Sales

Companies of all sizes use lead generation to ensure they are regularly attracting new potential buyers into their sales funnel. In this article, you’ll learn more about what lead generation is, proven strategies for small businesses, and which software tools will keep your sales pipeline consistently full of opportunities. What Is Lead Generation? Generating leads is the first stage in the sales process where a potential customer (qualified or not) starts their customer journey by being added into the sales funnel. Its success depends on a business employing a number of activities that can create brand or product awareness, such as advertising, marketing, or conducting direct sales activities. While a business can generate leads through several strategies, the best processes also include steps that gauge the buying interest of a person or organization to ensure that only the best leads move to the next stage in the sales pipeline. This is known as lead qualification, which involves organizing generated leads into one of four categories depending on their interaction, interest level, and where they came from. The four main types of leads include: Unqualified lead (UQL): Any contact who could be a good fit for your business but has not expressed interest or connected with you yet. When you purchase a lead list, those are unqualified leads. Marketing qualified lead (MQL): Anyone who has expressed some level of interest in your business by interacting with a marketing campaign. Examples include clicking on an email link, submitting a web form for a special offer, signing up for your newsletter, downloading something, or engaging with a social media campaign. Sales qualified lead (SQL): Someone who has expressed a high degree of interest in your business offerings by requesting pricing, signing up for a free trial, agreeing to a presentation, or talking with a sales rep. Product qualified lead (PQL): A lead who has used a product through a free trial or free-forever plan and has expressed interest in becoming a paying customer. For example, when someone uses a software free trial and reaches out to a sales rep about a feature or pricing, they have become product-qualified. Strategies for Lead Generation There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to lead generation. In most cases, a combination of strategies are needed to diversify lead sources and maximize opportunities. When determining which strategies to use, those in sales management positions must consider their business’ budget, resources, skill sets, target market, and expertise. Inbound Lead Generation A common lead generation approach involves having potential customers come to you, known as the inbound lead generation strategy. Inbound marketing involves a high degree of knowledge and work behind the scenes to create referral pipelines. It also entails using online search-optimized marketing and advertising as a “lead magnet” to attract interested buyers. Some key specific tactics for inbound lead generation strategy include: Referrals Develop a network and various partnerships with other people, businesses, or your current customers to get them to send you leads. Generating referrals is one of the best ways to generate sales leads because it doesn’t take a lot of additional resources, and each lead is automatically marketing-qualified, if not sales-qualified. Check out our comprehensive guide on how to write referral email templates. Content Marketing Create articles, graphics, white papers, case studies, videos, or podcasts for your website on topics your target audience finds value in. This tactic works best in conjunction with search engine optimization (SEO) and paid advertising to get traffic to the page where the content is posted. Tailor the types of content you engage various leads with by creating customer profiles, which help you decide what types of messaging appeal to different target audiences. Traditional Advertising Though it can be expensive, direct mailers, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and even billboard advertising is another way to get in front of a large audience. Whatever the advertisement is, craft a call to action such as stating, “Call us at this number to learn more.” Website Form Submissions This tactic is generally part of another inbound tactic. Through content marketing, advertising, social media campaigns, and even referrals, the call to action directs the individual to a website form. It usually directs to your website, where they can then shop, download something, subscribe, request a quote, or otherwise submit their information to be contacted by you. Paid Search Advertising Pay to have your business’ listing pop up in the top section of search engine results. When someone searches for your product, service, or solution on Google or another search engine, your ad will be one of the few at the top of the page. This tactic is merely a catalyst to create awareness—you still need the lead to contact you or submit a website inquiry to actually generate sales leads. Social Media Campaigns This strategy includes either organic posts or ads on social media such as or . This tactic pairs well with content marketing, such as if you want to create a video, podcast, or blog and run a campaign to increase its reach. Educational Seminars or Webinars Hosting an educational seminar or webinar is another effective way to generate marketing qualified leads, and can be done in person or online. It works particularly well in business-to-business (B2B) lead generation, such as workshops or webinars that enable business owners to learn more about how to solve common business challenges. Outbound Lead Generation Alternatively, or more likely in conjunction with inbound lead generation, your business can actively find and engage potential customers using outbound tactics. This strategy is most effective for sales-centric companies that successfully personalize the buyer’s journey by connecting with them directly. Here are some common ways to generate outbound leads: Purchasing Leads Purchasing leads is more of a precursor to other outbound lead generation examples like cold calling or email introductions. By purchasing leads, you get a list of contacts with their information to start the outbound sales process. While there are many reputable places to buy business leads, these leads will be unqualified to start because they’ve had no prior engagement with your business. Cold Calling Cold calling can be intimidating for those who have never done it before, but is the fastest way to qualify a lead and determine interest. When cold calling, you make an introduction and get an immediate response. Our how-to guide about writing cold calling scripts and our beginner’s guide to cold calling will help you get started with this tactic. Email Introductions Sending a cold email is another introduction method you can use to create awareness and potentially qualify a lead. Email introductions work better if you use them to send examples of your work, like a project portfolio or case study, and you have a creative way to pique the lead’s interest, such as a free trial or demo, or an industry white paper they can download. Networking Events Attending networking events lets you collect business cards of others and personally connect with people in-person or over video conference calls. During these events, you get a chance to give your sales pitch about what you do and learn if your solutions are appealing to the people you meet. Check out our article on business networking statistics to see how this tactic can work for your business. Trade Shows Setting up a booth at an expo, conference, or trade show puts your business directly in front of hundreds to thousands of attendees. The key to this tactic is finding the right events to attend with your target audience and developing an engaging booth by using raffles and giving away prizes. Tools for Lead Generation Generating leads is far easier when you have the right tools at your disposal to organize information, streamline processes, automate tasks, and facilitate strategy execution. Lead generation services and effective software tools put you in the best position to generate leads, keep your sales pipeline full, and move prospects through the stages of your sales funnel. Lead Databases Lead databases allow you to purchase contact lists to reach out to on your own. , for instance, is a B2B lead generation website and software. Users can filter leads based on job titles, location, industry, and the technology the organization uses. Businesses primarily engaged in business-to-consumer (B2C) selling can use to generate consumer lead lists. Salesfully pulls data from personal attributes such as location, age, ethnicity, occupation, and income to ensure you find the exact personas you want to target. Website Landing Pages Use a website builder to develop a professional website with landing pages for directing leads to a page where they can submit a web form inquiry. Platforms like allow you to build lead-generating web pages and forms with hundreds of premade templates depending on your type of business. Reputation Management This involves acquiring reviews and is an effective online lead generation marketing tactic. This is essential as it lets buyers evaluate your business and its offerings before becoming leads. is reputation management software that helps you get Google and Facebook reviews by sending your current customers texts that lead them to the review page. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software CRM software offers tools for organizing lead information, tracking lead statuses, and communicating with leads. , for example, is a popular CRM system for storing lead data such as their contact information, pipeline status, and activity history with each lead. CRMs like also have lead scoring tools that help you evaluate the quality of your leads generated based on predetermined criteria, such as where they came from and their interactions with you. This way, as leads are generated, you can prioritize your time on the hot leads with the best chance of becoming customers. As sales qualified leads (SQLs) are generated, treat each new lead as an opportunity. , for example, lets you track the status of each lead using deal management features. Deals are shown in a Kanban-style view under the relevant stage that your business is currently at with each lead. Businesses looking to do high-volume cold calling campaigns may find power dialing tools in CRM systems especially useful. Power dialing lets you preset a list of contacts to call and automatically dials the next one when a call is finished. This prevents error and saves time you would spend manually dialing calls. It also allows your sales reps to focus exclusively on the conversation. offers this feature and integrates with the platform. Some CRMs have capabilities for managing lead generation campaigns through social media channels. , for example, lets you configure automation rules for running social media ad campaigns such as a advertisements. As leads are generated through your campaign, they are then automatically added into your CRM system as a lead. Email Marketing Email marketing software enables the deployment of mass-volume emails for cold introduction and brand awareness campaigns, both of which can generate leads. Platforms like make it easy to create effective email messages with tools like a subject line helper, predesigned campaign templates, and a drag-and-drop editor. Use Mailchimp’s form builder to embed forms on your website or Facebook, and set up workflows to automatically start email campaigns to new sign-ups. Plus, Mailchimp supports digital advertising efforts, including Facebook and Instagram ads, as well as remarketing display ads on Facebook, Instagram, and throughout the network. Similar email tools can also be used as built-in tools within CRM systems. , for instance, has email marketing tools that include premade templates, email scheduling, email automation, and analysis of email campaigns that show which ones are most effective. Bottom Line Having a strategy in place for creating awareness and generating interest in your products and services is critical to bringing in revenue for your business. Implementing these tactics, measuring their effectiveness, as well as using the right software tools will help your sales team keep the pipeline full with high-quality sales opportunities.

