How AI-backed CRM helps decision-makers in digital age and keep them loyal

Dubai - Digital transformation delivers the ability to optimise operations and reinvent products and services

The digital native is the bane of every sales rep. Information on every product and service is just a few clicks away, so you can assume that every prospect begins an interaction with comprehensive knowledge of every pro and con, every case study and news story.
Indeed, by the time a sales rep communicates with a millennial or a Gen Z prospect, those leads are already close to making a decision. So, this presents a challenge for sellers hoping to survive the Fourth Industrial Revolution. How do they identify, nurture and convert leads? And how do they formulate a methodology to do so that can help them sell at scale?
Digital transformation - that's how. The tools that deliver the ability to optimise operations and reinvent products and services, also allow organisations to empower employees and engage customers. Success comes from profitable relationships, and the right CRM (customer relationship management - it's right there in the name) can help to build that all-important methodology. The companies that build such solutions are aware that times are changing and that seismic shifts in customer habits and preferences require equally seismic responses by the providers of CRM solutions.
Identification
Traditional methods for identification of leads are clumsy. What your sales force ideally needs is qualified leads. Plugging away for hours and days trying to convert the unconvertible is not only needlessly time-consuming and costly. It can also have a demoralising effect on the salesforce.

Problems arise from stale lists of contacts and out-of-date information. If you are selling B2B, a decision-maker may have moved on to a different company or role. And personal, family and corporate budgets can tighten; or loosen. Endlessly scouring the data for the best information and opportunities is so rarely productive, and can often prove counterproductive.
Modern CRM systems apply AI to the task. Machine learning and predictive lead-scoring are invaluable tools in "cleaning" prospect data and supporting information, allowing sellers to find qualified prospects more easily and laser-focus their efforts.
Nurturing
So, you have cleared the first hurdle. But how do you engage the digitally savvy decision-maker? As we have seen, mere encyclopaedic knowledge of your offerings is likely not going to cut it. But knowing your prospect - their pain points and ambitions - may give you the edge you need. The ability to frame the customer's challenges and the nature of their business, and to craft a compelling narrative, can be the difference between a closed deal and a burnt bridge.
Research shows that converting fresh leads can cost up to 10 times more than making a sale to an existing customer, and loyal customers spend an average of 67 per cent more than new ones. AI-backed CRM systems allow reps to use machine learning tools that trawl social media platforms for hints about the customer's woes, plans, and how far along the buying highway they are. Other insights available from machine-learning include the identification of competitive threats.
Converting
Even when the finishing line is within reach, the rug can be pulled out from under even the best sales professional (a competing offer; a budget cut). To get that final commitment to buy takes timing.
AI can analyse past sales, e-mails, social networks and other customer interactions, as well as news about a company's growth rate, its past and upcoming events, and trends within its industry. This allows reps to keep tabs on the best time to make an approach.
Selling at scale
As your sales team and revenue grow, you will need to support a different model. Remote workers, spread among time zones and geographies, need to be supported with all the tools that allow them to identify, nurture and convert leads. Sales performance across territories also needs to be monitored.
Again, AI-powered CRM comes to the rescue, automating data consolidation and turning it into actionable intelligence. Such systems can monitor every communication, interaction, social media post and trend, both within an organisation and among its prospective customers.
Now you can see how the right CRM allows you to build profitable relationships, providing the right tools for the markets of today.
The writer is Dynamics 365 Business group director at Microsoft Middle East and Africa. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.