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How to Shop for CRM???

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How to shop for CRM

Customers serve as a lifeline for any organization. Every smart business will agree with this statement.

It is critical to provide customers the services they demand and maintain a good relationship at the same time. This is where CRM comes into play. CRM, short for Customer Relationship Management, is a quintessential tool that helps maintain customer information and contact details. It also helps manage and record customer interactions.

Venturing into the world of CRM can be tough for a first timer. Before selecting a platform, it is important to know what your requirements are.

Here are some points that you must consider before making a decision on CRM.

Understanding Individual Needs

Before deciding on a CRM, it is important to have a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve. You need to opt for a package that caters to your company’s size.  Understanding specific needs can help in choosing a suitable CRM platform.

Knowing Your Budget & Customization Cost

Staying within your budget is essential. There are many CRMs that may cater to your needs without you overspending. On the other hand, some CRMs may not cater to ALL of your needs. You may end up adding customizations to your CRM to fulfill your requirements. These customizations are not free and in some cases might force you to overstep your budget. First look for a CRM that covers the major requirements of your business and then review customization options. Avoid getting trapped into a never ending loop of customizations. Contact existing customers for a second opinion.

Invest In Training

New software means new environment for your employees. This requires extensive training. Old workflow methods need to be replaced with the new. This means handing out training manuals and staying on top of transition.  This is necessary so that all employees are on the same page and are familiar with the new functionalities and updates.

Focus on the Client

A business thrives only when it has a strong relationship with its clients. CRM system is a must for those who value their clients and believe in fostering long term relationships. While implementing the new system, it is necessary that the main focus should always be on the client’s needs and not on the business’s convenience.

Social Media Marketing

Social media plays a major role in the business world today. CRM’s Integration with social media networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn allows you to track potential leads and understand how customers think and act.

ROI Evaluation

Keeping track of your ROI once the CRM is implemented should be mandatory. Build a streamlined procedure and strategy for your future goals. This will help you quantify the benefits that come with the CRM implementation.

Use CRM to make it ‘all about the customer’ from the start. It helps save time and allows you to concentrate on the other aspects of the business, while ensuring that the automated system is keeping you and your team on top of everything.

In a nutshell, if you want to impress your customers and get good results, CRM is the tool that can help.

How To Effectively Use A CRM

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The success of a CRM system largely depends on its correct usage and deployment. More often than not, the novices subscribe to a CRM system, get it implemented in their organization but still remain clueless about how to draw benefit from it.

The first thing you need to invest in your CRM even before money is time and an urge to learn for you cannot reap real fruit until you don’t know the correct way of using technology. As a beginner you should divide your CRM strategy into three phases i.e. process streamlining, Salesforce automation and customer retention.

In the first stage the focus should be more on the data storage and processing. In any standard CRM system you get the module of contacts that allows you to store the information of your clients in a centralized repository. The other modules that should be emphasized on during this phase are Users, Roles and admins. Using these modules you can easily see a zoomed in picture of your business and fill up the room for improvement.

The second phase is Salesforce automation that requires a different set of tools which are generally present in a good CRM system. For Salesforce automation, the key is email that allows you to contact your leads and customers and effectively imparts your message to them. However the email communication must be kept personalized to make the customers feel a connection with your product or services. In the varied landscape of marketing, email may not suffice in some cases so a CRM also provides you the feature of telephony (often upon the client’s request) so you can connect with people and convey your message over phone.

The third phase of CRM strategy involves customer retention which is the trickiest one because today’s markets are majorly consumer-oriented and the empowered customers of today have a number of choices available in the market with the leverages of internet search and customers’ reviews. To keep them loyal to your company you need to build up a psychological connection with them and a CRM software allows you to hit the right chords in the process through automated communication and a robust business intelligence system.

Implementing a CRM software may not be the easiest task but following the right guidelines you can do it right and see wonders happen to your business with least manual effort.