We hear it again and again: ‘we never realized how many uses there are for CRM’; ‘we never knew how many ways it can be deployed’; and our personal favorite ‘we had no idea that CRM would build our brand out in the market place’. It’s true, no matter how you plan to use it, there are always so many other benefits to consider. Here are some of the insights customers have shared:
- CRM is the basis of fundamental decision-making in sales management, by displaying all relevant information transparently.
- With the reports we can analyze our customer relationships according to the greatest potential, calculate project viability, and make realistic estimations for turnover forecasts.
- By using the KPIs and business ratios that we defined, it was easy to gain a quick overview of sales this week, this month, this quarter and year to date.
- The ability for sales personnel to review the data remotely to create, modify, and approve while on the move simplifies their day and executes decisions previously made on premise to real time within the organization.
- In day-to-day business it is common for sales management to overlap with marketing, and operations. CRM collaboration allows new marketing campaigns to drive increased sales.
- Sales managers can share suggestions on how to properly address potential/new customers, how to better sell/position certain products, and often have information about customer needs that empower their marketing and sales teams.
- We configured our CRM system to combine different sources of information specifically to support interdisciplinary company development; being able to maintain and track vital data has been a great help.
When we asked about their most important requirements we heard:
- Email Marketing Integrated with CRM:
Clients tell us, CRM when integrated with email marketing, provides personalized, direct contact to our prospective clients. With the help of CRM, we can gather information in one place which includes: demographic information, purchase history, personal interests, and any previous brand interactions. All of which helps us create a personalized message to engage the recipient. Integrating CRM allows us to accomplish this effortlessly and be foremost in the mind of customers. CRM also tracks email performance in real-time.
- Social Media Integrates with CRM:
Combining social data with CRM data helps increase prospect and customer understanding. We can see the interaction of a potential customer with our brand on any channel and it gives us greater insights into who they are and how to best serve them. Although we can easily reach potential customers directly through social media, when combined with CRM we also track activities on different keywords and hashtags. Identifying industry keywords with the best hashtags helps us to find more of our ideal potential customers.
Social media with CRM not only focuses on the new customer but it also strengthens relationships with our existing customers. With this, we can easily respond to our customers on their choice of platform.
Our social media manager can deliver targeted content, dedicated offers, and helps gain a comprehensive audience. Social Media with CRM strengthens our brand with our customers.
- Messaging Integrated with CRM:
After email integration and social media, the next most popular was messaging service integrated with CRM. Clients told us it helps in staying connected and provides a relevant service to their prospects and customers. They used messaging to make automatic reminders for an upcoming offers and events. CRM with messaging service helps them to attain organizational goals such as:
- High level of customer service
- Customer Retention
- Reduce operating costs.
- Adds relevant data to better serve their customer’s needs
Clients tell us that common texts include:
- product tracking alerts,
- customer loyalty texts and
- free incentives (coupons),
Clients also tell us that using CRM with SMS service helps their organization in the development of products and services accordingly. And, according to the latest Gartner report, text messages open and response rates exceed 98% while email marketing barely touches the 20% mark.
- Sales Management- Made Easier and More Transparent:
Beyond their top integrations, clients tell us that CRM isn’t just about managing their contact and customer data, or knowledge of the current sales figures. They tell us that gauging each prospect’s development stage is just as important when it comes to decision making. Using CRM, they are able to manage sales more effectively, as they have all the information they need – whether it be customer data, customer behavior, or sales figures. Sales management is made so much easier and predictable and most importantly adds efficiency through the entire organization.
- Customer relationship management is crucial because:
Clients tell us that CRM isn’t just a way to gain new customers. That creating a bond with both existing customers and new clients ensures that they will maintain the relationships they worked so hard to attain. Having a bond with their customers increases the chance of doing repeat business, so that the bulk of their first-time buyers don’t become ‘one hit wonders’.
They tell us that when they have the tools to make their customers feel welcome and acknowledged after their purchase, they begin the process of creating loyalty towards their brand. As brand image is created over time, each subsequent purchase is an opportunity to build on a solid foundation. When they maintain a strong bond, customers know they are valued, and over time they become friends.
With a good CRM in place, it’s that much easier to focus on customers needs. This focus strengthens their brand and by default their businesses.
- Maximize Customer Retention with CRM:
Clients tell us that to meet their customers’ needs, they must know their customers; that this applies to both relationships with existing customers and more importantly to new customers. When they are aiming for long-term success, they need to focus on customers and instantly identify their needs. That a great customer relationship management system (CRM) supports their customer management activities and helps them to maintain sustainable customer loyalty as well as their new customer acquisitions.
Clients tell us that nothing instills customer confidence more than when their team member picks up a call and their customer’s information is instantly brought up on that team member’s screen. With the full customer profile in front of them to assist with the call, their team member can see the customer’s transactions and address any concerns in an instant.
And beyond the customers who call in, many of our clients want to know how satisfied their customers are with their business, products, and services. In that case, custom marketing and surveys with their customers become an important part of sustainable sales management. Using survey functionality they can conduct regular online surveys; with the results flowing directly into their CRM system where they can be analyzed.
- Dispatch and Call Centers:
Somewhat less frequently our clients tell us that they need to use CRM to support dispatch and call centers; with dispatch being a bit more common. When their customers call into dispatch they might need a repairman, or a pickup or delivery to be scheduled. Call centers address and route callers based on the caller’s needs. Both capture the caller’s basic information into a database before routing the call and or scheduling a service.
These are simply the most requested needs. There are many variations of what we’ve shared here, so if yours are a bit different, that’s ok. Let us know what they are and together we can lay out the options of how it would work. Until then keep in mind that your CRM can be:
- the EKG of the heartbeat of your company,
- your crystal ball into the future;
- or anything in between.
As always, we look forward to hearing about how we can help,
Move your company forward!