Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is now considered a core feature for online businesses as one of the primary revenue drivers. It’s used by sales teams to automate their processes, store contact information and interactions in one accessible location, and as a tool to solidify the relationship between the company and its customers.
What are CRMs?
CRMs are a way for businesses to develop, manage, and sustain profitable relationships with their customers and potential customers. They (CRMs) track, examine and record interactions and communications between the business and its customers. In essence, CRMs have a straightforward goal: to improve business relationships, increase conversions, and improve customer retention rates.
What do CRMs Do?
A CRM system collects first-party data from the company’s database for prospective customers. It then tracks said customer’s collected data (i.e., email communication between the customer and the team, calls, visited web pages, products used, etc.) throughout their time with your company.
It allows the company to do several important things.
Understand where customers are in their lifecycle; this will help your team identify when they should reach out, rather than passively waiting for the customer to do it.
Aggregating the data collected by their CRM system can help your company to identify where things get complicated, confusing, or where in the process churn rates are higher.
CRMs empower companies by giving them the ability to identify and fix issues with their user experience, which allows the company’s teams to focus more on customer acquisition and customer service rather than retention because their user experience factors it in.
Who Benefits from CRMs?
The beauty of CRM software is that it benefits both the customer and the business. Customers benefit from receiving quality customer service because their needs are not only met but anticipated, as well as interactions and transactions that are quicker than the ones they’re used to.
On the other hand, businesses benefit from improved sales, higher customer confidence and satisfaction, and a more effective work environment. With CRMs, both small businesses and large corporations can predict their customers’ wants, allowing the company to provide the service or products their clients desire and retain their business by garnering loyalty, which will translate into greater sales volumes.
Types of CRM you Should Know:
Besides creating your own 100% customized tool, there are a few kinds of standard out-of-the-box CRM systems. These are:
Operational: This type of CRM software allows you to better manage your business based on reliable customer data.
Analytical: This CRM is optimized for data visualization and gives better insight into your customers by tracking their interactions with your business.
Collaborative: These CRMs focus on how your company interacts with its vendors and distributors based on shared customer data.
Campaign Management: This kind of CRM combines both the analytical and operational CRM systems and uses them to run sales or marketing campaigns by using the contact information in the CRM database.
Strategic: This type of CRM is designed to put the customer first, allowing the company to make the best usage out of their information about their customers and market trends to make informed business decisions.
Make the Most of Your CRM
Every company that implements a CRM system does so to improve the quality of its customer service, explore new business opportunities, or streamline business processes. However, only a few succeed. The reason for that is that most companies don’t adopt CRM best practices, which leads to low ROI (Return on Investment).
CRMs are just technology; their success depends on their successful implementation. If you want to effectively use your CRM system as the hub for your customer relationships, there are three things to consider.
Customization and Integration are crucial; your CRM is the primary means of establishing closer connections with your prospective customers; thus, an out-of-the-box solution will only take you so far. To get the most out of your CRM software, you need to identify what you want and customize your CRM accordingly.
As previously stated, CRMs are as good as the data available in their knowledge base; therefore, accurate data must be entered and regularly updated in your information database.
Finally, it is of utmost importance to train your employees, making sure they’re equipped with the essential knowledge and skills needed to fully utilize your CRM system. Take the time to ensure that they understand how using the system will boost productivity and enhance their performance.
Food for thought
CRMs save time & money for businesses, allowing their teams to focus on acquiring customers rather than retaining them; while giving customers a service that’s memorable for the right reasons.
Whether you’re unsure about your current CRM provider or are looking to introduce a CRM into your business, you can benefit from Pelcro. Get started with one of our free trials; or schedule a demo with one of our experts and start building better, lasting relationships with your customers.