversary this summer, we thought we’d share our 10 favorite things to do in Manchester.

1. Start with a tasty breakfast

With breakfast being the most important meal of the day, we’ve sampled many local cafés for their food and as a place to work. Here are a few that have stood out over the years. We absolutely love the French toast at Takk, their simple menu focuses on quality ingredients that hit the spot every time. If you can get a table, Federal also do a great breakfast and then there’s Ezra and Gill whose brioche French toast and posh babyccino are delectable.

2. Enjoy great coffee

We know a thing or two about coffee here at Capsule, and the Northern Quarter has a spectacular collection of coffee shops - you’re spoilt for choice. But if we had to pick one from all those we’ve frequented over the years it would have to be Idle Hands. You’ll find at least one of the team there most mornings.

3. Visit the John Rylands library

The John Rylands library is a must see. The Victorian Gothic architecture on Deansgate is a sight to behold. It was built in memory of John Rylands over 100 years ago and has one of the world’s finest collections of rare books and manuscripts. We recommend wandering the stunning corridors and enjoying the quiet space.

4. Explore the record shops

With such a vibrant music scene it’s no surprise that there’s a plethora of record shops in the Northern Quarter of the city with a mix of new music and second-hand classics. Browsing the stores and chatting to the friendly fanatics that run them is a lovely thing to do. We like to visit Clampdown Records during a lunch hour to search for some of the classics.

5. Peruse quirky stalls at Afflecks

Afflecks is an interesting place, home to independent stalls selling a spectrum of goods you’re unlikely to find in your average department store. Hours will vanish by as you browse the eclectic range on offer. And when you’re ready for a sit down, Ginger’s Comfort Emporium upstairs serves the most delicious ice cream.

6. Immerse yourself in football

Manchester is a big fan of the English game, football - you may call it soccer. Manchester City and Manchester United are the two global clubs based close to the city. You can pop along to these iconic stadiums for a tour or to simply purchase some memorabilia. If you’d like to learn even more about the beautiful game, the National Football Museum is worth checking out too.

7. Try some local liquor

If craft beer is your thing, there’s quite a collection of breweries you can visit for a tasty tour. Most have a tap room where you can sample the goods and take some home. Our favorites are Blackjack and Seven Brot7hers, both within 10 minutes of our office in the Northern Quarter. If you prefer gin, you’ll enjoy the Gin Experience at The City of Manchester Distillery. Not only do you get the tour, but you even get to create your very own gin to take home with you.

8. Experience a unique night out

There’s an abundance of quirky bars, cafés and restaurants in Manchester. We’ve spent time in a fair few over the years and here are the three that stand out the most. The underground drinking den, NQ64, rekindles childhood memories as you challenge yourself to a selection of retro arcade games or classic consoles. The retractable roof on the top floor of El Negro creates an absolutely gorgeous experience when enjoying authentic Tapas on a sunny evening. Then there’s the well loved speakeasy, The Washhouse. It’s disguised as a laundromat, where the unique experience begins as soon as you make the booking and continues with each fabulous cocktail.

9. Discover the music scene

There’s a mix of music venues to satisfy every taste in the city, from the huge Manchester Arena, to the beautiful Bridgewater Hall. The team tends to visit the intimate venues more regularly to stay up to date on new music, such as Night and Day or our other favorite, Band on the Wall. All get a big thumbs up for a great night out.

10. Enjoy authentic cuisine

We’ve already mentioned El Gato Negro for their authentic tapas and we have to mention the famous Curry Mile for its wealth of South Asian restaurants. Based just outside the city centre in Rusholme, you’ll be spoilt for choice when you arrive. If sushi is more your thing, try Umezushi, we think it’s by far the best for fresh, quality dishes. Then there’s good old Rudy’s for truly sumptuous Pizza.

We hope you you found the list helpful and enjoy your time in the city. Don’t forget to pop by and say hi when you’re exploring the Northern Quarter, we’re just on the corner of Dale Street.

6 Steps to Successfully Migrate CRM Data

Jo White — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

When you’re looking for a new CRM it’s important to think about how you’re going to transfer the data from your current software to your new one. This is likely the first thing you do when you switch CRMs and the future success of your new CRM rests on getting this bit right.

With this in mind, here are some of the key things to consider when you’re making the transition.

1. Define the critical data you need to move across

Work with your key stakeholders to decide the critical data you need to transfer to your new CRM. It’s possible you may not be able to export everything so it’s good to know the areas where you can and can’t compromise.

2. Clean up your data

You’ll likely have a lot of out of date details in your current CRM, so now’s the time to clean it up. Remove duplicates and any historical data you no longer need.

The less old data you have, the more efficient your CRM will be, plus it helps keep you GDPR compliant. What’s more, if your new CRM has different price plans for stored data, removing unnecessary data could reduce your costs.

3. Choose a cut off date

When you have multiple users of a CRM it’s important to choose a cut off date for the data extract and give people plenty of notice.

Depending on your business, over the summer can sometimes be a good time while people go on their annual vacation.

4. Choose the best way to export your data

Usually you have the option of exporting all your CRM into a spreadsheet - CSV or Excel. If you choose Excel it’s worth noting that there’s a limit of 1 million rows unlike a CSV file.

Exporting to a spreadsheet is absolutely fine for simple contact details. But, if you have more than this in your CRM it’s worth considering if a spreadsheet is the best option. Here are a few areas to think about when exporting data.

Data structure

Unstructured data is a headache so check your export is ordered correctly and includes your user permissions plus access levels.

Contact and organization relationship

Check the contact information shows the organization they’re related to when the data is exported.

Phone numbers and zip codes

Watch out for leading zeros going missing, shortened data or your numbers being converted to an unusable format.

Notes

Some notes may need to be exported into a separate text file, which could make mapping a little difficult.

Attachments

These are notoriously difficult to export from a CRM as they are exported individually with potentially multiple files per contact.

Email conversations

Similar to attachments, email threads tend to be exported individually with the potential for multiple files per contact. If they are plain text files, you can use scripts to convert them to a CSV format. But a further complication is when the emails contain attachments themselves.

Outstanding tasks

When you export tasks they have to retain their relationships to the associated contact or organization as well as each other. Dates may be in a sequence too so it may be difficult to find a fixed date associated with the tasks.

Integrated data

Some integrations display rather then store data so you may not be able to export it. Once you reconnect your new CRM, the data should appear.

Based on this, if you find a spreadsheet is not suitable for your data export you can use a third-party data migration service. There are quite a few available and some are better suited to specific CRMs. We recommend searching online for your perfect match.

5. Test a sample of data first

It’s always worth checking out a sample of your data before doing a full export.That way you can catch anything that won’t be exported correctly before you commit to fully exporting everything.

6. Map your data to the new CRM

Once you have some sample data you’ll easily see the names of the data fields you’ll need to create in your new CRM. Some CRMs will allow you to create new data fields before you import the data, others will ask you during the import. Either way, this is an important exercise as it ensures your data transfer runs seamlessly and looks exactly as you expect when it’s complete.

If you’re looking to move from another CRM to Capsule and have any questions, speak to our friendly support team, they’ll be happy to share their advice.

What does a sales pipeline do and do I need one?

Jo White — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A sales pipeline is a window into your future deals.

Once you have visibility of all your sale opportunities, you’re more likely to hit your revenue targets and improve your bottom line. But if you’re new to sales and never heard of a sales pipeline, here’s all you need to know.

What does a sales pipeline do

A sales pipeline maps out each stage of your sales process in a simple way. It’s used to track each deal through every step.

The sales pipeline shows you everyone interested in buying your product or service. So by tracking each deal through the sales process, you can easily forecast sales revenue.

Do you need a sales pipeline?

The simple answer is yes. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but if you run a business it’s crucial to see where all the money sits. Without knowing how many potential deals are coming in and how long they’ll take to convert, it’s difficult to assess the future profitability of your business.

But when you can see where each deal is sat in your sales process, you can easily forecast the sales revenue for the month ahead.

The further along the deals are in your sales pipeline, the higher the chance of you winning the sale so you can forecast a profitable month. Alternatively, if most of your deals are at the beginning of the cycle, and take an average of 60 days to win, you can forecast a low sales month and put in measures to improve profitability.

You can’t fix what you can’t see

A sales pipeline gives you great insight into each potential sale and the capability of your sales team. When you track each deal, you can easily see how long each salesperson takes to close one. You can immediately see if any of their deals get stuck in the process and how many are lost or convert into a sale.

This data will give you deep insight into each salesperson’s abilities and allow you to support those with a slow or small pipeline. Without this knowledge it’s difficult to spot issues before it’s too late.

How to set up a sales pipeline

As your sales pipeline is based on your sales process it will be unique to your business. To understand each stage of your sales process it’s best to chat with those who sell your product or services as they’ll instinctively know the detail.

1. Define the stages of the sales pipeline

Businesses tend to have between five and eight stages but you can have as many as you need. A six stage sales process could look like this:

Lead (There’s an interest in your product or service.)
Qualified opportunity (You’ve confirmed a genuine interest in purchasing your product or service.)
Initial Meeting (You’ve met and spotted a clear opportunity to satisfy their needs.)
Proposal (You’ve presented a clear proposal on how you can meet their needs.)
Verbal agreement (You’ve had verbal confirmation to purchase your product or service.)
Close won (The deal is won.)

Here’s an example of how this pipeline would look in Capsule.

2. Weight each stage of the sales process

Once you’ve mapped out each stage, it’s useful to weight each one based on the probability of winning the deal.

Naturally you’ll weight the earlier stages less than the later ones as a person isn’t as committed in the beginning of the sales process. As they move through the sales pipeline they’ll show more positive signs of purchasing so the weighting will increase.

When you run a forecast, this weighting can be key as you can forecast those deals with over a 50% chance of converting instead of them all. This improves the accuracy of your report.

So in the example above, the weighted sales pipeline could look like this:

Lead (3%)
Qualified opportunity (10%)
Initial Meeting (30%)
Proposal (65%)
Verbal agreement (80%)
Close won (100%)

3. Track sales momentum

It’s important to consider how often a salesperson should be interacting with someone at each stage of their pipeline in order to successfully nurture them to a sale.

This may differ substantially for each stage. In the beginning, you may contact people frequently to maintain interest. But as you get further down the pipeline, you’ll probably give people more space so they have time to discuss your proposal with key decision makers.

Once you have a feel for how often a salesperson should contact their prospective clients at each stage, you can add this metric to your pipeline.

4. Fill your pipeline

A successful business will have a constant stream of deals filling the pipeline and moving through the sales cycle.

All opportunities in the pipeline won’t convert to a sale (unless you’re very lucky), you may find it’s just 30%. If this is the case, you need to ensure your pipeline has enough deals in each stage of the process to help you reach your sales target.

It’s a constant juggling act for every salesperson to balance closing deals with filling the pipeline. But as your business grows and you build a strong reputation, your sales pipeline will start to fill with minimum effort as you’ll benefit from positive word of mouth and referrals.

Manage your sales pipeline effectively

Your pipeline is only as good as the information in it. Sales forecasts can be over or under inflated and cause frustration if salespeople don’t manage their pipeline effectively.

Having clearly defined stages of your sales process in the pipeline will help but it’s equally important for salespeople to update their pipeline regularly and use it correctly. Here are 10 tips on managing a sales pipeline.

Your sales pipeline will naturally adapt as you grow, it’s not something you set once and leave forever. Don’t forget to review and reflect on your process once it’s up and running; you’ll get more value from the data if you do.

If you’re looking for an easy way to set up and manage a sales pipeline sign up to a free trial of Capsule.

How to measure customer health

Jo White — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

When you start up a business with a small customer base, you work so close to them, you tend to just know how they’re feeling about your product or service.

But as your customer base grows, it’s impossible to manage each relationship so personally and you can miss important signs.

That’s when a customer health score becomes a crucial business metric for growth.

What is a customer health score?
The healthy and unhealthy customer
Example health score metrics
More useful metrics
Calculating your health score
Improving a customer health score
Tools to help you calculate

What is a customer health score?

A customer health score measures the likelihood of a customer leaving or becoming a high value advocate.

It’s a key business metric as it gives you the opportunity to turnaround an unhappy customer and it helps you identify the characteristics of a high value customer too.

Your customer health score metrics will be unique to your business, there’s no industry standard to follow. But here are some areas to consider when you’re starting to build one.

The healthy and unhealthy customer

To define a customer health score for your business you first need to understand what your successful and unsuccessful customers look like.

A customer is successful if they’re getting value from your product or service. The opposite is true for unsuccessful customers and they are usually referred to as ‘at risk’.

To understand what characteristics make a customer fit into one of these categories, you can look at your most successful customers and those you have lost. When you analyze them, you’ll easily see the traits that make a customer succeed and leave. This is a great starting point as it gives you a clear benchmark.

When you start listing these traits, it’s best to keep the list between 3-7 characteristics at first. The smaller the better. It’s important to keep the list simple so you’re not overwhelmed with data.

Once you’ve identified the characteristics, you can start to define the key metrics for your health score.

If we look at a SaaS company as an example, a successful customer may do this:

Log in regularly
Use sticky features
Have at least two integrations
Invite 1 new user per month

So these are the priority metrics you need to consider when building your ‘healthy’ score.

Building a health score isn’t a perfect science and may need a lot of tweaks throughout the process. But the closer you are to your customers and products, the more chance you have at creating an accurate model.

Example health score metrics

Once you have your list of characteristics that define a healthy or ‘at risk’ customer, you have your metrics. They will be unique to your products and services. What’s super important for one company, may not be considered in another.

You can choose to track just one score for every customer, or you could segment your audience on business size, the stage of the customer life cycle etc, and have a different health score for each.

Whichever way you structure your health score, here are some of the common metrics used in business.

Frequency of visit

How often a customer buys your goods, visits your store or if you’re a SaaS business, logs into the platform, is a useful metric for your health score. But, as with all the metrics you can’t believe everything you see.

A person who isn’t logging in every day isn’t necessarily ‘at risk’, they could be on holiday or only need the software at specific points in the year. Likewise, if someone is logging in every day, it doesn’t always mean they are using the software in the right way and getting great value.

While product use is important, it’s also wise to look at the context around the behaviors before jumping to conclusions.

How much do customers need you?

It’s useful to consider the behaviors that indicate your product or service is integral to your customer’s life.

The more involved a customer is in your business, the more difficult it will be for them to move to a competitor.

If a SaaS customer, for example, integrates most of their core business tools into yours, it will be much harder to move to a competitor. They will have to unpick all the technology and start again, which isn’t an attractive option.

While you should never rest on your laurels, measuring this will help you prioritize your customer success activities.

Customer satisfaction

Even though a customer may score well on most of your metrics, you can’t automatically presume they are a healthy customer. As referred to in the examples above, even though they are regularly logging into your software, are they are actually satisfied and happy?

It’s crucial to consider this question and find a way to measure customer satisfaction. If people refer your product, that’s usually a good sign and a useful behavior to measure.

A SaaS business can measure this using a Net Promoter Score (NPS). There will be a tool in your industry to measure customer satisfaction too.

Customer relationships

Your customer point of contact in a business is a crucial relationship. Once it’s established, regular conversations will flag potential issues with the account that the metrics may not pick up. There should be an area in your health scoring calculation that takes account of this knowledge.

It’s good to have a range of close relationships with people across a business, the more fans you have, the better. After all, your point of contact may leave the business one day so it’s useful to know there is someone else to champion your product or service. It reduces the risk of losing them.

Whilst it’s good to have a mix of advocates throughout a business, it’s useful to have some at a senior level too. When there’s executive support for your product, as well as at ground level, it lessens the risk of the business leaving. There’s never a big drive to change the things the boss loves.

The human element of a health score

As you build closer relationships with your customers, you’ll begin to understand how they work and hear of any struggles they’re having at a macro level. This information counts too. In some instances it could overwrite all the metrics you’ve gathered above.

For example, if you hear big structural changes are on the horizon or a CEO is leaving, while the customer may say there’s not an issue, such change does bring about risk. It may be worth staying close to that customer and supporting them through the turbulent period.

Conversely, if the metrics are looking bad for a customer but you know they’re in the middle of a big office move, you may not need to be overly concerned.

Common sense should always prevail when monitoring a health score.

More useful metrics

With such a range of metrics at your disposal, here are a few additional points to consider when creating your list.

Billing

If a customer starts to change the way they pay you, it’s worth taking a closer look. For example, a customer credit card could decline or they could start to ask for more detailed invoices before they pay. Depending on your business, this could be a crucial metric to track.

Marketing engagement

When a customer interacts with all your marketing activity, whether it’s competitions, attending events or reading newsletters, it’s a positive sign they’re happy. If you have ways of easily tracking this activity, it may be worth adding to your list.

Loyalty

Tread carefully with loyalty as it can be an ambiguous metric. For some businesses a regular repeat purchase shows a customer is enjoying your products and is healthy. However in other sectors, such as tech, it could highlight a customer is ‘at risk’ as it signals inertia and they could become an attractive target for your competitors.

Calculating your health score

The health score calculations are unique to your business and products. Once you know the benchmarks for a healthy and unhealthy customer you can clearly see which metrics are the most important and you can weight them accordingly.

The exact calculation you use to calculate your health score will be completely tailored to your products and your customers.

Generally an overall customer health score rating is given as a percentage and classed as Red, Amber or Green.

Red flags ‘at risk’, Amber shows all is ok, Green indicates a healthy customer. An example of the percentage ranges for each could be:

Red (0-35%)
Amber (65-70%)
Green (70-100%)

The calculations to reach the Red, Amber, Green rating can be as simple or as complex as you wish. You can either create the formula yourself or invest in a specific tool to do it for you.

Remember, even if a customer is red, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re about to leave nor if they’re green does it mean everything is perfect. It’s a flag to alert you to dig a bit deeper. Always ensure there is room for human input into the figures when you calculate your score.

Improving a customer health score

As mentioned earlier, when a customer is flagged red it’s important to delve into the data to find out ‘why’ before you take action. This is when it becomes useful to centralize your health score alongside other customer data, such as in a CRM. It will be easier to see the context, review any interactions, the type of support tickets sent, the tone of the message etc.

To efficiently respond to any customers suddenly flagged as ‘at risk’, you may wish to automate a playbook that kicks into action as soon as they turn red. Don’t forget to interact with the data and understand the context as part of this process. Whilst you can standardize an approach, each customer is unique and will respond better to more personalized messages.

Depending on your business type, the channels you use to interact with ‘at risk’ customers may vary too. Face to face can work extremely well for a small customer base but it’s untenable if you have tens of thousands.

The size of your customer’s account may also play a part in how you respond as you may choose different resources for smaller and larger accounts.

If you do use a CRM, like Capsule, you can store these playbooks centrally so everyone can follow a proven approach to help an ‘at risk’ customer become healthy.

Tools to help you calculate

The simplest tool to calculate a health score is a spreadsheet, it’s where most people start. As with all data, you’ll reach a point when you’ll have too much to manage on a spreadsheet, which is when technology can help.

By bringing your health score into your CRM, you’ll get a holistic view of your customer as you’ll see the score in context. And when you do improve the score of an unhealthy customer, you’ll be able to track the activity that had the most impact and easily replicate it for others.

A customer health score is always a work in progress. You may find that what works today isn’t relevant in six months time. Be prepared to change and respond to customer and employee feedback throughout the whole process.

Good luck with your customer health scoring and if you need a place to store your calculations, why not try Capsule for free.

Caller ID support for Capsule Mobile

Tom Bell — Mon, 08 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The caller ID feature is now available on the iOS Capsule Mobile app. If a Capsule contact calls you, but you’ve not got their number stored in your phone, you’ll still see it’s them calling you.

By taking advantage of the call directory support in iOS, any numbers not in your iOS contacts will be checked against those in the Capsule app. If the contact is stored in Capsule, you’ll see their details when they call.

You’ll never be left wondering who’s on the other end of the phone. Instead, you can greet all your customers in a friendly, more personable way.

Little touches like this get your conversations off to a good start and make people on the other end feel valued. It all helps you build strong customer relationships.

How to set up caller ID

This is really quick and easy to do.

Update your Capsule mobile app and log in
Go to iOS Settings, Phone, Call Blocking & Identification. Toggle the Capsule switch to ‘on.’

Go to the Capsule mobile app Settings, Caller identification. Tap to go to a new screen with a couple of options.

Pick a country to use as the default country code for phone numbers on your Capsule contacts that don’t have a country code. For example if your phone numbers are from the United Kingdom, select United Kingdom (+44)

Once you’ve selected a country, tap the toggle to enable caller identification.

That’s it. Now you’ll know when a Capsule contact is calling you.

We hope you find this feature useful. If you’ve got any feedback or questions let us know.

QuickBooks Online is coming soon

Jo White — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve been working on a smart integration with QuickBooks Online over the last few months and wanted to give you a preview of what’s coming.

The first thing you’ll notice is our new sidebar that separates your contact record from the QuickBooks Online information. This design gives your accounting data plenty of space so it doesn’t clog up your contact details. We hope you like it!

We know how complicated your CRM can become when you integrate lots of software tools, the sidebar keeps it clear and easy to read.

You’ll see the QuickBooks online logo in a new column, then all you need to do is click on the logo once for an accounting summary and twice for more detail.

The new sidebar will be released with the QuickBooks Online app and all future integrations will benefit from this new, clean design.

What to expect

Once you integrate your QuickBooks Online account with Capsule you’ll be able to keep track of all your customer’s invoices, create an invoice directly from Capsule and more.

We’re currently adding the final touches and aim to release this integration soon. We’d love to hear what you think so please get in touch.

The Best Free CRM: An expert guide to choosing

Jo White — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

If you have a desktop full of spreadsheets that are becoming too hard to manage, but you’re not sure if you need a full CRM, ask yourself these questions:

Why do you need a CRM?
What can a CRM do to make your life easier?
How can a CRM help you reach your future goals?

Once you know the answers, a great place to start is with a free trial. Most CRMs offer up to 14 days free and to sweeten the deal some CRM systems offer a free forever plan too.

The regularly cited best free CRMs include:

Capsule
Hubspot
Zoho
Agile CRM

The best things in life are free

The best free CRMs are perfect for a startup or small business owner with a small number of contacts and just a couple of CRM users. Most of the free plans limit the number of contacts and users, but they’re a great place to start as they focus on the basics first. Much of the appeal in a CRM is the ability to customize the program to your company’s personal preferences and specifications. Some of the best features of a free CRM are:

The ability to organize your contacts the way you want them.
To set up a simple sales pipeline with your own milestones.
Reporting on basics such as the pipeline forecast, conversion rate, plus won and lost opportunities.

Integrating software with your free CRM

It should be easy to connect your most important business software to your free CRM using a third party such as Zapier, PieSync or the CRM’s custom-built integration. Depending on your own capabilities or the skills of your IT department, getting your CRM to work seamlessly with other productivity or financial software shouldn’t be a chore.

It’s crucial to integrate because the more you connect, the more data you can automatically collect, and the deeper you’ll understand your customer. If you can stay in touch with customers regularly, the relationship solidifies, and your brand strengthens as clients continuously see the name of your business in their email inboxes, push notifications or text messages.

At a basic level, email is one of the most essential integrations. It’s often looked at as the lifeblood of many organizations that rely on clear and timely communications among departments, managers, and customers. Whether you use Gmail, Mailchimp, Office 365 or another platform, make sure it’s easy to connect to your free CRM and record your customer conversations.

If you’re new to business software tools, it’s worth looking at the best free plans available for them too. If you work it right, you may be able to connect all your most essential software without spending a dime. Naturally, all free programs usually provide an option to expand your range of services as your business grows. Most software purveyors will offer two or three upgrade options, but be mindful that these could have hefty expenses.