Outlook is a popular email and calendar platform that integrates with some of the top customer relationship management (CRM) software. The best Outlook CRM integrations let users track emails, synchronize calendars, and manage contact data between both systems seamlessly. We evaluated dozens of CRM products and identified the top six best CRM systems for Outlook integrations. : Best overall CRM for Outlook integration with a free option for unlimited users : Great option for simplified contact data synchronization between platforms : Excellent Outlook CRM for tracking lead activity, notes, contact information, and campaigns in both systems : Terrific Outlook CRM option for organizations already using Microsoft Office products : Best Outlook CRM for managing tasks and projects between platforms : Solid CRM for Outlook with customer service management tools Best Outlook CRMs Compared See fullscreen table × *Based on annual billing. Monthly billing is also available at slightly higher rates. Except for HubSpot, pricing is per user, per month. Take our quiz to find out which CRM can track emails, synchronize calendars, and manage contact data seamlessly between both systems for you. HubSpot CRM: Best Overall CRM That Integrates With Outlook *Pricing is per user, monthly, based on annual billing. Monthly billing is also available at a higher cost. **CRM Suite includes sales, marketing, customer service, CMS, and operations software. Individual modules can be purchased for lower monthly costs. is an excellent sales and marketing-focused CRM system for managing leads, pipelines, and marketing campaigns. It offers arguably the most user-friendly solution on this list, and lets teams create product bundles to tailor a package to their needs—with options for marketing, sales, operations, content management system (CMS), and customer service modules. This CRM has a free option for unlimited users, allowing for integration with . With the CRM-Outlook integration, teams can send and track emails from both systems, log Outlook emails into CRM records, and use email templates within Outlook’s interface. Lastly, users can take advantage of HubSpot tools in Outlook by constructing automated email sequences and adding HubSpot meeting links or documents in an Outlook message. Whether you bundle for a CRM Suite package or subscribe to an individual module, HubSpot gets fairly expensive after the Free and Starter plans. is a solid alternative with a free plan and more budget-friendly paid options. HubSpot CRM Plan Summary HubSpot CRM Key Features Outlook-HubSpot email sync: Ability to send and track emails between both Outlook and HubSpot systems One-click email logging: Users can log emails from Outlook into CRM lead or contact records to track engagement activity Template management: Templates created and stored in HubSpot can be copied and used for Outlook emails from the Outlook interface Sequences, meetings, and documents: HubSpot automated email sequences, meeting schedule links, and documents can be synced to the Outlook system to use in email messages HubSpot Customer Support In addition to phone, email, and live chat support from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time, HubSpot has an array of online resources. This includes the , a community page of platform users, and an online library of tutorials and guides. Learn more about how this CRM helps sales teams manage leads, track conversations, collaborate, and close deals in our HubSpot CRM review. Pipedrive: Best for Contact Synchronization *Pricing is per user on a monthly basis, based on annual billing. Monthly billing is also available at a higher cost. is a sales CRM that lets teams manage sales deals and communicate with leads and contacts through email, phone, or video conferencing. Users can also access various document management features to easily send trackable quotes or business proposals that auto-fill with a prospect’s information. This CRM also has advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the Sales Assistant feature that gives task and performance suggestions. In terms of Outlook integration, Pipedrive stands out for its contact syncing capabilities. Users can keep data consistent between both the email and CRM system to track names, addresses, phone numbers, organization or company, and job titles. There’s even the option to link instant messenger profiles and store birth dates in each platform’s database. Unfortunately, sending and receiving Outlook emails from the Pipedrive interface is not available until the Advanced plan. is the best alternative for users to fully integrate Outlook features, including email communications functionality, on the free-forever plan for unlimited users. Pipedrive Plan Summary Pipedrive Key Features Two-way Outlook sync: Sendable and receivable emails using Outlook system within Pipedrive Contacts, deals, and organizations: Ability to sync data for contacts and organizations as well as trackable deals between Pipedrive and Outlook Calendar and activity syncing: User calendars and record activity logs for records from Outlook can be automatically imported into the Pipedrive system. Smart Docs and e-signature features: Feature for sending tailored contracts, quotes, and proposals as well as signing and obtaining signatures on documents directly from the CRM Pipedrive Customer Support Pipedrive offers 24/7 support through live chat and email. Additionally, their website contains other resources such as a help center, blog, tutorials, a community forum, and an academy dedicated to enhancing CRM software and sales skills. Check out our comprehensive Pipedrive review to learn more about pricing, usability, and best-for scenarios. Zoho CRM: Best for Two-way Lead Tracking *Pricing is per user, per month, based on annual billing. Monthly billing is also available at a higher cost. offers a comprehensive solution for managing lead information, sales workflows, reporting activity, and customer communication. The system is relatively inexpensive, scalable, and provides a free plan for up to three users. AI features also enrich contact information, provide analytic insights on performance, advise on the best time to connect with a lead, and suggest workflows you can automate. When integrated with Outlook, teams can stay connected with each platform through an elaborate, two-way data syncing system. Contacts, leads, and companies can be added into or edited in Zoho CRM directly from Outlook. Users can also add activity information and notes from Outlook to keep CRM records up-to-date. Lastly, reps can track campaign statuses associated with leads from Outlook for deal progress or other marketing campaigns. Zoho CRM’s primary downfall is the usability factor. Users often find the system tough to initially set up an account and navigate through the interface due to its clunky design. is an excellent alternative for businesses seeking a CRM product that requires little technical skill to operate. Zoho CRM Plan Summary Zoho CRM Key Features Contacts and leads sync: Ability to add contacts and leads into Zoho CRM from Outlook systems Email integration: Outlook email sending and receiving from the CRM interface Notes and activity sync: Notes and activity logs associated with Zoho lead, contact, and account records can be added or updated from Outlook Campaign tracking: Options for viewing any deal or marketing campaign associated with a Zoho record from Outlook Zoho CRM Customer Support uses a tier-based system where customer support options are dictated by the package you select. Users receive email support on all plans as well as phone and live chat support on paid plans either 24/5 or 24/7, depending on your plan tier. They also offer online resources, including documentation, guided tours, videos, webinars, and tutorials. Learn more about this CRM product by reading our in-depth Zoho CRM review, where we explore its features and best-for scenarios. Microsoft Dynamics 365: Best for Businesses That Prefer Microsoft Productivity Software *Pricing is per user, monthly, based on annual billing and accounts only for the sales product with sales features. Modules for other business areas, such as customer data, customer service, marketing, ecommerce, supply chain, human resources, finance, and project management, are also available for separate pricing. is a suite of business software products to manage marketing, sales, project management, finance, and much more. The Sales product provides standard CRM features such as lead management and workflow automation. Additionally, teams can reap the benefits of simplified integration with tools like and while operating an interface similar in design to those products. The software gives users an intuitive integration process and a solid set of capabilities once connected with . They can sync contact and email data between both systems and link email messages to CRM records. There’s also the option to view CRM contacts with contextual information from Outlook, like messages, appointments, and meetings. Users also pull email templates and sales collateral from Dynamics 365 to insert an Outlook message. One issue with the Dynamics CRM Sales module is that users can’t perform marketing or customer service functions all from the same subscription package—making it expensive if you want to manage those functions in one system. bundled plans have marketing and customer service features within their CRM packages. These plans start at $45 per month for two users—much less than Dynamics 365, which would require an additional $20 per user every month and $750 per month for subsequent service and marketing tools. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Plan Summary Microsoft Dynamics 365 Key Features Email message linking: Emails, meetings, and appointments from Outlook can be directly linked to CRM profiles such as leads, contacts, cases, or opportunities Contextual information view: Simple viewing of email messages and meetings within lead and contact records Contact and email synchronization: Two-way synchronization between Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for contact and email data Templates and materials sync: Through integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 integration, users can add templates, articles, and sales materials from the CRM into an Outlook message. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Support Sales has phone and email customer support during Central Time standard business hours as well as the ability to live chat with a rep. There is also plenty of online documentation on their products, education resources, and the ability to sign up for product training and consultations. Want to see if the Microsoft Dynamics 365 suite of products suits your needs? Check out our in-depth review on Microsoft Dynamics 365 to learn more about ways it can assist your business. Insightly: Best Outlook CRM for Task & Project Management Capabilities *Pricing is per user, monthly, based on annual billing. Monthly billing is also available at a higher cost. gives teams an array of lead management, collaboration, and customer communication tools. The CRM also has a built-in project management module that includes milestone tracking, calendar synchronization, and the ability to convert won opportunities directly into new projects. Insightly is relatively inexpensive and provides a free option for up to two users for basic contact and project management features. The Insightly-Outlook plugin comes in the form of the platforms’ sidebar. Teams can open this sidebar from Outlook to pull and sync contact data, calendar information, email templates, and links stored in Insightly. Users can also send and save emails between both systems and create new CRM tasks and projects directly from the Outlook interface. Sending quotes and pricing within the CRM is a valuable feature because it can streamline the proposal process and some of the later steps in the sales pipeline. Unfortunately, Insightly does not give teams access to this feature until the Enterprise plan. is a solid alternative with quote features on the free plan and even lets you accept payments on the paid plans. Insightly Plan Summary Insightly Key Features Contact and calendar sync: Two-way syncing and mass importing of contact and calendar data between Outlook and Insightly Task and lead creation: Ability to create tasks and leads directly from Outlook into Insightly using the Insightly sidebar feature Two-way email communication: Sendable and saved Outlook emails sent through the Insightly sidebar Templates and links: Insightly email templates or links sendable through Outlook as well as the option for users to schedule emails to auto-send later Insightly Customer Support Insightly has tier-based support with a help center available for free plan users and above. There’s also email support for the paid plans with varying response times depending on the package and phone support during extended business hours during Pacific Time. Read our Insightly review to learn more about pricing, features, and usability ratings and see if it's the best CRM for your business. Salesforce Essentials: Best for Customer Service Features *Pricing is per user, per month, based on annual billing. Monthly billing is also available at a higher cost. is the small business alternative to the Salesforce Sales and Service Cloud platforms. Regarding Outlook capabilities, users can sync contact and calendar data between both interfaces and view email interaction history in a CRM record, regardless of whether it was sent through Salesforce or . This CRM is one of the only ones on this list that allow teams to manage customer service activity from within the CRM without a premium subscription, add-on, or native integration. Zoho contains some functionality like case management on their Professional plan, and HubSpot offers similar tools on its Starter plan but for only up to two users. With Salesforce Essentials, agents and service reps can get a complete view of their accounts and customer information while being able to route and assign inquiries on an automated basis. Teams can also easily access custom articles and FAQ pages from the CRM to help customers. While great for small businesses, Salesforce Essentials does not have a