Benefits Of A CRM

With the help of CRM, you can get all the information you need in one place and sell faster. It becomes difficult to manage your leads sometimes, but with the help of CRM, you can easily follow up on leads and identify all the key contacts. It becomes easier to see a clear view of all your sales details and can communicate better with both existing as well as potential customers.

 

Every year, more and more businesses are realizing the benefits of customer relationship management (CRM). With a crowded space valued at $120 billion and with around 381 CRM software platforms on the market, there is a huge range of tools to choose from. (reference)

 

CRM software is now the biggest software market in the world and the growth isn't slowing down. In fact, CRM is now expected to reach more than $80 billion in revenues by 2025. With eCommerce expected to surpass $2 trillion in annual sales worldwide this year, it makes sense to have a strong strategy in place for success(reference)

 

Better Understanding Of Customer Needs

A better understanding of customer needs helps in improving the factors of what customers need from you. Customers go through many products and every customer has different buying habits. Tracking customers' buying habits makes it easier to sell. Being proactive is necessary as it makes you come up with better offers at the right time. When you have an entire history of interacting with your customers, it is easy to offer timely customer service.

  • It improves business relationships - A CRM system helps companies stay connected to customers, improve profitability, predictive analytics, personalized customer service, etc.
  • It gives a better way to manage customer relationships - A CRM gives everyone across the business, including sales, customer service, marketing, and business development, a better way to manage the customer relationships and interactions that drive success.
  • Manages customer data - CRMs are designed to compile the company's information to contact with customers which includes the company's website, email, phone number, products, services, live chat, etc. It also gives detailed information about customers like their personal details, phone number, purchasing history, comments, advice, etc.

 

Effective Communication

Research by US firm Gartner shows that 70% of business mistakes are due to poor communication. This statistic proves just how critical communication is in any business and thus more emphasis should be put on clear instructions and effective communication to prevent mistakes from happening within the workplace. The following are some benefits of effective communication in the workplace:

 

  1. Increases Employee Engagement - When all the employees are engaged, they are more aligned with the company’s goals and are generally more motivated to work towards the set targets.
  2. Promotes Team Building - When employees communicate with each other, consider their teammate’s opinions, and discuss their progress, they will be more enthused to collaborate and work as one strong team.
  3. Reduces Mitigation Conflict - Bad or lack of communication causes problems such as conflicts, but good communication skills can resolve those problems. Remember effective communication can prevent these problems from developing in the first place.
  4. Encourages Innovation - If there is honest and effective communication between supervisors and team members, they are encouraged to be more creative and innovative within the workplace, so the employees put forth new and creative ideas.

 

https://www.careeraddict.com/the-importance-of-effective-communication-in-the-workplace

 

Better Customer Retention

Customer retention refers to the activities and actions companies and organizations take to reduce the number of customer defections. The goal of customer retention programs is to help companies retain as many customers as possible, often through customer loyalty and brand loyalty initiatives. Primitive goals for customer retention are:

 

  • Keeping existing customers happy - Keeping the existing customers happy by providing them with new schemes and offers consistently.
  • Helps to give reminders - Helps with keeping promises by reminding you about the appointments or when to send follow-up emails.
  • Prompts you to reach out - It helps to reach out to the customers who haven’t been contacted in a while and need to be contacted.
  • Tracks Purchase History - It tracks a complete record of a customer’s purchases and interactions with your company, it also empowers you to personalize interactions with the customer to solve issues and keep them satisfied.

 

Central Repository For All Your Information

Growing businesses manage customer connections and information in a variety of ways. Some store information on their mobile phone while on the go while others use Excel spreadsheets or Google documents. While that may help in the short term when you have a small team and don’t plan on scaling your business, if you want to scale for growth, it may be time to consider a CRM system to help you collect your precious business data in one place and make it accessible via the cloud.

 

Your Data Is Accessible Anywhere

For small businesses, a CRM system may simply help you put your data in the cloud, making it accessible in real-time, across any device. But as you grow, a CRM can quickly expand to include more enhanced features to help teams collaborate with colleagues and customers, send customized emails, gather insights from social media conversations, and get a holistic picture of your business health in real-time.

 

Easy to access - You can access all the data from home. CRMs have made everybody’s lives easier. When at home, you can easily check that last update on the deal you’ve been working so hard on. Just log into your CRM and you’re all set.

 

Managing Customers Where They Are

Though CRM systems have traditionally been used as tools for sales and marketing departments, customer service teams see big benefits from a CRM platform as well. Today's customer has a wide variety of channels to choose from when seeking help with a customer service issue, they may start by sending a tweet, then switch to email or phone to resolve the issue in private. A CRM platform helps service teams manage customer requests coming in from all channels without missing anyone or anything.

 

Social Media Insights

While your business might have CRM tools for other areas of your marketing department, you cannot leave out Social Media. If you want to create better experiences, you have to be ready to communicate through Social media. CRM integration with social media tools lets you gain detailed insights into your customers with regard to their tastes and preferences, buying behavior, etc. It helps you track your customer journey entirely. Traditional CRM focuses on communication channels like phone, email, and text. Social CRM broadens this scope to include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn -- social media platforms equipped with messaging modules where customers and businesses can chat directly with each other.

 

For customer service and support, it translates to a quicker and more efficient method for addressing any customer feedback, whether positive or negative. Posts from multiple social channels are aggregated in one place, meaning you’ll be better equipped to keep on top of what’s going on with customers, leads, and the public at large in real time.

 

This will help accelerate the sales process by allowing you to identify the leads that have the highest probability of being converted into deals. It helps to work on one platform, so you can ask questions to appropriate teams.

 

Problems Solved By CRM

A CRM can provide organization, structure, and a plan of action for sales associates which in turn creates a better experience for customers. A well-thought-out CRM helps you retain and grow a happier set of clients, making it an invaluable resource. Here are some key problems that a CRM should be solving.

 

  • Minimizes efforts - Helps in minimizing the efforts for storing all complicated reports and access to customer data.
  • Acts as an intelligent manager - You can describe to your CRM the steps you usually take to carry out a certain task. Then it becomes an intelligent manager and asks you to take those steps whenever a similar situation arises. It ensures that nothing is missed.
  • Helps to improve your sales - A good CRM will keep a track of all your customers which will give you an idea about the products which are most in demand, thus will improve your sales.
  • Event scheduling - Simply schedule it from within your CRM. Let your clients and employees know about it by triggering automatic follow-ups.
  • Data management - A CRM will back up your data constantly and most often on the cloud, so that you may access it anytime. Previously, your business would have taken a great hit if your hard drives or desktop-based software got corrupted. All your data could have vanished and with that, to some extent, your business too.
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