Examples of the best free forever business software include:

Google Workspace: If you’re looking for an integration that boasts a ton of functionality, look no further than the Google Workspace offering from Google. You can share spreadsheets, calendars, and slides with colleagues or customers. And with Google Drive, 30GB of free storage comes with the basic plan, so forgetting to back up important files or not being able to retrieve them on the road will be a thing of the past.
Mailchimp: Email is a vital part of any sales and marketing campaign, but hammering out individual emails to prospects or clients can be time-consuming. With Mailchimp, you can reach a vast number of contacts with a few simple steps. Creating an automated drip marketing campaign will ensure your name is in front of prospective customers at regular intervals.
Zipbooks: Integrating your company’s accounting platform and CRM will save time and effort in regards to managing your finances. With the free version of Zipbooks, you can mail an unlimited number of invoices to existing customers and link one bank account. It’s important to note that if you use PayPal or Square, your business can also accept electronic payments from the platform.
Slack: When you’re collaborating with co-workers, keeping everybody on the same page can often be a challenge, especially with the distance between two parties. If your CRM is integrated with Slack, you can share leads with your external sales team in real time.
Trello: As projects move down the road, engaging and informing stakeholders will no longer be an issue when all contributors are working in Trello. At a glance, the app’s dashboard offers a consolidated look at project status and lets individual team members know what expectations are and the next steps required to fulfill them.

What to expect from a free CRM

If you choose a free CRM that locks most of the features but provides unlimited data or users, you’ll only experience a small portion of the software. The best free CRM for your company will be the one that allows access to all the features for a small number of users. Having access will provide a comprehensive view of the whole CRM, enabling you to make an informed decision about whether it’s a good fit for your business.

Here’s are a few features you should be able to access with a free CRM:

Easily store all the data you need for each customer.
Organize your contacts in a familiar way.
Store email conversations.
Customize and manage your sales pipeline.
Integrate with important business software.
Provide an overview of your sales performance.
Most importantly, your free CRM software provider should support you.

Every CRM will give you access to a comprehensive support portal with all the relevant help articles and videos. Very few free CRMs offer unlimited support from the team - this is usually saved for those on a paid plan. It’s worth seeking out a CRM that offers this as when you’re new to CRM you’ll likely have lots of questions.

Here are some tips on how to get the most out of a free CRM trial.

Be clear about what you need

Before you start a free trial, be clear about what your business needs. All CRM systems have a abundance of features, but they’ll only add value to your business if they satisfy your core business needs. In most cases, you will have a consultation with a customer service rep or salesperson who will gather basic information about your business and gauge how well their product meets your expectations. Your needs could vary from a very basic solution or the ability to integrate with other modules that help manage your business from end to end.

Limit the choice

Be realistic with the number of free trials you can manage at one time. You may see five to ten different CRMs as a potential fit, but can you test five thoroughly in a short amount of time? All free CRMs have key, bulleted benefits and features on their websites. By quickly combing through how the software works and how it can improve your workflows, you may be able to narrow a choice down to one or two.

Block out time

It’s recommended to block out a few days or hours per week to assess the new CRM thoroughly. You’ll need to import your data and test the functionality, which can take some time. Remember, as soon as you sign up, the setup emails will begin to guide you through the most critical steps. You’ll get the most value if you follow the email sequence.

Import real data

Some free CRMs are populated with sample data allowing you to see how the system works before you import your own. You’ll only get a true feel for the CRM if you import real data and assess how the features work with the customer information you have available. Take a test drive before you pull the trigger, as it’s often difficult to gauge the effectiveness of a program unless you can get a hands-on feel for its capabilities.

Customize what you can

Most CRMs will have default settings for each contact, opportunity, and report. When you implement your CRM, you’ll do a lot of customization, allowing it to reflect your business processes. Taking the time to test how easily this can be done during the trial will help set realistic expectations. The beauty of software is the ability to fine tune features to your liking. Everyone has an individual style and there’s no right or wrong way to help you become more productive.

Connect your software

A CRM delivers the most significant value when it becomes the hub of your business and pulls in data from other sources. Each CRM will have a different way of displaying the data you pull in from an integration.

Invite the team

Considering your CRM is likely to be used by multiple people within your business, it’s best to invite them to the trial. You may find a specific feature that gives you everything you need, whereas another colleague may need more. It’s useful to invite the primary users of the CRM to discover how well it works for them too.

Test out support

When you implement your free CRM, you’re likely to need a bit of help every now and again. During your trial, you should utilize the support portals, knowledge base, watch the videos, and email the support team. Assess the support across all channels as it’s a good indication of the onboarding experience.

When creating a short list for the best free CRMs, Capsule should be at the very top. In addition to our excellent support team, our free plan includes:

Access for 2 users
Up to 250 contacts
50MB storage per user
Unlimited customization to contact data
A fully customizable sales pipeline
Sales dashboard and activity reports
Unlimited bespoke workflows for opportunities or projects
Data segmentation tools - lists, filters and tags
Basic project management tools with Projects, tasks and calendar
Ability to sync your Capsule calendar with your own
Integration with Gmail and Mailchimp
Unlimited Zapier integrations

You can customize Capsule as much as you wish on the free plan, there are no restrictions, and you can report on basic sales activity too. It’s perfect for start-ups and small business owners starting with a CRM for the very first time. Sign up now.

Get even more organized with our Gmail add on

Jo White — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We all like to send email. In fact, worldwide, around 269 billion emails were sent and received each day in 2017.

In 2021 that’s expected to grow to almost 320 billion a day, according to Statista.

That’s a lot of emails shared between us. Keeping on top of them can be a full time job, that’s why we created a Gmail add on for our customers.

By connecting Gmail to Capsule, you’ll become even more organized!

Store conversations quickly

It’s super easy to store your Gmail conversations in Capsule. Once you decide to save an email in Capsule, you can choose to store it in a:

Contact
Opportunity
Case

You simply click on the Capsule icon in Gmail and select store. It’s that simple. All the emails in that thread are stored automatically in Capsule, exactly where you want them to be.

Move emails easily in Capsule

As an email thread moves from being a lead enquiry to a potential sale or a customer starts to ask about a new package, you may want to change where the conversation is stored in Capsule.

Simply click on the Capsule icon in Gmail and you’ll be given a choice of relevant places to store it. You also get to choose if you would like to move all emails or just the most recent, so your CRM data is kept nice and clean.

Contact details next to your emails

When one of your Capsule contacts sends you an email without a signature and you need to give them a quick call, simply click on the Capsule icon to get their number.

There’s no need to open Capsule, the information is right where you need it.

Add new contacts to Capsule

If a person, not yet in Capsule sends you an email, it’s easy to add them into the CRM from Gmail. If they have the same email address as an organization already stored, we’ll automatically add the organization for you and store their details in the right place.

Keep on top of your emailed actions

You know the emails you get with a list of actions? Now you can create tasks in Capsule directly from Gmail. You can even assign a task to a colleague, case or opportunity, all from your inbox.

This is a real game changer if you get lots of emails with lots of actions - you’ll be able to keep on top of them all and be more organized.

All the benefits on mobile

The Gmail app works exactly the same on your Android and Apple phone too. Once you connect Capsule to Gmail, you’ll see the Capsule icon at the bottom of each email. A simple tap will give you access to all the same benefits when you’re out on the road.

Install the Gmail addon

It’s easy to connect Gmail and Capsule. When you’re in Gmail simply clicking the ‘+’ in the right-hand side bar and find Capsule in the Marketplace. Here’s our step by step guide.

We hope you enjoy our new Gmail add-on! Please let us know what you think.

We're celebrating our 10th anniversary!

Jo White — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been a whole decade since Duncan, Wendy and Phillip founded Capsule from their home office in Wilmslow, UK.

Frustrated with CRMs being overly simple or highly complex, they built something in between - a simple, intuitive, powerful CRM.

In the early days, Capsule was originally called Javelin until a company got in touch to say they’d already trademarked Javelin. We were disappointed but decided to spend our time and resources on building a great CRM rather than fighting court battles, so we renamed Javelin to Capsule.

Small giants

Right from the beginning we made a conscious decision to be great instead of big. We focused on building world-class software and prioritizing the development of a great product ahead of building a huge empire.

We’ve stayed true to that philosophy ever since. As a result, we’ve welcomed over 11,000 customers across 170 countries with a team of 27 people based around the UK, France and the US.

Manchester becomes our home

Capsule started from home in Wilmslow, a beautiful town in the North West of UK. Here’s Phillip in the office at the start of a new day.

In 2011 Wendy, Phillip and Duncan decided it was time to move to the big city. They found an office in the creative heart and tech hub of the UK, the city of Manchester. Well known for its famous football teams and building the first modern day computer.

As you can see this new space needed filling fast so they quickly started to recruit.

Our first employee, Dom Briggs was straight out of University and remembers his interview in the shiny new office with a smile. He walked into this huge open space with Duncan and Phillip sat on laptops in the middle of the room. It was his first ever interview.

“I genuinely thought it was some kind of set-up, I was waiting to see the hidden cameras.”

Although it wasn’t your typical scenario, Dom soon realized he was about to be part of something great. He’s been our lead designer ever since.

Soon to follow was Josef Szotten, employed to support our growing customer base. He too has fond memories of the early days and is still here today, now based in Los Angeles supporting our US customers.

Here’s the Manchester based team of 2012.

In 2013 we moved to a bigger office downstairs and have continued to develop the space over the last 6 years. This is our base and the venue for today’s celebrations.

We hosted an anniversary party and invited our Manchester customers along for some cake and bubbles. Duncan, CEO reflected on this huge milestone:

“I’m so proud to be part of the 10% of startups that succeed and happy we did it differently. We chose not to grow at any cost and we’ve built a world class team, product and great customers. I’m very excited about the next 10 years!”

It’s thanks to our fantastic customers that we’ve continued on this exciting journey to make CRM simple for every business.

Many of our customers have been with us since the beginning and we thank you all for helping us shape our CRM now and into the future.

7 CRM Hacks you need to know about

Jo White — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A CRM system should make your life easier and give you all the information you need to create closer customer relationships.

But it’s easy when you’ve had a CRM system for a while to get comfortable and use only the features you know. This could mean you’re missing out on key efficiencies.

We’ve explored the different ways Capsule is used and put together these 7 CRM hacks to help you get more value out of your CRM system.

The 7 CRM Hacks

1. Save time and store documents in your CRM

How many hours do salespeople lose a week searching for documents on a shared drive? Save the time and store all relevant documents in your CRM. It’s the place your sales people log in to every day so it makes sense to store them there. In Capsule we have a specific area to store documents if you want to keep them separate from your sales process. We call them Cases, you can read about them here.. Please note: Cases have now been renamed to Projects with new and improved features. You can read about the changes to projects here

2. Ditch the default and customize your pipeline

Customize your pipeline to match your sales process exactly, don’t settle for the default settings in your CRM. The more closely the pipeline matches your business the more likely people will use it. And if people use the CRM correctly, your data will be accurate, they will trust what they see and continue to use it.

3. Search before you create

Duplicate data can be a real issue in a CRM. It can mess up your reports and erode trust in the data. A simple way to fix this is to get everyone into the habit of searching for a contact or opportunity before they create a new one. Once people do this automatically you will dramatically reduce the risk of duplicate data.

4. Spot at-risk accounts instantly

Use your CRM to spot at-risk accounts before it’s too late. You could build a health score for each organization in your CRM and tag them as Red, Amber or Green. A simple search on all the Red and Amber organizations will highlight who needs attention. CRMs like Capsule automatically highlight opportunities in the pipeline that haven’t been contacted in a set number of days or weeks. This instantly shows you the opportunities that may be at-risk so you can jump on them straight away.

5. Use your CRM mobile app

Your CRM system should have a mobile app that’s easy to use on the road. If the team are not using it, they should be. They’ll save time if they update information during the day rather than leaving the admin until they get home or the end of the week. Plus the more up to date the information is in your CRM the more useful the data is to everyone, which improves trust and confidence in the software.

6. Connect to Looker Studio

Most CRM systems have a good reports section but you may want to analyze something a bit more bespoke to your business. That’s when Looker Studio comes in handy. You can create reports on anything you wish. We’ve created some templates you can use or you can easily create your own.

7. Data migration services can help you switch CRMs

If you’re thinking of moving to a new CRM system but are worried about the time it may take to transfer all your customer data from one CRM to another, there are a number of companies that can help. A quick Google search will help you find a perfect partner.

When you’ve invested the time and resources in a CRM system it’s important to get people using it regularly and trusting the data. Once this happens your CRM will add real value to your business through increased sales and strong customer relationships.

If you would like more tips on how to keep your CRM alive check out our three-part series, dedicated to improving CRM adoption rates.

Do less not more for a better work-life balance

Jo White — Wed, 29 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We mentioned in our ‘Be more productive every day blog’ that multitasking actually reduces your IQ and it has a remarkable effect on those around you too. When you sit next to a multitasker the mere sight of them switching from one thing to another exhausts your brain.

It’s quite extraordinary to think that such a skill was once revered as the most productive way to work and key to success in a busy department.

But research shows that those ‘expert’ multitaskers aren’t as effective as we once thought. They’re not necessarily doing more they’re just switching from one task to another. It’s no surprise then that they have more trouble organizing their thoughts than someone who focuses on one thing at a time.

When you view the brain as a muscle that needs as much rest as the others, you can see exactly why this way of working causes fatigue and overall, poor quality work.

Worry no more, with a few simple changes outline below, you’ll be more focused, have a more productive day and a greater work-life balance.

Focus on what’s important, forget the rest

You’ll know the 80/20 rule, known as the Pareto principle that 80% of the output comes from 20% of the input. The key is identifying the 20% that gives you the greatest return. Once you do that, you’ll clearly see where to focus your attention each day. One thing’s for sure, it won’t be juggling millions of tasks!

Be selective in what you do. When you work in a busy team, you’ll always be asked to take on more or be invited to another ad-hoc meeting. The trick is saying no. Question your contribution and your priorities. It’s not about getting the most done in the day; it’s about focusing on less to excel.

Fortunately, at Capsule and perhaps in most software companies, we work in 6 week development sprints, which are aligned to very clear, focused OKRs (objectives and key results). While we keep a close eye on the market, we’re not distracted during those 6 weeks so we consistently deliver higher quality work.

In a less structured environment, where work is more reactive, individual discipline will be paramount.

Banish to-do lists

There’s a school of thought that says to-do lists are a distraction in themselves, they’re merely an unfinished list of stress that simply overwhelm us each day.

The only place for a to-do list is when you need to get everything out of your head. The next, most important step, is to prioritize the top 5 items and forget the rest.

This focuses the mind on what’s important and achievable. It allows you to fully concentrate a chunk of time on one piece of work rather than jump around a random long list.

Remove distractions or schedule them

The most successful entrepreneurs get things done by scheduling instead of writing to-do lists. If it’s not on the calendar, it simply doesn’t get done.

This knack for scheduling also includes activities such as browsing social media and responding to emails.

By allocating time for these ‘distractions’, you gain more control over your day. Switching off notifications then blocking out 15-30 minutes to check Slack, Gmail, Facebook, Instagram etc will actually save you time throughout your day. After all, it takes a phenomenal 25 minutes to return to an original task after a distraction.

Take plenty of breaks

Heard of the ultradian rhythm? Research shows your brain can only focus for 90-120 minute sprints until it starts to slow and needs a break. If you push through the fatigue with caffeine and snacks, you end up using your emergency reserves and your thinking slows down, you become reactive and start to think less clearly.

So every 90-120 minutes you’re advised to take a break for about 20-30 mins before you start again. When those 20 minutes are spent clearing your mind of clutter, focusing on nothing in particular, you’ll benefit from enhanced creative thinking too.

Better work-life balance

To be more productive and get a better work-life balance remember 3 simple things:

Focus on a maximum of five priorities
Remove distractions
Take plenty of breaks

If you’re a habitual multitasker changing to a more focused approach to work will be difficult at first but it’s worth making small changes every day. Your productivity will soar and you’ll get a much better work-life balance in the long run.

There’s plenty of software available to support this focused way of working, from a simple calendar to scheduling your tasks in a CRM system like Capsule. The key to whatever you choose for support is to keep it simple.

Real Estate Software for CRM

Jo White — Fri, 24 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Most people see buying and selling a property as one of the most stressful events in modern life. So even before they engage with a Real Estate Agent, they’re already feeling a sense of trepidation.

It’s no surprise then that a client is likely to choose an agent based on their initial experience. They’re looking for a professional, reliable, organized, trustworthy agent.

One sure way to provide a positive experience from the start is to look after them well by understanding their needs and communicating regularly. A CRM system will help with this and more.

Specialist Real Estate CRM?

There are many CRM systems in the market and some are built specifically for the real estate market. But you don’t need to limit your choice by going niche - you may lose key functionality as a result.

Some CRMs, including Capsule can be easily tailored to suit your specialist processes, plus you’ll get features and integrations that drive growth across other industries too, which will provide a good source of inspiration.

CRM for communication

The great advantage of a CRM system is the ability to easily organize your data so you never miss an inquiry, follow up call or statutory deadline again.

Setting up a CRM system for real estate is very easy. Your standard ‘Organization’ field for example would become a ‘Family’. The contacts under the ‘Family’ could be the individual members who you’re dealing with.

Or your ‘Organization’ could become the property itself and all individuals interested in the property could sit underneath. You can choose the best way to set up your contacts depending on what you’d like to track.

Once a contact is in your CRM, all your correspondence is stored so you’ll know exactly what’s been said and sent to whom. No more relying on memory or partners updating one and other.

Capsule also allows you to link your contacts to an external URL, such as Rightmove or Zillow, so you can link a person or property to the online listing very easily too.

CRM to organize your day

It can be a full-time job for an agent to stay on top of all the administration of buying and selling a property but a CRM system can automate a lot of the activities for you and keep you on track.

Emails can be connected to contacts so all correspondence is stored under one name or family. All the relevant paperwork such as ID, contracts can be stored in the same place too so you know the exact information you have on file for each person and what’s outstanding.

As Capsule links a contact to an external URL, when you’re off to meet a client at a property, there are no more worries about directions as you can simply find the client in Capsule, click on the address of the property they’re booked to see and open up Google maps for directions. It’s that easy.

At the viewing, when a client asks questions you can’t yet answer, you can create follow up tasks in your CRM from your mobile. You can assign them to other team members so they can get on with tasks straight away. This speed of turnaround and organized way of working will provide a stellar experience to your clients and keep them loyal to your agency.

If you would like to be super organized, in Capsule, you can even set up a standardized list of tasks for follow up processes. This makes sure nothing gets missed and you provide a consistent client experience to everyone.

Some CRMs like Capsule are also set up to store information on products, services and in this case properties, without interfering with you day to day sales data. We call them Cases in Capsule and you can create a case for every property. This becomes your online folder for each property and better still, you can link all your emails and activities on that property there too. It’s an incredibly useful way to manage your listings.

CRM for Real Estate sales

Every CRM system has a sales pipeline which tells you exactly which stage of the buying process your sales are at. This is perfect for real estate as you can track the progress of each house sale and even compare how quickly they’re moving between agents or different agency locations.

Most CRMs will let you customize the stages of your pipeline so it makes sense to you. Capsule certainly does. It gives you a very clear picture of which properties are shifting and those that may need more attention. Properties that aren’t worked on for a while will be highlighted in orange as going stale so you know where to focus attention.

See what properties are shifting

Being organized and tracking sales is a clear benefit of any CRM system, it helps you build relationships with clients as you’re more informed. But when you want to work more effectively and plan strategically, analyzing your sales and productivity is key.

CRM reports vary across different suppliers but the basic reports on your pipeline will tell you how long each property is at a specific stage so you’ll see the agent who keep sales moving and those properties that need more focus.

This insight on what’s selling, why and for how much, will help agents when they’re trying to add new properties to their portfolio. They will have the facts and data to hand to set clear expectations for prospective clients, which could be a strong differentiator for your agency.

And if your agency wants to report on very specific data not covered in the CRM, you may be able to connect to Looker Studio. Capsule’s Growth Plan is connected and you can create practically any report you wish.

We’ve covered the quick ways to tailor a CRM to suit your real estate business but if you would like to uncover more, try Capsule and take advantage of our 14 day free trial today.

Have a productive day, every day

Jo White — Thu, 16 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

It’s so easy to be distracted during the work day. It’s not uncommon to be working on multiple projects at any one time. But ticking off a to-do list doesn’t necessarily make you more productive, focusing on fewer things on the other hand, does.

When we live in a data driven world, there’s so much information available on our customers that it can sometimes be distracting. You get so absorbed in the data you lose hours, even days.

A CRM system is all about simplifying customer data so you aren’t distracted by unnecessary information and it should do a lot of the data analysis for you too.

Focus on less to do more

At Capsule we’re all about minimizing unnecessary complications, it’s part of our culture. When it comes to our CRM system we focus you on what’s important - your customer.

Imagine opening up your CRM and instead of seeing a colossal amount of contacts and data for the whole business, you just saw your own? It would be like your own mini CRM, focused entirely on your specific customers.

That’s how our Growth Plan work. You can assign contacts, opportunities, cases and tasks to individual people or teams so they only see what they need to see. They get ultimate focus.

This helps keep the CRM clean as it’s clear which person or team is responsible for their own data so they can easily maintain it.

When sales people are out on the road it’s great for them too, as they can quickly get to the information they need on their mobile device and be more productive.

From a security point of view this approach is fantastic as you can restrict access to only those that need it.

Team work not siloed

Focus can easily become silo working so it’s useful to consider ways to regularly bring people together outside of the CRM. Teams usually get together monthly or even weekly and perhaps that’s a good time to switch focus to business performance and interact with other teams to discuss all opportunities.

The Director or Vice President of a team is likely to have access to the whole team’s or even business’ data. They can focus on the big picture, spot trends and crossovers easily, leaving individuals to focus on their own area of work.

When it comes to reports, the same thinking applies, a person can either access reports for just their contacts or if they’re part of a team, the whole team.

In the case of sales, it can be quite motivational to see how well another person is performing in the team as it keeps the competitive spirit alive, others might see it as a distraction. The great thing is, the choice is yours.

Capsule boosts your IQ

Did you know that juggling many tasks not only reduces productivity but it can actually lower your IQ by an average of 10 points? It takes a huge toll on your brain compared to focusing on one thing at a time. It makes sense when you think about it.

With this in mind, you could say that Capsule’s razor sharp focus on the data you need, means it boosts your IQ by 10 points - now there’s a thought!

If you would like to try Capsule for free and potentially improve your IQ, sign up to our 14 day free trial.

Create memories in your CRM with Capsule Projects

Jo White — Thu, 09 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We know how valuable a CRM system is for sales but what about everyone else? As a CRM is such an important investment, it makes sense to encourage as many departments as possible to use it. That’s why we have a fascinating feature called Projects - a storage area or memory box for important information.

This extra feature is unique to Capsule and opens the CRM up to everyone. And the more people that use the CRM, the more successful it will be in your business.

Here are three examples of how our customers use Projects:

1. Projects for Marketing

Before the sales cycle begins, a project can be created for marketing activities such as nurturing a cluster of leads, managing a prospecting event or simply storing marketing collateral.

If for example you held a webinar for a group of prospects you could create a Project for them that looks like this:

It’s a very clear way to manage a cluster of leads. You can:

store all your emails with the group or individuals
use a pre defined list of tasks, a Track, to guide the nurturing process
store all relevant marketing collateral.

Another interesting way to use Projects in marketing is to simply create a Project for each product or service and store all related documents in there such as:

marketing collateral
price lists
suppliers
partners
product codes.

If there’s a new price or a rebrand planned for a product, all the information and email history will be in the project, easy to find.

The search functionality is great too, so if you have a lot of Projects just type in a word you remember from the Project and Capsule will find it for you.

It can sometimes be a headache trying to find a document you need in a shared folder or drive with tonnes of documents, especially when you’re on the road or using your mobile. With Projects it’s very easy to do, simply log into your capsule app and they’re right there.

2. Projects for client or customer services

When an Opportunity is won, sometimes that’s when the CRM journey ends for that contact. Sad but true. If only sales people use your CRM, they have no reason to look at past sales, they’re too busy working on the next one.

In Capsule, once the opportunity is won, a Project can be created for the customer focused team. Here they can store all the post sale information and processes. This is one of the most popular ways our customers use Projects.

Here’s an example of a post sale Project.

Here the Project uses Tracks to create a step by step guide for onboarding that the whole team can follow. There’s also a separate task area for all the unique activities related to the new customer.

All email correspondence within the group is stored along with any notes. As the Project is linked to an Opportunity, all the sales history is at your fingertips too.

