Customer Relationship Management

Studies show that missteps in the sales process can cost you dearly even if you have price and product advantages. These mistakes arise primarily from not knowing who your customers are, which in turn happens because you are partly memorizing data and partly storing it in disconnected applications and spreadsheets. CRM takes a more rigorous approach to storing, organizing, and utilizing customer data. In doing so, it becomes the single source of truth for your organization. All the information your sales, marketing, and customer service teams need to work on a day-to-day basis is right at their fingertips.

Your marketing team is giving a hundred percent towards generating quality leads for your business. The next step is to funnel those leads into your sales pipeline without losing any. Forget scouring random spreadsheets and apps for lead data—CRM does it in a fell swoop for you. It automatically captures lead data from landing pages, web forms, lead magnets, phone calls, emails, social platforms, and chatbots. Thus, with CRM, you not only get a picture of who your leads are but also where they come from. This information is helpful to understand where your marketing efforts are more effective and adjust spending accordingly.

In the pre-CRM world, you would have hit all your leads with the same email and waited, fingers crossed, for a response. In the CRM world, outreach is not left to chance. You can segment your leads and curate journeys that are in lockstep with your potential customers’ intentions. Through lead nurturing, you can demonstrate to your prospects what a good fit you are, at a pace determined by them. It is where CRM is most helpful. You can set up automated workflows to distribute content that inspires customers to take the next step. The lead scoring system in your CRM, meanwhile, helps you identify the hot prospects and prioritize sales activities.

CRM is all about working smarter, not harder. With all the data available at a click and workflows to do all the heavy lifting, your sales team can be more intentional with their time. Want to optimize daily schedules? Identify the most valuable opportunities based on custom criteria. Got multiple leads to assign and calls to schedule? Automate those tasks. Want to check for patterns in sales? Analyze interactions and purchases. Want to track performance? Schedule periodic activity reports. CRM streamlines and standardizes sales; even if a salesperson leaves your organization, the process will resume smoothly.

High-value returning customers are an organization’s greatest asset. Remember, acquiring a new customer is five to seven times more expensive than retaining an old one. With CRM, it is easier to discover opportunities to upsell and cross-sell to your existing customers. Of course, not everything is about sales. You want to build partnerships that wow your customers and turn them into your ardent advocates. This requires holistic lifecycle management, which you are well-equipped to do with a CRM that absorbs every detail, every interaction between you and your customer, whatever the medium of exchange—email, phone, chatbot, or social media.

Identify the goals you want to achieve. If those goals align with CRM’s greatest strengths—lead management and sales improvements—you are in for great success. If it is majorly about sales reporting, monitoring, or forecasting, ROI might not be commensurate.

CRM calls for new processes and capabilities. From the C-suite to your sales team, you need buy-in from every quarter for successful CRM adoption. Remember, while the productivity benefits are immediate, the financial benefits are more long-run.

As with any technology, there are transparent and hidden costs. Service plans, subscription costs, and implementation fees widely vary from one platform to another. Assess your needs, including the number of users, integrations, automation, and customizations required before narrowing down your choice.

If you want complete control over your data and servers and can cover the high upfront and maintenance costs, on-premise CRM is a good choice. If you need on-the-fly access, flexible payment options, and easy customization, SaaS or Cloud CRM is the better choice.

Your business has grown, and your needs have changed. Should you swap your old CRM for a new one? Industry wisdom suggests unless the new system satisfies at least 60% of your requirements, it is better to customize your existing system or build a new one.

It can be a few weeks or a few months, depending on the project scope and the legacy systems in place. The chief implementation steps include data discovery, cleansing, migration, customization, integration, and training. Rushing through any stage can be counterproductive in the long run.