Today companies that focus on the customer are the most successful, however making this transformation can be complicated, so today we want to teach you what CRM is and how to implement it so that your business implements a system that helps you put the customer at the center of everything, without many difficulties.
Today the customer is everything, companies currently seek to put the customer and their satisfaction at the center of all their services, however doing so involves a change in management and especially a change in the infrastructure of your departments, a CRM can help you transform your business by improving customer service and making the work of your team simpler and more productive.
What is CRM?
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, a term that encompasses a set of business practices, technology and strategies that aim to focus on all customer relationships, from the first contact until the sale is made.
This customer relationship management system goes beyond installing software or a platform, as it is a process that companies, especially startups, implement to analyze customer interactions. In recent years the customer has been prioritized in the various sales processes, even current marketing strategies are focused on customer experience and to implement such campaigns we need extensive research of our customers and their needs. A CRM will give you precisely the option to anticipate the needs and desires of your potential customers, it will also allow you to customize campaigns to attract new customers.
To implement a quality CRM you have to understand that sales management teams, marketing, customer service and contact points must interact together, but who is at the center of this union must be the customer himself.
What is the function of a CRM?
The main function of a CRM is to concentrate the information of current and potential customers, such as name, address, telephone number, activities, purchases and points of contact with the company, such as visits to stores, e-mails, frequent products, and other information that helps to know the customer better.
However, CRM is more than a database, as these platforms can actively track, capture customer emails, customer information and connect to your entire team on any computer or device. Simplify repetitive tasks, giving you time to nurture your leads.
Benefits of CRM for your business
From what we have already said, you can probably already imagine the benefits of implementing a CRM system in your company, but it is worth pointing out some specific benefits that will make the work of each department easier.
1. Motivates teamwork
Undoubtedly, one of the most outstanding benefits is that your company will start working as a team. In most companies each department works on its own, regularly the only ones who know all the data such as: sales volume, results or customer satisfaction is the administrator and the owner of the company, but this does not happen with the different departments, this lack of communication and exchange of results is because there is no incentive for teamwork, having a CRM encourages all departments to work as a team and therefore begin to analyze the results and create ideas to solve different problems.
2. Clearer metrics
Another advantage of installing a CRM strategy is that you will have more accessible forecasts and metrics. Surely, several of your departments have concentrated their information and results in Excel sheets, so when you have to exchange information or make metrics of all departments, especially to make sales or customer satisfaction forecasts, you will end up buried in several sheets and hundreds of data, the worst thing is that the interpretation of the data can take you quite a long time and of course it will also be more complicated to make predictions. However, with a CRM strategy you will have the most important data, such as sales and leads, concentrated in one place and the system can even do several analyses of them for you.
3. Data security
Another disadvantage of having all customer data in spreadsheets is that this method makes your customer contact information more vulnerable to any cyber-attack or any data hacking, this can even bring you legal consequences, according to the GDPR rules active since 2018 which penalizes the misuse of personal data. This should not be a problem if you use a CRM, as it ensures that the data is concentrated in one place and is fully protected.
Which is the best CRM for my business?
Nowadays, there is a wide range of CRM platforms, and it can be a bit tedious to choose the best CRM platform, don’t worry because we are going to give you some key points that a CRM system must fulfill so that you can choose the best one.
Sales funnel
As an entrepreneur your sales funnel is an important part, as it has the necessary information to lead simple viewers into buyers, so the CRM you choose must provide excellent sales funnel management, with a clear interface and with timely and useful data so that your sales team can do their job better.
Email integration
As we have said, one of the main features is that the CRM concentrates leads, so the CRM you choose must guarantee at least this very important part. Keeping track and analyzing the different email accounts of the company can be complicated, but one of the main functions of CRM was the email integration, so you can easily follow up on them.
Contact segmentation
You should also choose the CRM that allows you to segment your contacts as detailed as possible. The purpose of a CRM is to better manage customer relationships, so consider the one that allows you to have clear and accessible information about your customers and especially the one that allows you to form several groups, so you can provide personalized attention to each group.
Sales reports
Another point to consider is the clarity and timeliness of sales reports. A quality CRM should show you reports that allow you to make decisions and answer important questions such as which is the best-selling representative if the goals are being achieved. The CRM should help you find where the bottlenecks are, to solve them.
How to implement a CRM in your business?
Unfortunately, implementing a CRM system is not a magic solution to improve the sales and customer service of your company, this tool must be implemented with changes in your company, so you can take advantage of its full potential, here we present the necessary changes, so you can implement a CRM in your company and make the most of it.
Plan your sales process
A CRM that works perfectly is a CRM that can help you throughout the sales process, so first you must be clear what is the sales process of your products, so describe in detail the processes performed by your sales team since they have the first contact with customers until you achieve a conversion.
Then everyone involved in the sales process should contribute their points of view so that each process is focused on the customer, you can make a customer journey map to have a clear vision of the sales steps that you have to improve and what will be the role of CRM in each one.
Identify the needs
When we implement a CRM system, we do it to meet the needs of your company, so you must have them clearly identified. Keep in mind that a CRM can help you solve more technical needs for operational needs, such as calculating the exact profitability of a campaign or sales forecast.
If you have decided to implement a CRM system do not do it just for the sake of it, it is best to first make a list of all the needs that CRM can help you cover, this is a necessary step to start getting the best out of this tool.
Train your team
Sometimes implementing a CRM system in a company does not give the expected results and often the main problem is that the different work departments are not adapted to work effectively with CRM, so it is essential that you train your employees, so they can make the most of this tool.
In conclusion a CRM is the smartest way to manage and manage customer relationships, implementing a CRM can increase your sales considerably, however it is necessary to make a significant change in your company, but it also means important advantages for your customers and for your employees, tell us what is for you the main benefit of a CRM.