One Solution. white paper. 5 ways to grow an SME faster using process automation

Transcription

1 Marketing Sales One Solution Website Orders white paper 5 ways to grow an SME faster using process automation

2 Contents - Introduction Strategy 1 - Increasing enquiries and qualifying them more efficiently Strategy 2 - Getting beneath the misty sales haze to progress more opportunities Strategy 3 - Evolving the sales process to win more orders... and faster Strategy 4 - Driving cost accuracy, competitive quoting and lean and mean production Strategy 5 - Selling more of the easy wins and tracing them through to completion - Summary Call +44 (0) or sales@ 02

3 Introduction Use automated processes to ride the wave of UK economic growth Thank you for reading one of the most important white papers for progressive companies, at a time when the UK market is primed for rapid expansion. In this revealing document for entrepreneurs and SME business owners we focus on how to take advantage of the huge economic opportunity ahead of us using automated software and web processes. Even the most proven of methods cannot work forever. New technology and market demands are reshaping the landscape but with it they bring fantastic opportunities to reach new audiences and accelerate business growth and scalability. This open and informative white paper concentrates on how to grab the UK s economic opportunity with both hands using newly designed processes based on Clarity s combined world of business software as an example. It illuminates some of the many different process stresses that the current market has created and how software converts them into a competitive edge, yielding increased sales and productivity gains. There are 5 simple ways to get your business moving faster right now in this critical white paper. Many components are quick and easy to implement and don t require huge investment budgets. And as they use automation, they often only need setting up once, so you don t spend hours every week bogged down in menial processes. Now is the time to get your business right so you can reach unprecedented sales levels. Riding this upward curve puts a gap between you and your competitors. Read on and learn how to get started. Call +44 (0) or sales@ 03

4 Product key Strategy 1 Increasing enquiries and qualifying them more efficiently All businesses need fresh leads. Sales people are nurturing customers but have to win more new companies in order to hit targets. But lead to sale qualification processes can be messy and undefined. There surely has to be a better way of making sure incoming leads are processed and followed without fail! Generate new leads: PPC, events, social media, SEM etc. Quick ways to improve Pay-per-click search advertising Optimising conversions on your website Creating Web Forms to auto-capture data Marketing & selling on the move using Clarity Go New workflow gains Using a web-based process to find and capture new leads is essential for today s SMEs. For example, paid search advertising with Google, Bing and Yahoo gets you in front of customers who are actively looking to buy from companies like yours. They are chasing you, not the other way around. With this new workflow in place you can optimise web marketing activity and budget effectively, increasing lead volumes under careful control as the process proves to work. The business is firing and your automatic lead capturing ensures instant response to sales enquiries, resulting in higher win ratios. Capture leads directly into database using Clarity Go Web Forms Sales receive a notification when lead arrives Auto-create a new opportunity in Clarity Sales qualify opportunity and log activity Call +44 (0) or sales@ 04

5 Product key Strategy 2 Getting beneath the misty sales haze to progress more opportunities It can be difficult to see the wood for the trees in sales. Simple things like knowing what leads have come in or whether they ve been followed up properly are notoriously hard to find out. No-one wants to be a busy fool. Sales activity suggests plenty of customers are being called or visited but do they turn into quotes? And do the quotes go anywhere or do opportunities disappear? These need to be kept on the radar. In reality, the business could be burning good leads because of slow responses and losing them off the sales pipeline through simple carelessness. Fix this and revenue grows. Capture leads directly into database using Clarity Go Web Forms Notify the sales team of all incoming leads via Quick ways to improve Dynamically placing contacts into target lists Automatically triggering new messages Auto-progressing leads through the sales cycle Keeping leads visible, guiding more to conversion Analyse leads and activity to bring deals back to the surface New workflow gains Automating the lead capture process shortens the sales journey to order by defining a faster, sharper qualification process. Enquiry data feeds directly into your business software system from website forms and instantly creates a contact profile trail which can be used to automatically trigger sales follow up actions and more marketing. Target them with marketing and Web Form capture Re-qualify and win business previously lost to the unknown Deals that would normally disappear or slip through the qualification net stay active and warm. Continuous marketing over time ensures when customers are ready to buy, your sales team is first to strike. Call +44 (0) or sales@ 05

