

November 21, 2017 Rachel Koeling

So much is going through my mind at any given time, it’d be nice to have a separate brain just to keep track of all the information. A CRM essentially keeps track of business data for a company (or acts like their second brain). More specifically, CRM (which stands for “customer relationship management”) is a technological platform that organizes customer, supplier, vendor, and partner contacts.

CRM maintains business relationships, giving both large corporations and small mom-and-pop stores the uber-ability to personalize communications, align strategies and processes, track customer interactions, boost customer service, and, ultimately, improve company profits. Put simply, CRM improves customer and worker experiences — fueling the Virtuous Cycle.

Which CRM features are important?

Bill Gates once said, “How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose.” Here are six qualities that make up a reliable CRM:

  1. Located in the cloud. Implementing a CRM platform that is located in the cloud is vital. Because it is connected to your business through the internet, your business won’t need added IT support to maintain servers or implement upgrades. Additionally, it’s easy to scale your CRM solution to your business growth.

  2. Save time with automation. Why waste time and money hiring workers to accomplish simple, repetitive tasks? CRM automates many routine tasks, giving your workers the opportunity to accomplish high-level goals and make lasting customer relationships.

  3. Learn from customer interactions. Stay up-to-date in today’s competitive market. CRM hands your workers all available customer data, so they are informed and coherent in conversation with customers. This encourages positive interactions, where customers walk away with the best possible solution to their issues.

  4. On-the-go convenience. Mobile-ready CRM solutions give your workers the ability to access everything they need from their phones.

  5. Collaboration becomes secondhand. Any changes, updates, or new implementations show up in real time. Every worker can easily share data with team members, while improving customer interactions. ​

  6. Customized unique solutions. Because your business is unique, you need a solution that can cater to your every need. Many CRM solutions are customizable by industry and vertical. Additionally, updates are delivered via the cloud, so you’re not put on hold while your IT team works to upgrade.

How does CRM help?

When you implement a CRM solution, you’ll preserve and extend your business. It maintains every tidbit of information, so you can concentrate on the higher-level aspects of running a business. A reliable CRM helps you:

  • Find your audience. CRM can pinpoint the type of people who are interested in your services. This information will assist you in creating communications and direct customer interactions that speak directly to your customers.

  • Engage your workers. CRM gives employees the tools they need to communicate clearly and effectively with customers. Worker productivity skyrockets when individuals feel they have the tools needed to accomplish their tasks.

  • Attain measurable data. Every customer detail, interaction, and transaction is at every worker’s fingertips. This data then feeds into spreadsheets, metrics, and dashboards, so you can quantitatively measure the distance your business has traveled.

  • Retain more customers. Because you care about your customers enough to maintain an extensive CRM platform, your customers will feel special. The more important a customer feels with your brand, the more loyalty they will show.

What does an enabled CRM strategy look like?

Before you implement your new CRM, you will need to roadmap a strategy to attain your business goals. Think and plan for how you will use your new CRM platform, and how you’ll educate your workers on best practices.

What do you want to achieve? Write out specific goals, defined by how your CRM solution will help you achieve those goals. Make sure the entire business can understand the goals.

How do you achieve those goals? Plot out the metrics and data you need to hit to consider it a successful implementation.

Determine new work processes. Pour your strategy into daily tasks, through business objectives. Here, you can write, review, and specify new processes (not just dumping old processes into your new strategy)

Enable your team for change. You have this one opportunity to inject fun and positivity into what can be a big, scary change for your workers. Encourage change enablement by leading through example and incorporating corporate sponsorship into your new CRM strategy.

Keep an eye on metrics. Once you understand and hit the metrics that lead to CRM success (see “How do you achieve these goals?” above), you can celebrate. Create a transparent workplace — make sure your workers have dashboards, so they can transparently see your wins and losses.

Having an extra layer of CRM care means you have the time and information to connect to your customers, while service and profits improve. If you’re ready to discover a CRM strategy that works for your business, contact our experts for a free Diagnostic Workshop. Create the culture you want to see in your company, with a trustworthy CRM solution and strategy.



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