CRM software is taking customer and business management systems to the next level. It can truly help revolutionize and change the way a business works long-term, whilst boosting productivity, sales, and data-driven analysis. With CRM becoming so important, many businesses are starting to jump on board. If you are running a business and are a little “on the fence” regarding CRM, let’s do our best to help you make a decision. This article will walk you through some of the best benefits of using CRM software and how it is likely to help your business.
What is CRM?
Firstly, we should do a little background info on what CRM is. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, in effect, it’s the software you can use to pool all data regarding your customers, marketing plans, schedules, documents, revenue and so much more. It has become a centralized information hub for all companies with customers to sell to.
This software can be used across all departments in your office to share information and create strategies for customer retention, sales, and diaries. It links to your email, website, and social media to help gather data and present it to you in manageable ways. So, let’s look at some of the benefits in more depth…
Accredited and Well-Trained Staff
When you buy a CRM software package, you expect the best from it. You also expect to have quality staff, trainers, and managers to help you get it set up and make the most out of it. Luckily, many of the big hitters in CRM offer training packages and help you source excellent staff.
Many accreditations, like the certified Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (CRM) Exam help prepare talented staff to become Microsoft Teams CRMs experts. This means you know when hiring, you’re getting someone with the right qualifications and experience directly from the company that designed the software. If that doesn’t settle the nerves about taking on a huge new software package, nothing will!
Customer Tracking
Now, let’s dive into the software itself a little more. One of the key features of CRM is customer tracking. CRM software is constantly gathering data on your customers and helping you use it to full effect. You’ll be able to answer questions like “does this customer open emails?” or “how long did this customer spend on our store?” This information helps you build a picture of your customers and how best to interact with them, how they like being approached, and what works best as a sales pitch for each customer.
Automated Marketing
Once you know how to attract each customer best, your CRM software can actually help automate this for you. If it has figured out which group of customers responds to emails most, which responds to phone or text marketing, and which responds to adverts, it can help make all of those things happen.
Sorting customers and automating marketing messages is something that can save your marketing crew a huge amount of time while saving you money. This is one of the real benefits of CRM, knowing who to sell what to, when, and why is an extremely powerful tool for increasing revenue.
Revenue Tracking and Forecasting
Speaking of revenue, CRM can help manage that, too. With its central hub of well-presented data, graphs, charts, and stats, CRM can show you your revenue as well as what’s making it increase, decrease, or plateau. It can also show you what your projected sales are based on various outcomes and variables. Again, this is taking away a lot of man-hours, meaning you’re saving money and getting high-quality data at the same time.
Document Management
Another great tool in CRM’s arsenal is modern document management systems. These centralized, fully-integrated systems help you create, edit, and share files with everyone inside your organization and out. It will show edits, version histories, and help you keep everything organized, while also linking up seamlessly with other services like Dropbox, Google Docs, or iCloud.
This means all your documents are safely stored in the cloud, as well as locally, are accessible by whoever you need them to be accessible by, and can be protected, edited, and managed on desktop or mobile. No more paper, no more lost files, no more stress.
The benefits of implementing good CRM software within your company are huge. Not only will you be able to analyze and retain customers better, but you’ll also be able to organize your teams better. We have only touched on a few of the key benefits here, there is so much more to discover, learn and improve with CRM.
