CRM-Based Communication Channels

There’s a channel that converts 15% of meetings booked to closed won. And it’s not some crazy outbound strategy… It’s data that simply lies within your CRM. When looking at a GTM strategy, I love to look at conversion rates of meetings booked to closed wons across different macro channels: - Cold Outbound - Paid Ads - Organic Inbound The latter, as you can imagine, beats all types of channels by miles (around 25% conversion) - which is why we post on LinkedIn ;) Followed by paid ads and outbound (average the 8% mark). But there’s a 4th source that few companies track: Re-engagements. In other words, deals that have been opened in the past, were closed lost, and then opened again by reps. Amongst our clients, we tend to see this channel convert about 15% from demo booked to won. 15% Meaning that while most companies stress about having the perfect outbound strategy with incredible copywriting, or the best new Ad that’ll bring hundreds of leads. You could simply look at your CRM, call prospects you’ve had past conversations with, and close 15% of them. I beg you, please set up the following structure on your CRM in order to perfectly track these opportunities: 1️⃣ For your closed lost reasons, have one option listed as: “Timing”   As you begin populating this property, you’ll begin noticing trends. Make it granular for your case. In workflows, we have:     - M&A     - Not a priority now     - Fundraising 2️⃣⁠ Create a conditional property where you have to insert a specific date when a better time to engage this prospect will be. A classic case: - “Your product could be interesting for us, but right now we’re fundraising and have 0 budget for it” - “I understand, would it make sense to contact you when you’ve completed the round” - “Yes in January” Closed Lost → Timing → Fundraising → Re-engagement date 01/01/2026 3️⃣ Write down details on a “closed lost note” field type. Example: “Prospect was interested in our solution but had 0 budget to buy now, told us to contact her in Jan after a round” 4️⃣ On a weekly cadence, create a new segment/list on your CRM: New → Create a segment of Deals → Filter → Reopen date is → This week Assign randomly to new reps. (You could even assign to the same reps, but imo having different reps contact old prospects is a good way to test different approaches until one hits) THE RESULT: A list of companies that should be recontacted in that specific month, assigned to your reps on a weekly basis. Once your reps start to diligently accumulate this data, your CRM becomes a machine consistently helping you re-engage with prospects your team has already talked to, have explicitly told you to call them back, and already know your solution. Gold, basically. CRMs weren’t meant to be static platforms helping you sort current pipeline. They’re powerful tools that help you leverage past conversations to sell over extended periods of time. Make the most of them, especially the low hanging fruits.

I talk a lot on here about email marketing but SMS is a key part of CRM too… Both have their strengths, but how do they compare? Open rates get thrown around a lot. 90%+ for SMS 20-25% for emails But to be honest, neither stat tells the full story. Email open rates are skewed by privacy updates, and SMS “opens” are really just delivery confirmations. If you want a fairer comparison, click-through rate is a better measure. SMS averages around 19%, while email sits at 2-3%. It’s tempting to see SMS as the clear winner, however it is more expensive to send. Email, on the other hand, is cheaper and easier to scale, but harder to cut through the noise. The truth is, it’s not about picking one. The real power comes from using them together, playing to each channel’s strengths: 📧 Emails builds trust, nurtures, and educates over time. 💬 SMS delivers when timing, urgency, or a personal touch matters. 🤝🏼Together, they create a journey that keeps customers engaged… email sets the stage, SMS drives the action. The best CRM strategies aren’t channel first. They’re customer-first and built around the right message, in the right place, at the right time.

Email gets measured alone, SMS gets its own metrics. Meanwhile the real opportunity is happening between them. Marketers are making a dangerous mistake with their retention channels. They're measuring email ROI separately from SMS. SMS separately from direct mail. WhatsApp on its own metrics. Each channel gets judged individually on sales performance. This approach is killing retention strategy. Just like acquisition channels have different costs, retention channels serve different purposes. Print advertising costs more than social media ads, but they work together in a media mix. The same logic applies to your CRM channels. Email is the cheapest but hardest to get noticed. SMS costs more but cuts through the noise. Direct mail is expensive but impossible to ignore. WhatsApp sits somewhere in between. Smart retention teams don't optimise each channel for sales. They optimise them together for engagement and frequency. Think of it like a good acquisition funnel. You have brand awareness campaigns, remarketing, and conversion-focused ads working together. Not every touchpoint needs to drive immediate sales. Your retention stack should work the same way. Use the expensive channels to re-engage people at risk of churning. Use them to maintain visibility when email open rates drop. Use them to create moments that bring customers back into your ecosystem. Then let email, your cheapest channel, handle the conversion work. This creates a frequency of exposure that no single channel can achieve alone. Customers stay engaged across multiple touchpoints, increasing the chances they'll respond when you do ask for a sale. Looking at these channels separately makes no sense. The data from that analysis will give you terrible advice. Your retention channels need to work as one system. Measure them as one system. Optimise them as one system. That's how you build an audience of truly engaged customers who keep coming back. #crm #emailmarketing #retail #sms #analytics #directmail #dm