Whatever your onboarding process, a Project can be created to make sure every client gets a consistent, first class experience.

3. Projects for HR

Another department that can benefit from Projects is HR or whoever looks after the recruitment process and new hires. A popular way to use Projects is when you’re welcoming a new recruit to the team.

When you’ve perfected the right steps to give people the best start to their career, it’s best to record and repeat it. What better way to do that than in your CRM.

You can also store the new hire’s relevant correspondence and documentation in the Project too. If you have the Capsule Growth plan, you can even restrict access to just the line and HR Manager so it’s super private.

The Project can stay open for as long as you like, you can add review documents, congratulatory emails or positive feedback from clients.

It can be a fantastic memory box for each employee that they can refer back to throughout their career.

We see Projects used in a multitude of ways, other examples include:

Travel companies create a Project for each tailored tours eg. safaris, mountain trek.
Real estate companies create a Project for each property sale.
Fitness companies create a Project for each class or equipment installation.
Tech companies create a Project for each set of beta customers.

We all know a CRM system is a fantastic tool for sales and building customer relationships but you can increase the value of your CRM in your business if you use it across multiple departments too. Projects are a great way to do this and other CRMs will have useful functions too, you just need to know how to use them.

When your CRM can be adapted to suit different needs, it’ll be a long term success. The more people that love your CRM, the longer it will live.

10 tips for a healthy sales pipeline

Jo White — Wed, 08 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A core feature of every CRM is a pipeline. It tracks each sale so you can clearly see the stage it’s at and the amount the sale is worth. It’s a key tool to forecast the month, to spot any stuck sales that need support and it’s a great motivational tool too. If one sale doesn’t cross the line, you can quickly see more opportunities coming through.

As with all CRM tools, the pipeline is only as good as the data in it. Too often monthly sales forecasts can be well above or far below actual sales due to poor pipeline management.

So here are 10 tips to manage your pipeline more effectively and accurately to help boost sales.

1. Match your pipeline to your sales process

Defining each key stage in your sales process is a natural place to start when setting up a pipeline in your CRM. It’s worth giving this some thought and selecting those key points of the process that signal the opportunity is getting closer to a sale.

You can even give each stage a probability percentage to show the chance of winning the opportunity. You may find in your business that once a proposal is sent it signals an 80% chance of winning or it may sit at 50%. Each stage and process will be unique to you, so it’s best to customize your pipeline instead of using the default setting in your CRM.

The more aligned the pipeline is to your process, the more people will use it and the more useful the data will be.

2. Define a sales lead with marketing

Before filling your pipeline, it’s important to define a sales lead so time isn’t wasted on leads that aren’t ready for sales nurturing.

If you have a marketing team, it’s important to agree the definition with them so your sales pipeline only focuses on sales ready leads. This keeps your pipleline focused on real opportunities that show genuine buying signals.

If marketing score their leads, it could be as easy as agreeing the score for a qualified sales lead or it could simply be based on the lead source. For example a sales qualified lead could be a:

booked product demo
delegate at an event
sample order.

Whereas these leads may be better placed with marketing until they show more specific buying signals:

sign up to a newsletter
brochure download
eBook form completed.

3. Fill the pipe

A healthy pipeline needs filling regularly. If you only focus on pushing opportunities through it and not filling it, you’ll soon be in trouble.

Marketing activity online, at events, PR and advertising will all complement your own lead generation activities such as networking, calling, working your patch.

There’s a constant juggle of generating leads and nurturing opportunities in the early days but as more sales come in, you’ll start to benefit from referrals and positive word of mouth so the pipeline should start to fill automatically.

4. Update your CRM as you go

With CRMs now available on your mobile device, it’s much easier to update sales opportunities on the go. Leaving all the admin to the end of the day or week can build up and become a headache, especially after a long week on the road.

It’s good to get in to the habit of updating the opportunity straight after the activity whether it’s a call or a meeting. Spending 5 minutes updating your pipeline in the car, on the metro or walking back to the office will help you keep your admin under control.

5. Be honest

While a full pipeline is lovely to look at and may make you feel good, if the data is unsubstantiated or out of date it’s worthless.

A cleaner, honest pipeline with fewer opportunities is far more useful as it highlights areas of support and success. When you spot a very long sales cycle for a particular industry or don’t see enough sales leads coming in, you can get teams together to think of ideas to improve the situation. You’ll only see these patterns if your pipeline data is accurate.

6. Listen to your gut

Sometimes after a meeting or a call, even though the sale is progressing well on paper you just get a gut feeling that it’s not going to go any further any time soon. This sense should be logged in the opportunity and the pipeline so the probability of the sale coming in is clear. You can add a note or better still highlight it as gone stale or on hold.

7. Reflect each week

Reviewing your whole pipeline each week and reflecting on what’s working and what’s not is a useful activity. It gives you the opportunity to address anything before month end and share best practice.

Some pipelines will automatically highlight opportunities that are going stale because there’s been no activity for a set number of days. This useful data focuses sales effort and sparks questions as to why an opportunity hasn’t returned the call, email or meeting request. The sooner you spot these triggers, the easier they can be fixed.

8. Repeat what works

You may find a specific follow up process works well for a certain industry or customer segment and increases your conversion rate. When you find what works, record it in your CRM and share it with the team. You can add a note or you could quickly write a list of time dependent tasks (we call them Tracks in Capsule) and apply them to every relevant opportunity. Test, learn and repeat.

9. Make the most of lost opportunities

Everyone loses a sales now and again but there are always lessons to be learned. It’s best not to just file an opportunity as lost and forget about it, find out why.

Most CRM’s will prompt a question when an opportunity is lost so you can report on the reasons. If price is a recurring reason, maybe the value of your product or service to the buyer needs to be clearer or maybe it’s worth reassessing the market to see where your price is positioned against competitors. Whatever the reasons you’ll be able to learn from them, change and lose less sales in the future.

10. Loop in marketing

We’ve mentioned marketing already as they can help define a lead so all opportunities in your pipeline are qualified. They can help you fill the pipleine too.

When you have a close relationship with marketing they can also help your opportunities move through the pipeline. Follow up activities can be boosted if for example you send relevant, helpful content at specific stages of the cycle.

Marketing can provide this content with product reviews, NPS scores, customer case studies, award wins, PR coverage and much more. All these marketing assets will help you to reach out and rekindle opportunities in your pipeline.

More than just a pipeline

The simple pipeline does more than just showcase a process or forecast sales, it has a profound impact across the business:

Marketing can calculate ROI for their leads.
Finance can forecast business growth.
Customer support can plan onboarding activities.
Operations can identify resource gaps.

So the more accurate your pipeline is, the better it is for your whole business as it’s a true reflection of business growth, opportunities and issues. When you manage your pipeline more effectively your sales will boom.

Why not check out Capsule’s pipeline by signing up to a 14 day free trial.

Boost sales with 6 reports

Jo White — Fri, 03 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

The legend Peter Drucker’s wise words that sit at the heart of every CRM.

You’re likely to be measuring lots of activities and have tonnes of data in your CRM but what reports should the sales team focus on to help improve performance? Here are our top 6 recommendations.

1. Sales Activity

Some believe sales is a numbers game so for them it’s important to see the activity of each sales person to help forecast the quarter or year end. The more people you contact, the more chance you have of a sale.

Even for those who value quality over quantity it’s important to see where time is being spent and comparing that to the number of sales coming in.

This report adds great value to 121 meetings too as the Sales Director can quickly see how the month is looking before they meet. The actual meeting can then be spent coaching, sharing best practice or developing new ideas to support the sales person.

When it’s time to look at next year’s targets, it’s an incredibly useful report to help set objectives and KPIs.

Here’s an example report from our Free plan.

2. Conversion rate

All sales activity is about winning new business so a key report is tracking your conversion rates in the clearest, easiest way. Being able to see how many deals a sales person has secured in the last week, month and quarter is key to keeping track of business growth.

When you dig down into the data you can start to see trends. Perhaps a salesperson with a higher conversion rate uses a specific approach that resonates more with prospects or they may have more relevant marketing and PR support. When you find out what works, you can share the best practice across the team.

Here’s what an overview report looks like in our Free plan.

3. Pipeline forecast

It’s key to every business to see the stage each sales opportunity is at. While the sale is only guaranteed when it comes in, it gives a good indicator to how the quarter or year is going to end.

If you monitor this weekly and spot sales are slowing down, you’ll have time to inject more marketing activity and sales support to push the figures up.

The clearer and easier the pipeline is to update and understand the more it will be used. If you can customize your pipeline to suit your business, even better.

Here’s what the Kanban style pipeline report looks like in our Free plan.

Another view is as a graph with a summary table underneath, this is how it looks in our Growth plan.

4. Leaking pipe

When sales are going great you may not delve too deep into this report but it’s worth keeping an eye on any sales you lose, no matter how small. If you don’t, a competitor might and then start to eat away at your market share.

A simple report that shows the stage you lose sales is effective in the first instance.

At a top level you can spot trends with different sales people. If some are losing more than average at proposal stage you can start to think, why? Are they setting price expectations to low, could their proposals be improved or sent quicker? Once you find out, you can fix before it becomes a bigger issue. This is how the report looks in our Growth plan.

5. Lost reasons

To find out exactly why you’re losing sales, this report is key. By asking the simple question, ‘why’ when a sale is lost and recording it in the CRM, will give you incredible insight.

You can learn from every lost sale. You may lose out simply because the competitor was a friend of the decision maker so you learn that relationships are important in that business or industry. Perhaps more time should be spent analyzing your connections to capitalize on established relationships or do more networking and face to face activity.

The great thing with lost reasons is when you track them, you can spot trends and take action quickly before they have a big impact on your sales figures.

Here’s how the report looks in our Growth plan.

6. Team sales performance

When managing multiple sales teams it’s handy to have a birds eye view of how each region or country is operating in comparison with one another. It helps when allocating marketing budgets and sales effort before it’s too late.

It’s also a fantastic motivational tool as most sales teams enjoy a bit of healthy competition - especially if there’s a top team award for the winners!

Here’s how the report looks in our Growth plan.

And for everything else there’s Looker studio. If you’ve not yet checked out this phenomenal tool, you should. It’s an easy way to drill down into your data and create some useful reports that may not be available in your CRM. Here’s what we created quickly in Looker Studio earlier this year.

The more you analyze your data, the more you’ll increase your sales. And if your CRM doesn’t have the report you like you can see if Looker Studio can help.

Part 3: Implementing a successful CRM - Keeping it alive

Jo White — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

As the excitement of a new CRM starts to become business as usual, it’s important to keep up the motivation and enthusiasm for your new system throughout the years.

Carrot and Stick

We mentioned in Part 2 that in the early days, support for the new CRM has to come from the top so it’s viewed as critical to business success. When established, another good way to highlight the CRMs importance is to incorporate the CRM’s use into individual’s KPIs. The more the business emphasizes the strategic importance of a CRM, the more likely it is to be regularly used.

You can be explicit and set a KPI for using the CRM or better still, define a KPI that can only be achieved accurately by using the CRM. For example KPIs could be set to report weekly on:

all sales activity to accurately track outbound conversion metrics
sales pipeline growth and lost opportunities
the health score of customers
the number of marketing leads generated.

If the KPI is easier to achieve using the CRM, people are more likely to use it. So that’s the stick.

The carrot is celebrating the great users of the CRM. This can be tailored to your business objectives or around how people use it. For example you could reward the people or teams that:

convert the most leads / close the most tickets
are using the CRM to work paperless
now meet 100% of their deadlines
use the CRM daily.

Promote new CRM features

A natural way to keep your CRM top of everyone’s mind is promoting new feature releases and updates across the business. Usually the people or person with administration access will be updated first and they can easily email around your provider’s blog or forward the email.

People who use the CRM may also see an in-app message but it’s more powerful to promote the features that were requested by the team or that will have a big impact on your business.

These special features, which will ideally be quarterly, should be communicated across the business in the same way as every other good news story, such as welcoming a new employee - let people know it’s coming, tell them when it’s arrived and explain the benefits.

It’s especially important to promote a feature or fix that’s been requested by a team as it shows the CRM provider is responding to business needs and the CRM is developing in the right direction. It also shows the value of the CRM so helps justify the investment.

Be creative with your communications - do a little more than send an email. Different approaches will appeal to different cultures but the end goal is the same - to get the new feature noticed and used. Here are some ideas:

Create some intrigue around the new feature and do a teaser campaign.
Share some reaction gifs of people’s true reactions to the new feature.
Create new ‘how to’ videos and showcase at a lunch drop in session
Have a quick stand up meeting with the relevant teams to show them what’s new

The CRM is kept alive by people using it, the more you promote new features, tricks and tips the more it’ll be talked about and recommended throughout the business.

It’s definitely worth the extra effort to promote features every few months to encourage use as it’ll take a lot less time than implementing a whole new CRM if people stop using it.

Keep your CRM clean and simple

As more people use the CRM, they’ll want to customize their view and integrate more software but it’s a good idea to slow the pace. Make sure everyone is comfortable with the basics first, then add more features and integrations gradually.

It’s also a good idea to agree standard guidelines for customizing the CRM so it doesn’t get out of control or start to look complicated or messy.

This is when the CRM project leader and champions become very useful.

The project leader will have admin rights to the CRM so will have a full view of the software and should test how the CRM looks when new integrations go live before sharing to the team. If they notice each record is looking too congested, complicated or information isn’t displaying clearly, they can talk to the team and the CRM provider to make improvements before sharing.

Champions should also encourage data cleansing in their departments at best every quarter but at least twice a year. A CRM is only as good as the data within it so it’s essential to keep it clean and simple to use or people will find other sources.

A handy rule is the figure of 8. If you can’t intuitively find the data you need on a page within 8 seconds, it’s too difficult and will likely switch people off.

If you think of a busy salesperson on the road for example, 8 seconds is a long time when you’re trying to quickly find a customer’s order on your mobile phone.

Keep data secure

It goes without saying that it’s incredibly important to keep all your customer, provider or supplier data secure at all times. If you have the option, enabling two factor authentication (2FA) on your CRM using an app like authy or Google authenticator rather than text message is best. Then apply your standard security policies around updating your password regularly, never writing your password down etc.

Another way to keep your CRM secure is to think about who needs what access. Some CRMs will allow you to segment your data so people can only see the records relevant to them. This increases the security of data and with less people accessing specific records, reduces the risk of data being incorrectly deleted.

When people get to know the CRM and become confident using it, they start to find quick ways to do key activities. Some people naturally share their new ways of working immediately but others may need encouraging.

Having a channel for people to share best practice is a good idea, it could be on slack, an agenda item or a simple email. When people discover new ways to make their life easier and start to share you know your CRM is alive and well.

Listen and feedback to provider

A good way to check if people are engaging with the CRM is how many times they’re asking for new features of fixes. These requests for change should be collated by the CRM project leader and fed back regularly to the CRM provider.

In reality, not everything will be developed but if you have a good relationship with your provider you’ll get a feel on the likelihood of this change being released, a workaround or you might even get a release date.

Having a constant loop of communication from the people using your CRM to your provider through one central point will keep your CRM fresh, up to date and relevant.

Plan for change of CRM project leader

After you’ve put in all the effort to set up processes to keep your CRM up to date and user friendly, it’s important for the CRM project leader to document all relevant policies and procedures.

You’re likely to have a change of personnel at some point and it can be tough when the enthusiastic CRM project leader or champions move roles. It’s made easier though, if all the knowledge and processes can be easily handed over to the new recruits.

So that’s the end of our three part series. If you follow all the advice we’ve shared you’re well on the way to having a CRM that people love to use and supports business growth. Good luck with your CRM journey! If you’re looking for a new CRM, try Capsule CRM for free.

Part 2: How to implement your CRM successfully

Jo White — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The big day has arrived! Now it’s time to share your CRM with everyone who needs it. How you do this depends on the size of your business.

You could train everyone at once or if you’re a much bigger organization, you could roll it out to the champions who will then train their teams.

But how do you engage people from the start?

Here’s what we’ve found works for all our clients across many industries:

Show support from the top

When the CRM is installed, it’s a great time for the CEO or Managing Director to show their support and enthusiasm for the CRM as a key driver to business growth. This sets the tone for implementation, if it’s seen as instrumental to the success of the business it’s more likely to be given the respect and focus it deserves.

This could be a simple email from the CEO outlining the milestones and training dates or it could be a more formal face to face update.

You’ll have your own way of sharing important news, the crucial part is getting support from the top.

Find the best time to train

All CRM project leaders will want everything to run to time but when implementing software it’s important to be flexible with training dates and work around team priorities.

Stay clear of peak times such as product launches, conference season, year-end etc. People need to be fully focused and have sufficient time to give to training. They need to walk away from the session able to use the CRM in the right way or they will delay logging in as it’ll seem too difficult.

Collate helpful resources

Your CRM provider should provide plenty of support, helpful documentation, be accessible and understand your business needs.

Whilst you’ll probably be given a ‘Get Started’ guide from your CRM provider, we’ve found when teams personalize the content, people are more likely to read it.

By creating your own version of the ‘Get Started’ guide that simply summarizes the key training points, outlines the first steps and signposts relevant resources, you’ll see an increase in log ins later.

This new guide also becomes a useful reference tool for new starters too.

Prior to launching the CRM, customize it as much as possible for the business so when people log in it looks familiar, uses the right terminology and is useful. Most of this detail should come from the planning meetings with key stakeholders as highlighted in Part 1

Simple things like:

Create relevant data fields under each contact’s record such as industry sector, newsletter signup, lead source.
Integrate with other systems and software that the team relies on such as Mailchimp or accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks.

Both will have a huge impact on engagement as it’ll automatically feel familiar and useful.

As you’re setting up the CRM, make a list of the ‘wows’ you experience along the way. Share them as part of the training. Your natural enthusiasm will spread and people will start to share their wows too then suddenly you’ve got an influential team of champions.

Keep the training relevant

When it comes to delivering the training keep it as focused, relevant and short as possible. There will be some element of showing people what each button does but hopefully most of that will be fairly intuitive.

It’s best to spend the majority of time on sharing best practice for each specific department, going through their day to day working processes and showing how easy it is to do those regular activities in the CRM. The more relevant the training the more likely it is to stick in their memory.

Encourage people to use the CRM for as much of their daily work as possible. The more they have to use the CRM for key activities, the more they’ll use it. The minute people start using the old methods outside of the CRM or other sources of data, you’re on a slippery slope.

Don’t forget to end the training positively, look to the future to show what a fully functioning CRM will bring to the whole business - the long term view is inspiring!

Lastly, a CRM is a big deal, it can have a huge commercial impact on your business so why not have a bit of a song and dance about it, create a buzz. Everyone loves cake so order some in and celebrate the start of an exciting new phase.

Check out Part 3 where we share ideas on keeping your CRM alive in the early days and throughout the years to come.

Part 1: How to implement your CRM successfully

Jo White — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

You’ve searched for a CRM, you’ve found the one you love and you’ve rolled it out across the business. But not many people are using it. Sound familiar?

Gartner’s 2001 study found 50% of CRMs fail, more recently in 2017, CIO magazine reported that around 30% of all CRM projects fail. The stats have improved over the years but the fact remains and it’s a worry.

Last month we blogged about how to choose the best CRM. This three part series will share best practice on implementing a CRM so it adds real value to your business.

1. Appoint a CRM Project leader

As soon as you decide you’re investing in a CRM, the very first thing to do is choose a CRM project leader. This is the person who’ll drive the CRM and own the delivery from start to finish (and beyond).

It makes sense for someone to volunteer into this role rather than be nominated as they’re more likely to be positive throughout the process, energetic and keen to succeed.

It’s also useful if they’re mainly office based and directly benefit from having a CRM in the business. But if you already have project managers in your business, even better.

2. Engage your key stakeholders

It’s important to identify your key stakeholders and involve them from the start. Who these people are depends on your business but it should include some of the following:

CEO, Founder, Managing Director, VP of Sales…

While the CEO, Founder, Managing Director, VP of Sales won’t be involved in all the detail, it’s important to have support from the top. Implementing a CRM should be a strategic business decision to help promote growth across all departments.

If the people at the top support the CRM and promote the strategic benefits to the business, it’s more likely to succeed.

The biggest CRM users

The people who have a strong voice in the business and whose teams will use the CRM regularly are the key stakeholders. They should be involved from the beginning and throughout implementation.

It’s key to have these people on side as they’ll help drive the CRM in their own departments and across the business.

For example, in a growing company the key stakeholders would be the senior team from:

Sales
Marketing
Customer Support
Finance

3. Understand the business goals and expectations

Once you have the key stakeholders around a table it’s a great opportunity to understand the challenges facing the business and how a CRM can help overcome them. Goals and expectations can be set for the CRM so it’s much easier to see the value of a new system right from the start.

It’s also a real eye-opener when you understand how each team will use the CRM to improve their processes. Some could use the system for contact management, sales forecasting, project management or for an entirely different purpose.

It’s important to know exactly how people will use it so you can prioritize the required features.

4. Choose the best CRM for your business

Once you have a clear idea of what your business needs to achieve its goals, you can search for the right CRM for you. Read our blog on choosing the best CRM for tips on the search process.

5. Sell the benefits

When you’ve selected your CRM of choice, it’s time to create a buzz and sell the benefits to the key stakeholders.

By reflecting on what was said during the requirements session, you’ll easily see the benefits for each team and be able to build enthusiasm immediately. For example:

Marketing will be inspired by the customer insights available to help shape their key messages.
Sales will be excited about earning more commission as they’ll never miss an opportunity now every sale is automatically logged.
Customer support will love being prepared for customer calls as they’ll see any outstanding issues before they connect.

It’s important each team knows their life will be made easier, revolutionized even, once the CRM is in place and being used in the right way.

People can be very resistant to change but if they know how bright the future looks, they’re usually more willing to accept it.

6. Choose your CRM champions

Depending on the size of your business, your CRM champion could be the project leader or you may need one in every department that uses the CRM. The champions could be your key stakeholders or they could ask a member of their team to take on the role.

Champions are there to do exactly what their name suggests, they champion the CRM through the ups and downs. They’re an enthusiastic bunch, driven to celebrate success and overcome any challenges along the way.

They are the CRM experts in the business to:

understand how the CRM helps achieve business goals
help and support their teams
share best practice
find solutions
turn issues or grumblings into positives
collate feedback for feature requests
promote new features and benefits
reward great use of the CRM
communicate progress and issues to Senior Management.

With such an emphasis on being positive, it’s best for people to volunteer into the role rather than be nominated. It might be easy to spot your champions as they’re naturally effusive about the new CRM or it could be tough. It is worth spending time finding the right ones as they’re instrumental in making a CRM a success.

Now your team’s in place and you’re chosen CRM is ready to go, it’s time for implementation. This stage can be super short, like with Capsule, or incredibly lengthy - it depends on your CRM.

It’s best to choose an intuitive CRM that’s easy to use so people can get going without any formal training. The quicker people start using the CRM and enjoying the experience, the more likely it is to succeed.

We delve deeper into how best to implement a CRM in Part 2 and look at ways to improve adoption rates.

Managing your finances in Capsule with Xero

Jo White — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A critical part of running a business is controlling your finances. You may start out with a simple spreadsheet but as your business expands you’ll outgrow this and probably start looking for accounting software.

A lot of our customers use accounting software before a CRM. The crucial step is connecting the two together so you have one central place for all your customer data. Then life becomes much easier.

Each CRM has their own way of integrating with different accounting software. Capsule connects with:

For everything else, there’s Zapier or PieSync to link up the two.

Our most popular integration is with Xero so here’s a brief overview of the two working together to improve your life.

The Capsule and Xero Relationship

Xero, if you’re not familiar, is online accounting software that covers invoicing, quotes, payroll, tax returns, paying bills and expenses. It reports these activities in your P&L and balance sheet.

Capsule integrates with Xero’s customer and supplier invoices in a simple yet powerful way.

In just three clicks you can connect the two together. Then, your invoices in Xero automatically appear in the same contact’s record in Capsule. You get to choose whether you want your supplier’s invoices in there too - it’s up to you.

