Why do you adopt any kind of business software? To be more efficient and profitable, yes. That also involves serving your customer the best you possibly can. So when it comes to business process automation and adopting a CRM, it is no different.
However, your CRM can drive revenue for you. This can be a huge benefit to your business. But how do you take your CRM from something that helps you manage your relationship with your customer to a real revenue driver? Here are some of the best ways.
Project Management
You might not always think of your CRM as a project management tool, but it can be a great one that saves you a lot of time and effort. How?
- Make sure your resources are being used properly, and track metrics that tell you how well the project is moving along, and the impact it is having on your customers.
- Monitor the progress of your project in real time. You don’t need to wait to run complex reports to see some basic data about milestones being reached.
- Your CRM is a great place for time and expense entries, a great way to track how profitable and efficient a project is.
- Document management tools mean you can keep track of documents better than in a filing system or email communications, which can potentially be lost or overlooked.
Managing any project, from an internal one to a client facing one, can be facilitated in your CRM, driving revenue and making it even more useful.
Reporting to the Rest of the C-Suite Team
One of the greatest benefits of your CRM is all of the data it contains. However, all of that data is no good unless it is analyzed and assembled in a way that it is useful. Your CRM has powerful tools for automated and manual reporting. This means when your team needs specific information or even you do, it is at your fingertips.
Want more budget? Need to justify expenses and time spent? Reporting functions mean you won’t waste time gathering and assembling data. You can even set up your CRM to create weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports, and send that data to the stakeholders who need to see it automatically.
This makes you more efficient, saving your department time and money.
Getting New Customers
Of course, one of the best ways to increase revenue is to onboard new clients and customers. All of that data in your CRM helps you structure campaigns to do just that. You know who your current customers are, your target audience, where they spend money and hang out, and what the best way to reach them and convert them is.
While lead generation and nurturing is one of the best parts of your CRM, it is up to you to make the most of it. Set up and used properly though, these tools can turn your CRM into a revenue-driving machine.
Keeping Existing Customers Coming Back
Any marketer worth their salt will tell you it is a lot more expensive to onboard a new customer than it is to keep an existing one. Yet this is often one of the best parts of having a CRM that is overlooked.
When do you follow up with that customer and see if they need your services again? What about updates and other things they might be interested in? As their business grows, they may need more from your company and more of the services you provide.
Your CRM lets you track your interactions and reach out to existing customers and clients at the right time. A newsletter list is not enough, but personal outreach and individual connections that are a part of your customer relationship are what matters. Your CRM helps you keep those customers coming back to you again and again.
Keep Sales Teams Accountable
How do you find new customers and keep your existing ones coming back? By holding your sales team accountable to your goals and how and when they need to contact customers.
For example, a customer reaches out through your website for a consultation. How quickly does your sales team respond? What does that response look like? Are they following your guidelines?
The answer lies in your CRM, which allows you to record every customer transaction and interaction, and reveals how responsive your sales team really is. Keeping them accountable drives revenue and allows you to make sure you are not missing any opportunities.
Manage Inventory Through Integration
Your CRM keeps track of every transaction and interaction. This means you can also track inventory levels, and by integrating it with your ERP, you can manage those stock levels, saving yourself money and increasing efficiency and cash flow.
The key is to remember that business process automation is not an isolated process. CRM data integrated with a solid ERP frees you and your employees up to do less repetitive tasks and maximize the time you spend doing things that actually generate revenue.
Need advice on a custom CRM, ERP, or the integration of these into a full business process automation plan? Contact us here at SixtySixTen. We specialize in customized CRM and ERP solutions tailored not just to your industry, but to your business specifically. We’d love to talk with you about how we can help your business be more efficient and profitable.
