Disruptive Sales Pipeline Tool for SMEs Launched
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are wasting time and money on over-complicated sales tools which don’t help grow their businesses. As a result 54% are frustrated by them according to research among 250 UK SMEs.
A key problem is that the tools are more about inputting and recording data than improving the sales process. Those interviewed complain that data entry into their current system absorbs as much as 41% of SME sales management time. Time which 64% say would be better spent actually closing sales.
The research was designed specifically for SMEs and for the speed with which sales today operate. Clinchd eliminates needless input tasks and provides more sales insight and support. For instance, a deal can be loaded onto the system in two clicks. Sales leads can be qualified rapidly. Clinchd sends reminders, it values a sales pipeline in real time and enables the user to quickly spot where deals are being lost.
When I was building my first company, business development sat squarely on my shoulders. It was incredibly time intensive. I tried to professionalise our approach but whatever sales pipeline tool I used, never really worked. They all seemed over-complicated, and involved inputting massive amounts of data. This was time I could ill-afford. And, ironically, when I needed the systems to actually give me clear data showing for example where sales were being lost and why, they couldn’t give me what I needed.
This experience isn’t unique. 51% of the SMEs studied would like their sales management tool to be better at keeping team members up to date with sales progress. One in four (25%) would like it to be better at nudging them when key tasks or follow-ups with prospects are needed and 16% would like it to be more efficient at keeping contact information up to date.
As a result, despite paying annual subscriptions of as much as £600 per annum per user, many SMEs don’t feel able to rely on their system, with almost one in five (19%) barely going into it once a week.
Clinchd has been designed to address such issues. It sends notifications to help users stay on top of deals, alerting them when sales are near to closing and providing prompts when sales are not moving as quickly as expected. It also provides reminders if a deal hasn’t been looked at for a while.
The tool has neat features like ‘time travel’ which provides rapid visibility of how things like the sales funnel have changed over time. Through this the user can see how different sales and marketing activities are flowing into the funnel and actually impacting on sales. This gives small business owners and their teams a much more realistic view of the value of their pipeline and what is and isn’t working.
SME owners typically have a real ‘can do’ spirit. It’s what fuels the early growth of the company. But such a temperament often means that when a sale is lost there’s not a lot of reflection. Everyone quickly moves on to the next deal without identifying what went wrong so that lessons can be learned. Blind spots can develop – you fail to notice types of businesses that aren’t converting or elements in the process where things are failing. Clinchd plugs these gaps.
Clinchd is designed to flex as a company grows. Depending on the nature of the business, complex recurring deals can be modelled with ease and deals can be held in any currency. Furthermore, as more people get involved in the sales process, so teams of people – from marketing, product development, finance and sales – can access and input into the system at no extra cost. Clinchd can be integrated with over 600 popular SME tools and applications.
Clinchd offers a free tier aimed at smaller SMEs; despite being free it still comes with rich functionality and unlimited users. The paid-for tiers are for larger businesses that need greater controls and more extensive team-based features.
Storry concludes by explaining why: “Not only are current sales tools not driving the growth of the SMEs who use them, but their drawbacks mean that many are sticking with spreadsheets. That’s no way for an ambitious SME to increase its sales. I want to break this cycle by offering Clinchd free to smaller SMEs.I’m convinced, that with a tool like ours actually supporting their sales rather than just monitoring them, Clinchd can help them grow. And when they do, if they feel the time is right, they can then transition to our paid-for tiers.”