Invoice data is always in sync

If you have an invoice in Xero but the organization isn’t yet in Capsule, don’t worry, they’ll automatically be created in Capsule with the latest invoice data. The best bit - all updates to your Xero invoices are seen in Capsule in real time so you’ll never be out of sync.

Here’s how clear Xero’s invoice data appears in Capsule.

See the little ‘i’ next to the invoice amount? That tells you it’s outstanding, it goes red when it’s overdue.

It’s a handy alert when you’re about to call a customer or supplier. You’ll see straight away if there’s anything outstanding on their account so you’ll be fully prepared for the call. If they avoid your call, you’ll know not to take it personally if they have an outstanding invoice.

Control access to invoices

Not everyone in your business needs to see the accounting information for every contact so you can restrict access to this on our Growth Plan.

The access you give to individuals in Capsule will apply to the Xero data in Capsule too. So people will only be able to see invoices for their contacts.

Create invoices in Capsule

When you’re working in Capsule there may be a time when you want to create a new invoice for a customer. If you have the right access, you’ll see a button to ‘Add customer Invoice’. This’ll take you straight to the contact in Xero and open up a new invoice ready for you to complete. As soon as it’s done, you’ll see the invoice in Capsule.

Customer conversations in Xero

If you’re working with a customer in Xero, you might be wondering how easy it is to see all their correspondence in Capsule. It’s really simple.

You link every contact in Xero to every contact in Capsule by creating a link in your Xero settings. It takes two seconds and is super handy when you want to see the activity around an outstanding invoice.

Simple yet powerful, that’s how we like our integrations to be. If you would like to connect Capsule to Xero here’s a quick guide.

If you’d like to chat about the Capsule and Xero integration, contact our friendly support team they’d love to hear from you.

How to make remote work

Jo White — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

With the prospect of forced disruption to the way businesses currently work, remote working is something more teams are starting to consider, if not doing, already. While many tech companies seem to be leading the way, this may be new territory for others so it’s worth considering the greater benefits of working from home:

Productivity increases for remote workers - 86% of people prefer to work alone to hit maximum productivity SurePayroll.
You have access to a bigger global talent pool.
Retention increases - A report from Stanford University found that attrition rates fell among home workers by about 50%.
Employees have a better work life balance.
Stress decreases - According to the Royal Society for Public Health, UK, 55% of people feel more stressed as a result of their commute, if you remove the commute, you remove the stress.

Some business owners may have concerns over productivity decreasing but the opposite is in fact true. When you trust your employees, focus on outcomes and have the right tools in place it can work for everyone.

Here at Capsule, remote working is available to everyone, 20% of people work remotely full time and almost everyone works remotely for part of the week. It’s a work ethos that’s led from the top, it fits well with our culture and it’s fully integrated into our day to day work.

We’ve tested many tools and initiatives over the years and here are the important lessons we’ve learned to make remote work.

1. Communicate often

Introducing a range of communications tools that work effectively for everyone is key. The trick is making it easy and quick to involve remote workers so when you have a meeting or a spontaneous catch up in the kitchen it becomes second nature to include them.

These are the tools that work for us:

Slack - our primary communications tool. We use it to chat, call and keep everyone updated on on our projects. Individual channels link to relevant software so automatic updates come through when for example, a customer reaches out. Those working outside our time zone can easily pick up the information when they log on.

Tip: We found we overused Slack for some time. Slack doesn’t replace good old fashioned face to face conversations in the office. If someone is in the office we now have the rule to ‘Speak not Slack’

Zoom - everyone has a Zoom account at Capsule that’s linked directly to all our meeting rooms, workspaces and even the kitchen. When you need to connect a remote colleague to a meeting or a chat over a coffee, it’s as simple as finding their name in the directory and calling them up.

Tip: Big rooms can sound very echoey to remote folk and it can be difficult for them to follow conversations, especially when people are talking over each other. Take time to test the sound and placement of your microphones.

2. Work collaboratively

It should never be a case of out of sight, out of mind. Setting up communication channels is one thing but working collaboratively with remote workers is another.

We use Google Workspace to work together on documents, spreadsheets and slides. It takes away the need for clunky VPNs and it helps those working in different time zones as all changes are stored for them to pick up when they log in. Slack also alerts them to changes too.

Our designers now use Figma to work collaboratively. They huddle around a virtual desk and design together in real time - they’re always in sync.

3. Manage effectively

When your team works remotely it’s important to have a high level of trust and make your expectations extremely clear.

For example you may want to set expectations for responding to messages, updating the team when they go offline, communicating highlights from the week etc. People will work more effectively at home when they feel trusted to do so.

You may not have those chance conversations over a water cooler to find out the status of a project, but some tools can help there too.

Trello works well for us as individuals and teams. We can quickly see the stage of every major project, the key milestone dates and updates on how each task is progressing.

We use Basecamp every Friday for people to share their week’s highlights and plans for the one ahead. It keeps everyone updated on each other’s projects and it’s a great platform to thank individual support.

4. Be secure

Setting expectations around data security is an important consideration for all remote workers.

Keeping data secure is the highest priority here at Capsule so we use two-factor authentication on every piece of software. This added layer of protection helps keep our data safe when people work outside the office.

We also give everyone access to a password manager tool, so they can create the strongest, most complex passwords without having to remember them.

There will be a time when remote workers come into the office, but for some it may just be a couple of times a year. So we’ve found it’s important to have regular virtual socials so everyone can get to know each other a little better.

Every month we create a new game for the whole team, so everyone has a bit of fun - it’s been great for team building. Some notable sessions include charades and a good old fashioned team quiz.

How to work remotely

So that’s one side of the story but what about remote workers themselves? Here are our team’s tips on getting the most out of home working:

Create a dedicated workspace so you can switch on and off easily.
Get the right equipment - Capsule provides all the kit needed for remote working which is usually a MacBook, mouse, keyboard, screen, iPhone or Android phone, headphones and writing materials if you need them.
Have a 4g dongle in case your wifi goes down - especially important for a SaaS business.
Set a clear work routine with a set start and finish time.
Accept that in a different time zone you’ll sometimes be out of sync so put in the right processes to help you when some of the team are asleep.

The benefits of remote working are clear, particularly in the current climate. It may not feel right for every organization but once you have the right tools and processes in place, it’s’ easier than you think.

What's the Best CRM Software?

Jo White — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

When it comes to picking a CRM you’re spoilt for choice, there’s something for everyone. It goes without saying that every CRM software says they’re the best but what you have to ask is - the best at what?

The definition of ‘best’ is, “of the most excellent or desirable type or quality.”

But what’s desirable to me is different from you. Not everyone finds running up mountains the ‘best’ way to relax. So how can every CRM software claim to be the best for everyone? Well, the simple answer is they can’t.

To find the best CRM for you, you have to step away from search and take the time to think.

Ask yourself these questions and the best CRM software for you will soon become clear.

1. Why do I need CRM software?

This is a broad question to set your expectations and goals up front so you can measure ROI further down the line. It’ll help focus your search too. Your goals could be:

Organize and manage your contacts.
Increase customer satisfaction.
Boost sales conversion rates
Improve marketing efforts.
Track business performance.

It could be one or all of these depending on your business. But when you identify your main goal, it’ll make the whole decision making process much easier.

2. What do you need your CRM software to do to reach your goal?

Once you have your overarching goal, you can decide what features and functionality you need to get you there.

A lot of CRMs do a lot of stuff so it’s easy to get overwhelmed, especially when those nurture emails start filling your inbox. If you know what’s important to your business, you can filter through all the tips and tricks and focus on the areas that matter most. These areas might be:

Pull all your customer information in one place

You should look at how well a CRM integrates with your important apps. Make a list of all the apps you use, the data you need to show and check how easy and costly it is to connect them up to your CRM.

Remember Zapier and PieSync integrate lots of software with CRMs so check them out if you can’t find a simple solution directly through the CRM.

Track sales in a clear pipeline

See how easy it is to customize your sales pipeline so it matches your sales process. Check the layout and functionality suits your business and work style too.

Qualify your marketing leads for sales

Check your marketing software integrates with the CRM and look at how the information is displayed - you don’t want to overload your contact records with streams of marketing data. It can quickly become unmanageable.

Build closer relationships with customers

Understanding your customer is key here so it’s important your CRM collates all your customer conversations from different platforms in a cohesive way.

Get a simple overview of business performance

Reports are the most important feature to review. See how many are standardized in the CRM and the cost associated with customizing reports yourself.

Make you more organized

A CRM should be a great organization tool for you as well as your customers so look at how easy it is to manage your calendars, tasks, projects, pre and post sales activities.

3. What does the rest of the business need from a CRM?

Once you know what the business needs, it’s always good to canvas opinion before you begin searching for a CRM. How easy this is depends on the size of your business.

If you’re sales focused, you need your salespeople to buy into your new CRM and use it. A CRM with bad data is no good to anyone.

Get them involved from the start, find out what data and functionality is important to them - is it the ease of adding opportunities, managing the pipeline, tracking conversations, seeing where the contact is located? You may be surprised to find that what you think is a minor feature is actually a game changer for them.

If you don’t have a sales team the same thinking applies, identify who’s the biggest user of the CRM and ask what data and functionality they need to make it useful.

If you run a small business you’ll no doubt be wearing a lot of hats so you’ll be best placed to know what each department needs now and in the future.

4. Do you want an out the box CRM or one you can customize?

There are a lot of CRMs built with specific goals in mind so you get a very powerful CRM solution out of the box with quite a rigid structure. Great if you’re looking for a CRM to guide your management of sales and have little input from you.

It’s worth taking time to consider whether you’ll want more control of your processes as your business grows or diversifies. Some CRM solutions only open up customization if you upgrade so make sure you understand the packages and limitations before you implement.

5. What about the future?

Your CRM is a long term investment, you want it to grow with you. Every CRM has multiple packages with quite a range in cost. Depending on your budget, you might only focus on the basic solution now but it makes sense to review the top package too. Check it has everything you think you’ll need in the future - at the right price.

The last thing you want to do is start on a free or basic package, implement the CRM then realize the next level up is too expensive and have to start the process all over again.

Create a checklist of all of the above and go search

There are some useful review sites to see what other people in your industry think about each CRM

G2 Crowd
Capterra
Linkedin - a great place to ask your network for recommendations.

There’s a little bit of thinking to do before you go seek a CRM solution but it is worthwhile as there’s quite a lot of choice out there.

Good luck with your search for the best CRM software. Remember, if you have a clear idea of what you need before you start looking, you’ll find the perfect fit in no time.

Improve your sales process with this simple tip

Jo White — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

When you recruit in sales it’s an exciting time when a new person joins the team. When they start, your new recruit will want to jump straight on to your leads and start the sales process.

This eagerness is so refreshing but you have to put the breaks on until they understand what they’re selling, the brand, the proposition and your processes.

But there’s nothing like a 30 slide deck on sales process or a sales manual to dampen the spirits of a newbie. People need this information of course, but it’s difficult for them to retain all the detail during the first week.

So how do you balance the two? Well, you give a bit of ‘structured freedom.’

Structured freedom

This is really simple to do.

We’re talking about creating a simple checklist but wait for it, in your CRM.

So after your sales induction, the idea is, you allocate all the leads or opportunities over to the new recruit with a simple checklist, which is essentially a sales framework or workflow.

It will guide them through your unique sales process very easily so they can jump on the leads quickly and you can be confident they’re following the right path.

The list in your CRM should:

be quick to create
simple to follow
easy to share.

Your CRM should display the checklist and send reminders for the next step or at least show what’s coming up for the week ahead. It’d be even better if they did both.

This is structured freedom at it’s best.

Consistent sales experience

This simple way of working has many benefits:

It creates a consistent sales experience, which is great for your brand.
If one of the team is on holiday, you can easily see where they’re at without having to trawl through emails.
It makes a handover much easier when someone leaves or is off sick.

You might refer to all this as a simple workflow, we call it Tracks in Capsule. Our customers say they’re life-changing. They love recording their unique processes in their CRM and sharing them with the team to follow.

This way of working is relevant outside of sales too, it benefits practically every other area of business. If you think about your processes for planning an event, recruitment, conducting an audit - people have to learn them but it’s usually by making little mistakes that they truly cement in the mind. Now you can limit the mistakes.

Here are a few basic examples of ‘Tracks’ for sales, marketing events and post sales:

Simple sales process

Basic event plan

Post sales for a consultant or agency

You should never underestimate the power of a good checklist when it comes to staying organised and on top of your game. And if you can incorporate them into your CRM even better.

There are many pieces of software out there (Apple’s reminders, Evernote, Wunderlist) that help you manage lists and they’re all fab. But if your CRM is the first point of call for all marketing and sales folk, it’s useful to have your workflows or lists in there too - they’ll more likely be followed if they’re right in front of people.

If you use Capsule and want to start using Tracks, our quick guide will walk you through or you can contact our friendly support team.

Five tips to manage a successful sales team

Jo White — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Sales teams are notoriously challenging to manage for many good reason. By the very nature of sales, you have to be a certain personality type to think on your feet and deal with knockbacks. And it’s usually the traits that make them so good at selling that makes them so hard to manage:

Remarkably confident
Incredibly eager
Highly competitive
Immensely optimistic
Amazingly charming

But don’t worry, here are five tried and tested tips that’ll get you off to a flying start.

1. Trust the team

Either you inherit a sales team, recruit one or have a bit of both. The first thing you need to do is build trust and it goes both ways. A new team leader has to earn trust quickly, especially if you’re new in industry or newly promoted.

“Take the time to get know individuals, their lifestyle, motivations and interests out of work. Get a well rounded picture of them and share a bit of you with them too. When you’re authentic and show genuine interest in people it starts to build trust.”

You’ll know early on the people that will flourish with complete freedom and those who need a bit more support. Then give them what they need. Don’t have a formula for everyone, be led by their needs and adapt. Set clear boundaries and expectations then trust them to do the job the way they know best.

And don’t worry, salespeople will always be treated differently from the rest of the business and that’s ok. Sometimes, as a leader, you’ll have to justify this to the rest of the business but as long as the targets are being hit, it shouldn’t be a problem.

It can be a long and lonely road in sales, so there has to be a lot of flexibility. Unlike say, customer support, they should work whatever hours it takes to get the job done. Some days will be short, most will be very long, but if the sales keep coming in what does it matter?

2. Keep focused

To sell well, people need to know what they’re selling and the positive impact it has on the customer - the higher purpose. So it’s very important to have a clear proposition and a solid business strategy. Salespeople need to know where the business is headed and their contribution so they can sell the dream.

“Another way to focus the sales team is to take away all their time wasting admin and introduce useful tools.”

We’ve tried a few and these are our favorites:

A simple CRM is clearly top of the list - we obviously recommend Capsule
An easy way to submit expenses such as recieptbank
An accessible central knowledge bank like GURU
A good communication tool like Slack

But as a business grows or hits hurdles there can be a tendency to start shaking things up and lose focus. The senior team may want to relook at the brand, proposition, product range, prices and soon things can turn a bit chaotic for a salesperson.

As a team leader, it’s important to shield the field of unnecessary distractions. Tell them what they need to know to do their job to the best of their ability. Once a salesperson is confused about the brand or what they’re selling their motivation dips. How can they confidently and optimistically sell something when they’re unsure about it themselves? Some will embrace the uncertainty and sell their interpretation, but that causes problems elsewhere in the business as people frantically try to meet unrealistic expectations.

3. Communicate often

On one hand, you need to protect the sales team from unnecessary distraction but on the other, you need to keep them informed. As we’ve already said, it can be quite isolating on the road so it’s important to have regular catchups to update on business news and hear what’s happening in the field. Doing this face to face is always preferred as it’s quicker, more effective and helps build your relationship.

“Putting time aside each month or quarter to have a focused 121 helps motivate salespeople. You get to look at the figures together, discuss ideas as well as any issues at a dedicated time and place.”

If the meeting’s in the office you can make the most of having other people around to contribute to ideas and share news. And it’s always nice to have a team lunch or some after work drinks to help build relationships.

For day to day communications, we find Slack such a great tool to communicate with remote teams. It’s not just the instant messaging element either, it’s the fact you can integrate your software into specific channels so new information is shared automatically with those that need it. It can be a real game changer for remote workers.

4. Have short and energetic meetings

Inevitability when you have a big sales team, you have to get everyone together to plan the year ahead, review the quarter or even do some training.

“Time is money for salespeople, many are impatient and naturally just want to get on and sell. So if you have to have long meetings, keep them focused, dynamic, with plenty of breaks.”

If you don’t you’ll end up looking around the table at a team of people distracted by their phone.

So how do you make a meeting dynamic?

Change the room set up, use a different part of the office or go outside
Stand up for the first half of the meeting - everyone speeds up when they stand
Get people to switch seats after a break so nobody gets too comfortable
Keep sessions to 10 minutes slots so people get to the point quickly
Stay focused on positive solutions instead of navel gazing
Keep it informal so everyone can be honest and say when they’re starting to switch off so you can move on

5. Recognize and celebrate success

A thank you goes a long way. Yes, salespeople get rewarded with a commission and a high OTE but just like everyone else they like to feel valued. It’s a great motivator. So publicly thank a person for their contribution to the business or share their success with others - it will feel great for both of you. Especially when it encourages other people to thank them too.

“It’s important not to overdo the thanks or show favoritism, it has to be authentic if it’s going to have a positive impact.”

And it’s more than putting a reminder note in your diary each month to, ‘remember to say thanks.’ If this kind of thing doesn’t come naturally just have a go, the first couple of times might be a bit awkward but acknowledge the awkwardness, it will mean a lot to them that you tried.

Back in the day, salespeople used to compete against each other for a holiday to somewhere like the Caribbean. Of course, this kind of healthy competition inspires action but today you can be a bit more personalized with your rewards so people feel extra special.

When you’ve built a relationship with your sales team, you’ll get to know what motivates them and you can reward them accordingly. So if one of the team values time, reward them with a day off, a trip to the spa or tickets to the rugby, cricket or tennis. If they simply love cheese, send them a lovely cheesy hamper. The more personalized, the more effective and usually more affordable it is unless of course, they’re only into Bentleys.

There’s a lot of advice out there on how to manage sales teams and get the most out of them, but the truth is, as long as you have clear expectations, treat people like adults and have fun along the way you can’t go far wrong.

Know why you’re losing sales opportunities

Chloe Lloyd — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone loses a sale now and again but how often do you learn from it? When you put so much effort in at the beginning, it seems a shame to just forget about it and move on to the next one. It’s important to understand where it all went wrong, even more so if it’s down to the person selling.

Sometimes an opportunity has already been lost without you realizing it, simply because you’ve forgotten to maintain contact. The great news is, Capsule has two new features available that make it easy to identify sales opportunities that could be lost if they’re not acted on and to record the main reasons you’re losing opportunities.

Let’s take a closer look at each feature and how you can use it.

Lost Reasons

When you lose an opportunity you’ll now be prompted to enter a reason for your lost sale.

The Growth plan lets you report on the lost reasons so you can spot trends and inspire future strategies. Using the Lost Reasons report you’ll be able to filter by a team or individuals to see what their most common reasons for losing sales.

With the introduction of Lost Reasons we’ll be saying goodbye to ‘closing milestones’. Instead opportunities will have a status of either Open, Won or Lost. Milestones are now for in progress open opportunities only. You can still filter for and report on lost reasons in exactly the same way as you could with closing milestones. If you have any closing milestones, we’ll take you through a simple update process

We’ve added two new buttons on the opportunity view page so you can quickly set the status to won or lost.

On the Sales Pipeline page you’ll also find a new prompt appears when you win or lose an opportunity. This gives you an easy way to create a new Case linked to the closed opportunity for easy post-sales management.

Stale Opportunities

Sometimes you don’t lose a sale, it just goes stale. What’s important is to be aware of these stale opportunities and put plans in place to reinvigorate them or close the opportunity. In addition to the lost reasons, we’ve added another new feature that highlights your stale opportunities. Take a look.

Keep your sales pipeline moving with Stale Opportunities

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you don’t lose a sale, it simply goes stale. What’s important is to be aware of these stale opportunities and put plans in place to reinvigorate them or close the opportunity. We’ve just released a new stale opportunities feature to help make sure you’re on top of things.

Stale Opportunities

You’ll now see a new orange highlight whenever there hasn’t been any contact made on an opportunitiy for a number of days. Opportunities highlighted are now classed as ‘stale opportunities’.

You can see how long an opportunity hasn’t been contacted for by hovering over the opportunity in the pipeline or on the opportunity list page.

The number of days before an opportunitiy goes stale is defined for each individual milestone. We’ve defaulted the ‘Days Until Stale’ duration to 14 days. This can easily be changed in your account settings under ‘Opportunities’ and then selecting the milestone.

You can also see if an opportunity is stale when you’re viewing an opportunity on the opportunitiy view page itself.

Logging an activity on an opportunity will update the last contacted date, which will take the opportunity out of it’s stale state. The hope is you’ll make contact with your potential customer and log the activity such as a meeting, call or even forward a new email conversation. All of these will update the last contacted date.

If you use custom activity types these may not update the last contacted date unless they are configured to do so. A good idea is to Create Tracks that can be applied to stale opportunities to help get them out of a stale state. There’s also a new ‘is stale’ list filter so you can create lists of stale opportunities to organize your team to make contact with stale opportunities.

If you don’t want to use this feature or aren’t ready yet, clearing the stale periods for each milestone will stop marking the opportunities as stale. But why not give it a go and see how it can help keep your opportunities moving through the pipeline.

We hope you enjoy these latest updates. Please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions.

Create your own reports with Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio)

Tom Bell — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve got some great news for our customers on the Growth plan - now you can create your own sales opportunity reports in Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) - Google’s own business intelligence and data visualization platform.

On the Growth plan, you can already access detailed sales reports on your team’s activity, sales performance, pipeline and more. But we know that every business is unique and so there are some reports you’ll want to create yourself. Now you can.

All your sales opportunity data can now be connected to Looker Studio in a few simple steps. We’ve even added additional data points that we don’t usually report on in Capsule, so you get even more insight from your data. Examples include the number of days it takes to close a deal and the number of days an opportunity has spent at one stage.

The great thing about Looker Studio is that you can combine multiple data sources to create a dashboard, which gives you a fantastic overview of your business performance.

If you’re not familiar with Looker Studio there are templates that help you get started and lots of good support videos too. We put together the template featured below quite quickly to show you what your customised sales opportunity data could look like. Plus, we’ve put together our own guide to create your first chart in Looker Studio.

Head over to our support portal to read the guide on how to connect your data. If you have any questions or simply want to share your feedback let us know.

Connect Capsule with different web services using Zapier

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We know being able to integrate different business services you use is key to running an efficient business. We’ve already integrated with some of the most popular services out there and are continuing to add to the number of integrations that you can use with Capsule.

If you find that we don’t integrate with one of your favorite tools or the integration doesn’t work in the way you would like it to, there is another way. You could use Zapier, an integration platform that connects Capsule with thousands of different services without needing to know how to code or having to rely on your IT team.

What can I automate?

If you can think of it, you can automate it. Google Sheets, Google Calendar, Excel, Dropbox, Slack and many, many more can all be connected to Capsule through Zapier. But, we won’t leave all the work up to you, we’ve created a few templates that are used most often by Capsule customers.

For example in the Google Sheets zaps above you can see that you can import sales opportunities and cases from a Google Sheet into Capsule, this could be extremely useful if you receive your sales leads from elsewhere or you’re managing projects in a spreadsheet and want to add them to Capsule.

The second zap shows how you can be alerted by email if a sales opportunity is assigned to you. This is really handy if you’re out and about as you’ll know when you’re assigned a new opportunity without having to log in to Capsule.

It’s important to celebrate your wins so with the Slack zap you can announce to your team or company when you’ve won a sales opportunity in Capsule by posting a message in Slack along with a fun GIF and a link to the opportunity for anyone who wants to see more details about it.

You might also be using a marketing service such as Jumplead, both the Jumplead zaps above show how you can sync contacts between Capsule and Jumplead.

What’s new in the current Zapier integration?