free plan or scalable options for growing businesses. is an excellent option on this list with a free-forever option for three users and four paid plans, depending on the feature needs and size of your business. Salesforce Essentials Plan Summary Salesforce Essentials Key Features Customer interaction viewing: Users can view customer interactions and activity via Outlook email exchanges within Salesforce records Two-way data sync: Ability to add and update contact or calendar data within the CRM and Outlook Events and tasks: Users can add and view events or tasks from Outlook into the Salesforce Essentials system. Email communication: Ability to send and track Outlook emails within the CRM Salesforce Essentials Customer Support offers a wide range of tier-based support, where the amount you pay is linked to the degree of support you desire. All licenses include online resources like Trailhead, Help Portal, and the Community Success Center as well as live chat support. The more premium success plans offer 24/7 phone support. Want to learn more about this Salesforce small business CRM solution? Our Salesforce Essentials review tells you everything you need to know about the product and businesses best suited for it. How We Evaluated the Best Outlook CRM Integrations To determine the best CRMs with Outlook integrations, we only considered CRM products with integration capabilities with the Outlook platform. Additionally, we evaluated product-specific features such as communication, automation, and sales tracking capabilities from within Outlook. We then looked deeper into each product in terms of typical product attributes such as price, general CRM features, ease of use, and customer support. We found that is the best overall option as it offers a free plan for unlimited users and provides an easy-to-use solution for integrating the CRM features with Outlook. With the HubSpot Outlook plugin, teams can send emails between both interfaces, save email activity into the CRM with one click, and utilize email templates stored in HubSpot to craft messages in Outlook. The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process of the best Outlook CRM integrations:

A sales pitch is a brief explanation or conversation used to get a potential customer interested in your products and/or services. These “propositions” help businesses generate qualified leads by carefully gauging interest while articulating a clear value with a call to action that moves a lead to the next stages of the buying process. In this article, we explore the seven steps of learning how to make a sales pitch and offer examples to help you create your own. Free Sales Pitch Deck Template As you learn how to make an effective sales pitch that wins more deals, we’ve created a pitch deck to get you started. Customize this template with your company branding and the solutions you offer to use sales presentations with prospects. While the way your sales pitch is delivered will vary depending on whether you’re speaking in-person, via email, phone, or video conferencing, the process for building your pitch is the same. Here’s how to make a sales pitch in seven steps: 1. Define Your Unique Selling Proposition Your sales pitch must articulate how your product or service adds value to your customers and how it’s unique from your competitors—thus defining your unique selling proposition (USP). A USP answers the question “Why choose us?” Focus on a product or service feature that stands out over other providers such as lower prices, premium quality, better customer service, or a favorable aspect of the user or customer experience like product ease of use. For example, an HR management consulting firm offers free consultations and a guided experience with their clients where they are with them every step of the way. This would contrast other HR consulting firms that don’t offer the same services but instead only provide advice rather than help implement the solutions. These unique attributes need to be understood before you can incorporate them into a pitch. 2. Understand Your Ideal Market Next, narrow in on who will get the most value out of your offerings. You may have a specific niche market such as only small IT management companies or broader customer groups such as nonprofits. Having an ideal market in your pitch makes it more relatable to the person listening to it. For example, imagine you own an accounting firm. A sales rep from a staffing service approaches you about how they can help you find temporary help during the busy “tax season” as well as permanent employees. This service provider staffs several verticals, including IT engineers, security analysts, sales reps, administrative staff, and software developers—showing you they’re a generic staffing firm. Another sales rep tells you the exact same thing except that they only work with accounting and tax preparation firms. Odds are, you assume they know more about your needs and have more qualified candidates because they only work in that market. This same approach should be used in your small business. Whether you know your niche already or are looking into targeting a specific market group, below are some factors (and examples) that can condense your market, allowing you to specialize your offer and tailor your marketing to your specific customer profile: Gender (e.g., only targeting women customers) Age (e.g., only targeting customers aged 25 to 30) Industry or vertical (e.g., only targeting IT businesses or government contractors) Organization size (e.g., only targeting firms within 10 to 30 employees or under $1,000,000 revenue) Geography (e.g., only targeting customers or businesses within 20 miles) Interests (e.g., only targeting customers who love sports) Lifestyles (e.g., only targeting moms or people who travel frequently) 3. Craft Your Value Proposition We recommend crafting your body before your introduction. This is because your introduction can come in many forms—which we’ll discuss later, but the body and value proposition will be the same across the board. Once you have your USP and ideal market, combine those into a value proposition, which will be the body of your sales pitch. Below are business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) examples of value propositions for your reference. B2B We help small businesses navigate the tax space for their unique situations through customized tax preparation and tax planning services that meet their needs and budget. In this example, the ideal market is “small businesses” and the USP is a great customer experience through “customized tax preparation and tax planning services.” B2C We help parents in the DC area find trusted vendors and care providers through our thousands of partnerships and in-depth quality screening process. This example targets “parents in the DC area” and has a USP focusing on high-quality concierge services through “thousands of partnerships” and “in-depth quality screening process." 4. Define Your Sales Pitch Objectives Just expressing your unique value proposition without context or next steps isn’t a complete sales pitch. Start with a way in and have an exit/next step strategy in mind—both of which require you to understand the objectives of your sales pitch. Lead generation is the main purpose of explaining the value you offer to your prospects. Therefore, the steps taken next will be based on how your unique sales process is constructed and will likely be one of the following: Scheduling an introduction appointment, sales presentation, or product demonstration Getting the lead to make a purchase decision or sign a contract Convincing the lead to agree on letting you send them additional information or marketing materials Getting the lead to move to a required next step such as underwriting them, evaluating them for a quote, or agreeing to a free audit/evaluation 5. Ease Into Your Pitch This step provides context to lead you into the sales pitch through probing questions or engaging with the lead by citing relevant news or a connection you have with them. For instance, you were at a networking event talking to a decision-maker who is part of your target market. After a little small talk, you might ease them into your pitch by talking about a news story that’s affecting their industry to see how it's impacted them. The relevant story could spark them to list off some of the problems they have, which you can acknowledge in your sales pitch. The other route you could take is asking probing questions to segue into your offerings. For example, when selling business insurance, you might start by asking “When was the last time you had your coverage reviewed?” If they answer that it’s been a few years, you have the perfect launch pad to go into the “body.” The whole point of an introduction, whether in-person, phone, or through email, is to prevent you from going right into a pitch without contextual information or building rapport first. Since many sales pitches are done through email, check out our effective email introduction templates to guide you through various email introduction scenarios. 6. Prepare Your Call to Action Request The final part of a full sales pitch is to get the lead to take action. This step is still used even if the prospect expressed disinterest. For example, if you gave your pitch and the lead said “I’m not interested at this time,” your call to action request should be something like “No worries, I’ll follow up in four months and see if anything has changed.” The key to a strong call to action (CTA), whether it's during a conversation or through email, is to provide a clear next step, making it easy for them to take that step. Many CTAs might go with something along the lines of “I’d love to schedule a call and learn more about your business to see if we could be a good fit.” After that statement, they could click a link to schedule an appointment or coordinate to find a time that works. If you are pitching in-person, you might collect a business card from the lead and tell them you’ll send an email to get an event scheduled. The point of the call-to-action request is to have the lead fulfill your sales objective. While most scenarios involve scheduling a sales presentation or demo, you could also have them agree to receive additional marketing materials or let you audit/underwrite them for a quote. Below is a template you can use to initiate your call to action: (After the body of pitch is delivered) I’d love the opportunity to [fulfill sales objective] so we can [purpose of said sales objective]. What is your [availability over the next few days/email address so I can send you some additional information]? 7. Modify Your Pitch for the Proper Channel As part of a robust sales training, teach your sales reps how to formulate a sales pitch, but also how to tailor it to the proper channel. Conducting this activity in an email is much different than during in-person conversations, phone calls, or video conferencing calls. In an email, for instance, you would start with introducing yourself briefly within your introduction. Hi [lead name], My name is Joe Mozeyko, an account executive at ABC Corp. I’m reaching out in regard to the recent regulatory change for financial institutions such as [their organization name]. As you may or may not know, the new regulations require [industry] businesses to [regulation requirements]. With that said, we may be able to help. [Body of sales pitch] If you were in-person or on the phone, your pitch would be more conversational with more questions and back-and-forth. Additionally, these channels assume you introduced yourself personally already. [After small talk or personally introducing yourself] So what impacts have the new regulations had on your business thus far? [Lead answers] Have you been finding anything particularly difficult about them? Maybe something you would prioritize finding a solution for? [Lead answers] Those are some excellent insights. I guess that is a good segue into what we do. [Enter body of pitch]. The body can often be virtually identical across all channels while the introduction and closing need tailor-fitting for the channel you’re using. Below are closing and call-to-action examples applicable to an email and in-person/call channel. Email I’d love to schedule a product demo to show you how our software solution helps financial institutions improve operational efficiency while also keeping in compliance. You can use the Schedule Appointment button in my signature to find a time that works for you. In-person/Call If you have any time in the next week or so, I’d love to schedule a product demo and show you some of the features for workflow automation, data organization, and compliance assistance. [What is the best email address to reach you at / Do you have a business card? I can follow up with an email]. Key Components of a Sales Pitch There are three main parts in making a sales pitch that work holistically with one another moving a lead through the sales journey. These must work in unison to build rapport with the prospect, help them understand what you offer, and lay out the next steps to move forward. The three components of a sales pitch include: Introduction: The act of easing a lead or potential customer into the value proposition through probing questions, acknowledgments, or any other method of sparking a conversation Value proposition (body): The “meat” of the sales pitch, where you explain how your products or services add value to your target market Call to action (closing): The shift to get the lead to move to the next step of the sales process, such as purchasing a product or agreeing to a conference call While the way your sales pitch is delivered will vary depending on whether you’re speaking in-person, via email, phone, or video conferencing, the intro-to-body-to-closing structure remains consistent. Bottom Line A solid sales pitch is one of the most important ingredients in generating leads or gauging their interest. Sales management personnel and business owners must carefully craft the messaging for easing a prospect into the pitch, explaining the unique value they offer, and lay out the next steps of the process. Once the messaging is set, it needs to be tailored properly to fit any communication channels used during sales activities.