Here's what happens when you treat Asia and Middle East as "international markets." Same CRM system. Same strategy. Completely different results. Last month, two clients came to me with identical problems. Tech company expanding into Dubai. Another launching in Singapore. Both said: "We'll just use our US playbook." I knew how this movie ends. ASIA VS MIDDLE EAST - THE REALITY CHECK: In Singapore, your contact's email is preferred. Clean. Professional. Updates LinkedIn religiously. In Dubai? Good luck. Personal & professional emails mixed for business deals. WhatsApp/ Botim for contracts. LinkedIn - not so active. And that "CEO" might be the owner's cousin who handles IT purchases. Here's what 180+ campaigns taught me about these markets: SINGAPORE/ HONG KONG: • Email response rates: 4.2% • Best outreach time: 9-11 AM local • Decision makers: Clear hierarchies • Data accuracy from global providers: 67% • Preferred channel: Email, then LinkedIn DUBAI/ ABU DHABI/ RIYADH: • Email response rates: 0.8% • Best outreach time: 4-7 PM local • Decision makers: Relationship networks • Data accuracy from other global providers: 33% • Preferred channel: WhatsApp, Botim, then phone & Email The Singapore client? Launched with 2,400 verified contacts. 7.3% meeting rate. The Dubai client who insisted on email-first? 7,000 sends. 22 responses. Zero meetings. We rebuilt their entire approach: - Use preferred data sources - Mapped business connections - Got mobile numbers (yes, it matters) - Switched to WhatsApp/ Botim - Timed outreach based on local day offs. New results: 140 conversations started. 18 meetings. 4 deals in pipeline. Your CRM doesn't understand culture. Your data provider doesn't speak Arabic. And your US playbook is worthless in markets where business doesn't happen always on Zoom. Want to win in Asia? Think structured data and digital channels. Want to win in Middle East? Think relationships and personal touch. Want to fail in both? Keep treating them the same.

Where do your prospects like to be touched? Not in the creepy way. In the marketing way. Most teams mistake “touches” for impact. They blast impressions across channels, recycle the same content everywhere, and hope something sticks. That’s not strategy. That’s guessing. The reality is… your prospects are already telling you exactly where and how they want to engage. Every digital move they make leaves behind a signal: A pricing page visit that screams bottom-of-funnel interest A repeat ad click from a Director who’s clearly warming up A LinkedIn post comment where they reveal pain points in their own words A webinar signup that shows topic-level intent CRM data on accounts that suddenly light up The teams that win don’t force-feed campaigns into one channel — they align activation with those signals. So what does that look like in practice? 👉 If they’re consuming your thought-leadership posts on LinkedIn, retarget them with a case study ad instead of hammering them with a cold ebook. 👉 If they’ve visited your pricing page twice, don’t waste time showing them generic top-of-funnel ads. Hit them with a direct offer — demo, calculator, or comparison guide. 👉 If CRM shows dormant accounts are engaging again, sync LinkedIn + Google campaigns to surround them with contextually relevant messages while SDRs follow up. 👉 If multiple stakeholders from one company are poking around your content, that’s not a coincidence — it’s an account-level buying committee heating up. Saturate them with middle-of-funnel creative. This is signal-led marketing. It’s about listening before you touch. The payoff? Less wasted budget on noise More meaningful touches that actually move pipeline A cross-channel motion that compounds impact instead of scattering it That’s why we built DemandSense — to surface the right signals and trigger the right activation, whether that’s LinkedIn, Google, nurture, or retargeting. Stop guessing. Start listening. Your prospects are literally telling you how to market to them. Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T