You’ve been able to use Capsule and Zapier together for years now but recently we’ve undertaken the task of owning the Zapier integration, meaning we now have control over releasing fixes and new features - which we should be able to do more quickly. Another change to the connection has been that workflow triggers now fire off as soon as the action is performed in Capsule whereas previously you’d have to wait a few minutes. This increases the reliability and precision of the connection. Setting up new accounts has also been made a whole lot easier, you simply have to log in rather than messing around trying to find the correct API token.

The most important update to the functionality however is the ability to search existing records in Capsule to perform actions on rather than always having to create new records. For example, imagine you want to send a quote from a quoting service you use and when you send out a quote you can look up the contact that the quote is for and create an opportunity for it in your Capsule account, from where you can start managing the sales process for it.

The new integration can also pick up on records when they’re set to a closing milestone such as won or lost, so you or your whole team can be notified when sales are won or lost.

We hope you enjoy using Zapier and Capsule together. If you have any questions or need any support, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly support team.

What is Activity Tracking and Why Is It Important?

Chloe Lloyd — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Last month we added custom activity tracking and activity reporting to Capsule. You might have had a chance to check it out but if not we’ll explain in this post more about what activity tracking is and why so many businesses consider it to be an important part of their sales and management processes.

You already had the ability to store notes in Capsule prior to our recent updates. At the same time as releasing the Growth plan, we updated the Starter plan to include the ability to log calls and meetings as activity types. On the new Growth plan, we also added the ability to add custom activity types that might be more suited to your industry, so you can be more specific about what activity types are tracked and reported on.

In addition to tracking activities we have also introduced activity reports where you can view which activity types are completed by which user and which team.

Using our activity tracking feature allows you to have a centralized record of what communication has occurred between your business and your customers, allowing for an informed and personalized approach to customers, from sales right through to customer service.

Our simple approach to activity tracking allows you to log details about activities quickly and easily without losing focus. For example you might be using a phone system integration such as Circle Loop to record calls in Capsule, this would then be logged and would then feed into the activity reporting.

Activity tracking can also be a motivational tool as users can see what activities their peers are doing and can see the best course of action to take based on their peers behaviour.

Managing and monitoring activities is one of the benefits of activity tracking, while there is this management aspect to activity tracking that helps managers stay on top of what their staff are doing and making sure they are following the right steps to reach their goals, there is also a huge benefit to users. With everyone being able to record their activity against a contact, users are confident and empowered to take the next step with customers.

We hope you enjoy using the activity tracking and reporting features in Capsule, If you have any questions or need any support, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly support team.

Grow your business with our new Growth plan

Duncan Stockdill — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Today, we’re launching a powerful new upgrade that helps you and your business grow with Capsule. Say “hello” to our new Growth plan.

We started Capsule with the vision of providing simple, powerful tools that help businesses take care of customers and make the most of sales opportunities. With over 15,000 businesses using Capsule, spanning a wide range of industries, sizes and structures, we’ve improved on this initial vision by introducing much-anticipated tools that help businesses manage larger teams.

At the heart of the Growth plan are Teams and Roles. These simple concepts enable powerful controls that scale from small to large organizations, and support an easy upgrade path for customers as they grow. You can now organize your users into teams, control who can see what by applying one of the three user roles available, and report on performance across your entire business.

Let’s dig a little deeper into what you can do with Teams and Roles.

Working with Teams

With Teams, you can allocate your leads, customers and sales opportunities to teams that match your organizational structure, and then secure access through team membership. Is your company organized into departments? Create teams and assign different records to each department. Or, you could just create a single team for your management group who can then access more sensitive records. Whether your business is centered around a core team or divided into multiple groups, there’s a way that Teams can work for you.

Using Teams to secure sensitive contacts

You might not want to share all contacts, think about advisors and investors for example, with everyone on your account. Teams gives you the control you need to restrict access to those contacts. Just create a separate team in your account and assign any sensitive contacts to that team. Now only users you add to that particular team can access those contacts.

Restricting users to their own records

Businesses often outsource work and those people need access to some parts of Capsule too, but not all of it. Equally, salespeople often only need and want access to their own records. We’ve got you covered with that too. Just choose the new “Restricted” user role on a person’s user settings and they’ll only see the records that they own. Any records which aren’t assigned to a team or owner will be available to all users who aren’t restricted users.

Real relationship management

In Capsule you can already own and assign ownership to sales opportunities, cases and tasks. With this update, we’ve extended this feature to organizations and people. Now each account or lead can be assigned an owner, ensuring that there is someone responsible for taking care of all relationships.

Reports you can act on

Alongside Teams and Roles, we’re introducing an advanced set of reports for the Growth plan to give businesses deeper insight into performance across their whole company. See what opportunities you’ve won and lost and then drill down to see this over time, by owner and by team - helping you to identify successes and roadblocks. The pipeline reports show you the number of sales opportunities by team, owner, and milestone as well as a pipeline forecast that allows you to see projected revenue. The powerful filters available on each report empower your team to analyze and present the numbers the way they want to.

Activity reporting specific to your business

Tracking user activity helps you and your team understand all of the communication your organization has had with each contact. We’ve recently added to the Starter plan Call and Meeting as new activity types that can be logged alongside Notes on a contact’s history. We know that every business isn’t the same, that’s why with the Growth plan you can add custom activity types for your users to log. You can then see these custom activity types on activity reports which detail who did what and when.

An integration for business intelligence Coming soon

Connect Looker Studio to Capsule and combine Capsule opportunity data with other sources to create interactive dashboards and build powerful reports that enable you to make better business decisions.

This feature will be available very soon. We are currently waiting for Google to review the Capsule connector for Looker Studio.

Getting started with Teams

All the features mentioned above are available on the new Growth plan. In addition, on the Growth plan you’ll also be able to store up to 100,000 contacts compared to 50,000 on the Starter plan.

If you’re not already using Capsule, you can sign up for a free trial of any of our plans from our pricing page and be up and running in minutes.

If you’re already a Capsule Starter plan customer, we’ll be sending you details of the Growth plan and pricing. You can start a trial of Teams by upgrading to Teams at no extra cost until Feb. 1st 2019. If Teams isn’t for you, alongside launching this new plan we’ve also expanded the features available on the Starter plan to include activity reporting, a sales volume report and new activity types such as call and meeting.

For more in-depth information on how to use Teams take a look at our Getting Started Guide for Teams and Roles. We’re really excited to share this new addition to Capsule with you and hope we can help you get the most out of it in order to support you in growing your business.

If you have any questions or need any support, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly support team.

Gmail add-on improvements

Tom Bell — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

On August 1st we released our Gmail add-on. The add-on allowed everyone to store their email conversations easily within Capsule. Over the last few months we’ve been making improvements thanks to the great feedback we’ve received from those of you using the add-on. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s quick and easy to install.

Reducing the number of clicks

One of the first improvements we made was to reduce the amount of clicks that were needed to store a conversation. We achieved this by improving a number of flows for storing conversations.

Instead of having to click a contact in the list, and then click the store item, you can now click Store next to the contact in the list
When adding a new contact you have the option to store the conversation on that new contact when saving
When adding a new opportunity or case to a contact you have the option to store the conversation on that opportunity or case when saving

Change where conversations are being stored

Today we’re announcing another big improvement. You can now change where future emails in a conversation will be stored. Previously to change where a conversation is stored, you would need to disable storing, and then store again on the record you wanted to change the storing to. A potential downside to this was that every email in the conversation was then moved to that record. This behavior could cause unwanted emails from long running threads to be moved also.

Now you can use a new option ‘Store on a different contact, opportunity, or case’ which allows you change where a conversation should be stored from now on. It also allows you to specify if you would like to move a number of most recent emails, or all emails in the conversation.

When the conversation is stored on a contact, you will see their related opportunities and cases, so it’s easy to change storing to an opportunity when a conversation evolves into a potential sale. You can also choose to store on a different contact in thread and their related opportunities or cases.

If the conversation is already stored on an opportunity, or case you will see the opportunities and cases for the contact related to the current opportunity or case.

We hope you enjoy these improvements to the add-on! We’re always open to more feedback. Let us know if you have any thoughts or questions.

New Ways to Interact with Cases and Opportunities

Chloe Lloyd — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve been working hard on updating Cases & Opportunities in Capsule. Let’s take a look at what’s new.

New List Pages for Cases and Opportunities

We’re well aware that some of our customers have lots of sales opportunities and cases that they need to be able to sort, see and select quickly and easily. We’ve redesigned the Cases and Opportunity list pages to ensure the information you need is just a click away.

You no longer need to have to ‘Create a new list’, you can jump straight into making your list using the filters available from the Opportunity List or Cases pages.

Some information in those lists may be more important to you than others. You can now edit the columns in the table so that you can show or hide the columns that are most relevant to you. To coincide with this, you can also reorder the columns, bringing the information that’s most valuable to you to the front of the list.

Create Cases from Opportunities

Gaining a client or making a sale is just one part of business. Actually delivering the goods or services is another and that’s where Cases comes in, to record details of what happens after a sale is made or a client is won. Previously, to create a case based on a sales opportunity you had to either duplicate the information or add a link from the opportunity to the case. Now there’s a new way cases and opportunities can work together - by creating a linked case for an opportunity at the push of a button.

You can do this for any opportunity no matter what stage it is at or what status it has. Simply select the opportunity and select ‘add a linked case’ on the opportunity dropdown menu. Once the case is linked you’ll be able to see any linked cases from the opportunity.

You’ll also be able to link and unlink opportunities from the case summary page. If the case is linked to an opportunity you’ll be able to unlink it from the dropdown menu or if you wish to link an opportunity to a case you can link it by opening the dropdown menu and searching for a contact name or opportunity name.

We hope you enjoy these updates. Keep your eyes peeled - there’s more on the way soon that will enhance your Capsule experience.

Do more from your inbox with our new Gmail add-on

Gavin Williams — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

We know customer relationships often start with an email. Whether you have a new lead or are nurturing existing relationships, having your CRM in your inbox can be a huge time saver. Bringing Capsule to where you need it is our mission, and we’re excited to announce our new Gmail Add-on.

Store the entire conversation with ease

Storing email conversations just got easier. With just a click or two you can store your entire conversation thread in Capsule. Choose to store on a contact, case or on a specific opportunity. As more emails come into the thread, they’ll be stored automatically with no extra leg work.

Contact details right next to your emails

When you receive an email from an existing contact, all of their contact details in Capsule will display in the add-on, making it easy to grab their phone number if you need to give them a quick call, or find them on a social network.

Add new contacts

If you receive an email from a contact that’s not in Capsule, you can add them as a person or organization directly from Gmail. We’ll also identify contacts with the same organization email address. So if someone has emailed from the same company who isn’t stored in your Capsule account yet, we’ll pre-populate the organization name when you add them as a new contact.

Add follow-up tasks, cases and opportunities

Take action from your email threads and add tasks straight from Gmail. Tasks can be added to a contact, case or opportunity for any contact in the conversation including CC’d participants.

Use the add-on from within your Gmail Android app

If you primarily use email from your Android phone, then the Gmail Add-on will be perfect for you. You can use the full functionality of the Gmail Add-on, so you don’t have to keep switching out to Capsule Mobile to see contact details and add tasks, opportunities or cases.

Gmail add-ons are not yet supported on the Gmail iOS app, but Google are working on it.

Installing the add-on

To install the add-on on your Gmail account read our install guide.

We hope you enjoy our new Gmail add-on! Please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions.

Recent updates

Mike Smith — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past six months, we’ve been quietly migrating Capsule to a new application architecture. Whilst you might not share the same excitement for web technologies that we do, you’ll be pleased to hear that this gives us greater flexibility when making improvements in the future. It allows new functionality to be delivered faster and enables a more seamless user experience that wasn’t previously technically possible. The change has already facilitated improvements to contact lists and the opportunity pipeline, today we’d like to announce a few more changes.

A Better Calendar

Our new application architecture empowers us to build interfaces that are faster and more productive than before. Consequently there’s a number of areas where we’ve identified opportunities for improvements, the first of which are on the calendar. With these changes we wanted to build on the straightforward look and feel while strengthening task management and navigation.

The new calendar also loads faster. To improve the performance of the calendar we had to limit the number of tasks displayed in a month. This has the added benefit of reducing the clutter on screen, so you can get a sense of the month ahead and plan in more detail using the new week view.

Something we know wasn’t as simple as it could be was navigating between months and years. This is now made easy with a new year and month picker.

You can still use the arrows to navigate from one month to the next, or you can use the menu to quickly switch between month and year. You can always hit today to return back to today’s date.

Drag and Drop

Moving tasks around your calendar has always been simple but we’ve now made it easier to move your tasks between months and even years.

Any selected day will remain selected as you navigate to different months and years. You can then drag tasks from the sidebar to a new due date or move tasks to the selected day by dragging from the calendar to the sidebar.

Week View

We know that its important to be able to get an overview of all the tasks you have on any given day. So, alongside the month view we’ve added a new week view to help you plan the week ahead.

This view allows you to navigate through your tasks, week by week, while maintaining a selected day in the sidebar to allow you to easily move tasks between weeks and months.

Tasks

Filtering your calendar and tasks list has been made more powerful.

Both owner and category filters have been improved to allow you to search for the owner or category you’d like to filter by, while also allowing you to be able to filter by multiple categories.

We hope you enjoy these latest updates! Over the coming months we will be listening to your feedback to make further improvements to your Capsule experience. Any questions please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions.

Capsule and the GDPR - Part 2

Tom Walker — Fri, 25 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Today (May 25th) the new General Data Protection Regulations comes into force. The GDPR is the biggest shake up to data regulation and protection for a generation. Our first blog post about the GDPR covered recording consent within your Capsule account and introduced some new features to assist with your compliance, such as responding to subject access requests and deleting data permanently. We’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some more information about what we have been doing to prepare for the GDPR, and offer tips to help with your compliance.

New Customer Terms, Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement

By now you’ve hopefully had chance to read our new Customer Terms, Privacy Policy and our Data Processing Agreement. If you continue to use Capsule from today, we’ll assume that you’ve both read and agree with these documents. There is no need to sign any of these documents as your continued use of Capsule automatically indicates consent.

The GDPR affects anyone storing or processing information about EU citizens, and we now have a dedicated support document intended to help our customers who are storing information about contacts in the EU assess their compliance. It includes details about where we host Capsule data, our obligations as your Data Processor and encryption of Capsule data.

For more reading, we’ve a prepared comprehensive list of GDPR FAQs which may be useful if you are required to perform a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) or Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA). They cover Capsule’s responsibility as a Data Controller of your personal data, and yours as the Data Controller for your contact’s information.

Previously Capsule would use contact details to automatically find social networks and profile images to enrich your contact profiles. With the GDPR we’ve now disabled this functionality by default and added a new optional Social Search Integration to Capsule.

The GDPR doesn’t allow you to assume that you can use anyone’s publicly available contact information, such as social network profiles or pictures. With the new Social Search Integration you now have greater control over what social network information is retrieved in line with your agreements or privacy policy with your contacts.

Capsule honors the privacy controls of each network when searching for profiles, and as a result you’ll only see matches where the contact has made their profile public.

For instructions on how to enable the Social Search in your account, please see this support document.

If you’re already taking advantage of our Website Contact Form Integration to capture new leads straight into Capsule, you may wish to also record marketing consent at the same time. All you need is a custom field and our Website Contact Form included on your website.

Follow the steps here to get setup with our Website Contact Form and begin recording consent with your new leads.

Please email us if you have any questions and we’ll be happy to answer.

Zendesk App Updates

Callum Innes — Fri, 11 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule has offered a Zendesk app for a long time. When viewing a support ticket, the app can be used to see related contact details from Capsule directly inside Zendesk.

Late last year, Zendesk released a new version of their app platform. As such, we’ve taken the opportunity to modernize the Capsule Zendesk app, streamline how it works, and add some new features. Here’s a quick look at what’s new:

Redesigned user experience

Not only does the app look a lot more modern, you’ll also find it feels much more integrated within Zendesk’s interface. Matching contacts is now quicker and smarter, while the contact profile still contains all of the information you need from your Capsule account.

Contact matching improvements

If there isn’t an exact match on the Zendesk ticket requester details in Capsule, you’ll be navigated to the matching page so that you can create a match yourself. From here, you can either choose to add the ticket requester as a new contact in Capsule, or if you know the contact is already in Capsule, perhaps under a slightly different name, you can search for them and make a match.

When you have identified a match through the search function - you can press the “Match” button next to each search result. Pressing this button moves the contact that you’ve selected into the main profile view and also adds the ticket requester’s email address to the contact in Capsule, automatically linking the ticket and the contact.

This has the added bonus of improving the accuracy of the app’s automated initial search, meaning you’re much more likely to get matched with the correct contact in the future.

Twitter matching

As well as email tickets, Zendesk also supports tickets generated by Twitter. The app will now match contacts in your Capsule account based on the ticket’s Twitter handle. And if you need to make a match, the Twitter handle will automatically be added to the contact so you know who you’re talking to the next time they contact you via Twitter.

Enhanced search results

Previously, identifying the right person or organization in existing contacts could sometimes be difficult. For instance, if multiple search results had the same name, there would be no way to differentiate them since we only presented the name.

You’ll now be able to see the contact’s profile picture, along with their organization directly in the search results. And if this still isn’t enough, we’ve linked each contact to their corresponding Capsule page, so all you need to do is click on their name to get the full details.

Migrating to the new version

All users will automatically be updated to the new version of the app, all you need to do is add your Capsule Personal Access Token to the Zendesk app.

We hope you enjoy the new Zendesk app! Please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions.

New and improved contact lists

Dom Briggs — Tue, 01 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

We want you to feel like there’s no obstacle in the way of you and your contacts. With that in mind we’ve made a bunch of improvements you’re going to love on our contact lists pages. We’ll be rolling this update out to all accounts in the coming weeks. If you want the new page right away, click ‘Turn On’ on the People & Organizations page. Here are the highlights:

Quick and easy filtering

First off, all actions now take fewer clicks. To filter contacts, you no longer need to ‘Create a new list’, you can start filtering as soon as you visit your People & Organizations page. You’ll find all our usual filters are still there, including any custom fields you’ve defined in your account settings.

Once you’ve applied a filter such as ‘Tag’, you can add more filters such as ‘Name’ if you want to find a specific contact.

Manage saved lists

If you want to save a list, you can do so in the ‘Saved Lists’ drop down menu on the top left side of the page. This is where you’ll also find system lists and any other saved lists you already created. Alternatively, if all you’re doing is filtering on the fly, you can restore to an unfiltered state by clicking ‘Clear Filters’ on the far right.

Direct selection and bulk actions

Something we’ve wanted to bring you for a while is the ability to directly select contacts in a list. This gives you more control when you’re performing bulk tasks such as adding tags or exporting contacts. If you want to perform a bulk action on all contacts, such as adding a tag, you can click the 'Add Tag’ button without selecting any contacts and the action will apply to all your contacts in the current list.

New ‘OR’ conditions

When you’re creating a set of conditions you’re often trying to match more than one value. Previously you couldn’t say ‘show me contacts whose country is US or UK’, now you can. Selecting several countries in the country filter will act as an OR condition.

You can also add OR conditions to text fields. For example, to find contacts whose job title contains manager or lead, you can open the job title filter and press the plus button to add an OR condition.

Add or remove columns

Sometimes you need to focus on particular details about a contact, such as when you last contacted them. You can now hide and show columns as you need them using the table settings button and checking or unchecking the columns you’d like to be displayed. You can even view your own custom field data in the table to give you everything you need. Saving a list will also save the column structure you created.

Column ordering

After deciding which columns you need, you can also move them to the order you want with a simple drag and drop.

Sort by

You can also use the same table settings button used to edit columns to sort by a select number of fields. Just click on the “sort by” button and select one of the six options you would like to sort by. Simple but useful!

We hope this makes managing your contacts even easier. Please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions.

Visualize your Sales Pipeline

Andrew Elliot — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Until now, seeing a complete overview of your sales pipeline required using various pages in Capsule, which made visualizing your sales pipeline challenging. We know it’s important for you to keep track of your sales opportunities as they progress through your sales process. Today we’re announcing a new Pipeline view to give you a complete visual overview of your open sales opportunities.

Check out our video to see the pipeline view in action:

So how does it work? The Sales Pipeline icon now takes you directly to the new Pipeline view. You can still reach the dashboard using the dashboard button (the last icon in the group). The new Pipeline view organizes your open opportunities under their current milestone on a single page.

Some of you may know this as a ‘kanban’ board. When a sales opportunity progresses, you can move the opportunity across milestones by dragging and dropping the opportunity into the next milestone column. The further an opportunity gets to the end of the Pipeline, the closer you are to closing a deal!

When you’re ready to close a deal, you can drag and drop the opportunity into the ‘Won’ drop area to select your winning milestone. Should you lose an opportunity you can drag it into the ‘Lost’ drop area.

We hope this gives you a better overview of how your sales are progressing! As always, we’d love to hear what you think, feel free to drop us an email.

Capsule and the GDPR

Dom Briggs — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

We’re sure you’ve already heard of the GDPR by now and have some questions on how to deal with it. We’ve put together an overview of the GDPR and Capsule, and answered your questions to help you work within the new regulations.

This post is to assist you in using Capsule, but should not be regarded as legal advice. If you have questions on how the GDPR will affect your business we recommend you seek legal advice.

On May 25, 2018, a new EU privacy regulation will come into effect called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It imposes tougher obligations on businesses with regards to how they collect, store and manage personal data of EU citizens, regardless of whether the data processing takes place in the EU or not.

The GDPR will affect anyone who stores personally identifiable information of any EU citizen. Personally identifiable information can be a name, email, address, date of birth, personal interests, unique identifiers, digital footprints and more.

We’ve always taken data privacy and security practices very seriously. In light of the GDPR we have reviewed our data processes and practices to ensure we’re fully compliant by May 25, 2018. For example we are:

Putting in place a new Data Processing Agreement which we and you agree to undertake from May 25, 2018 onwards.
Updating our Privacy Policy to ensure our compliance in respect of the data we hold about you.
Reviewing Capsule’s functionality to consider whether we can make any improvements that make Capsule more efficient for users who are subject to the GDPR.

Features to help you with compliance

While the GDPR can initially seem demanding, the emphasis behind it is about respecting your customer’s data and processing only the data that you need. We already have features in place to help you manage your customer’s data correctly. Here’s a list of some features and suggestions to help you with compliance:

With the GDPR you need to have lawful basis for processing personal data, consent is one of them. If you need to record consent, there are several ways you could do this.

Alongside your customer’s contact details, you could choose to add a Custom Field such as a check box for consent and can also choose to add a date field to record when consent was given.

You could also use Capsule’s tag features to tag contacts who have consented to you contacting them again. Particularly powerful are Capsule’s DataTags which allow you to record additional information with a tag. For example, you might want to record the date of consent given alongside the tag. Capsule will prompt you to enter these fields when you apply the tag to a contact.

Responding to data requests

An individual may request access to the data you have stored about them in Capsule. This is sometimes referred to as a “Subject Access Request”. To help with this kind of request we’ve built a new Print Summary feature. This allows you to export the individual’s contact data and all information held on them, including their entire communication history in one file.

To use this new feature, start out by opening a contact in Capsule. From their record click the action arrow, then choose ‘Print Summary’ and a new tab will open in your browser. From here you can copy the information to your computer and paste it into a word processor, or you can use the print function in your browser to create a PDF from the information.

Deleting data permanently

You may wish to remove data that is no longer being used for its original purposes before May 25. Also, under the GDPR there is emphasis on the right to be forgotten, enabling an individual to request that their data be deleted. You can delete a single contact and also delete a list of contacts. These deleted records are stored in the trash for 30 days before they are permanently deleted. However, when asked to remove the contact immediately, Capsule’s account owner can permanently delete individual records by going to the trash and permanently deleting them using the delete function.

External Resources

If you’re looking to understand more about GDPR, we suggest you review the advice given by the UK Information Commission Office (ICO), they are responsible for implementing the GDPR legislation in the UK. They provide practical advice such as an overview including key areas for Data Controllers to consider and get in place for May 2018, along with their 12 steps to take now.

The Information Commissioner has also started posting a series of myth-busting articles that set out to explain that GDPR is an evolution, not a revolution and which clarifies questions like “Do you require consent to process personal data?”.

