So recently I have been getting a lot of questions like what does a CRM do? Why do I need a CRM? What is CRM used for? Why is CRM important for an organization? I personally felt that there are a lot of businesses out there who are wondering about all the hype surrounding CRM especially the promising stats like it increases Sales by 29% on average. These people want to adopt the CRM technology but at the same time, are still very confused about what a CRM implementation will actually do for their business. Be it a startup, a small-sized venture or an established enterprise; they’re all looking to improve their CRM strategy.
Then there are those who know (to some extent) what a CRM is and the promises it holds. They usually wait on the fence for a long time to take that last leap towards adopting a CRM. To address this issue, the following post has been drafted. In fact, I will answer only one question “What business problems does a CRM solve?” and will make all the functionalities of a CRM clear to you. I shall present to you here, exactly what you can achieve by adopting a CRM?
A) Day to day tasks
1. Unorganized Database
Unorganized Businesses don’t make a profit!
The first and foremost way a CRM will help your business is by keeping all your data organized on a single platform regardless of the business role.
2. Updating Address Book
Gone are the days of manual updating
A CRM will automatically store and retrieve all your contacts whenever you need them.
3. Event Scheduling
Who has the time to do it manually?
Got an event pending for long? Simply schedule it from within your CRM. Let your clients and employees know about it by triggering automatic follow-ups.
4. Client Communication
Could it be more important?
One thing that is absolutely vital in this age of fierce competition is cultivating relationships, and it has to be achieved through effective client communication. In fact, retaining an existing client is 6–7 times less expensive than securing a new one. With an effective CRM, you can call, message or email a client without switching between windows.
5. To-Do Task-List
Have a bad memory? Let a CRM serve you!
No more missing important tasks! The inbox of your e-mail is not an efficient place for you to keep track of your tasks. A CRM will show you a list as well as a detailed view of all the tasks that you needed to undertake and even keep on reminding you to meet your deadlines.
6. Documenting Activities
Documentation is boring; let’s face it!
No one wants to undertake manual documentations anymore. Not only is it lethargic and monotonous, but also highly counterproductive. Your workforce could be spending the same time selling or servicing clients. A CRM will set your priorities straight out.
7. Data Management
Back that data up!
A CRM will back your data constantly and most often on the cloud, so that you may access it anytime. Previously your business took a great hit if your hard drives or desktop based software got corrupted. All your data vanished and with that to some extent your business too.
B) Marketing and Sales
8. Marketing
A remedy for your digital marketing muddles!
Using a CRM, you can personalize every customer experience by providing a consistent message across all marketing touchpoints. How is this done? By using a CRM with Marketing Automation, you can create a single view of each customer with information from all customer touchpoints.
9. Content Sharing
Know it all from your CRM!
Content Marketing is the only form of marketing that is left, says Seth Godin. When you use any 3rd party platform to publish your content, you can keep track of what content at what time helped close the deal. And later, you can use that information to substantially refine your content marketing.
Moreover, integrating CRM with your website can help turn it into a complete content management system.
10. Email Campaign Marketing
Why do it separately? Let’s integrate a CRM
Email Marketing still has the highest ROI as a marketing tool for B2B efforts. Actually, it returns around $40 for each dollar spent as stated by Smallbiztrends.
Read complete 30 Business Problems a CRM Solves.
Looking to adopt a CRM, You can check out this Infographic of 13 popular CRM Systems