Lead tracking is the process of storing, organizing, and updating prospect data and sales activity information. It involves using a lead tracking tool or method and then defining the types of data you want to collect. Once that’s established, keep the information updated as you generate, assign, qualify, and nurture leads and finalize sales deals. In this article, we explore how to properly organize lead information and why it's important to track sales leads. Free Sales Lead Tracking Template Lead tracking is essential to a standardized sales operation. To make it easier for you to get started, we’ve created a free template. You can use this spreadsheet to organize prospects or to help guide you on defining and setting up your own lead tracking system. If you would prefer to track your sales leads through alternative means, we will also go over how to keep track of sales and give insights on other tools and software with lead tracking capabilities. No matter which tool you use, here’s how to organize your lead data and activity in a way that ensures your teams are working with up-to-date information in seven easy steps: 1. Select a Lead Tracking Tool The first thing to do is to determine the tool or method you’d like to use. Depending on your technical knowledge of sales leads software, the complexity of your sales process, and the amount of information you need to manage, there are a few routes you can take to track sales leads: Customer relationship management (CRM) software: Most likely the best overall option, CRM systems such as offer an all-in-one, pipeline tracking, task management, communication, and lead management software. Users can store information on leads and collaborate on sales tasks while creating reports on their progress, performance, and activity. Spreadsheets: Arguably the easiest way to track leads, spreadsheet tools like and use a column and row table system to input prospect and activity information. From there, users can update cells, sort data, and share their sheets with other team members to view or edit. These platforms even offer CRM templates for sales data fields. Use our free lead tracking template to get started with this method. Project management tools: Known as a CRM alternative, project management tools such as and give the simplicity a spreadsheet offers but with more dynamic visual options such as Kanban or dashboard views. Additionally, the Crmble power-up feature in Trello offers CRM features. Email marketing platforms: Email tools like are excellent for storing email contact information as well as designing, deploying, automating, and analyzing email marketing campaigns. While there are many methods for organizing sales information, 72% of businesses agree a CRM offers better access to customer data. The most important thing, however, is that you and other users are storing applicable data and updating the CRM records, spreadsheet cells, project management items, or email contact lists as events take place. Looking for robust CRM software that meets your small business needs? Download our comprehensive CRM e-book to learn more about choosing and implementing the right CRM for your team. The Expert's Guide to Customer Relationship Management Small Business Use Cases + Pro Tips Download Now 2. Define Your Data Fields Once you’ve decided how to organize the prospect and deal information, there’s a small but necessary step of defining data fields before you can set up and begin tracking. Fields are where you collect information associated with a lead record. For example, an important data field for a lead is the lead contact’s first and last name. Some types of data fields you should define and include are the following: Identifiable Information The first type of field involves contact data associated with a lead that helps identify a record because the information is unique to them. The most common examples you want to collect for each lead include their name, organization, address, email address, and phone number. Lead Source Tracking lead sources helps you monitor where opportunities are coming from to help optimize marketing budgets and sales resources to the most effective channels. Some examples of lead sources frequently used include trade shows, networking events, social media, online ads, inbound calls, referrals, online research, or a specific organization. Keep in mind that a lead source is simply where your prospects heard about you or first interacted with you. Associated Tags Tags are pieces of information attached to a record that identify a group of prospects based on similar interests, priorities, or statuses. They help in your sales process if you want to filter or share leads based on certain shared characteristics. For example, say you wanted to identify certain contacts based on buyer preferences to help your sales reps when they engage them and the marketing team nurture them. You might create one tag called “Price Sensitive,” one called “Product Usability Demanded,” and another called “Customer Service Focused.” As each lead comes in, you would tag them with one or two of these tags. The advantage is that if you were to generate an email list to deploy a marketing campaign to nurture each of these leads, you can do it according to their preferences. In other words, you’re able to filter and divide your lists based on those with the same tags. Deal Information Deal information fields include data regarding their purchase potential and product or service interest. Common examples include deal size ($) and the product line the lead is interested in. This category also encompasses any information that impacts pricing, such as the number of employees, which often dictates how much insurance, software, or a consulting service costs. Pipeline Stage or Activity These data fields let you monitor where you are in the sales process with each opportunity. You might have established predefined pipeline stages that indicate the internal activities required to close a deal, such as lead qualification, nurturing, or sending proposals. Alternatively, you might take a more simplified approach and just take note of your interactions with them. For example, if a prospect called into your business on August 1, you’d note in their record “Aug 1: Lead generated - called with interest in products.” Then, if you followed up with them on September 1, you’d add to the record “Sept 1: Followed-up on lead by calling them, couldn’t speak but asked me to send an email, email sent.” 3. Set Up Your Lead Tracking System Once you’ve determined what you want to track, begin setting up your lead tracking system. Start with adding those data fields you find important. If you’re using CRM software, each product will have default fields to work with or its own custom settings for adding and editing custom fields for each module. , for example, lets you select field types such as single line text, date, email, or a check box and then label the field with the relevant name such as Social Security number, lead name, or lead source. Users can also edit properties for each field in the CRM if you require data entry for the record, want to prevent duplicates, or want to secure the data with encryption. 4. Generate Leads & Input Your Data Once all the fields are designed to your liking in the CRM, start adding contact and prospect records as leads are generated. Though you can manually enter data records, this can also be automated by linking a web form to your CRM system. For example, allows you to customize forms for marketing campaigns such as newsletter sign-ups, social media forms, or online ads. From there, if an interested prospect submits their information, they automatically have their data transferred to the CRM as a lead record. If you do, however, choose to take the manual route, make sure you add all of the information you initially require. For example, let's say you were conducting online research to find prospects and set up your CRM process to require a phone number as a data field before a record can be created. In that case, you’d want to make sure you find that phone number even if it just means using their organization’s primary number. 5. Assign Leads for Outreach As leads begin pouring in, have a process ready that assigns them to a dedicated sales rep or account executive. You might consider doing this on a manual basis, but if the volume of potential customers coming in is high, it becomes challenging to stay organized. Some CRMs, such as , have automated lead assignment features you can use. Users can configure their system to assign opportunities and notify specific reps based on characteristics such as lead source, product line, or potential deal size. If you’re using a spreadsheet or CRM alternative, indicate which rep is responsible. Once assigned, your sales team members can begin doing initial outreach via cold calling or email and update their records or cells on each lead’s progress. For instance, they can update the pipeline status on the record if they called and scheduled a sales presentation or product demo. 6. Nurture Leads Most prospects won’t give you a straight yes or no answer immediately. One estimate shows that 63% of leads who inquire won’t convert until at least three months. During that time between the initial conversations and deal-closing activity, continuously nurture your leads. Nurturing is maintaining relationships with potential and current customers through communications. You can use automated email marketing campaigns to constantly stay in touch with those in the pipeline. Additionally, your sales reps can do more personalized nurturing by sending direct emails to prospects or making follow-up phone calls to see where your leads stand. Just as you would with the lead generation and assignment steps, log your activity in your records, spreadsheet tables, or project boards so everyone can see where a prospect is in the pipeline. CRMs, including , have activity tracking in their lead records. From a profile, users can document notes to track sales calls, emails, tasks, or event information. 7. Prioritize Leads Finally, lead prioritization is the last step in the lead tracking process. This refers to focusing efforts and time on prospects with the best chance of becoming won customers. Manually, you can use your instincts to see which leads stand out as great opportunities based on your interactions and customer attributes such as buying power, fit for offerings, and interest expressed—all of which you have been tracking. A more advanced method, however, is using what’s called lead scoring—which uses a point system to identify the best leads. While you can design criteria by hand, you’ll gain more streamlined and automated results by doing it in a CRM system. is an excellent example of a CRM that lets you customize lead score criteria to add points based on activity and lead attributes, then assigns points as events take place. Benefits of Organizing & Tracking Sales Leads Sales lead tracking is considered its own stage in the lead management process. After a lead is generated and their information captured, you need to have a system that organizes and updates that data as they go through the sales process. The importance and benefits of tracking sales lead can be categorized into a few main reasons: Keeps contact data organized: Having a centralized system that stores the names, company info, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of a lead makes it easy to find information as you need to contact them or find their data record. Lets you view activity history: Tracking the activity of leads interacting with your brand or sales reps keeps you in the loop and up to date on when you last engaged them—allowing you to plan your next campaign or outreach tasks. Allows you to evaluate deal progress and pipeline health: Treating each lead as a trackable sales deal undergoing the sales process lets you view individual pipeline stage statuses for each lead as well as the total number of leads within each stage. It also enables you to evaluate conversion rates within the pipeline to see how effective your sales team is at closing deals. Helps prevent lost sales opportunities: Tracking leads and assigning them to sales reps ensures someone is held accountable in the event an opportunity is lost due to a lack of follow-up or nurturing. Enables you to create marketing segments: Storing contextual information about a lead, such as their job title, industry, product needs, or common behaviors, lets you categorize them into marketing segments where you can sell to them a certain way or deploy specific marketing campaigns toward them. Bottom Line Tracking sales leads is storing and updating prospect information as they’re generated and undergo the sales process. It's essential to keep your sales data organized to ensure reps have access to the most recent and relevant information to work with. A robust lead tracking system requires you to select a method you’re comfortable with (such as a CRM), identify the information you want to store, and keep updating records as events take place.