What’s next?

We’ll be sending an email soon with details of our new Data Processing Agreement which comes into effect from May 25, 2018. Keep checking our blog for updates around the GDPR and new features.

Updated on 17/04/2018

Finalised our new Data Processing Agreement and Privacy Policy to come into effect May 25, 2018
Sent emails to inform customers of our new Data Processing Agreement
and Customer Terms

We hope this answers some of your questions and makes working with the GDPR within Capsule easier for you! Please email us if you have any questions and we’ll be happy to answer.

Manage your calendar with Capsule Mobile

Tom Bell — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

For those of you who are regular Capsule Mobile users, you’ll be glad to know the calendar has arrived to help you manage your tasks. It will now be the default screen when you tap the Calendar & Tasks icon on the bottom bar.

Days with due tasks will be indicated by a green dot. Simply tap a day to view its due tasks.

Tap the left and right arrows to navigate between months or tap the month to open a picker allowing quick switching between years and to go back to today.

You can switch to the list view for overdue and upcoming tasks by tapping the task list icon in the nav bar. We’ve also added a pink dot as an indicator to the task list icon to show when you have overdue tasks that may require attention.

We hope this will help improve managing your tasks on the go! Please let us know if you have any questions.

January 2018 News

Dom Briggs — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year! We hope you’re having a great start to 2018. Last year was a busy year for us as we worked towards some major feature releases. We’re continuing that work and we’ll let you know about those features closer to the time. In the meantime, we’d like to share a few new things you’ll see around Capsule.

Capsule Mobile

We now have a dedicated team working on our mobile app for iPhone and Android, and they are busily rolling out updates. Recent updates include reworking the navigation to make it easier to get to the right page quickly, support for attaching images and documents directly from your phone, quick access to recently accessed contacts, plus a bunch of speed improvements. To get Capsule for your smartphone, simply download from the App Store or Google Play.

Integration with CircleLoop

If you’d like to better manage phone calls across your business, check out CircleLoop which is a cloud-based telephony system for businesses. You simply use the mobile devices and computers you’ve already got to both make and receive calls from a UK number you select - you just need to install their app. Their plan includes unlimited calls to UK landline and mobile numbers, voicemail to text, and you can even share a business phone number with all your team. The team at CircleLoop have done a fantastic job of integrating Capsule including easy set-up, support for click-to-call, and logging of calls directly in Capsule. Learn more and sign-up.

Integration with Sage One

Capsule now integrates with Sage One (UK) to add to our growing list of integrations with accounting systems. The integration streamlines customer creation and updates across both systems, and the inclusion of Sage One invoices history directly inside Capsule ensures you get a complete and up-to-date view of your customer status. Learn more and sign-up.

Zapier hits 1,000 integrations

In addition to the many direct to Capsule integrations, Capsule also connects to Zapier, enabling creative ways to push data between Capsule and the many other apps on Zapier. Zapier has just announced they’ve hit a milestone of 1000 integrations in their toolkit. Check out Zapier’s page about Capsule to get ideas for connecting Capsule with other applications you use, such as notifying a Slack channel when new opportunities are created in Capsule.

New default profile pictures

If you are a regular user of Capsule, you may have noticed Capsule now shows an icon with the initials of a contact when the contact doesn’t have a profile picture. For example, GW would appear for Gavin Williams. In places where it would be useful to show a contact or user, but we don’t have space to show their full name, we can display the icon to provide greater context, alongside a hover or click through to see details. You can see an example of this in action on the team calendar page (above) where we’ve recently added the user icon to show who is assigned to each entry.

More power to Tracks

Many of our customers make use of the Tracks feature in Capsule to automate the assignment of standard tasks you follow when progressing sales opportunities, responding to customer queries, or implementing projects on behalf of customers. We’ve recently updated Tracks to allow the steps to be configured just for weekdays so that tasks don’t get assigned on the weekend, and also to allow steps in a Track to be assigned to different members across your team. Read more.

If you operate in the UK or other parts of Europe, it’s likely you will have heard of the upcoming changes around personal data protection in the form of the General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR for short). The GDPR is European legislation that applies to organizations anywhere who collect data about EU individuals, including those in UK. It is an evolution of the existing EU data protection framework. In the coming weeks, we’ll be letting you know about updates to our agreements, and updates to Capsule which assist customers who are subject to GDPR. Read more about what we are doing.

Thanks for reading and we hope you continue to have a fantastic year with Capsule. If there’s ever anything we can help with or if you’d like to share anything then you can email in or reach us on Twitter.

All the best for 2018

Introducing the new CircleLoop integration with Capsule

Tom Walker — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve got some fantastic news to share with our UK customers who’d like to integrate Capsule with a phone system. Today we’re introducing the Capsule integration for CircleLoop.

CircleLoop is a cloud-based business phone system. You simply use the mobile devices and computers you’ve already got to both make and receive calls from any UK numbers you add to your account - you just need sign-up to a free CircleLoop trial, install their Apps and you are live!

Each CircleLoop user plan includes a business phone number, unlimited calls to UK landline and mobile numbers, voicemail to text, and a growing list of handy features - this unlimited plan is £15/user per month. You can add in additional team members as users within a few clicks, and if you have an existing business phone number then this can be ported into CircleLoop when you are ready.

The integration CircleLoop have built makes it really easy to use it with Capsule, unlocking even better ways to keep in touch with your contacts over the phone. The integration has three main features:

Contact Syncing

Contacts that you add to Capsule will automatically be synced with CircleLoop, so if you’re making calls within their app you can search for your contacts there. You can also filter the contacts in CircleLoop to help find just your Capsule contacts.

Click-to-Call

With a small change to your Capsule User Preferences, all your contact’s phone numbers become clickable and you simply need to click their number to start a call in CircleLoop. That works for both Capsule on your computer and when you’re using the Capsule Mobile App.

Call Logging

Each call you make will automatically and instantly be added to your Capsule contact’s notes. When you receive a voicemail from a contact, CircleLoop converts the voicemail to text and adds that as a note to your contact history too.

We’ve arranged for Capsule customers to get an exclusive 14-day free trial of CircleLoop so feel free to have a good play with their service. If you’d like to get started with the integration and you’re already a Capsule customer, you can use this link to setup your CircleLoop trial.

If you’re not signed up for Capsule quite yet, use the following link to signup for a free or trial account.

Attach files to your notes on Capsule Mobile

Gavin Williams — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve been working hard to get as many useful features as possible from Capsule into Capsule Mobile and attaching files to notes is the latest feature to make an appearance.

Uploading files is as simple as it should be. Simply tap the attach icon in the navigation bar and you will be taken to a screen giving you the option to upload from ‘iCloud’ or ‘Photos and Videos’ if you’re on iOS or just to ‘Select a File’ if you’re using Android.

Once you’ve selected your file, it will be shown in the ‘Uploads’ section — this is where you can check you’re uploading the correct files and remove them from the queue if necessary. You can add multiple files to be uploaded.

Tapping ‘Upload’ will cycle through all files in your ‘Uploads’ list and upload them one by one, adding them to an ‘Attachments’ list in the process. Once they are in this list, they have been successfully uploaded.

We’d love to hear from you! Please let us know what you think about the new update or if you have any questions.

More power to Tracks

Josef Szotten — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Tracks are a long standing feature in Capsule that lots of people have come to know and love. As a hard working team ourselves we know how important it is to collaborate. We understand that sometimes it’s not only one person who does everything in a track - it’s a team effort. Today we’re happy to share that we’re taking the power of team work to tracks by giving you the ability to assign who should complete each task in your tracks.

Assign a task

The next time you go to edit a track you’ll be welcomed with some new options. To assign a user to a task, simply select a user from the new assignee drop down menu. This is by no means required though. You can also choose to assign tasks to the owner of the case or opportunity.

Before today’s update, when a pending task in a track was made active by completing the previous task, the newly active task would be assigned to the user who completed that previous task. This behaviour stays the same for any existing track definitions. However, when defining any new tracks the assignee will now default to the owner of the opportunity or case that the track is applied to. If you prefer how things were, you can choose ‘User Completing Previous Step’ in the assignee drop down menu. You can read more about tracks in our tracks support page.

Weekends - for work or play?

We appreciate not everyone wants to keep working throughout the weekends, so we’re making one more improvement to tracks. From now on you can choose ‘weekdays’ instead of ‘days’ and Capsule will exclude weekends from the days between each task in a track. That way, if the first task is due on a Friday and the next is due 2 days later, you won’t have to interrupt your Sunday lunch to get something done - instead the next task becomes due on the following Tuesday.

As always, we’re excited to hear about how tracks are helping your business. Please let us know on Twitter or in an email.

Change contact pictures directly from Capsule Mobile

Gavin Williams — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

We often get asked for the ability to upload contact pictures using the Capsule mobile app. Good news — we’ve listened to your feedback and we’re happy to announce that you can now do just that.

To change a contact’s picture, simply tap the contact’s picture and you will be given a few options; you can take a new photo or select a photo from your phone’s library. However, we realise that you’re unlikely to have photos of your contacts on your phone, which is why we’ve also added the ability to use your contact’s social media picture.

In order to take advantage of the social media pictures you must have a social media account or email address associated with the contact. Currently the social networks that support contact pictures are Twitter, Facebook, Google+, GitHub and Gravatar.

We hope this will help your contacts list look more interesting and easier to scan without a wall of default pictures! Please let us know if you have any questions.

Capsule integration with Sage One

Josef Szotten — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Great news for our UK customers. We’re happy to announce that Sage One (UK version) has joined the ranks of great accounting services that integrate with Capsule.

Sage One empowers entrepreneurs by providing the essential accounting they need via easy-to-use mobile and web apps. It’s simple, powerful, and helps small business owners better run and grow their business.

When you’re working with a range of web services it can be a challenge to get a good overview of all your information in one place. If you’re talking to a client and you pull up their information in Capsule you want to be able to see not only your meeting and conversation history with them, but also their accounting history.

How much have you invoiced them since becoming a customer?
Do they have any outstanding invoices?

Our integration with Sage One has been designed and built to tackle this providing a complete view of contact and communication details from Capsule combined with invoice information from Sage One. You can drill down to view specifics and with the click of a button you can go directly to create a new invoice in Sage One.

The integration reduces the need to switch back and forth between the two services and means new contact details need only be entered into Capsule and then exported to Sage One when you’re ready to raise an invoice. All the contact details will come across and even sync.

Check out our video of the integration in action:

If you’re not familiar with Sage One then head over to their website and sign up to a free trial. Once you’re all signed up you will need to setup the integration in Capsule by going to your Settings > Integrations > click Configure next to Sage One.

And if you’re coming from Sage One and haven’t checked out Capsule yet then you can head over to our main site and click the button at the top to sign up to a free trial right now!

If you need help setting up the integration then you can check out our support article or just email us directly and we’ll be happy to help you get up and running right away.

New and improved navigation for Capsule Mobile

Dom Briggs — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The Capsule mobile app is about helping you gain quick access to information you need, on the go. Performance has always been fast, but after listening to feedback, we agree, sometimes getting to the screens you need feels like one too many taps away.

The current navigation sits behind a hamburger menu, a common design pattern amongst mobile apps. It’s great for when you have lots of menu items and you want to save some space. The issue is that options are hidden until you open the menu. This also means you need to tap twice to get to any screen you need. Consequently when you visit a contact the menu is out of reach until you tap back to reach it again.

To speed things up we’ve completely redesigned the navigation to adopt a bottom tab bar. You’ll find key screens now only a tap away. Even when you visit contact screens the menu is still with you, reducing the number of taps needed to go another screen. You’ll also find settings now sits conveniently on the top left of the nav bar.

As a final touch, we’ve done away with the old icons to bring in some new fresh line icons across the app.

We hope you enjoy this update as much as we do! Please let us know if you have any questions.

Improved in Capsule Mobile: Tags & Custom Fields

Josef Szotten — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

When you’re on the go it’s helpful to have Capsule just a tap away - making it easy to manage leads and customer details when they’re fresh in your mind. To make that even easier we’re bringing the ability to update custom fields and tags to our mobile app.

Adding tags is as simple as tapping on the tags section and adding the ones you need. Tapping on a DataTag means you get to update the custom fields within that DataTag.

And to update standard custom fields, edit the contact as normal and now you’ll see the custom fields available to fill in too.

You can grab the latest update from the App store and Play Store if you haven’t already.

Download from the App store

We’d love to hear what you think about the latest update. Please let us know on Twitter or in an email.

New Logo and Brand for Capsule

Dom Briggs — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

We started Capsule eight years ago with a mission to create a CRM system that’s simple, intuitive and powerful. Every year since we’ve been fortunate and grateful to experience continual growth in our business and customer base. While Capsule as a product has evolved, we’ve never taken the time to update the Capsule brand. We created our original logo at the start of the Capsule journey when we were just three people with a modest budget. As we look to the future we wanted a new brand that communicates who we are now and our ambitions.

Self-reflection

It was clear we needed more than an updated logo. We needed a completely new brand identity that could be applied consistently across everything we do. So we teamed up with Focus Lab to help us get it right. Focus have been on our radar for many years and their work on brands such as 500px and Udacity have been an inspiration.

From the very first meeting, we knew Focus were the right choice. Their creativity and confidence led us through some thought-provoking exercises. This discovery process provided an opportunity for self-reflection, asking questions of who we are? What represents us best? Who do we want to be? What makes us different? Focus helped us leave our comfort zone and explore different concepts. From Capsule as a container to constellations to space Capsules. All the while we tried to stay simple, approachable and trusted with a pinch of playfulness.

After many iterations, we clarified that Capsule isn’t a pill you take to cure your business ailments or some kind of metaphorical container. More than that, it’s a powerful control panel to help you take care of your customers and business.

The new brand

With a clear direction, the Focus team pushed on with the control panel concept. Focus posted some work on Dribbble that received a lot of love from the design community confirming we were on the right track. After several rounds of refinement with Focus, we arrived at our new logo.

The new Capsule logo is unique, made up of switches and buttons to capture the essence of control over your business. Our new color scheme is vibrant and modern while feeling professional and trustworthy. With the logo in place, Focus completed our brand guidelines which define everything we need to know about our new brand, from typography choices through to voice and tone.

Going forward

For those that have been using Capsule for many years, we want to remind you Capsule is still Capsule. We will continue to deliver a CRM system that is simple, intuitive and powerful. What you’ll see from here on out is a more consistent brand experience.

As we turn this corner, we’re deeply thankful to all our customers who have made Capsule possible. We look forward to bringing you further updates to Capsule in the future. We also want to say big thank you to Focus Lab for helping us shed the old and lift up the new.

P.S. We’re looking for talented people to join our team!.

Announcing Capsule API v2

Phillip Haines — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

We’re excited to announce version two of the Capsule API. The API enables developers to build integrations that connect Capsule to other systems and extend the capability of Capsule. Popular integrations that make use of our API include Mailchimp, PieSync, HelpScout and Zapier. API v2 makes it even easier for developers to build integrations with Capsule.

While this is largely a release for the benefit of developers, as a Capsule user you’ll also see improvements as developers upgrade their integrations to API v2. For example, integrations using the new API will be listed in their own settings page so it’s easy to see and control the integrations that you have enabled. Integrations on API v2 also have access to an expanded set of functions that enable deeper and smarter integrations.

If you’re a developer, you’ll find that API v2 retains the simple RESTful approach of v1 and introduces new features to improve development, such as OAuth 2 and a richer set of API endpoints and data per request.

API v1 will continue to work until January 31, 2018. We encourage developers to start planning their migration to API v2 now. We’ve tried to make the migration process as easy as possible and have written a migration guide that summarises the changes between API v1 and v2. We also welcome you to join the developer conversation if you have any questions and to help us continue improving our API.

If you’re a developer of a service that hasn’t already integrated with Capsule, we’d love for you to check out the new API. We have a friendly development team who are always happy to answer any questions. We’re super excited to see new integrations that extend our ecosystem with unique and useful ways to take advantage of Capsule.

Updates November 2016

Michael Josephson — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The Capsule team have been beavering away again and we’re excited to announce a number of new and improved features for Capsule.

New conditions for opportunity lists

When making a list of opportunities it’s now possible to add conditions based on the Expected Value of each opportunity. For instance, it can sometimes be useful to find all your opportunities that are over a certain value. To do that:

Go to your Sales Pipeline List create a new list and then use the [Expected Value] filter.

This will find all your opportunities where the total expected value is over $10,000. This also includes opportunities with recurring revenue based on their total value, so if you had an opportunity worth $3,000 per month over 4 months then you will see it in this list.

If you’re working with multiple currencies it can also be helpful to further narrow down a list to only opportunities with a specific currency. To do that:

Go to your Sales Pipeline List create a new list and then use the [Currency] filter.

Export to Excel files

Capsule now supports exporting directly to Excel. You’ll find a new menu item for this next to the existing command for creating CSV exports:

We hope this will be a time saver if you regularly use spreadsheets to work with your Capsule data.

Reassignment of records when a user is deleted

In the past, whenever a user was deleted from Capsule the tasks, cases and opportunities assigned to that user would be automatically reassigned to whichever user performed the delete.

Now, when deleting a user you’ll see a dropdown list so that you can pick any other Capsule user:

This should provide extra flexibility and simplify the process if there are changes to the people on your team.

Improved linking of new tasks added from the Dashboard

It is now possible to link a task to any contact, case or opportunity when creating tasks on the Dashboard. Just click the link and start typing the name of the record the task relates to.

New FreshBooks integration

An all-new version of FreshBooks was announced a few weeks ago and Capsule’s integration was updated ready to support it.

After migrating to the new FreshBooks your account will be accessed using a new address: my.freshbooks.com. If your Capsule account is already integrated with the older version of FreshBooks then disabling and re-enabling the FreshBooks integration in Capsule will let you enter this new address and begin using the updated integration.

We really hope you find these updates helpful, as always please get in touch on Twitter or email us if there’s anything we can help with. We’d also love to hear any feature suggestions that you have for Capsule.

Covering More Support Hours

Josef Szotten — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

As Capsule has grown so has our customer base. We’re very proud to say that we have customers all over the world and we love hearing from them. With our customers being so spread out it has become more important that we can take better care of them and do it more quickly. That’s why late last year I made the hop from our HQ in Manchester, UK to sunny California.

The way things were

When answering emails we found that each morning there was always a big daunting backlog of messages. Anyone emailing in UK after hours waited not only for our day to start but also for the backlog to clear up. We were always in a constant fight against time to be able to help everyone who needed it.

The support team has grown and we’ve implemented ‘All Hands Support’ however we wanted to do more. A great majority of Capsule customers are based in North America so having a support person in the US was an obvious first choice. Being based on the west coast means that there’s a small overlap with the UK team while still covering a lot more hours.

The results

Moving over to the US means that I can take with me all the expertise from my 5 years at Capsule and hit the ground running.

We’re now 9 months in and so far we’re seeing some great results. The morning workload for us in both the UK and the US has been reduced greatly, meaning we can get back to people much more quickly both initially and then throughout the day.

Our customers seem to have noticed as well:

Bottom line

We’re now covering more hours and helping people at a faster rate.

With this post I’m happy to officially announce the change of our support hours. Instead of just covering UK business hours we’re now picking up emails Monday - Friday wherever you are.

Feel free to tweet @capsulecrm or email us at any time about anything you need and someone from our support team will get back to you Monday to Friday. We’re always happy to help and we look forward to hearing from you.

PandaDoc Integration

Josef Szotten — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Creating proposals, quotes and contracts is often a large part of the sales process. The important information for such documents can be found within your Capsule account stored against your contacts and opportunities. Rather than duplicating this information or spending your time copying and pasting from one to the other, PandaDoc have built a seamless Chrome extension for Capsule that enables you to populate your documents with details from Capsule.

Include the name of your Capsule contact as a signatory
Populate the title of your document from your sales opportunity
Include an address for your contact in the proposal

All this can be done using PandaDoc’s Chrome extension and you do it without ever leaving Capsule. When viewing a record in Capsule you’ll also be able to see any existing documents that are linked to them, making it super handy.

Just like Capsule, PandaDoc can help teams and individuals to become more efficient and productive. In addition to the niffty Capsule extension, PandaDoc has some really smart features to help you create and manage professional online documents. If you require a signature to ‘seal the deal’ then electronic signing of contracts gives you a faster turnaround, reduces the cost per contract and you can set up alerts when a contract is viewed and signed.

Getting started with the extension

You can use this link to install the PandaDoc/Capsule extension in Chrome.

Once installed, whenever you view a contact or an opportunity you can click the PandaDoc icon to bring up the panel to create a document. PandaDoc also has a dedicated support article that goes into more detail on how to use the Chrome extension.

Don’t forget to check out this video on how the integration works as well:

Restoring a cancelled Capsule account

Adam Wilk — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Cancelled your Capsule account but then realised you can’t live without it? No worries, we all make mistakes!

With our new cancellation process your Capsule account is retained on our systems for 14 days in a disabled state so that it can’t be accessed. If you cancelled by mistake, forgot to export a copy of your data, or simply changed your mind during the 14 day grace period then you have the choice to recover the account and all of your data.

After the 14 days are up, the account and any data retained will be permanently removed from our systems.

We’ve updated our data retention policy and terms to match the new cancellation process.

A smoother Capsule experience

Dom Briggs — Tue, 17 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

We’d like to share some small but helpful updates we’ve been working on. They’re simple additions that we hope will make your Capsule experience that much smoother.

Get direct link to notes and emails

Firstly we’ve added a ‘Get Link’ option to notes and emails menus, handy for when you need to share a note directly with a colleague. Simply click Get Link and copy to your clipboard.

Copy to clipboard

In addition across the app we’ve added copy to clipboard in lots of places where it’s useful - API keys, email addresses etc, saving you a little leg work. If you’re using Safari you won’t see the button to copy directly to your clipboard as this ability is not yet supported. We hear this feature is coming to Safari soon so until then just copy as you normally would!

Improved internal links

Sometimes it’s useful to reference another record in Capsule, like a contact, case or opportunity when you’re entering a note. It’s always been possible to do this by copying and pasting the link into the note. We’ve made a couple of improvements to how these links work in a note. Firstly we display the links in a shorter format to reduce visual noise and keep your notes looking clean. Secondly, the hover cards now work on these links so that you get a quick view without having to click through the link.

Avatars on contact searches

Now when searching for contacts to add to a Case or Opportunity or when linking a new person to an organization you’ll see small avatars next to the filtered names. It’s a small thing, but should help you recognize a contact faster!

Grouped repeating files

Finally we’ve added some smart grouping to the files tab so from now on any repeating image files will be grouped. This helps to reduce the clutter created by emails stored in Capsule that repeat the same email footer images. Images files are grouped based on file size and name, so you’ll still be able to see image files of the same name separately when storing file versions using the same name.

Introducing two-factor authentication

Alexandru Grigoroi — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Today we’re releasing new features to help Capsule users maximise security on their account.

Firstly, we’ve added an opt-in security feature called two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication helps protect your account even if someone has obtained or guessed your password. Two-factor authentication is becoming common place for protecting sensitive online accounts such as banking, email and business services. Once enabled, you’ll need to enter both your password and a one-time code that is generated by your mobile phone when logging in to Capsule.

To enable two-factor authentication, just visit the new Password and Security section that we’ve added under Capsule user preferences. This contains all your security related settings. Another new feature you’ll see is a history of recent logins to your account, and if you ever need it, you can also log yourself out from all other browsers.

If you are a Capsule account administrator and visit the Users section of your Capsule account settings, you’ll find details of which users have enabled two-factor authentication and a history of recent logins by any user on the account.

You can find out more about our two-factor authentication in our documentation. If you have any questions about this or need help setting it up, please just send us an email.

Improved Social Search

Michael Josephson — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Social search in Capsule is a popular feature that scans the web and social networks to match contacts in your Capsule account with their social profiles to help you better connect with your contacts on social networks.

We’ve been rolling out upgrades to the social search over the past few months and are now including results from a third party lookup service. As a result users will see a wider range of social profile matches across social networks including Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.

