CRM: So much more than just your ‘little black book’
Our customers often ask how they can benefit from customer relationship management (CRM) software. Before we can answer that question, we need to understand why customer relationships are more important than ever.
According to one study, the customer experience will overtake product and price as the main driver behind consumers’ purchasing decisions by 2020. In fact, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience, while 65% say a positive experience with a brand is more influential than great advertising.
CRM software can help you create these experiences, but there’s a misperception about what CRM actually is. Some think it’s just a database of customer contact details and that it’s only for large enterprises.
But it’s so much more than that.
CRM is a goldmine of information that can help you track your customer relationships throughout their lifecycle. It provides you with a single, central place to store your customer data, as well as the tools to analyse your relationships with every customer.
CRM is an essential, affordable and powerful tool for businesses of all sizes that can help them compete effectively, align teams, and reach their growth targets.
Here are three benefits you can expect from using a CRM system:
1) Access your customer information – anywhere, anytime
Mobile CRM gives you the benefits of desktop CRM wherever you go, empowering you to give your customers the best service, all the time. No matter where you or your sales team are working from, you’re assured that everyone has access to the same, up-to-date information. This means that, no matter who the customer speaks to, everyone can give the same reliable service, accurate information and great experiences – fast.
Customers expect speed of service and instant gratification. However, if you can’t meet those expectations, they’ll take their money and loyalty to someone who can.
Research shows that 65% of salespeople who adopt mobile CRM meet their sales quotas. The same research also shows that companies using CRM can shorten their sales cycles by between 8% and 14%. Yet 22% of salespeople don’t know what CRM is and 40% still use informal methods like spreadsheets to store customer data.
Other good reasons to switch include the ability to integrate calendars, dial into meetings, access dashboards, track, manage and respond to customer service requests, and share files – all on the go. Perhaps more convincing is the fact that businesses that leverage CRM software see sales increase by 29%, sales productivity increase by 34%, and sales forecast accuracy increase by 42%.
How is this possible? Through targeted, personalised marketing, enabled by CRM.
2) Better manage marketing plans and social media campaigns
Consumers are exposed to 10,000 brand messages every day – and we’re good at tuning out everything that’s irrelevant.
CRM software helps you stand out. How? By being relevant at the right time, on the right channels and platforms. This is because you can segment your customers and deliver highly targeted, personalised marketing messages and information at the exact times they need it – even if they don’t realise they need it.
With CRM software, you can create 360-degree overviews of every customer. Since all your data is in one place, you can segment them by literally anything – age, gender, industry, occupation, location, company size; even by activities like responses, personal likes and dislikes, products purchased, e-mails opened, e-mails replied to, and social media activity. Segmentation is crucial if you want to deliver the right campaign to the right audience.
CRM software also lets you monitor, measure, and analyse the results of your campaigns across paid and organic channels. You can save successful campaigns as templates to use again in future. This not only makes launching campaigns faster and cheaper, but because they’ve been successful in the past, you’re guaranteed results. You can also discontinue ineffective campaigns.
A lot goes into the planning, execution, and monitoring of successful marketing and social media campaigns, with many different tasks and workflows to support. This can get overwhelming if you’re running multiple campaigns simultaneously. With CRM software, you can automate key processes, analyse content performance to understand how customers respond to your communication, and use features like lead scoring to track leads and quantify the probability of conversion.
With all this information, it’s easier to focus your marketing efforts for maximum impact.
Remember: to avoid frustration and lost sales, ensure your customer communication is consistent, connected, and cohesive across all channels.
There’s one more ‘C’ word, before I go…
3) Improve collaboration
Nothing stifles team collaboration and productivity like data silos.
When teams work from different datasets, they’ll make business decisions based on different insights. How do you know which dataset is the most accurate and up to date?
You can avoid this guesswork altogether by adopting CRM software. It breaks down data silos, encourages the free flow of information, and makes everyone’s activities transparent, visible, and accessible.
From the CRM dashboard, everyone has access to the same information and the same insights. This results in accurate decision-making and ensures everyone works towards the same goals and targets.
CRM software provides sales management tools, workflow and process automation, reporting, and project management capabilities. This integration allows sales teams to spend less time on admin and more time understanding customers and building relationships with them. Naturally, this results in improved customer experiences – the ultimate goal.
Something to think about...
When choosing CRM software, make sure it has the basics, like customer data, contact management, marketing, sales, service, analytics, and reports. The right solution can give your business a significant boost in productivity and could potentially double your revenue within 36 months.