Your CRM needs a CPR

We all know that our Customer Relationship Management system is the heart of sales processes. It helps us keep track of our interactions with prospects and clients, monitor our pipeline, and close deals. 

But what happens when our CRM becomes cluttered with inactive contacts? It's time for CPR contact revival.

What do we call inactive contacts?

Inactive, forgotten, or even “dead” contacts in a CRM, can be defined as those contacts who have not engaged with your company for a specific period of time or have provided incorrect or outdated information. 

The proper definition of an inactive contact may vary depending on your company's industry, sales cycle, and communication frequency. Still, below there are a few common characteristics of an outdated database:

• No engagement.

Your contacts haven’t opened or clicked on any of your emails or responded to any of your calls or messages in a certain period of time.

• Incomplete/outdated information.

The contacts in your CRM have incomplete or outdated information, such as an email address that bounces or a phone number that is no longer in service.

• Unqualified leads.

The contacts in your database have been identified as leads, but do not meet the qualification criteria for your company's products or services.

• No “social” activity.

This happens when your contacts haven’t visited your website or engaged with your company's social media for a while.

Are we responsible for inactive contacts?

Probably all the items listed above resonates with you… Why? Because this is one of the most common problems in business worldwide. As companies grow, so do their processes. But, unfortunately, traditional CRMs make it difficult for users to properly engage due to their unfriendly interface, causing them to feel less prone to fill in contact info and/or report activity.

It can happen that your team lacks the practice or knowledge to use the CRM correctly and fill it up with info right after an interaction. Or maybe they simply don’t have time for administrative tasks. In the second scenario, it is always a good idea to implement tools that improve the CRM interface to make it user-friendly and automate repetitive tasks such as activity reporting and data collection.

Either way, you shouldn’t put all the weight of this issue on you and your sales team’s shoulders, as there are many reasons why our database might turn into “dust in the wind” that we cannot control:

• Change in contacts’ job, or company.

Contacts may become inactive if they change jobs or companies, and their contact information is no longer valid or up-to-date.

• Irrelevant messaging.

If your sales and marketing messages are not relevant or personalized to the needs and interests of your contacts, they may become disengaged and eventually inactive.

• Unresolved issues.

Contacts who have had a negative experience with your company, product, or service, or who have unresolved issues may become inactive and disengaged as a result.

How to perform CPR on your contacts?

If you've been neglecting your inactive contacts, it's time to give them some attention. Here are a few tips to help you bring those contacts back to life:

• Segment your contacts: create a list by activity level. Look for contacts who haven't engaged with your company in a while, but who have shown some level of interest in the past.
• Reach out: your list is ready? Connect with the contacts with a personalized message. Let them know that you value their business and want to hear from them. Offer them something of value, like a white paper, a free trial, or an invitation to a webinar.
• Follow-up: after reaching out, if you don't hear back from the contact after the initial message, try reaching out again in a few weeks. Persistence pays off in sales, and a well-timed follow-up message might be just what your contact needs to get engaged with your company again.
• Update your CRM: as you re-engage with your inactive contacts, be sure to update your CRM. Take note of any new information you gather, such as updated contact details or preferences.
• Automate these processes: consider using sales engagement software to help you manage your re-engagement campaigns. Automation tools can send you alerts and notifications whenever a contact is about to become inactive, so they don’t “fall into oblivion” and you can perform what we call “pipeline revival”.  Right after, you can create personalized messages at the right time, track engagement, and update your CRM automatically when performing these outreach actions. 

Saving the life of your CRM is possible by performing CPR at the right moment and place. You only need to keep an eye on your database and make sure your team is engaging with it properly. “One CRM updated a day keeps the issues away…”