If you haven’t already activated social search on your Capsule account, you can do so by following these instructions

We’d love to hear how you find the new enhanced social search - if you spot any results for the wrong contact please get in touch on support@capsulecrm.com so we can take a look.

Updates September 2015

Josef Szotten — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

We’d like to start sharing more about what’s new in Capsule, small updates as well as big. Here’s the latest roundup of new features, improvements and integrations:

Faster search with better matching

We’ve been rolling out a number of changes for the search function in Capsule over the past few months. Under the hood we’re now using the proven ElasticSearch database to power the search results. This has improved performance signficantly and it enables more sophisticated matching. A few examples:

The order of the names no longer matters. For example searching for Spacey Scott will now match Scott Spacey, as will searches for Spacey S or Scott S
For phone numbers, it now matches across all phone numbers on a contact rather than just the first, and formatting no longer affects the matching. For example searching for 773-338-7786 now matches to (773)-338-7786 or 773 338 7786
Addresses can now be searched. For example with a street address such as 847 North Street or with a zip/post code such as 60614
In addition to using a full email address, it’s now possible to find contacts using the first or last part of an email address. For example, @capsulecrm.com will show all contacts with an email address on that domain such as scott@capsulecrm.com
Search now matches on individual words in a searchable custom field and there’s no limit on the number of characters like there was before

Number-based custom fields

We never fail to be in awe of the ways our customers use custom fields. A popular request has been to support filtering for numerical conditions such as Lead Score > 5. To enable this we’ve introduced a new type of custom field that supports numbers. Once configured and populated you can then use them as filters in a list.

Given the success of Pinterest and Instagram it’s time we made them available as social networks for you to record on a Capsule contact. We’re taking a look at others we should add but we’re mindful of not making the selection too daunting. In a related change, we’ve updated the CSV import to enable import of the full set of social network links that we support.

Address formatting

We’ve tidied up the formatting of addresses for some countries to be consistent with local rules. For example, in European countries we now show the zip/postcode before the city unlike in the United States where it comes after.

Lundsgade 15
1682 Copenhagen
Denmark

New integrations

We’re aways excited to welcome new integrations with Capsule and we’ve got some neat updates to share.

PieSync

The PieSync team have been busy since the initial release of their contact syncing solution. As well as refining their Google Contacts sync, they’ve added support for syncing Capsule contacts with email marketing tools Campaign Monitor, Active Campaign and Mailchimp

Quotient

Quotient makes it simple to create slick looking quotes and proposals in minutes and then share them with the customer for acceptance. Their integration with Capsule enables lookup of Capsule contacts when creating quotes and automatically add quotes to the contact history in Capsule. Take the Quotient tour to learn more.

Toggl

For those of you that bill for your time or just want to track time spent by activity, The Toggl browser extension is a super handy way to keep track of time spent on specific cases and opportunities in Capsule.

Gravity Forms

Wordpress users rejoice. Gravity Forms now has a direct integration with Capsule making it simple to create powerful forms in your website and submit to Capsule. Take a look at the Gravity Forms overview and their Capsule integration page for more info.

Improvements to Capsule Tracks

Michael Josephson — Wed, 20 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

We’re excited to share improvements to the Tracks feature in Capsule, all of which are the result of ideas and feedback from our fantastic Capsule users.

Tracks are a popular feature in Capsule that allow you to define processes you commonly use in your business. For example, your sales process might involve sending a new prospect a quote and then following up in few days time to close the sale. You can configure these steps as a Track and can then start that Track against a particular opportunity or case in Capsule to guide you through your process.

The biggest and most heavily requested change we’ve introduced for Tracks is the concept of reverse Tracks. This is useful when you regularly follow a series of steps leading up to an event. For example, if you plan workshops or conferences there are likely things you do a number of weeks or days in advance of the event. By configuring these steps in a reverse Track, Capsule will remind you to complete them leading up to the date of the event.

You can now also move the start date of a regular Track so that the sequence starts in the future or in the past. And finally, we’ve applied some design love to the display of tracks to make them easier on the eye and to give better information at a glance.

Better duplicate checking and merging on import

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

A little while back we introduced duplicate checking when adding a new contact to Capsule. We’ve followed this up with better duplicate handling when importing contacts.

Perhaps you’re importing leads from an application that you’ve used to manage an event. In this scenario some of those leads may be duplicates of existing contacts in your account. The new import process will identify the duplicates and let you merge in new contact details such as a new phone number.

Sometimes our users want to extend or amend existing contact data in bulk, perhaps after making modifications to an export in a spreadsheet. The new import process can be used to apply updates to existing data in this way too.

The new import is deliberately cautious when checking for duplicates and updating data. For example name alone isn’t enough to identify a duplicate. After all, there are over 35,000 John Smiths in the U.S. alone. Capsule looks for matches in other contact details such as email address or organisation when identifying duplicates. And if your import file contains a new phone number for an existing contact it will be added to the contact rather than overwriting any existing data.

I hope you find this helpful and look forward to your feedback.

Updates to our support portal

Tom Bell — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

First off I hope everybody had a good holiday season and that you’re looking forward to the new year.

After we launched the new look for Capsule we had a lot of screenshots that needed updating in our support articles. We thought this would be a great time to also begin discussing how we could improve our support articles for everyone that uses them.

Our support articles needed a way that would allow us to easily keep them up to date. We took inspiration from Wistia’s documentation and used a static site generator to build our support portal. This means we can update any out of date information or screenshots quickly, making them easier to maintain.

From a user’s perspective we have combined the old individual pages into a single stream of related articles to allow for easier exploration of the wider subject. For example the tracks article contains all the combined articles around managing your tracks. From time to time when using Capsule there can be a number of steps involved in a process - the new layout of our support articles gives you a clear display of all the steps involved.

Search has also been improved. We will search each individual section of an article and suggest which sections you might be searching for. You can also submit the search and we’ll take you to a more detailed search results page. We’ve added a search box on each article for easier navigation between articles. In addition - we have the ability to learn from past searches to better update the content and ensure that the most relevant results always show up at the top.

Best of all, the site is super quick for everyone using it and the pages are optimised for mobiles and tablets so you can get Capsule support on the go.

You can find our new support portal at https://capsulecrm.com/support/. If you have the old address bookmarked please update it to this new address.

Repeating tasks

Michael Josephson — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Usually tasks are just one off things that we need to get done and ticked off, but for some activities it’s a regular occurrence such as completing a quarterly report or customer check in. To make it easy to manage these we’ve introduced repeating tasks. Just click the “repeat” link when adding a task.

And then choose how frequently the task repeats.

Then, when completing the task the next occurrence will be created automatically.

The calendar also shows the schedule of future occurrences to help you plan ahead.

This feature has been one of the most popular request on our UserVoice forum so we’re delighted to be able to release this today and hope many of you will find repeating tasks a useful addition to Capsule.

New duplicate checking and task category colors

Duncan Stockdill — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Duplicate checking

We’re working on a few ways to help you avoid creating duplicate contact records and the first of these has just been released. As you enter details for a new contact such as name, email address, phone number and social network addresses, Capsule checks for duplicates and shows possible matches in the side bar for you to review.

Color your task categories

By popular request, you can now add color to your task categories to help you scan through your day’s activities and upcoming tasks. It’s entirely optional so you don’t need to set a color for each category if you’re comfortable working with the default.

If you’re an account admin, visit Calendar & Tasks > Categories in your Capsule account to add or edit the category colors.

A new look Capsule

Dom Briggs — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

UPDATE October 28, 2014. The new look Capsule has landed

The new look is now live. Many thanks to all our customers that tried it out over the past few weeks and provided feedback to help us iron out any remaining issues. We’ve included a mini tour inside Capsule on pages where the actions have moved, but if you do have trouble locating a specific function or are having trouble with anything just drop us an email on support@capsulecrm.com. We are here to help. We hope you enjoy using the new look as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it!

UPDATE October 13, 2014. The new look Capsule is almost here

We’ve had great feedback from users including constructive suggestions on things we need to tweak and refine further. We’re working on a few final refinements prior to the switch over so users get the best possible experience. As a result we’re moving the switch over to Tuesday, October 28, 2014. In the meantime you can try the new look by following [these instructions][support-link]. Do let us know if you have tried the new look as your feedback is really important to us and we want to make sure we’ve taken all feedback onboard when we do the switch.

We want to make sure we’ve taken all feedback onboard when we do the switch so if you have tried the new look we’d love to hear from you - send your feedback to support@capsulecrm.com.

We’ll soon be rolling out the biggest visual overhaul to Capsule since its launch. It is the culmination of many months work and we can’t wait to share it with you. In fact, account admins can start using the the new look Capsule today.

Redesigning the interface is something we’ve taken a great deal of care with. We know that Capsule is loved for its ease of use and maintaining this has been at the forefront of our decision-making. We’ve designed the new interface around the familiarity of the existing look and feel, taking care not to move primary actions or functions unless we believed it represented an improvement to the overall user experience.

Contacts, opportunities and cases have received the most extensive visual changes. We’ve introduced a layout that is more spacious, making content easier to read and allowing you to view information quicker - tasks now sit in a new third column.

We knew that by adding tasks into the third column, this would change how Capsule looks when accessed on smaller screens such as tablets. To account for this, when viewing Capsule on a tablet or narrow screen, you’ll see the third column transform into a slide-out menu - allowing you to show and hide tasks with ease.

A sharper font, more harmonious colour palette and new icons (with support for retina devices) all contribute to an overall cleaner interface. As an added benefit, by reducing the number of images we use across the application, we’ve seen a performance boost when rendering pages.

We’re really excited about the new look Capsule and we hope you’ll enjoy using it as much as we do.

More powerful searching

Michael Stringer — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

We’re excited to share a new update that has been a popular request from Capsule customers. We’ve upgraded search to include matches across notes and emails. We’ve also taken the opportunity to give search a clean new look and category filtering to give you more specific results when you need it. If you have profile pictures on your contacts they’ll also show to provide visual confirmation of the match.

The new search is built on a bunch of new infrastructure and we’re progressively rolling out the functionality to Capsule accounts over the next 2-3 weeks. If you’d like us to switch your account early just drop us an email on support@capsulecrm.com.

We’re continuing to work on searching and list filtering improvements. If you have examples of searches that you’d like us to consider, we’d love to hear from you on support@capsulecrm.com.

New add-on: 2-way sync to Google Contacts via PieSync

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

We’re pleased to announce the PieSync team are integrating with Capsule. PieSync is a true two-way synchronization platform that connects Google Apps with other cloud services.

Capsule’s own built in integration with Google Contacts offers a one-way connection which updates Google Contacts when you change a contact in Capsule. PieSync takes this further by offering a two-way connection. If you create or change a contact in either Google or Capsule, it will be automatically synced to the other service.

To get early access to the integration, visit the PieSync information page for more details and to request access.

PieSync’s vision is to grow their synchronization platform to many more services to better enable the ‘integrated web’. We look forward to seeing how this integration evolves. PieSync joins the growing list of add-ons for Capsule. Check out the full list over on our add-ons page.

Restore from Trash for added peace of mind

Adam Wilk — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve introduced a new function to Capsule to give you peace of mind for those awkward situations when you or a co-worker accidentally delete an important record! Whenever anyone on your account deletes a contact, opportunity, case, note, email or attachment, Capsule automatically places the record in Trash. The record remains in trash for 30 days before it is permanently removed.

At this stage only account owners have access to view and restore records in the Trash. We’re intending to expand this so that other users on an account can restore records they deleted without asking the account owner to do it for them.

We’re releasing the new Trash function progressively to accounts over the next 24 hours and once enabled, account owners will have access to it via the Settings page of their Capsule account.

New Gmail gadget coming for Google Apps users

Dom Briggs — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

We’re looking forward to rolling out a new Gmail gadget for Google Apps users starting April 29th. The new gadget introduces the following improvements:

A fresh clean design that sits beautifully alongside the latest version of Gmail
A complete reworking of the way that the gadget integrates with Gmail’s mail servers to ensure the gadget is both fast and reliable
Improved functionality to streamline the use of the gadget, such as allowing override of contact details and linking them to an organisation when adding a new contact to Capsule

Importantly, there is a step required to enable the new gadget on your Google Apps domain. When we release the new gadget on April 29th or soon after, the old gadget will disappear from your Google Apps account. An administrator of your domain needs to follow these steps to re-enable the gadget on your account.

Here’s a preview of what you’ll seen once the new gadget is enabled:

And once the gadget is expanded:

Tags now available in Capsule app

Dom Briggs — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve released an update to Capsule app to include tags on your contacts, cases and opportunities. You can now filter records based on one or more tags using the new filter icon on each of the list pages.

Use the funnel icon on the contact list for example and tap the tags you want to filter for. To clear the tag filter just click the little ‘x’ next to the tag filter in the list.

Support Portal Redesign

Dom Briggs — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

As part of our continued commitment to providing efficient and accessible customer support, we have recently rolled out a new design for our Capsule support portal.

The new design brings improvements to the way you can search documentation, browse popular articles and get in touch with us via a dedicated support form.

We continually publish new articles to the support portal in order for you to obtain the information you require quickly and easily. Searching the documentation will collate all of the articles relevant to your question and if you don’t happen to find the answer you are looking for, you can contact our support team directly for further assistance.

The new support form provides a more effective solution to handling new incoming tickets, which should provide a clearer idea of the issue you’re experiencing.

You can browse the new support portal at https://capsulecrm.com/support/ - if you have any feedback on the new design or suggestions on how we can continue to support you in using Capsule, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Updates to the Capsule app for iOS and Android

Tom Bell — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Capsule app for iOS and Android was launched earlier this year and we’ve since released a further 12 updates to the app based on feedback from users. Those updates included bug fixes and the following features:

Search cases and opportunities by name or the associated contact
Search tasks by description, associated contact, opportunity, or case
Swipe right on tasks to quickly complete them
Create organisations
Preview attachments on notes and emails
Log calls initiated within the app
Filter tasks by time period
Infinite loading and filtering on tasks, pipeline and cases
Import contacts from your phone

With the latest update to the Capsule app you can now import contacts directly from your phone into the Capsule app. Many of our users have requested the ability to scan business cards and while we can’t yet offer this directly in Capsule, the new import function means you can scan business cards using your favorite card scanning app and use the import function to add to Capsule. You can find instructions and suggested apps in our import guide.

If you haven’t already installed the Capsule app on your phone then visit the App Store or Google Play on your phone and search for “Capsule CRM” to install.

If you would like to offer your suggestions please contact us and let us know.

Google Apps marketplace improvements

Duncan Stockdill — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Google has updated and improved the Google Apps Marketplace which provides thousands of third-party applications that extend Google Apps for Business. Capsule is one of the first 23 applications available at the launch of the improved Google Apps Marketplace to install directly from the Admin console.

Over the past couple of months we’ve been working with support from the Google Apps Marketplace team to ensure that the migration to OAuth 2.0, which brings greater security is as seamless as possible for existing customers who access Capsule via Google Apps.

There are a lot of technical changes under the hood but your Capsule account will continue to work just as it has. Domain administrators will receive a confirmation email once the migration of Capsule to OAuth 2.0 has been completed on your domain. There’s nothing you need to do. You’ll continue to sign-in to Capsule using the app launcher in Google and the Gmail gadget will continue to work as before.

In a few weeks once the migration is complete we’ll be launching a shiny new faster version of the Gmail gadget. Here’s a sneak peek of the new gadget in expanded mode running inside Gmail:

We’re also planning further integration with Google Apps to take advantage of some new capabilities from Google so stay posted.

Improved task reminder emails

Dom Briggs — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

One of the projects we’re working on right now is to improve the readability and design of email notifications generated by Capsule. If you’re the owner of a Capsule account you might have already spotted the new email designs in the signup, billing and user invite emails. One of the main changes is that these emails are no longer plain text but have a fresh HTML design. Next up is the daily task reminder email which is delivered to most of our users every morning. Here’s a peek at what you’ll see when the new email design is rolled out this week:

For those of our users familiar with creating email newsletters you may be aware of how HTML support differs greatly across email clients. If you’re sending your own HTML emails or newsletter to your customers here’s a few things to look out for when creating your emails:

Unless you have HTML development skills and a lot of patience, you’re best to use an email marketing service that includes templates or an email design tool that helps ensure your design works well across email clients. Take a look at Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign which are add-ons for Capsule, or CampaignMonitor which can be connected to Capsule via the integration platform Zapier.
If you do want to create your own HTML template there are some good guides available such as Campaign Monitor’s Email Design Guidelines.
Your readers all have a preferred email client ranging from web based clients, desktop clients and mobile clients. Each client may render HTML differently or not support standard practise’s combining HTML and CSS. Outlook 2013 specifically has many quirks.
Testing across email clients is time consuming if you try to do it manually. The services suggested above typically include automated tools to easily view your design in the different email clients, or alternatively you can use a dedicated service such as Litmus.
It is impossible for your design to look exactly the same on every client summarised nicely by the team at Campaign Monitor “Just remember that pixel perfection in all email clients is a pipe dream.”

Capsule for Mobile now available in app stores

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule for Mobile has just had a big update and is now available in the Apple App store and Google Play store. Key changes include:

A fresh new user interface with smoother transitions
Syncing of opportunities and cases so you can access and update these even when you’re offline in the same way as contacts
Expanded contact information including social network details
Live scrolling on the contacts list so you can either search or scroll to find a contact
More advanced controls such as specific date input for tasks
A new menu based navigation to better handle the expanded content and shortcuts to recently accessed records

To install Capsule just visit the Apple App store or Google Play store on your phone and search for Capsule CRM

We now have a dedicated team working on the mobile app and they’re busy working on further updates. If you have your own ideas we’d love to hear about them.

If you are a Blackberry user you can continue to use the previous release of the mobile application. We don’t have any immediate plans to release an updated version for the Blackberry, but let us know if you want Blackberry support so we can gauge interest. For steps to install the previous release please read this blog post.

Updated Twitter integration

Duncan Stockdill — Fri, 03 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve updated our Twitter integration to support Twitter’s latest API and display requirements. At the same time we’ve taken the opportunity to improve our Twitter functionality. Now when you view a contact in Capsule that has a Twitter account you can see more tweets and you can reply, retweet or favorite tweets directly from Capsule. You can also view pictures that have been included in a tweet.

As consequence of Twitter’s latest requirement we can no longer show tweets for a contact unless you’ve connected your Twitter account to Capsule. If you are already taking advantage of our awesome social search functionality then you’re already set-up and good to go with the new tweets display. If not you can connect your account via the Social Integrations page in your preferences. See our social search configuration guide for more info.

We’ve also taken the opportunity to tweak the display of history so it fits more neatly alongside the new tweet styling. In particular the edit and delete actions for notes and emails are now activated on hover.

Now accepting American Express

Duncan Stockdill — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

By popular request, we’ve recently added American Express to our existing credit card support for Visa and Mastercard. If you’re currently paying by MasterCard or Visa and would prefer to pay by American Express you can use the change payment card process in Capsule.

Refined pop-over contact cards

Duncan Stockdill — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve done some work to improve the use of the pop-over contact cards in Capsule. These are quick summary cards that save you clicking through to a contact’s page when you just want their phone number or address. Previously these were activated by hovering over an icon next to the contact’s name. We’ve simplified this so that you now activate the pop-over card by simply hovering over the contact’s name in the link. This keeps the user interface for Capsule clean and increases the target area for activating the pop-over card. We’ve also made the UI more consistent by enabling this pretty much everywhere you see a contact’s name in a link.

In addition we’ve converted the text from/to names that appeared at the start of an email entry into contact links that you can click and we’ve enabled the contact card pop-overs for these. If the contact doesn’t already exist in Capsule (e.g. they were cc’d in the email) you can choose to add them, making it easier to add contacts that weren’t automatically created by Capsule.

Finally, we’ve also tweaked the modal pop-ups that are used for things like task entry. These have been given a light refresh with new button styling to emphasise actions you are about to take.

New in Capsule: find social profiles for your contacts

Duncan Stockdill — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve just launched a new feature in Capsule that makes it easy to find your contacts on social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn.

To get this working, you first need to link your Capsule account with your social network accounts so that Capsule can search those networks on your behalf. You can do this by clicking on your username in the top menu bar > My Preferences > Social Integrations. Once you’ve done that you’ll start seeing a notification icon when you view a contact in Capsule that indicates Capsule has found social profiles for your contact. Click on the icon to see the matches and add the social profiles details to your contact.

As part of this release we’ve also added Google+, Flickr, YouTube and GitHub to the list of social networks that you can record on a contact in Capsule.

We take privacy seriously and Capsule honours the privacy controls of each network when searching for profiles. As a result you’ll only see matches where the contact has made their profile public.

I’d love to hear how you get on with this. In particular, if you spot matches that are for the wrong person I’d be grateful if you could email support@capsulecrm.com so that we can take a look at fine tuning our search algorithms.

Capsulecrm.com refresh

Dom Briggs — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We’re excited to have rolled out a new design for https://capsulecrm.com/.

Technically we’ve made use of web standards such as HTML5 and you’ll find some very smooth CSS3 animations dotted around the site. In terms of content you’ll still see familiar pages such as the blog and features page, but we’re sure you’ll find the new design smoother and easier to navigate.

We’ve also added the ability to login to your Capsule account through the website. This feature is a response to our customer request and something we felt was useful for the new website.

One final thing you’ll find is a video showing off Capsules features on the home page, including a look at the mobile app, just click the play button to watch!

We hope you like the new design and don’t hesitate to give us some feedback!

New Capsule Support Portal

Josef Szotten — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We have updated the Capsule support portal. It now includes full content search and it can be accessed from the support link on our main site.

For those who haven’t used the support portal, it includes a range of help articles and instructions for using Capsule. It’s a good place to start if you’re ever unsure of anything.

View the support portal

Quote Roller integrates with Capsule

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The team at Quote Roller have integrated with Capsule to make it easy to send great looking proposals to your Capsule contacts. Check out their video to find out more about how Quote Roller can help with your sales process.

Navigation refresh

Duncan Stockdill — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve rolled out an update to the Capsule navigation bar. Along with a fresh look for the icons and styling, the new navigation bar improves the way the navigation elements work.

With ever increasing screen resolutions we wanted a design that took advantage of the available screen space. Over 90% of our users have a screen resolution that exceeds 1024x768. In the previous design the number of recently accessed records that showed across the top was fixed to 5 links. In the new design this section expands and contracts to show as many recently accessed records as you’ve got space for.

In the previous design the search box sat below the navigation bar in the page header. The new design unifies the search with other navigation links in the navigation bar.

And finally, the “more” menu has been removed and replaced with the name of the logged in user which also acts as a drop down menu to provide links to user preferences, help and logout.

The new design:

As before, the color of the navigation bar is customisable so that you can match Capsule with your brand if you wish. Here’s an example in blue:

The old design for comparison:

We’ve taken advantage of a number of CSS3 features in the new design such as transitions and the usual rounded corners and shadows. To get the full experience be sure to use a browser that supports the latest web standards such as Chrome, Firefox or Safari rather than Internet Explorer.

Speedy date entry

Duncan Stockdill — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve recently updated Capsule to make it easy to enter dates, such as entering a due date for a task, or the expected close date for an opportunity, or for a custom fields that you’ve defined. The old date input did a fine job of selecting an upcoming date from a calendar but it prevented direct input of a date, so in situations where you knew the specific date you had to click through the calendar to find it. The new date input allows both options. You can key the date directly into the field if you know it, or you can pick a date from the calendar as before:

We hope you find this makes date entry speedier and more enjoyable.

Launch of Capsule Mobile

Phillip Haines — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

With the release of the Capsule app in the App Store and Play Store, support for the /m URL has been removed

Please note Capsule Mobile is now available in the Apple App store and Google Play store. This post refers to our previous mobile app. Read more…

We’re pleased to announce the launch of Capsule Mobile for the following devices:

iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4
Android phones running Android 2.1+ such as Motorola Droid X, Motorola Droid 2, HTC Evo, Samsung Galaxy S
BlackBerry phones running BlackBerry OS 6 such as BlackBerry Bold and Torch

We’re sticking with the beta label on Capsule Mobile for now. It’s had extensive testing over the past 6 weeks with help from a small group of beta testers and the feedback has been very encouraging. We figure it’s time to open the beta up to all users since we know how popular the mobile application has been on our uservoice forums!

