Few businesses today can afford to let potential buyers slip through the cracks. Customer relationship management (CRM) software can help you build long-term relationships with those most likely to buy your products or services. But CRM software is not free, so to maximize your return on investment in one of these solutions, you and your employees must have a realistic grasp on its purpose and functionality.
Putting it all together
CRM software is designed to:
- Gather every bit and byte of data related to your current or potential customers,
- Organize that information in a clear, meaningful format, and
- Integrate itself with other systems and platforms (including social media).
Every time a customer or prospect contacts your company — and you follow up — the CRM system can record that interaction. This input enables business owners to track leads, forecast and record sales, assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and evaluate other important data. It also helps companies retain valuable contact information, preventing confusion following staff turnover or absences.
Furthermore, most CRM systems can remind salespeople when to make follow-up calls and prompt employees to contact customers. For instance, an industrial cleaning company could set up its system to automatically transmit customer reminders regarding upcoming service dates.
Categorizing your contacts
Customers can be categorized in almost any way that makes sense for your business, such as by purchase history, future product or service interests, and desired methods of contact. This helps businesses reach out to customers at a good time, in the right way. When companies flood customers with too many impersonal calls, direct mail pieces or e-mails, their messaging is much more likely to be ignored.
Naturally, an important part of maintaining any CRM system is keeping customers’ contact data up to date. So, you’ll need to instruct sales or customer service staff to gently touch base on this issue at least once a year. To avoid appearing pushy, some businesses ask customers to fill out contact info cards (or request business cards) that are then entered into a drawing for a free product or service — or even just a free lunch!
Encouraging buy-in
A properly implemented CRM system can improve sales, lower marketing costs and build customer loyalty. But, as mentioned, you’ll need to train employees how to use the software to get these benefits. And buy-in must occur throughout the organization — a “silo approach” to CRM that focuses only on one business area won’t optimize results, and may miss valuable cross-selling opportunities within your current customer base.
Establish thorough use of the system as an annual performance objective for sales, marketing and customer service employees. Some business owners even offer monthly prizes or bonuses to employees who consistently enter data into their CRM systems.
Making the right choice
There are many CRM solutions available today at a wide variety of price points. We can help you conduct a cost-benefit analysis of this type of software — based on your company’s size, needs and budget — to assist you in choosing whether to buy a product or, if you already have one, how best to upgrade it.