Salon booking software enables users to manage various aspects of their business—from scheduling bookings and tracking product inventory to managing rewards programs and processing payments. The best salon scheduling software also includes marketing tools for social media, email, and SMS, as well as unlimited booking allocation and low transaction fees. We’ve reviewed dozens of options to see how each compares based on cost, ease of use, and niche features. Here are our top picks for the six best salon management software: : Best all-in-one salon software including scheduling, customer management, payroll, and marketing tools : Excellent option for businesses running multiple locations and branches : Ideal salon software for businesses needing a robust mobile app : Great choice for professionals who want a free salon booking app : Easy-to-use salon management and scheduling app with class management tools : Best salon management app with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities Best Salon Software for Small Businesses Compared See fullscreen table × If you’re not running a salon business and are looking for a different kind of customer relationship management (CRM) tool, check out our article on industry-specific CRMs. Vagaro: Best All-in-One Salon Management Software *Based on monthly billing is a scheduling and management software designed for various beauty and wellness businesses, including salons, spas, tattoo parlors, and fitness centers. It provides an all-in-one solution for business owners to manage their customer profiles, schedule bookings and appointments, process payments, and track inventory. It also has administrative features, including payroll, staff, and rental fee management. While Vagaro provides an all-in-one management solution for salon and wellness businesses, it doesn’t offer a free plan, and its subscription prices make it expensive for small businesses to scale up. If you prefer a free app, we recommend . On the other hand, if you want more budget-friendly pricing options, check out , which offers a number of unlimited features in their paid plans, including unlimited appointments and classes. Vagaro Features provides users with extensive tools to manage all aspects of their business—from booking appointments to processing payments. Below are some of our favorite features from the software: Calendar management: Schedule or reschedule an appointment with a simple drag-and-drop tool. After moving a booking, you also have the option to notify the customer of the change. COVID-ready badge: Acquire a COVID-safe badge for your business upon receiving five or more positive safety ratings from visiting clients. Inventory management: Track item and product inventory, automatically re-order products, and record your purchase order history straight from the platform. Payment processing: Collect credit card payments in-store or on the go with Vagaro’s EMV chip card reader. Users can also make direct payments online when booking their appointments. addresses the most essential parts of scheduling and reminding customers of their appointments—making it a great choice for beauty, wellness, and fitness businesses. Its payment processing and online store management also offer businesses reliable tools to manage the administrative aspects of running their salon. Read our in-depth Vagaro review to find out if it suits your needs. Phorest: Best Salon Software for Business With Multiple Branches & Locations specializes in offering salon businesses multilocation management features. Its advanced reporting suite lets business owners see their overall sales performance as well as dive into the details of each of their locations. Its seamless interactivity between branches allows each salon to share resources and work together. You can also switch between any of your salons to see the real-time information you need—no need for multiple accounts. Phorest, however, doesn’t offer fixed pricing plans, and subscription costs are customized. It also doesn’t provide a free trial. If you prefer a more predictable billing scheme, consider . Meanwhile, if you want to try out the app first before committing to a paid plan, try . Phorest Features offers extensive tools to help users with various salon branches manage all their business needs in a centralized platform. Below are some of our top picks for multilocation management features: Staff roster and performance tracking: Set and manage staff rosters, allowing staff members to be available at multiple locations even on the same day. Set goals for your staff within the app and track their progress, including the number of clients and the value of services provided. Centralized business information and database: Quickly and easily access client information across all locations, as well as service histories, branch history, and product history. Centralized loyalty management program: Allow your clients to earn and redeem points and rewards when purchasing products or services at any of your locations. Multilocation marketing: Provide personalized marketing while targeting clients across a single branch or all locations with ready-made SMS and email templates. GlossGenius: Best Salon Software With Robust Mobile App *Based on monthly billing offers a sleek and sophisticated mobile booking interface for salon owners. Easily accessible and manageable via iOS and Android, GlossGenius provides businesses with an easy-to-use calendar that lets their customers book appointments 24/7. It also has brand-building tools that let businesses build beautiful customizations to their booking interface and design appealing service menus. While GlossGenius’ interface looks luxurious and the provider offers robust brand-building tools, it doesn't have a free plan for businesses with limited budgets. If you don’t want to spend on monthly subscription fees, check out or instead, as both providers offer a free plan. GlossGenius Features provides users with an intuitive interface for appointment scheduling—making it ideal for beauty salons that want to have a certain luxe branding. The app also allows customers to book through social media links via Instagram and Facebook. Below are its standout features: Client profiles: Add client notes and photos, record appointment and purchase history, and automate birthday promotions. Marketing tools: Automate customer review requests to increase your positive ratings online. Send promo messages to clients via email, SMS, or social media. Calendar scheduling: View daily, weekly, and monthly calendars. Manage employee schedules, personal time blocks, and recurring bookings. Sales analytics: Have complete visibility of your business performance, including sales to date, monthly and yearly sales trends, as well as average customer bills. Fresha: Best Free Salon Management Software Solution *Based on monthly billing is a completely free salon booking app that provides users with basic but crucial features to manage their salon and wellness business. Fresha offers users unlimited appointment bookings and locations and lets users enroll unlimited team members and clients. It also manages unlimited product inventory. Fresha lacks essential software integrations like accounting (such as ) and messaging tools (like ). It also offers limited support via email. Users who want a provider with wider integrations and better customer support should consider instead. Fresha Features , while free, provides essential salon management tools for small businesses—making it ideal for business owners who just started running their salons. Below are some of its best features: Appointment scheduling: Manage appointments and booking from various devices, including desktop, tablets, and mobile. Social media booking: Add unlimited “Book Now” buttons to your Instagram and Facebook pages so new or existing clients can book online instantly. Payment processing: Securely process client payments via pay by link, saved card, and Fresha card terminals for a seamless checkout experience. Automated marketing: Target client groups with filtering tools to reach your top spenders, most loyal, and lapsed clients. Send personalized emails to your regular clients on milestone events, including birthdays and anniversaries. is ideal for small salons because of its free plan and unlimited bookings. Its marketing tools are also helpful for small salons to expand their customer base and retain their existing ones. Are you considering Fresha as your salon software program? Read our extensive Fresha review to learn more about this provider. Schedulicity: Best Easy-to-Use Salon Management Software With Class Management Tools *Based on monthly billing **A provider includes any professional offering a service, class, or workshop, such as a yoga teacher, massage therapist, or stylist provides salon and wellness businesses with a simple app to manage and process bookings. It provides a free plan that suits micro-businesses as well as paid subscriptions for more established companies. Its features include appointment scheduling, staff management, and marketing tools. It also offers class management tools for wellness and fitness centers, including class listings, waitlist management, and safety waivers. However, Shedulicity’s free plan only offers up to 10 bookings. Its free plan also doesn’t have a payment processing feature. If you are looking for an alternative that provides both, we recommend checking out . Schedulicity Features doesn’t only offer appointment booking for salon businesses—it also provides features to help wellness establishments manage class bookings. Below are some of its key features: Appointment scheduling: Lets you keep full control of your calendar with color-coordinated appointment blocks. You can easily spot first-time clients, client messages, waitlist requests, and more. Class management: Add and edit class listings, check in attendees, and mark cancellations. Offer waitlists for your most popular times and instructor, and get instant alerts when someone on the waitlist can fill a spot. Team and partner management: Allows you to link multiple employees and business partners at one location while keeping payments and client lists separate. Mobile app: Lets you manage bookings completely on the mobile app—even without a website. MindBody: Best Salon Management App With AI Capabilities *Based on monthly billing is a salon, wellness, and gym management app designed for larger chains and established businesses. Its features include payment processing, referral tracking, and team management—including tools to track hours and manage payroll. One of its notable features is its AI front desk tool, which automatically answers questions, makes sales, and books salon appointments whenever your staff cannot attend to customers personally. While MindBody offers advanced and robust salon management features, it has an expensive entry-level cost. Its marketing tools are also only covered in the more expensive plans. Business owners who prefer to invest in more affordable providers with marketing tools can consider or instead. MindBody Features is a robust, all-in-one solution that helps users manage all aspects of their salon chain business. Check out some of our favorite features below: AI front desk: Automatically text clients immediately after a missed call, answer their questions on your site, or chat with them on Facebook. The AI front desk can even follow up after their visit to rebook another appointment. Branded mobile app: Allows you to design the MindBody app like your own and put your branding on it. MindBody will help you design the aesthetics and interface, and also publish it in app stores, so your clients can easily find it. Reporting and analytics: Keep track of your sales performance for each store or salon chain. Spot trends from seasons and promos so you can design your marketing campaigns more effectively. Performance leaderboard: Motivate your staff by showing them how they’re tracking their key performance indicators (KPIs). You can also hold contests and set goals, and reward your staff based on how they perform after completing each week or month. How We Evaluated the Best Salon Software for Small Business To determine the best salon management software, we looked at the availability of the most crucial features, including scheduling, staff management, and multilocation tracking. We also evaluated the pricing options, availability of marketing tools, and inventory management features. We chose as the best overall salon booking software because it offers an all-in-one solution that allows users to manage everything about their salon and wellness business. It has an easy-to-use booking interface, a scheduling management system, an online and offline payment processing system, and an inventory tracking tool. The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process for choosing the best salon management software for small businesses:

Sales territory management involves managing sales operations based on customer attributes, such as geographic location, industry, product or service needs, or account size. Developing a territory-based sales system requires defining, assigning, and measuring territory performance, as well as making necessary adjustments. In this article, we cover why companies use sales territories and what it takes to implement effective territory management strategies. Territory management best practices are similar to running a monoline product or service offering or a single-process sales operation. For example, you’ll set sales goals, monitor progress, and make adjustments as necessary. The difference, however, is that you first need to create segments before assigning objectives and resources. Here’s how to create sales territories in five steps: 1. Define Your Customer Segments The first step involves territory planning to define customer segments or groupings. These segments dictate how you assign territories and parameters. The best way is to break it down by similar characteristics shared by your current customers and leads. Some of the most common ways to group customer segments include: Geographic location: Commonly used for field sales, grouped based on the location or headquarters of your customers and leads. Account or deal size: Divided according to the dollar size of the account or potential size of a sales opportunity. Industry: Only works for business-to-business (B2B) selling, segmented according to the industry that the business falls in. Product or service needs: Clustered by the product or service a customer currently uses or is interested in. Hybrid segmentation: Grouped as a combination of two or more sets of attributes. For instance, you might segment your customers based on geographic location and a specific product or service they use. Customer personas are an excellent method for identifying various segments and attributes and putting them into profiles of ideal buyer types. During this process, decide which segment(s) are most reasonable to group into territories. If the segments contain outliers, such as a customer located far away or one that falls within an entirely different tier of revenue size than the rest, it's probably best to group in a different way. For example, if you’re a real estate business, it wouldn’t make sense to group by geographic location if you have all your customers in New York and just one in Arizona. In this particular situation, you might drop the geographic segmentation and shift to another type, such as based on services like dividing buyers and sellers into two different segments. 2. Create Territories & Parameters Once you’ve evaluated your customers' segments, you’re ready to create territories. In terms of the number of territories, consider the viability of dedicating resources, such as software or marketing materials. Factor in human resources like the availability of sales, customer experience, and account management personnel. If you break your operation into a bunch of territories and cannot provide adequate support for some of them, it might be better to consolidate. For instance, let's say you’ve decided to group territories by industry and have one for financial, accounting, cybersecurity, insurance, software, and marketing firms. After evaluation, you determine there are plenty of sales reps, but not enough account managers to sustain solid customer service for every segment. Therefore, you can group financial, accounting, and insurance into one territory to ensure adequate resources. During this step of the process, you'll need to assess some aspects of your business separate from resource capacity. The three considerations to look at during sales team territory planning include: Current customers and accounts: No matter how it's divided, see to it that your territory has a solid foundation of customers or clients to sustain itself. Prospective opportunities: Your territories need to have a large market size and supply of leads and prospects that allow your team to grow their books of business and overall revenue. Operational presence: There needs to be a system that allows you to generate new business and support current customers. For instance, if your sales process requires onsite visits and you don’t have a located rep in a certain territory, you may want to remove that territory or redesign how you group your teams. Designing Territory Parameters As part of creating territories, set clear parameters for which leads and customers fall under each jurisdiction. In other words, define rules for where an opportunity is assigned. While something like geography is clear, thanks to ZIP codes, state lines, and culturally understood regions, others may not be so easy. For example, it might be tricky to divide by deal size because you have to estimate how much potential revenue could be generated by an incoming deal. In those situations, it's easiest to define categories for small, mid-sized, or enterprise-level accounts determined by their employee or revenue size. If we were looking at industry groupings, use standard industrial classification (SIC) codes that objectively indicate where a business lead falls. If you create product or service-based territories, establish which solutions fall under which department and what happens if a prospect is interested in multiple offerings. For instance, it's common for insurance agencies to sell both commercial property and casualty insurance and employee benefits (health, dental, life, etc.) packages simultaneously. However, each requires different licensing and experience, so you’d divide those into separate territories. If a potential client wants both types procured, you need a plan to assign to each department separately or have one rep manage both. 3. Assign Reps to Teams Once your territories and parameters are created, you’re ready to assign teams. Consider the experience of each sales representative, customer success manager, customer service rep, and account manager. If they have expertise in a specific industry, product, or service, they should be assigned to that particular territory. Additionally, their knowledge and performance history might impact whether you give them smaller or larger account sizes. Obviously, a rep who has been with your firm for a number of years and has consistent revenue generation should take precedence over enterprise-level accounts, while newer sales employees should oversee smaller ones. Geography is another factor in assigning teams. Assign teams and individuals to sales regions they are already located in to save on travel expenses and enable your team’s ability to engage with prospects and customers. If you’re doing virtual selling, while the geographic location won’t matter as much, it's still smart to keep reps within the same time zone as their leads to create simplicity in the scheduling process. Creating Assignment Rules If you’re using sales territory management software, use your territories to auto-assign leads to reps or customers to account managers based on rules configured in the system. For example, is a popular customer relationship manager (CRM) with sophisticated territory management capabilities that enable you to set triggers and conditions for assigning records to specific users. The automation allows you to configure rules based on territories created in the system. 4. Set Territory Goals Sales goals divided out by regions, industry-specific customers, products, services, or account sizes should be relative to the territory for both activity and production. Each goal should be measurable and realistically set based on the resources, personnel experience, and potential market size for each territory. Much of goal-setting concerns your revenue growth objectives or sales quotas relative to your sales plan. You can choose one of three options for how you want to set your sales goals and evaluate performance: Revenue goals: Total amount of revenue generated (or retained) by individuals or teams over a set period Activity goals: Amount of sales activity, such as calls placed, emails sent, proposals generated, appointments set, or leads generated over a set period Deal or customer generation goals: Total number of deals closed, new customers created, or clients retained over a set period It's best to work backward and determine your organizational revenue goals before assigning them to a territory. Once you have a total number set, divide it out to each sales team. Consider giving territories with a stronger market foothold, established book of business, and more experienced reps a large proportion of the revenue goal. Alternatively, territories or sales groups targeting less established markets or with fewer resources and experience should be assigned smaller yet challenging goals. Additionally, you don’t have to use the same goal type for every sales operation. For instance, you could set a revenue goal for the enterprise-level sales teams that are easier to predict and an activity goal for the department targeting small businesses. 5. Evaluate Performance As each sales team is operating in their respective customer segment or region, monitor production and efficiency across the board. Use key performance indicators (KPIs), such as revenue produced, deals closed, or sales pipeline conversion rates, to evaluate each territory's respective performance. There are a few main reasons to consistently monitor KPIs: Goal management: Ensure that departments, teams, or individuals are on pace to hit their performance targets Sales enablement: Evaluate whether certain territories or teams need additional resources allocated to them in the form of software tools, personnel, lead lists, marketing materials, or sales training Sales forecasting: Predict future sales revenue to determine potential growth and spending capabilities During the evaluation process, if you find one particular territory performed poorly and could not grow or even sustain itself, you may decide to consolidate it with another group. Another route you might take is to restructure all of your territories. For example, you sell project management software and have sales teams for small, mid-sized, and enterprise businesses. After a year, your product isn’t even close to hitting sales goals for mid-sized or larger clients because it doesn’t have the integrations and features that customers desire. That said, you decide to restructure based on geography—dividing them into four territories while only selling to small businesses. Why Should Teams Use Sales Territory Management? By dividing sales operations into “territories,” your sales reps and teams can specialize their skills and narrow their focus on a particular group of leads and customers with similar traits. Allocating specific resources, sales training, and dedicated time based on target markets helps keep teams more productive—ultimately yielding a more efficient sales process. Territory management responsibilities are a subset of sales management often required to grow your business. For instance, if you sell to many different customer segments, offer a variety of products or services. Put up a large sales department, or have sales teams scattered throughout a country or worldwide. In those scenarios, it's highly recommended to incorporate sales territory management into your business. Bottom Line Sales territory planning involves dividing a sales operation into groups based on customer attributes, such as location, size, industry, or needs, enabling higher sales efficiency. The best sales territory management strategies include having well-defined segments, knowing how to assign the right team members to each group, setting realistic goals, and consistently tracking performance for potential operations restructuring.