Getting it

Enter the the following URL into the browser on your phone to install Capsule Mobile:

https://[your-account].capsulecrm.com/m

Be sure to replace the [your-account] bit with the relevant part from your Capsule account URL. You’ll be prompted to enter your username and password and a pop-up message will ask your permission to allow additional storage space to be used on your phone. It may take several minutes for Capsule and your contacts to be downloaded to your phone. Note that the application will only run on the default webkit browser. It won’t run on Opera or Firefox.

Adding a short cut to your home screen on Android

Bookmark Capsule in the browser
Open the bookmarks page
Long-press the Capsule bookmark
Select Add to Home screen

Adding a short cut to your home screen on iPhone

Once you’ve logged into Capsule Mobile you can add a short cut to your home screen by tapping the bookmark button in the middle of the toolbar below the browser and then Add to Home Screen button.

A bit of background on the native vs web app decision

It was clear by August last year when we started looking at a mobile application that we couldn’t just focus on the iPhone. The Android has exploded in popularity and the BlackBerry continues to be a popular choice for business users. We spent time looking at options for our mobile application including building native applications for each platform. The obvious drawback is that each of these platforms has its own unique development and deployment environment. The other drawback is lack of control. For example if we had fixes we wanted to release quickly for a native iPhone app we’d need to wait for Apple to review and approve the update.

The great news is that the web browser has rapidly become a potent deployment environment for applications on newer phones especially those using the webkit browser like iPhone, Android, Blackberry 6 and WebOS. It turns out that the webkit browser on the current generation of smart phones is pretty powerful and can offer most of what users have come to expect from native apps.

Here are some of the things to expect from our application:

Offline storage: Capsule Mobile uses your browser’s own internal storage to install a copy of the Capsule contacts onto your phone. You can access and make changes to your contacts even during periods where you are out of network or wifi coverage. Each time the application starts it synchronises any changes you made while offline and retrieves the latest copy of the contacts from the server.
Responsive UI: When you navigate between screens in Capsule Mobile they are being redrawn by your Phone’s web browser using cached information where possible. This gives the application a faster response time than you would traditionally get from a web application get where the screen is redrawn on the web server. This is important on a phone because the phone network speeds fluctuate widely.
Phone integration: Tapping a phone number will start a call for you. Tapping an email address will open a compose window in your email client and BCC the dropbox automatically. Tapping an address will show you the contacts location on Google Maps.
Automatic application updates: Each time we release an update to Capsule Mobile your phone will automatically download it. There’s no need to update Capsule Mobile manually. You’ll always be running with the latest features and fixes. This also means We don’t have to wait for approval from another organisation to release an update to Capsule Mobile.

Building a browser based mobile application has been a steep learning curve, particularly with regards to offline storage. However we are very happy with the result and it’s reassuring to see other application vendors treading the same path by releasing browser based mobile applications rather than native apps.

Keep in mind this is our first release and we will continue to refine. We hope to add support for opportunities and cases soon.

Windows phone 7 and other devices

Unfortunately Windows phone 7 doesn’t support the necessary standards for Capsule Mobile. It’s unclear at this stage when or how Microsoft will implement the latest HTML5 standards on their platform. At this stage we don’t have any plans to support Windows phone 7 devices.

Devices other than those we’ve listed above that deploy a recent WebKit browser may work with Capsule Mobile. However we haven’t tested on these and so your millage may vary. This includes the likes of the PalmPre. We’d welcome any feedback on experience running Capsule Mobile on WebKit based devices that we haven’t listed.

Easy forms for your website with Wufoo integration

Phillip Haines — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

This is a handy new integration for Capsule users who want an easy solution for linking contact forms on a website to Capsule. Capsule already provides support for building your own website contact forms that integrate with Capsule using HTML. However, the new Wufoo integration provides an easier alternative with no need to get involved with HTML. Wufoo provides drag and drop tools for adding forms to a website along with styling support so that you can match the form to your website style, and validation rules so you can control how the data is captured.

Wufoo provide a range of plans from free (for up to 3 forms) through to paid plans that offer extended options.

Full instructions for enabling the integration between Wufoo and Capsule are provided via the Settings > Integration page of your Capsule account.

We hope you find this integration useful and thanks as always to the many Capsule customers who requested the online form builder integration.

Capsule contextual gadget for Gmail

Duncan Stockdill — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

As of August 2018 this feature now forms part of our Gmail add-on. Find out more about it here: https://capsulecrm.com/integrations/gmail/

One of the projects we’ve been busy with recently is the development of a Gmail contextual gadget. A Gmail contextual gadget is a gadget that is triggered by clues in Gmail, such as the contents of Subject lines and email messages. For example, Gmail already provides a YouTube contextual gadget. If the body of an email contains a link to a YouTube video, a clickable thumbnail view of the video appears at the bottom of the email.

Rather than replicate the CRM functionality in a small window at the bottom of each email, we’ve designed the Capsule contextual gadget to improve the workflow around receiving an email and the actions that you need to take as a result.

Here’s a summary of Capsule contextual gadget functionality:

Add new contacts straight into Capsule
See details you hold about the sender and click through to their page in Capsule
Store messages in Capsule without using the dropbox
Create an opportunity or case linked to the email
File the email under an existing opportunity or case
Create a follow-up task

If you are already using Capsule and want to take advantage of the gadget you’ll need an administrator of your Google Apps domain to grant access to the gadget for the new information required to support the gadget. To do this visit your Google Apps dashboard by following Manage this domain from Gmail. Scroll down to the Service Settings section where you will find Capsule listed and follow the View and grant access link:

Then accept the new data access requirements by following the Grant data access link.

It can take up to 10 minutes for the gadget to propagate through Google’s caches and appear in your account so hold tight if it doesn’t appear straight away.

Here’s just a sample of the positive feedback we’ve had from users of the gadget:

“The gadget is phenomenal. If we had known about this beforehand, we would not have hesitated to use Capsule. It’s a gamechanger for our business.”

“I think Capsule just gave me the excuse I needed to finally ditch Outlook!”

“This is great productivity tool. Really integrates your email with Capsule”

“It has by far pushed the use of Capsule here to a higher level due to the simplicity of connecting the emails to the contacts and opportunities.”

We hope you find this addition useful. Thanks as always to our beta testers and customers on uservoice for their feedback and suggestions on this.

One click export

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Capsule runs on the battle-tested services from Amazon and we backup your data every hour and regularly test the restore process. So I’ve got every confidence in our restore capability should we ever need it. However there’s nothing like having a copy of your data to hand for the ultimate peace of mind. We’re also strongly of the view that customers own their data and should be free to export and move their data to another service. To make this easier, we’ve added a new one-click export function to Capsule.

The new export function generates a single ZIP file and emails it to you. The zipped file contains CSV files for your contacts, opportunities and cases, including a history of emails and notes. We’ve chosen to stick with CSV for the export since this is the most portable format for transferring data into another system.

By the way, if you’re looking for a CSV file to support mail merging or analysis in spreadsheet I’d suggest using our lists feature. This excludes email and note history which makes the CSV file easier to work with.

We hope you find this feature useful, and many thanks for your feedback.

New in Capsule: Pictures from Social Networks

Duncan Stockdill — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

With so many businesses now using social networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn, we’ve been looking for ways to include the information from these social media profiles inside Capsule.

With our latest update to Capsule, pictures from these profiles can be pulled into contacts in Capsule. When you add a social profile such as a Twitter account, LinkedIn or Facebook profile to a contact, Capsule will check to see if the profile has an image, and if it does it will automatically display it when viewing the contact. Capsule also checks for a Gravatar which is a picture associated with an email address, so in many cases it can grab a picture for a contact using just the email address.

To see it in action, add a social network profile to one of your contacts. Here’s an example:

And here’s the resulting image displayed within Capsule:

We’ve also taken the opportunity to revamp the contact panel a little which you can see in the screenshot above. Rather than displaying the URL for a social network profile we show an icon which you can hover over to see the URL/account or click through to see the full profile.

Finally, we noticed a lot of users weren’t aware that Capsule integrated with Twitter to show recent tweets (and now profile pictures) on a contact’s page. To make this more intuitive we updated the add new contact page to default the Twitter input field. You can leave it blank or change it to another network, but hopefully this makes it clearer that you can add a Twitter profile as well as other social network profiles to your Capsule contacts.

A PHP Wrapper for the Capsule API

Phillip Haines — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

At Capsule we love APIs; they allow Capsule to be connected with other popular web applications like Google Apps which we integrated with recently. It’s also great to see developers using the Capsule API in creative ways.

David at echolibre has created a PHP wrapper for the Capsule API and has kindly made it available on GitHub. PHP is a popular framework for creating web applications so our thanks go to him and his team for making it easier to integrate PHP applications with Capsule. Examples and further details are available on the echolibre blog.

Capsule integrates with Google Apps

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

We’re excited to announce our long requested integration with Google Apps. Google approached us late last year to ask us to participate as a launch company in their new Google Apps marketplace. As announced by Google earlier today, the Google Apps marketplace provides a range of cloud apps that integrate with Google. Capsule is one of the first 50 apps to be offered in the marketplace. It can be installed using the “Add it now” button inside the Capsule marketplace listing.

Here’s how the integration works…

After installing Capsule into your Google Apps domain, users access Capsule straight from Google’s universal navigation in the same way as they would access other Google Apps such as Google Mail or Calendar. Here’s an example of what that looks like for a user:

Pretty neat huh! Also, since the user’s Google Apps credentials are used to log them into Capsule, there’s no extra user name or password for the user to remember.

Google does email and collaboration well and it has a basic personal contact manager. However it doesn’t provide a good solution for sharing your company contacts with multiple users. Capsule provides a solution to this since a CRM is the natural place for your company contacts to be stored and shared with other users. In this model Capsule is the master repository for all company contacts, and users can choose to have their Google Contacts inside Google Apps kept up-to-date by Capsule. This is a user choice, and is easily enabled from the user’s setting page in Capsule:

Once enabled, Capsule will push a full set of contacts from Capsule into the user’s Google account. Any time a new contact is added, or a contact is updated in Capsule those details will automatically get pushed to the user’s Google account.

Another enhancement we’ve made for Google Apps users is to have Google Mail pop-up when a user clicks on a contact’s email address inside Capsule. This is a user choice, and is easily enabled from the user’s setting page in Capsule:

Finally, users can also see their Capsule tasks inside Google Calendar (we actually released this feature last month). Follow the “Subscribe to iCalendar Feed” link from the Capsule calendar page to enable this.

Many thanks to the users that beta tested and provided feedback on the Google Apps integration. If you are an existing Capsule user and would like to integrate, please get in touch with us so that we can provide instructions for connecting with your existing Capsule account (rather than creating a new account as per the default process). Hope you all find the new functionality useful and we look forward to refining and extending it further based on your feedback.

Quick contact preview

Phillip Haines — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve had lots of feedback from our users asking for a quick way to view email addresses and phone numbers of contacts on the case and opportunity screens. Until now to view the contact details required clicking through to the contacts page. So now we have added a contact preview. To view the preview hover your mouse over the contact card next to the name of the contact to see phone numbers, emails and addresses.

New in Capsule: calendar view and task categories

Duncan Stockdill — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

We greatly value suggestions from our users in making Capsule the best CRM around for small businesses. Some of the more popular suggestions have been to add a calendar view of your tasks in Capsule. A related suggestion has been to show your Capsule tasks in your favorite calendaring apps such as iCal on the Mac, Outlook Calendar and Google Calendar.

Over the weekend we rolled out the new calendar view and the iCal feed. You can see how the screen looks below. We also introduced task categories so that when you add a task to Capsule you can give it additional context such as it’s a Meeting or a Milestone or you need to Follow-up. We think this is a useful productivity improvement to the tasks functionality in Capsule.

We’ve added a default set of categories to all Capsule accounts which you’re welcome to edit and extend.

Javelin is now Capsule

Duncan Stockdill — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

As per our previous blog post and email notification to users, Javelin is renaming to Capsule. The switch over of the branding and the change of the domain name from javelincrm.com to capsulecrm.com has been completed today. We’ve sent an email to users with instructions for accessing accounts and support. If you have any trouble, let us know on support@capsulecrm.com.

And now for a bit of nostalgia here is the old logo alongside the new:

Javelin is being renamed to Capsule

Duncan Stockdill — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This weekend Javelin is being renamed to Capsule. Accounts on the system will continue as before with the same data, username and password. However the URL that you use to access the CRM system will change and we’ll notify users of the new URL once the change over has completed. Integration with 3rd party applications will not be affected as we’ll continue to make the API available on the existing URL.

The reason for the name change is that we have been contacted by a company who has a trademark on the name Javelin. While we don’t agree there is an infringement of their trademark we figure our time and resources are better spent building a great CRM rather than fighting court battles. We’ll share further details on this once the change over is complete.

To complete the changeover, Javelin will be unavailable this Sunday from 12:00 to 16:00 GMT.

Internet Explorer is officially square

Duncan Stockdill — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This blog post was written before Javelin was renamed to Capsule. See this post for more details.

We’ve been introducing rounded corners into the Javelin user interface recently. Rounded corners and curves are nice and they provide us with a simple way to keep Javelin looking fresh, or at least it should have been simple. As any web designer will tell you in words I can’t print here, Internet Explorer is a party pooper.

We’ve looked into using the many hacks for round corners in Internet Explorer and we tried a couple but they all have their issues which leads us to this position:

So instead of spending our days making Internet Explorer fit a round hole we’ve left it square. In Firefox, Safari and Chrome you’ll get some rounded corner love:

And in Internet Explorer you’ll see square:

And another example:

I’m not on a crusade to change your web browser. The beauty of web applications is you get to choose your operating system and browser, but if you are using Internet Explorer and want to consider an alternative then Mashable did a browser round up recently.

FreshBooks - CRM Integration with Capsule

Phillip Haines — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Updated January 28, 2022

Capsule has had an integration with FreshBooks, a popular accounting service, since before we were even called Capsule.

As you can imagine, Capsule has changed quite a bit over the years and so has the integration. We thought this was a good opportunity to remind you about what the integration does and how it works.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the benefit of using the integration. Capsule communicates with your FreshBooks account and then provides a view of your customers and invoices in one place. So you can get more done without having to switch between services to get this complete overview of your customers.

If you are already a FreshBooks customer, you can also use the integration to get started with a CRM like Capsule.

By integrating Capsule and FreshBooks, your FreshBooks contacts will automatically be added to your Capsule account.

Once the integration has been set up, you’ll see a summary of invoice information in Capsule including:

Payment due dates
If an invoice has been paid or not
Overdue amounts on the linked Capsule contact record.

From the customer record you can open up invoices in FreshBooks to view more details and you can quickly add invoices by clicking the ”add invoice” button. This makes it simple to add an invoice when you want to be paid.

Plus, if a contact hasn’t yet been added to FreshBooks you can easily export the contact to FreshBooks as you progress from an initial inquiry through to a sale.

The FreshBooks integration is available on all paid plans. To enable the FreshBooks integration, check out our support documentation. If you have any more questions about how FreshBooks works with Capsule, contact our support team who will be happy to help you out.

Capsule API for Developers

Phillip Haines — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

We’re pleased to announce the Capsule API is now available. Developers can use the API to access Capsule whether you’re planning on creating a clever add-on you want to share with the community or hooking in one of your internal applications. The API is implemented using XML or JSON over plain old HTTPS allowing developers to use existing tools and languages.

The API closely follows RESTful principles with every resource like person, opportunity or tag having its own URL. Resources can be manipulated using standard REST commands GET (view), POST (create), PUT (update) and DELETE. For more details and to get started visit our API guide.

We would love to hear ideas you have on how you plan to use the API. Drop us a note at support@capsulecrm.com.

Email Marketing with Mailchimp

Duncan Stockdill — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This blog post was written before Javelin was renamed to Capsule. See this post for more details.

Javelin CRM now integrates with Mailchimp for email marketing, and it’s available in both the free and professional editions of Javelin. Here’s a quick video showing how it’s done.

See the Mailchimp site for more information on their email designer, templates and campaign management tools.

FreeAgent Integration with Capsule

Duncan Stockdill — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This blog post was written before Javelin was renamed to Capsule. See this post for more details.

Javelin and FreeAgent now hook up. So if you use Javelin alongside the simple, but powerful online accounting tools from FreeAgent you’ll get the complete view of your relationships including notes and files you’ve added, emails to and from the contact, tasks that need to be done, sales opportunities, support requests and invoice statuses.

Integration is easy - simply enter your FreeAgent account details into your Starter Edition of Javelin. Javelin automatically imports your customers from FreeAgent and you’re good to go. Here’s a summary of what you get:

When viewing a contact in Javelin, you’ll see a summary of invoices and overdue amounts from FreeAgent.
Contacts can be exported from Javelin into FreeAgent so that you can start invoicing them.
Add a new invoice by clicking through from the contact in Javelin.
Updates to contact details such as addresses in Javelin are automatically synchronised to FreeAgent so you only need to make the update in one place.

Accounting Tweaks

Duncan Stockdill — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This blog post was written before Javelin was renamed to Capsule. See this post for more details.

The Javelin integration with Xero and KashFlow has been very popular since its release a few weeks ago. We’ve been tweaking this functionality based on ideas and feedback from our users which has been top notch as usual. Here’s a summary of the recent changes that are live:

Suppliers are now included from KashFlow. For the initial release it was customers only.
A supplier view which shows invoices from your suppliers and their statuses. Just a bit of background on the naming convention here - KashFlow calls these “Receipts” while Xero calls them “Accounts Payable Invoices”. We’ve decided to use the term “Supplier Invoice” because we think it’s clear and ensures we have common terminology for any accounting system that we integrate with.
Automatic tagging as Customer and Supplier. This makes it easy to see the relationship you have with a contact and you can use the tags to filter searches and lists.

We have a further tweak in the works that we expect to release for Monday. Currently if you view a person (e.g. Joe Blogs) attached to a company (e.g. Acme Corp), you can export that person as a customer or supplier. That doesn’t make a great deal of sense as it’s Acme Corp that should be the customer/supplier in this example rather than Joe Blogs. We are making a simple change to fix this - when exporting a person that is linked to a company, Javelin will detect this and export the company details instead. Also, when viewing a person that is linked to a company, Javelin will display the opportunities and invoice information for the company.

Here’s a screenshot showing a supplier with the tag and invoice information:

Announcing Xero and KashFlow Integration

Duncan Stockdill — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This blog post was updated on 10 March 2022.

In 2009, when Capsule was called Javelin, we created two integrations with the accounting services Xero and Kashflow that helped make it easier for businesses to manage their customers. These two integrations are still widely used by our customers today.

CRM and accounting are both important functions for most businesseses. CRM provides the tools to manage relationships with prospective and existing customers, and accounting systems provide the tools to manage your financial success.

Typically these systems were separate, so when updating a customer in your CRM you would have to duplicate that change in the accounting system. Of course, in practise time is tight and the these systems often drift out of date. Equally important, you want to see everything you know about a customer in one place. The CRM provides the customer dashboard, so why would you want to switch to the accounting system to see what’s been invoiced and what’s overdue?

By integrating Capsule with these accounting systems we fixed the problem.

Now all information including invoicing and overdues is available from customer view in Capsule, and updates to customers are automatically applied to the accounting system so you only need update the customer in one place. This is a big step forward for businesses in getting better value out of CRM and accounting.

To find out more about Xero and to sign-up for a free 14 day trial, visit www.xero.com

To find out more about KashFlow and to sign-up for a free 14-day trial, visit www.kashflow.com.

The value of integrated solutions for small business

Wendy Rule — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This blog post was written before Javelin was renamed to Capsule. See this post for more details.

Javelin is days away from an upgrade where we are moving into a significantly new world for our Javelin users. We have integrated Javelin with two online accounting systems.

Why have we done this? One of the criticisms of CRM’s is the difficulty of maintaining accurate data. If you are not actively updating the information, no matter the quality of the CRM solution, it will fall into disrepair. Rubbish in, rubbish out.

I know this from personal experience. I am in a part-time buy-to-let partnership and we use an accounting package, a landlord system, and a bunch of excel spreadsheets. We have to key the bank details into the accounting system, we have to duplicate the contacts, and we have stopped using the landlord system for anything other than letters and the core contact details – even though the system offers much more.

The good news is that we have integrated the best CRM, Javelin, with the best accounting packages so you manage your data more easily. What a transformation from when these systems were disconnected. Accounting information is on the same page as all the other information about the customer – at a glance you can see the invoice status on the customer record, along with last contact dates, history of contacts and any pipeline business. So if you are chasing an outstanding invoice you can see the value of new business alongside the outstanding invoice before making the call to the customer. There are also some cool features like moving between systems being as simple as a click-of-a-button.

Personally, I hope other service providers will understand this need and start providing integrated solutions for their users. It is time for small business to get the benefits of SaaS well beyond discussions around a lower cost threshold and much reduced IT support. I am proud that we are leading the way in providing a service that is truly beneficial to you.

Javelin website relaunch

Duncan Stockdill — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This blog post was written before Javelin was renamed to Capsule. See this post for more details.

Today is a milestone for Javelin as we farewell the beta and relaunch the Javelin website with our shiny new branding. A big thank you to all users who participated in the beta! Your feedback and kind words of support have been greatly appreciated. If you had a beta account, it continues as before with a limit of 2 users, 250 contacts and 10MB of file storage. With the full launch of Javelin, we’ve introduced the the Starter Edition with a huge 50,000 contact capacity and generous file storage. The starter edition has a simple fee of \$12 per month, per user (£8 if you’re in Europe).

Capsule CRM Blog

How to increase tech sales in 2024

What are technology sales?

Tech sales process vs regular sales process

1. Technical knowledge

2. No physical storefront

3. Longer sales cycles

4. High competition

What do tech sales representatives do

Wear many hats

Network with other tech sales professionals and clients

Provide a variety of services

Use tools to streamline their workflow

Tech sales jobs examples

Skills for tech sales professionals

1. Understanding technical aspects

2. Communication skills

3. Problem-solving skills

4. Negotiation skills

5. Time management

6. Team collaboration

7. Analytical skills

How to increase tech sales in 2024

Identify target markets for tech products

Work on your USP

Leverage remarketing on social media

Use CRM to track each interaction

Create a knowledge base for your clients

Offer bundled packages

Train tech sales reps on best sales techniques

Use video demos and webinars

Establishing collaboration with tech Influencers

Land that tech sales job!

40+ sales memes that you should definitely look at during work hours

1. Nothing can keep salespeople from managing their leads

2.You’ll struggle to find anyone more patient than us

3. We’re not always great at managing our personal life

4. How does a day slip away so fast?!

5. You’re not proud of it but…

6. There’s no one braver than a salesperson

7. “I’ll see what I can do”

8. We can withstand an emotional rollercoaster

9. Big mistake!

10. We’ve all heard this before

11. Sales can’t be that stressful right?

12. Hard to say no to temptation

13. Like two different people

14. They don’t always know best

15. Yet somehow you’re still to blame

16. Setbacks make success even sweeter

17. Even pros get knocked down

18. It can be harder than it looks

19. And it never truly gets easier

20. “I’ll just focus on the key points”

21. Classics are classics for a reason

22. No time to waste!

23. Sales isn’t always a team sport

24. When the leads just aren’t going your way

25. If you’re gonna do it, do it right!

26. Please, not again

27. Sometimes it feels like everything is going wrong

28. Resilience and perseverance is key

29. One in a million

30. Prospects sure know how to keep us guessing

31. We know marketing is trying their best but…

32. Don’t underestimate the power of teamwork

33. If it works, it works!

34. Why limit your options?

35. The unsung hero of any sales team

36. Anything to start a conversation

37. They’ll learn eventually

38. Desperate times call for desperate measures

39. Music to our ears!

40. Sometimes everything goes to plan

41. You might not know how it happened but you’re glad it did!

42. But there’s no better feeling than when it all comes together in the end

43. But sadly things don’t always work out

44. But when they do, there’s not better feeling

45. A whole different type of pain

46. But we wouldn’t have it any other way!