Winning new business isn’t easy, so it’s vital to learn how to avoid losing valuable leads.  Sometimes you’re so busy juggling your everyday tasks that you neglect your prospects and ultimately lose them to a competitor.  Automation can be a game-changer because it takes care of not letting leads fall through the cracks and nurturing them for you to save you precious time.  We all know what it’s like to be time-poor, so follow our tips below to put your lead recording and nurturing on autopilot and stay ahead of the game.

Choosing a CRM

It’s really important to have a good system for storing prospective customer contact details.  Your CRM (short for Customer Relationship Management) solution should be at the core of your business and a good one can be used to then remind your to follow up with leads and convert them into paying customers.

Then if you want to run your lead nurturing processes on autopilot make sure that you choose a CRM which can integrate with your other applications.  Many CRMs have inbuilt integrations, but if not then you can use Zapier to connect your apps.  Zapier has a list of CRM tools that it can integrate with, including Hubspot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, and Dubsado.

Automatically add leads to the CRM

The first step for freeing up some valuable time is to automatically add new sales leads to your CRM.  You may have various marketing sources, such as contact forms on your website or Facebook Lead Ads.  When prospective customers fill in their details then you can automatically add them to your CRM using Zapier.

If your website is built using WordPress then there are a range of contact form plugins that can automatically send the data to your CRM.  These include Typeform, Gravity Forms, WPForms, and Ninja Forms.

If you use a different contact form solution then you can still automatically add the leads to your CRM using Zapier, by using their email parser.  You will likely receive an email confirmation when information is submitted via the form.  Zapier can use the email to trigger sending the data to any other app which it supports, such as your CRM or even just a spreadsheet.  You can find out more in our blog post here.

As mentioned before, Zapier can integrate with other lead-generating apps.  For example, Facebook Lead Ads, LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, and Instagram Lead Ads.

If you want to easily add leads to your CRM ‘manually’ then you can use the Zapier Google Chrome extension to send data entered there really quickly without leaving your browser.  This is ideal if you’re on the phone and someone mentions a prospect to you.  You can quickly capture the data and then Zapier will format it and send it to the CRM, without even needing to open the CRM app and navigate to the relevant menu option.

Automatically follow up sales leads

If you want to avoid losing leads then you need to chase them!  Customers are probably as busy as you are, so won’t always respond when they say they will.  Having an automated sales cadence means you don’t have to do the legwork, as Zapier can take care of it.

We show you how to create a structured seven-day sales sequence here, using Pipedrive, but this approach will work for any of the CRMs mentioned earlier.  Using SMS, LinkedIn messages, and phone calls makes the process more personal, and you can create pre-written scripts for what to say at each stage, to save reinventing the wheel each time.

You can set up the nurture actions required automatically in you’re your CRM or in a task manager app, whether it’s Trello, Asana, or Todoist.   This means you’ll never forget a step of the process, and can tick them off when they’re completed.

You can use an email platform such as Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, or MailerLite to create the content, and then automations will take care of the rest.

Sending proposals and contracts automatically

When you have reached the stage that a prospective customer wants to engage with you then you can automatically send over the proposal, contract, and terms of business.  Many of the CRMs will do this using inbuilt automations, but if not then Zapier can help.

We have a video guide that shows how to create a bespoke sales proposal PDF using a Google Docs template.  This can be triggered when a lead reaches a certain stage or status in your CRM.

Automating the onboarding process

Once your client has signed the contract, you can automatically create a series of onboarding tasks in your task management app.  These can include welcome emails, sending links to webforms for the information you require, and creating a list of project actions you need to complete.  If you do ask the client for information via a webform then Zapier can save the responses in your CRM automatically.

Find out more

We hope you found these tips for how to avoid losing leads useful.  We have transformed processes like these for many clients and have witnessed first-hand what a difference it can make.

If you’d like to learn more about Zapier then we have some free resources for you:

• Our free e-book is the perfect introduction to business automation
• Our Zapier functions cheat sheet delves into the powerful inbuilt helper apps which can supercharge your automations

If you’d like to be guided through every stage of getting started with Zapier then our founder, Kelly’s book, Automate It with Zapier, is available on Amazon and through the publisher Packt.  It explains a range of automations and you can download templates to get started really quickly. Here are links to Amazon (.co.uk) and Amazon (.com) to get yours now.

The book is perfect for seasoned pros as well as brand new Zapier users.

New Zapier courses coming soon!

And finally, if you’re really keen to transform your business using automation then we will be launching the Solvaa Automation Academy in early 2022, providing you with a bunch of Zapier training courses to help you run your business on autopilot.  You can join the waitlist below to keep up to date with the latest news.

Solvaa is a process and automation consultancy specialising in improving sales, operations and financial administration workflows. We help you to simplify and streamline existing processes, integrate your business tools to make data transfer more efficient and automate manual tasks to increase productivity. We are Zapier Certified Experts, Pipedrive Certified Experts and Xero Certified Advisors. 

Contact us today to discuss how Solvaa can help you simplify, improve and automate all aspects of your business with Zapier to save you time, reduce costs and keep you agile as you grow.

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