What is a CRM system? When it comes down to it, a customer relationship management system is a software that allows you to view and manage every single customer interaction. It helps you gather data about your customers and prospects to assess the kind of sales opportunity they might be open to at any given time.
It’s about more than that. You can make data-driven decisions that are just smarter, and you can do it faster than you ever could before. Here are some of the advantages:
- collect customer data and store it
- group relevant customer data by category
- archive old customer data in case you need to refer to it at a later date
- record a full history of interactions with prospects and view the sales pipeline to see what is working and what is not
- schedule calls and meetings with customers using your own software system
- track what stage each deal is in, and project when it might be finalized.
This allows you and your management team to take control of the various aspects of your customer interactions and see the actions your sales staff and other employees are taking with each of them. But let’s dig a little deeper, and look at why your business and really every company needs a CRM system.
Consolidation
How are you going to close more, and better deals? How are you going to remember all of your customers and prospects and where they are in the sales pipeline? The truth is, no matter how smart you are, your brain just can’t hold all of that information.
At the same time, if you are using spreadsheets and other documents to track this type of information, it is easy to lose or to forget where some of your data is stored. It is also time-consuming to hop between various programs to search. What is sales about anyway? It is about speed and ease. The simpler you make the sale for your sales staff and the customer, the better.
Quite simply, the way you do so is to have all of their vital information consolidated in a single program, and that is exactly what a good CRM system does for you.
Communication
Want to speed sales up and introduce ease into the process? One of the primary ways to do this is to improve communication internally, and a CRM does just that. Part of this is the inherent transparency of the system. A quick glance at a customer record lets everyone working on the project know what specific milestones have already been reached. For instance, one of the most frustrating things a customer can hear is that the person in charge of their account has gone home for the day. If instead, they heard “Mr. XXXX has gone home for the day, but I can help you with that.”
This improved organizational communication means that even if someone goes on vacation or leaves unexpectedly, the customer can still be taken care of just as if they were present.
It also makes it easier for a manager to evaluate a current employee’s performance or train a new one, as the workflow is transparent, streamlined, and standardized.
Reporting
It is hard to achieve goals in areas you do not measure, and often the most important information is needed in real time. That is why a CRM is so vital: it enables real-time reporting and advanced queries. How much better would your sales be if you could answer these questions in real time:
- What are the best ways and times to reach out to your customers?
- Which sales strategies from the previous month can be used again to increase success?
- How long does it take on average to close the deal?
- What are friction points in the sales funnel and can they be addressed?
- What products or services are most popular and which ones are underperforming?
The answer to these questions does more than just smooth the sales process and allow you to evaluate both employees and the process, but it has the potential to allow you to predict your future sales numbers.
Scalability
You want your organization to grow, but you also want your software to grow with you. You also want systems in place that best benefit the growth of your organization.
The thing is good practices can be multiplied and duplicated for similar results. A good CRM means your process is scalable, and your organization can expand without some of the familiar growing pains other organizations might experience.
Implementing a good CRM earlier rather than later ensures that growth will be much easier.
Satisfaction
Lastly, the good practices and consistency encouraged by a CRM mean that your employees and customers will be happier and more satisfied overall. This means better retention on both fronts, a huge cost savings to any organization.
Yes, you need a quality product or service, but the customer experience is in the end what determines if they will buy from you again. Increasing your customer satisfaction factors also increases your chances of referrals and additional business from word of mouth. A consistent, professional approach will win you, long-term customers.
Every company needs a good CRM in order to be successful, scalable, and in order to communicate better internally and consolidate tasks to avoid duplication.
Ready to get started with a CRM, but you’re not sure where to turn? At SixtySixTen, we offer customized CRM solutions tailored to your business needs. Our team can work with you to develop the best system for you. Get in touch for a free consultation today. We can’t wait to hear about the great things you want to do, and how we can help you get there from where you are now.