Setting sales goals provides a roadmap for establishing measurable, achievable objectives needed to meet your revenue and growth goals. It entails determining your break-even point, identifying your desired profitability, and setting sales objectives. You should also incorporate target revenue into your sales goals and communicate them to your team. Learn how to set sales goals for your business without overwhelming—or underwhelming—your sales reps. Download this free template with simple sales goals examples, and use it as you follow the five easy steps below to set your organizational sales goals: Setting sales goals entails careful planning and consideration. Below, we share the five-step process for goal setting for salespeople: 1. Determine Your Break-even Point Whether objectives are based on revenue, customer retention, or total new deals closed, setting sales goals starts by understanding how much money your business needs to stay afloat and be profitable. This is done by identifying your organization’s break-even point, which is the total amount of revenue your business needs to net $0 after meeting all of its financial obligations. Using historical data and projections, calculate how much you expect to spend on all business expenses, such as salaries, marketing costs, office space, technology, legal fees, insurance, taxes, and accounting. The total should be for a one-year outlook, but you can also do longer-term break-evens like three or five years. If you’re looking for more than a year, remember to factor in aspects like expected inflation. 2. Establish Desired Profitability Once you’ve determined how much revenue is needed to keep your business operational, set profitability goals. This refers to the amount of sales revenue above the break-even point you would like to make. It could be a set percentage, such as aiming to make a 20% profit, or a set amount, like wanting to net $100,000. While setting desired profitability, consider recurring customers, resources, and your ability to bring in new customers. Also, evaluate the expected market growth of your industry. For instance, industries like cybersecurity software are fast-growing compared to others, such as office suppliers. Therefore, your goals can be bolder when it comes to desired profitability in high-growth markets since growth potential is higher. 3. Incorporate Revenue Into Your Sales Goals By establishing the desired profitability above your break-even point, calculate how much revenue you want to bring in during the period (typically a year). That amount is your total sales revenue goal, but that does not end the process of setting sales goals. Your revenue goal also needs to be incorporated into sales goals. The simplest way to translate your company’s revenue goal into your sales goals is to use the exact number. For example, if your revenue goal is $200,000, simply set your total sales goal as $200,000. You may determine it’s better to set sales goals based on other measures, such as deals closed, leads generated, or activity deliverables like calls placed, emails sent, and appointments scheduled. Sometimes it’s more advantageous to use sales activities for goals because a sales rep has full control over completing specified activities, but not necessarily the outcomes, which are also contingent on the prospect making a purchase decision. One way to set performance or activity goals for your sales team is by using sales forecast estimates. To learn how to accurately generate sales forecasts, check out our free sales forecast templates. These templates show how to project sales for various situations based on your business type and needs. After setting a revenue goal, segment the total sales revenue goal into incremental steps. Goal segmentation allows you to break down your requirements into smaller goals to make your sales goals feel more achievable and make it easier to measure progress. Here are some ways you can divide a revenue goal into more specific sales goals: Segment by time frame: Break down the annual revenue goal by quarter, month, or week. Make sure to consider holidays and other paid time off (PTO) since they affect how many selling days your business will have. From there, calculate how much revenue your team needs to bring in on average each day to meet your annual revenue goal. Segment by revenue source: Separate your desired goal based on new business and current customers. Businesses like insurance agencies, financial advisers, and software as a service (SaaS) providers tend to have higher residual income, also known as revenue from recurring customers. However, others, such as real estate agencies, depend more on acquiring new customers to meet revenue goals. Segment by teams: Divide the annual goal into subsection goals, such as product category, geographic area, or departmental teams. Generally, this won’t be an even division as it should be segmented based on the revenue generation potential of each. In other words, some are inherently able to produce more revenue than others. Segment by individual sales reps: Break down the sales goal by how much each rep needs to bring in or accomplish. To set sales quotas for your team, take into account their experience, resources, and current business relationships. We’ve created a sales revenue quota calculator to help you calculate each of your team members’ sales quota: Segment by product or service: Divide your annual sales goal by how much you want to bring in per product line or service offering. The more sales goal segmentation you have, the more specific your strategies can be. You also have the option to segment goals based on just one of these methods or using multiple methods listed above. The larger or more complex your business or offerings are, the more important it may be to segment goals in multiple ways. For instance, a simple, single-method option would be setting a 50/50 sales revenue goal between two different products. On the other hand, a multimethod segment could include breaking down your revenue into monthly goals for each sales rep. It will also entail stating that the sales revenue produced by each agent should be 70% new business and 30% existing customers. 4. Set Sales Objectives Operational sales objectives are an essential part of setting sales goals. They ensure your sales team has a plan to achieve the sales goals set for them as individuals, as a team, and for the organization as a whole. Sales objectives break down goals into the weekly, or daily activities agents need to complete to meet sales goals, such as the number of cold calls placed, emails sent, appointments set up, or leads generated. When setting objectives, you need information about sales funnel conversion rates. This refers to the rate of leads that go through each stage of the funnel. For example, if for every 100 new eligible leads you generate (and add to the sales funnel), 15 become paying customers after getting through the sales process, your total closing rate is 15%. Based on this, as well as the average revenue generated per sale and the activities needed to generate 100 leads, you can set specific objectives for your sales team. Below is a sample breakdown of turning conversion rates into a set sales objective. First, here are example conversion rates: Your annual sales goal is to close 20 deals Your conversion rate for getting a lead to agree to a product demo through cold calling is 4% Your conversion rate of having the lead want to receive a quote after a product demonstration is 50% Your conversion rate of leads who received a business proposal and who then sign on and become paying customers is 30% Based on these conversion rates, your team must place 3,333 total cold calls to different leads during the year. 3,333 calls will produce 133 product demonstrations, which will, in turn, yield 66 proposals, of which about 20 will be won. 3,333 cold calls can be broken down into 278 per month and about 69 per week. Divide 69 by the number of agents engaging in cold calling to determine how many cold calls an individual rep needs to make each week, or even each day. Keep in mind that different sales goals will result in varying types of sales objectives. For instance, if your annual sales goal is 100 deals closed with no indication of total revenue, your sales team is more likely to focus on high-volume prospectings, such as attempting to generate as many leads as possible through cold calling campaigns or mass emailing. Alternatively, to achieve a revenue goal of $500,000, your team may focus less on volume and more on deal value. This would entail prospecting activities to get well-researched leads they know would be highly profitable contracts into your sales pipeline. Measuring progress is then based on monitoring the total potential deal value vs. the number of opportunities. 5. Communicate Sales Goals Once the process of setting sales goals is complete, and you know how much activity needs to occur for your reps to hit them, communicate the goals to your team. To get everyone on the same page, first, have a team meeting to outline your business’ aggregate sales goals. Then, discuss with each rep individually how much and what types of activity are expected to hit their goals in the sales plan. When communicating sales goals that have different measurables, such as saying you want your sales team to close a certain number of deals and bring in X amount of revenue, make sure to prioritize which goal is more important. For example, your revenue goal is likely more crucial, so emphasize to your sales team that as long as revenue goals are accomplished, it’s not as important how many deals are closed. Managing sales goals is an ongoing process that should happen weekly for activity-based goals and monthly for performance goals like revenue generated or deals closed. Typically, it’s going to be a sales manager who is responsible for tracking their sales rep’s activity and production. If a sales rep falls behind their sales goals, find out the cause and make operational adjustments. This might include supplying more leads or finding ways to automate specific tasks such as data entry. On the other hand, if their lack of performance is skill-related, you can provide them with one-on-one coaching or enroll them in an effective sales training program. If you need to adjust your sales goals and require more activity from your sales team, do so incrementally. For instance, if your adjusted sales goal requires 40 additional cold calls to be placed each week, slowly implement the new objectives by adding five one week, 10 the next, 15 after that, and so on, until they are doing 40 additional calls per week. This gives agents time to adjust their workday patterns and prevents them from feeling overwhelmed. Tools for Managing Sales Goals Once you’ve set sales goals and communicated them to your team, you need processes in place to manage progress. This includes everything from motivating your team to monitoring progress and providing sales coaching when it’s needed. This is essential because it’s not uncommon for a business to set a sales goal and then fail to enforce the goal or the activities needed to achieve it. The most common method to manage and monitor your sales goals is using customer relationship management (CRM) software. Most CRMs have measuring tools to help you monitor your team's performance, including tracking their activities and the number of sales they bring into the business. , for instance, has goal tracking capabilities that allow managers to monitor segmented goal progress. They can view the progress on the dashboard or create a sales report with goal and activity information. Other providers, like , have the functionality to break down sales performance into various areas and metrics. It can inform businesses how their sales performed per region or sales stage—helping them identify their highest and lowest sales drivers. Incentives, such as bonuses, gift cards, prepaid cards, and other rewards, are an effective way to keep your sales teams motivated to hit and exceed their sales objectives and goals. Providers, such as , let you manage reward incentives by giving out dollar amounts to employees for achievements that can be spent on gift cards. Another way to motivate your team to work toward your set sales goals is to use sales gamification software. It helps turn sales performance, including activities related to sales objectives, into a friendly competition to motivate and incentivize meeting sales goals. Providers like help you manage your sales goals by monitoring your team’s activity, goal progress, and providing coaching when needed. The LevelEleven dashboard, for example, enables a sales manager to create a note of encouragement to congratulate or motivate a rep or offer advice to assist them. Benefits of Setting Sales Goals Setting sales goals that are realistic but still challenge your sales team is essential for success in any sales management role. It requires you to understand your business’ finances, growth goals, and sales operations. When done properly, goal setting establishes objective expectations for your sales teams that can be easily measured. Here are some of the top benefits of setting and managing sales goals: Syncs everyone’s expectations: Setting and communicating sales goals ensures everyone knows what’s expected of them in terms of performance and its contribution to overall team and company goals. Provides a roadmap of activities: Sales objectives let each team and team member know exactly what they need to do to hit their goals. Allows for accountability: Setting sales goals enables you to hold sales reps and managers accountable in the event objectives and goals are not met. Offers a threshold for praise: When your team or an individual exceeds a sales goal or objectives, it becomes a basis for credit, recognition, and rewards. Bottom Line Setting sales goals is crucial for business growth as it provides a detailed game plan and accountability for sales managers and reps. Ensure the goals are realistic and communicated properly, so employees feel it’s an exciting challenge instead of an overwhelming burden. Continuous management of goals, including recognition, incentives, and adjustments, is also essential for achieving them. Download the free template above to set your organization’s sales goals and determine if targets aligned with your business goals are realistically attainable.

