Much like the products you manufacture, your company has many moving parts. Customer engagement, order fulfillment, and business development are just a few of the tasks your team juggles each day.
For many in the manufacturing sector, it can seem overwhelming to keep everything organized. This is especially true without the right technology.
In this post, we’ll offer three simple ways to impress clients (with the help of a CRM).
- Know Your Customers by Name
When you first started your business, you knew every customer by name. Thinking back, you can probably still recall many of your early clients’ names. As you’ve added more clients and employees, however, customer name recognition has become nearly impossible.
A CRM (customer relationship management) system, such as Insightly CRM, can be your secret weapon for offering scalable personalization. In fact, 68% of the 465 manufacturing firms recently surveyed by Insightly feel that “contact management” is the most useful CRM feature.
Your field engineers, sales representatives, service department, and accounts payable manager are already interacting with customers each day. Without a well-structured CRM, each employee is left to manage his or her own contact records. When new people join your organization, there is no centralized database to start from. This can lead to awkward situations with clients and make your team look unprepared – or worse, uncaring.
A cloud-based CRM solves these problems by centralizing all customer contact information into a highly accessible database. Users can login from any web-enabled device (including smartphones) to search, sort, and update customer records.
No more handwritten notes, business card organizers, or embarrassing moments with clients. Instead, wow your customers with the personal attention they crave.
- Streamline Your Customers’ Experiences
Your process engineers invest considerable time and effort into a more efficient production cycle. But have you ever examined your administrative functions through the same lens? Lead management, quoting, invoicing, and ongoing support present a tangible impact to your bottom line.
A CRM can bring clarity to your SG&A costs. For example, Insightly simplifies the collection of new sales inquiries. When a prospect calls your office, his or her information can be immediately inputted as a new lead record (instead of being written down on paper). As your sales team establishes a need, the lead record can be converted into an opportunity record. Opportunities are especially helpful for forecasting revenue, projecting an expected close date, and measuring potential return on investment.
Existing customers can also be better served through the use of a CRM (especially one that offers a mobile app). Going back to the survey data, when asked how the Insightly mobile app has most benefited their businesses, 42% of manufacturing firms surveyed felt it most improved customer responsiveness. Why is this so? There are likely many reasons, but accessibility to information is surely at the top of the list. Instead of being chained to a desk, staff can spend more time in the field engaging customers. As new needs surface, opportunities can be entered real-time from any web-enabled device. This type of approach reduces turnaround time and improves customer satisfaction.
- Help Clients Prioritize Their Needs
If money were no object, your customers would gladly buy as much from your company as you could produce. Unfortunately, money is an object, which makes it necessary for your staff to listen and prioritize client needs (in relation to your capacity).
52% of Insightly customers in the manufacturing sector rely on their CRMs every day. It’s therefore no wonder that nearly half (43%) of those polled achieved return on investment within the first month.
Such data indicates the importance of a CRM for prioritizing client needs. Without the right tools, it can be nearly impossible to identify, sort, and track customer requests. With a system such as Insightly, your team can instantly evaluate opportunities based on:
- Urgency
- Deal size
- Projected close date
- Customer name
- Product type
This information not only helps you stay organized; but, more importantly, it can also assist you in your ultimate goal of customer success.
Impress More Customers with Less Effort
Your success in business is largely attributable to your track record of wise decisions. If you’re not currently using a cloud-based CRM, consider it an opportunity to make another intelligent choice. With a platform such as Insightly (which by the way offers a risk-free trial), you’re likely to find new efficiencies and impress even more customers.
At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.
Matt Keener is a marketing consultant and President of Keener Marketing Solutions, LLC. Matt specializes in content marketing and strategic planning, having helped numerous Saas (software as a service) companies and other small businesses worldwide. Read more of Matt’s work, check out his book, or connect with him on Linkedin.
