One of the most challenging aspects is customer relationship management. Today we share with you 7 benefits of using a CRM in your company, since it can be convenient to start defining it.
If you click on this link, you will find another blog entry where we include a short video created by our team, which defines a CRM and shares the key features of 7 CRMs for SMEs.
What is a CRM?
To dig into our topic, you should know that CRM is an acronym that stands for Customer Relationship Management. Its purpose is to manage how you interact with the customers of your company. There are numerous presentations of CRM, as we mentioned in the video from the previous link, but in short, a CRM provides accurate and systematic tracking of your customers.
We would like to add a brief parenthesis because the acronym is often confused with ERP, which is a comprehensive planning system: Enterprise Resource Planning.
What is the difference with ERP?
Let’s say that both ERP and CRM are backbone systems without which your business cannot grow. In this link, we provide a more detailed view on the matter.
Both are suitable platforms for these generations of immediacy.
So, while ERP focuses on the meticulous planning of your company, such as resource allocation or workforce management, CRM, on the other hand, focuses on the dialogue between your company and your potential customers, or as we like to call them, leads.
The importance of these systems for your business
At this point, you might ask, «Well, why go through all this trouble with a program when I am perfectly fine with my agenda and rely on my memory?»
Allow us to answer with a hypothetical case: let’s suppose you make a cold contact with a customer who, in your opinion, urgently needs your product or service. Everything goes well, but at this moment, you catch the customer without funds or perhaps they are not currently interested in what you offer, but they would like you to contact them in two months. Time passes, new customers come in, you get busy with your company’s projects, and the agreed-upon day passes. You have lost a customer and a great opportunity for your company.
7 Benefits of using a CRM in your company
A CRM makes your life easier. It is a tool, of course, and like any tool, it needs to be polished, properly maintained, but above all, it needs to be used correctly.
Prioritize activities
First and foremost, a CRM provides you with a dashboard and a plethora of options that may initially seem overwhelming. We assure you that it is not.
A CRM highlights problems, prioritizes and organizes your company’s activities chronologically and by importance. It puts everything into perspective: there are no misunderstandings or ambiguities.
Business agility
Let’s be clear: it is easier to do business with an existing customer than to acquire new customers. Every company aims to generate more with less.
How will a CRM help you with this objective? Since your company would collapse without customers, you need to know when to contact them, through which channels, and predict the timing and mode of response.
The CRM streamlines your customer interactions, gradually moving them into your warm circle.
It’s not as complicated as it seems
Based on the qualities we have mentioned, the CRM may not seem as outrageous or exotic. When you think about it, it fulfills most of the functions that an assistant used to perform.
It concatenates business cards in a database, like a file; it sets reminders and itineraries, like an agenda. And the best part is that it’s just a click away.
Friendly and comprehensive presentation of your company
On a single screen, you can display all your relationships with your customers: you can see the prioritized activities and the status of your agenda.
The CRM generates reports for you to supervise your company’s activity management. With simple indicators, the CRM provides an overview of your company’s performance.
It requires commitment and offers productive learning
A CRM requires patience. Don’t expect it to work overnight. It needs commitment, re-education, and willingness from everyone involved in your company.
There are courses and tutorials that show you how to use a CRM. Sharing the experience and discipline of learning with everyone: now, with CRM, your company will thrive and move in the right direction, faster and more efficiently.
Optimize how your product or service moves When it comes to personalizing the relationship with your customers, using notebooks or dusty files becomes outdated. This is where a CRM comes into play.
It’s not just your product that moves through the bridges between your customers and your business; your product becomes competitive, rejuvenated, and finds its place in this ever-changing market. You and your company are no longer just another option; you are the option.
Managing customer relationships It’s important to emphasize that a CRM is generally implemented for a team. Therefore, the CRM evaluates and monitors how your team is closing deals, how the sales are going, and what your team needs to yield better results.
Conclusion
In this article, we explained 7 benefits of using a CRM in your company, but, as we mentioned, it also requires proper handling to make a significant difference between your business and others.
By embracing the benefits of technology, your business will position itself among the top contenders, as in this digital revolution, fast processing software and cloud storage are becoming increasingly necessary.
Certain sectors embrace CRM, while others see it more as an obstacle than a tool.
However, all hope is not lost. Resistance to novelty only reveals that the team has a certain relationship with their tools that can be harnessed with patience and determination.
We hope this article has been helpful to you. Feel free to check the mentioned links to gain a more detailed understanding of CRMs.