Customer and prospect data is the lifeblood of any successful business. Yet we often still rely on antiquated manual processes to track this information, costing valuable time and opportunities. Contact management software aims to fix this through features like centralized databases, interaction logging, and analytics.
The market for these solutions has exploded in recent years – growing at a 22% CAGR since 2016 to become a $5.1 billion industry. What‘s driving such demand? Primarily the desire to enhance sales productivity and conversion rates by better leveraging customer data. Studies show that contact management software delivers:
- 37% more sales opportunities
- 53% higher win rates
- 29% larger deal sizes
Clearly, the business case for adoption is compelling. This guide will explore the category in depth – from basic functions to advanced systems – to determine the best choice for your needs and budget. We‘ll also hear perspectives from industry experts and highlight key considerations around privacy and security.
Table Stakes Capabilities
At their foundation, all contact management tools provide an organized database plus basic activity tracking and communications capabilities:
Contact Database
- Central repository for prospect/customer data
- Flexible segmentation and tagging
- Customizable fields
Interaction Logging
- Chronological timeline of emails, calls, meetings
- Related documents attachment
- Activity categorization
Communication Tools
- Shared calendar integration
- Email synchronization and logging
- Manual note entry
This covers the basics, but falls short of leveraging data intelligently. Let‘s look at more advanced functionality to drive productivity and insights.
Key Differentiators
Beyond the fundamentals, contact management platforms add a variety of capabilities to enhance sales efforts:
Predictive Lead Scoring
Scoring algorithms assess contacts based on criteria like recency, frequency, title, etc. to identify hot prospects. Reps can then prioritize outreach accordingly.
Market Intelligence Integration
Incorporate real-time news, social media, funding event alerts to better understand prospect companies and trends.
Sentiment Analysis
Automatically scan interactions to detect positive, negative or neutral sentiment and highlight pain points.
ROI Tracking
Tag revenue back to specific marketing initiatives like events or nurture tracks by capturing cost data.
Custom Analytics
End user reporting without reliance on data specialists empowers better decisions.
The more data sources integrated and deeper the analysis capabilities, the higher the typical pricing tier. Mid-market and enterprise systems provide the most robust feature sets.
Expert Insights on Maximizing Value
We sat down with product leaders and implementers of top contact management platforms to garner best practice recommendations:
Steve Weber, Director of Product Management at Nutshell
"Two often overlooked capabilities that deliver immense value are collaboration tools and firmographic data enrichment. Sales reps waste countless hours played ‘phone tag‘ with teammates. In-app messaging and task assignment streamline team selling. And the ability to automatically append details on company size, technologies used etc. is like rocket fuel for qualifying accounts."
Rebecca Thompson, Customer Success Director at Chrous
"One key success metric we see is salesVelocity – the pace at which new contacts convert to closed deals. Clients able to shrink this funnel through targeted, personalized follow-up see explosive growth. Contact management tools now allow modeling of predictive lead scoring algorithms and journeys tailored to each persona to drive faster salesVelocity."
David Walsh, Contact Management Consultant
"Perhaps the most gratifying client success stories come from improved customer retention and satisfaction. By creating a longitudinal view of all touchpoints, we uncovered critical moments of truth for proactive intervention when an account showed signs of attrition. The ROI was 10X for every dollar invested."
SECURITY NOTE
I cannot stress enough, as a cybersecurity expert, the critical importance of applying sound data security principles and access controls around contact management solutions given the sensitive information stored.
Key Purchasing Considerations
When evaluating options, keep these aspects in mind:
Industry Specialization
Vertical-specific systems build in proprietary data model and workflows
Total Cost of Ownership
Factor both subscription and internal resource needs
Scalability
Flexible pricing models and features to support growth
Mobile Access
Manage interactions on-the-go
Analytics
Embedded reporting empowers users to self-serve insights
By prioritizing these elements you‘ll maximize satisfaction long term.
Gardner, 2022
