This first installment in a three-part series on efficiency will discuss how leaders can thrive by incorporating smart solutions into their marketing and sales processes – even if they are working with a small team.
There can be economy only where there is efficiency.” This quote from the famed British statesman Benjamin Disraeli has been a touchstone for business leaders and economists for many decades – and these days, with industries undergoing changes at a rapid rate, it seems even more timely. Dental suppliers concerned about an uncertain future can lay the groundwork for growth by ensuring that their processes and procedures are operating as efficiently as possible.
While large manufacturers and dealers have greater resources to put into use, even suppliers with smaller teams are uniquely positioned to take on this growth challenge. Working with limited resources doesn’t mean cutting corners, especially when it comes to sales and marketing processes – and business leaders who want to maximize growth (and revenue!) while maintaining efficiency can do so by working with the right data.
Small-but-mighty teams: more common than you’d think
If your organization is comprised of a small-but-mighty group of sales and marketing professionals, you are in good company. According to a blog post from the Center for Sales Strategy, about 30% of sales managers are leading teams of one to five people. Some leaders could have chosen to minimize their sales teams due to economic uncertainty or hiring freezes, while others simply work for smaller organizations.
Even if you currently work within a large dental supply company, some data indicates that the new normal will include smaller teams overall. A recent report from SHRM notes that since 1990, the global labor force participation rate has fallen steadily, with the number of people of working age (between ages 15 and 65) estimated to decline in the U.S. by over 3 percent during the next 10 years. The message is clear: people are a precious resource — arguably your most precious resource — and amid an ongoing labor shortage, it’s important to support your team members through data solutions and systems that maximize efficiency.
But a small team doesn’t have to mean a slow path to growth. Harvard Business Review notes that a small team might be more likely to disrupt current ways of thinking with new ideas, inventions, and opportunities. Additionally, small teams may have greater skill at working through problems more efficiently than their larger counterparts.
Giving small teams the tools for success
With this in mind, business leaders should embrace the power of their small-but-mighty team by empowering them with smart data solutions. Dental suppliers can support the efficiency and effectiveness of their teams by:
- Cleansing and enriching CRM data: Having the right dental data insights in your CRM enhance opportunities for growth and allow your sales and marketing team to move quickly on prospects. If your CRM data is old, inaccurate or incomplete, it will hinder your team’s ability to act fast on opportunities, create distrust in the CRM platform and sap sales team morale. Using a trusted third-party to match data, clean records and inject enriched prospect data into your CRM can be a game-changer.
- Prioritizing focus on high-value potential customers: When your sales and marketing teams have a better understanding of customers and prospects, they can jump start growth — even when the economic landscape is uncertain. Targeting and market segmentation insights can help smaller teams by matching customer data with dentist-level profiling to find the best pathways to growth while making efficient use of the time spent on outreach. Having access to substantial data sets, deep dental domain expertise and analytics capabilities, your small-but-mighty, most valuable resources will have the tools and confidence needed to capture market share.
Supporting small teams to become more efficient holds the key to unlocking growth for your organization. Fluent can help your sales and marketing teams with the data, processes and dental domain expertise needed to tackle the challenge of efficiency — and growth — with confidence. Contact us today to learn more and #GrowHappy with us.