Customer relationship management (CRM) dashboards present a snapshot of sales activity, performance, goal progress, tasks, and pipeline health in a simple, centralized format. Sales managers use CRM dashboards to evaluate key performance indicators (KPIs) and other top priority data metrics in a sales operation—enabling them to optimize strategies based on these reports. This article explores CRM dashboards, how they work, and how they teach you how to customize your own. Types of Dashboard Reports A dashboard can consist of various components like charts, reports, and widgets pulled from your CRM system data. However, which of these components are included in a dashboard will depend on the type of dashboard used and whether your system allows for customization. The most common types of components you can add to your dashboards, along with examples of how they’re used, include: Sales pipeline dashboard: Contains information on your current sales pipelines, such as the number of opportunities, average deal size, conversion rates, and total closed deals. It’s used to help maintain the pipeline health, identify top opportunities, and find trends to help your sales team sell more efficiently. Activity reports: Data on input by your sales individuals or team, such as the number of calls placed, emails sent, leads generated, appointments set, or proposals created. They’re used to ensure sales quotas are met and that personnel put in the proper effort. Revenue forecasts: Estimates on how much revenue you can expect to generate over a set period based on current pipeline health and recent trends. They’re used to predict sales numbers and determine future spending capabilities. Goal tracking reports: Evaluations of the organizational, team, or individual sales goals concerning actual progress. They keep teams on pace to fulfill objectives and hold staff accountable for performance. Some systems allow you to mix and match unique reporting widgets into one dashboard, others allow you to set up multiple different dashboards that you can navigate between depending on what you want to know. is one of the best CRM dashboard examples in this regard, where a user can create and navigate between multiple dashboards from the insights module. If a sales manager wanted to separate pipeline data for three different sales regions, they could have multiple dashboards—rather than one dashboard for the entire business. A tool like Pipedrive allows you to create three dashboards, presenting pipeline data for each region and one that aggregates all pipeline data into a single dashboard. Now, with just one click, they can switch between each dashboard for valuable insights. Why CRM Dashboard Customization Matters Customization is essential to managing a CRM dashboard and making it work. The entire purpose is to create a snapshot visualization that meets your needs, which you can quickly glance at to grasp how your business is performing. In addition to selecting the types of reports and data you want, there are reasons to add customizable elements to your dashboard. These reasons include: More timely analysis options: For goal tracking, activity reporting, forecasting, and pipeline monitoring, you might only want to see data corresponding with a certain time. For example, if you were evaluating your pipeline for deals closed last month, set your dashboard to only show deal closing data for the previous month or the last 30 days. Allows you to better filter data: You may add or remove bits of information to create more value from your dashboard. For instance, with goal progress, you can have revenue charts on your dashboard that show the total revenue produced compared to the desired goal. Alternatively, you might filter your data to only show a specific team or individual. Creates an improved visual design: The data can be shown in different visual designs, including pie charts, line graphs, bar graphs, funnels, or simple, bold numbers. You might select specific designs depending on the insights you’re looking for. For example, a month-to-month revenue comparison would be best shown as a bar graph, while total revenue over the period can be an enlarged number. Makes priority information easier to see: In addition to adding designs, you should tailor the layout by arranging and sizing the widgets accordingly. For instance, when evaluating pipeline efficiency, something important like a deal conversion rate funnel should be a larger widget than something less associated with efficiency, like an average deal value number or line graph of revenue over time. Every major CRM product offers a high degree of dashboard customization for each element. The dashboard samples below are solid examples of dashboard customization from a user’s point of view. With all the features a CRM system offers and its technical complexities, it can seem overwhelming to fully understand CRM software and find the best product for your business. We’ve created a comprehensive CRM e-book that breaks down everything you need to know about a CRM, including its benefits and standard features as well as how to select and implement the best-suited one into your operations. The Expert's Guide to Customer Relationship Management Small Business Use Cases + Pro Tips Download Now How to Customize a CRM Dashboard in 3 Steps Once you understand the types of reports and customization that go into a CRM dashboard, you’re ready to design your own. Here’s how to customize a CRM dashboard in three steps using sales dashboard examples from , a highly acclaimed product for its CRM reporting features. 1. Select 'Create a New Dashboard' From the CRM system, there will be a button to create a dashboard. Some products may even have a default one made or offer CRM dashboard templates that help get you started. With , you can build one from scratch or use one of their prebuilt templates. After starting the process, you’ll be prompted to name your specific dashboard, which will be useful if you navigate multiple dashboards. Additionally, you can set different user permissions and organize, favorite, clone, or delete dashboard pages. 2. Create Filtered Reports & Widgets Once the page is created, generate and add the visual items. This process starts with selecting the dashboard you want to work in and then creating a report. While each CRM differs in how you can exactly create a report, they all start with choosing data sources and then adding selected information to a visual chart. In , users can choose which modules they want to use as their primary data source. Once chosen, decide on the data fields and properties to add to each report as a visual chart. These could be a bar or pie graph, or an enlarged number. Filter the information based on date ranges or attributes such as team, pipeline, or individual sales rep. As each report is completed, users can add them to the dashboard. Even after they’re added, you can customize the charts, delete them, filter the data further, or add and edit new data from the dashboard. Most CRMs, including , have editing or filtering options in the corner of each widget to make those adjustments. 3. Arrange Your Visuals The last step involves arranging your widgets and charts to your liking. Like many other CRMs, uses a drag-and-drop and drag-to-size system, making it easy to design. For each item, you can drag from each square to move it around, then click corners to adjust the size until it's exactly how you want it to look. Who Uses CRM Dashboards? Anyone involved in a sales, marketing, or customer service operation using a CRM system can take advantage of a CRM dashboard. Depending on each individual’s role in the organization, however, it may serve different purposes. Here are some of the most common user types of dashboards: Sales managers, vice presidents, and directors: Those overseeing sales operations or responsible for managing territories use dashboards to view activity and performance for their specific team or organization. Business owners and executives: C-suite executives, business managers, and owners utilize CRM dashboards to get a quick overview of how well their sales or revenue teams perform, make sales forecasts, and track goal progress. Account executives: Individuals responsible for building and maintaining relationships with clients use dashboards to discover trends, prioritize leads and opportunities, and see what tasks need to be completed next by filtering sales data. Sales development reps (SDRs): SDRs primarily handle prospecting and lead generation by cold calling, emailing, or attending networking events. They use dashboards to track their individual activity and performance to optimize workflows and meet their activity quotas. Customer experience and account managers: These team members are responsible for keeping key metrics like customer churn rates low and satisfaction high. They use customer service dashboards to evaluate relevant KPIs, such as customer retention rates or average customer lifetime value (CLV). Data analysts: Analysts take data and business intelligence (BI) information to find trends or opportunities that help the business make better decisions. CRM dashboards are an excellent way to quickly obtain specific sales information for sales enablement purposes or other improvement initiatives. Marketing managers: Managers and other personnel in a marketing department use dashboards to gauge the effectiveness of their email, digital ad, or social media campaigns. Furthermore, they can take the snapshot data to see which channels and content resonate best with their audiences. Bottom Line CRM dashboards give managers and sales employees a glance into performance, activity, goal progress, and estimated revenue. Nearly all CRM systems have at least some level of dashboarding capabilities, either built in or through a native software tool. Creating your own dashboards requires choosing and filtering the data you’d like to see reported while visualizing and arranging it in a way that’s easy to understand.