Breaking Down Silos with Cross Channel Sales

Many businesses only adopt the use of digital channels to keep up with developing customer expectations. Yet, if the company fails to link these channels with a central CRM, they risk operating in silos which will only disappoint internal employees time and time again. And Silos can also negatively impact external business outcomes too.

That said, before you can address any of these problems, it’s important to understand what silos are and how they integrate with other channels.

What are Silos?

A silo occurs when two or more customer engagement channels exist without interconnecting or sharing data. Like a literal silo, they operate separately to one another.

Silos like this emerge when customer service, sales, and marketing departments all implement their own ways of working with no plan or desire to integrate. This often happens when an organisation undergoes rapid digital change and doesn’t engage the help of a PPC expert when implementing a marketing strategy, for example.

The ideal outcome is to link all your channels together in a robust CRM system that contributes to a seamless transfer of data among departments and customers.

Silos in Sales and Marketing

Customers are exposed to advertising on a routine basis, be it on the internet, mobile devices, emails and in print.

In sales, operating in silos often leads to executives losing sales and their funnels dying up. Making customers repeat information three or four times during the sales process is not only inconsistent and unprofessional but also leads to them becoming disenfranchised and abandoning the process.

Across sales and marketing, operating in silos can cause serious harm to a business.

How to Stop Operating in Silos

To stop operating in silos, businesses can make an immediate switch from a multichannel approach to an omnichannel strategy, which may include the use of a CRM. Doing so will centralise data sharing and make it available for all product and customer information.

To achieve this aim, there are a few avenues you should explore:

• Make the most out of your CRM system – To provide a silo-free client experience, you must be constantly sharing reliable and accurate data. Maximising a CRM is one method for determining specific customer requirements, maintaining audience data and updating information across your integrated channels.
• Update your inventory – To consolidate your offline and online entries under one roof, it’s important to make sure your inventory is accurate and robust. In short, customers should receive the same experience regardless of which department they buy from or whether they opt to purchase online or in-store
• Train your employees appropriately – It’s important to promote this omnichannel experience by making sure everyone understands what their co-workers do. This will facilitate seamless and quick collaboration between departments and perhaps lead to increased ROI.

A connected business which doesn’t operate in silos can collect and analyse data from all channels and put it to good use. In doing so, they can run better reports that unveil crucial customer, product, and service trends.

Having this information readily available for every department also improves problem-solving capabilities.

PPC Geeks – Optimum Operational Specialists

We pride ourselves on what we achieve for our clients daily, be that significant results or helping them improve how their business operates. Contact PPC Geeks to see how we can help you achieve sustained growth and scale your business by eliminating silos and promoting cross channel sales and marketing.

We always have your best interests in mind. If you require any help or want to improve your PPC or Google Ads, then invest in one of our 100% FREE eCommerce Ads audits.

Also, why not check out some of our case studies and how we’ve helped grow several companies over the years.