6 Product key Strategy 3 Evolving the sales process to win more orders - and win them faster The best opportunities always seem to land when everyone s gone home or sat on a train returning from an appointment! Big tricks can be missed here as it s a golden opportunity to get one step ahead of your direct competitors who are in the same position. Sales people need more freedom to win today s business and get quotes away faster. The days of carrying around heavy laptops and stacks of paper are over but there still has to be a way to get orders signed off there and then. Qualify the opportunity the moment it arrives Raise the quote from anywhere, anytime - even next to the client Quick ways to improve Raising quotes on the move using Clarity Go Adopting an online quote and sign off process Using the latest technology to win more orders New workflow gains To have a competitive edge in today s market you need flexibility and on-demand access to your sales software. Freedom to work and quote anywhere empowers sales people to utilise dead time and be first in on deals, building solid relationships early. But one of the biggest barriers to winning business is the sign off process. Receiving, printing, signing, scanning, attaching, sending... it s all too much hassle. A mobile online signature process takes the admin responsibility away from the customer and makes it so simple for them to sign that it s harder to say no. And all the evidence is captured in your system automatically, saving hours in sales processing and filing of documents. the customer a link to the quote or bring it up on screen Customer signs on the dotted line using their mouse or finger Auto-capture signed order in Go with date and signature Confirm order and process it in Clarity Professional Call +44 (0) or sales@ 06

7 Product key Strategy 4 Driving cost accuracy, competitive quoting and lean and mean production In manufacturing industries such as printing, fabricating and material cutting, SMEs can struggle for quoting speed and accuracy when looking at specific jobs. Not having visibility of best fit nested layouts when raising a quote causes delays in the sales cycle and puts immediate stress on overall job margins. Businesses end up buying too much material; and not pricing at minimum wastage for jobs can be the difference between winning and losing orders. Companies need to be greener now. Along with reducing environmental impact it keeps the skips from overflowing and trims disposal costs. Quick ways to improve Accurate costing using tailored quote calculators Use nesting solutions for best fit cluster layouts Create clearer, error-free works orders New workflow gains Knowing the ideal imposition layout at the point of estimating makes you price more competitively and win orders without sacrificing margin. Material wastage accrued through redundant offcuts and general mistakes is significantly reduced. You buy less stock and keep less on hand, optimising production efficiency, shop floor safety and business cash flow. Identify the job as an opportunity to apply a nested layout Estimate best fit layouts before submitting quotes Quote at minimum wastage for top margin Auto-create PDF artwork for the design team Produce the job faster and greener with total cost accuracy Order processing is faster and more accurate, reducing the turnaround time from receipt to delivery and ensuring outstanding service quality. Call +44 (0) or sales@ 07

8 Product key Strategy 5 Selling more of the easy wins and tracing them through to completion Big orders are great. But you can t rely on deals that may only drop two or three times a year. Selling more of the easy wins keeps the business on track with the growth plan and allows those big orders to become profit accelerators. So where does the volume come from? One option is e-commerce, as it targets new audiences and elevates the business alongside established competitors. There are plenty of providers to choose from but as an SME you need an easy way to get sales moving that doesn t involve doing the same work over and over again in different systems. Increasing sales requires greater fulfilment capacity, however. This is where tracking visibility of onsite installs and deliveries is essential and provides evidence of job satisfaction, ensuring quick and reliable settling of invoices. Quick ways to improve Selling online using a website shop that s controlled directly from your business software Tracking time spent on site and capturing images and sign off signatures on job completion Getting those images and signatures on invoices Create a website / web shop / web page linked with Clarity Capture orders online with payment up front if required Land orders automatically in Clarity Professional Track processed order at site for delivery and/or install New workflow gains Capturing online enquiries and immediately converting them to paid-up-front sales creates a whole new sales dimension for your business. Synchronised price lists in your business software mean you won t end up selling things you don t have or wasting valuable hours transferring data from one system to another. Present photo and signature evidence on your invoices Tracking your deliveries and installs from the office gives eyes out in the field and drives outstanding customer service, backed up by digital evidence of project sign off from clients. Call +44 (0) or sales@ 08

9 Summary Be at the sharp end of the market, running with confidence Clarity s integrated software and web solutions have been designed with consideration for the high expectations SMEs have in today s world. Evolving processes are intrinsic to scaling a business successfully. At Clarity we invest heavily in taking the headaches and barriers away from tasks through automation and organisation, bringing new information to the surface that can impact decision making both in the boardroom and at ground level. Data that is constantly moving from one place to another empowers staff to succeed. The fluid nature of the way we work now requires us to switch freely between devices. And we expect critical information to still be with us wherever we choose to be. Taking time to think ahead to how your business could be structured in the next couple of years not only asks questions of your staff and products, but also of your internal processes. Marginal gains in each department add up to a more healthy and profitable company. The devil is in the detail in everything we do. Clarity Software is here to offer guidance and targeted developments to help the whole of your business flourish. And embrace change. Be at the sharp end of the market, running with confidence. Thanks for reading. Call +44 (0) or sales@ 09

10 In this white paper Increasing enquiries and qualifying them more efficiently Getting beneath the misty sales haze to progress more opportunities Evolving the sales process to win more orders - and win them faster Driving cost accuracy, competitive quoting and lean and mean production Selling more of the easy wins and tracing them through to completion A must-read for all SMEs looking to take advantage of UK economic growth Clarity Software 2014 Touch Systems Ltd 2014 All rights reserved.