Why is CRM so Important?
The basic understanding of CRM software is simple – the more you know about your customers, the easier it is to:
- Sell more to them
- Find other people like them and who are likely to buy similar products
- Keep them happy and avoid losing them to the competition
- Understand changes in market trends
- View prior sales and product/services sold
- Upsell to existing customers as you’ve already got a relationship.
CRM software keeps you up to date with your customers
Do you know what all your customers have bought? Do you know who bought a car, and might therefore need a service? Or who bought a printer and therefore might want ink cartridges?
This knowledge is probably available in tools you already use, like your sales ledger. However, transferring that information to CRM software as you create new or sell to existing customers, gives you more flexibility in how you use it and who can access it.
CRM software will improve the service your business provides to its customers. It will also make your staff much more efficient, by grouping all information about communication with customers in a single location with easy access for the future.
CRM software will allow you start collecting and storing additional data about when and how you contact customers. You can build a complete picture of your customer base in your CRM software.
Selecting specific customers with CRM tools
Once you have entered all your customers information, Your CRM software will help you market to them by converting your data into practical mailing lists. If you’ve got a database of contacts, by setting parameters and targets, you don’t have to go through them by hand. It only takes a few minutes to target a qualified number of customers who meet specific criteria and then push out a personalised email or mailing to them. Within your CRM software you can set up templates that you can use to make each email/mailing simple to produce. Start-up businesses have lots to gain from CRM software because it cuts down on staff costs and staff costs are a cost that start-up’s need to keep under control from the outset. CRM software automates tasks you might otherwise do by hand, saving enormous amounts of time.
Collaboration with CRM
CRM software gives everyone in your business a clear understanding and profile of every customer both past and present.
Before we make contact with our customers, we want to know whether the customer/account is active or perhaps on hold for some reason; we want and need to know if there are any outstanding ‘live’ orders; and we need to know if there are any existing service issues to be aware of.
Keeping in mind that inputting bad information results in bad information out, to get the full benefits of CRM software, your records must be precise and as up-to-date as possible. Collaboration with every department is what makes everyone an effective salesperson. You need to know every touch point you’ve had with a customer, whether it’s a 20-second phone call or a quick coffee meeting. The key is to ensure that all the data is in there.
No matter how small, you must get in the habit of entering all customer information into your CRM software. That’s relatively easy if you choose CRM software that integrates with your existing tools, and if you make sure your CRM software is quick and easy to access and use.
For instance, after each incoming call or email, a moment’s effort entering the details into your CRM software will ensure the caller doesn’t get forgotten. Your CRM software can even remind you to get back in touch at a more convenient moment. In this way your day becomes more productive and less of a shotgun approach.
What is CRM software? It’s your businesses best friend. It will help you minimise the expense of marketing, find and keep customers – and, above all, strengthen the bonds you build with your customers by always exceeding their expectations and in the long term, build strong and regular sales.