It’s downright frustrating when you feel as if you’re battling one problem after another without resolution in your company. Instead of moving your business ahead, you’re wasting time patching up problems. You need solutions, and a CRM just might be the fix you’re looking for.
Here are six common business problems that having a CRM platform can help solve.
- Juggling (and Losing) Information
In business, there’s a lot to juggle. From incoming leads to outgoing customers and everything in between, you have a wealth of information at your fingertips. All of it is important, yet organizing it all is a struggle — especially when that information is coming in from various departments.
With CRM software, you can keep everything in one place. When a new lead comes in, a file for that contact is automatically created. As the sales team nurtures the lead, each person can make notes and updates in that customer’s file. When the marketing team needs to understand what’s going in the customer’s mind at the time of purchase, they can log in and view these notes. When the lead becomes a customer, the customer service team can continue to keep track of interactions in the customer’s file.
All of the information surrounding that one customer is stored in one place. Finding, managing, and organizing information instantly becomes simple.
- Repeated Project Management Blunders
Customers need nurturing throughout their relationship with your business. From before the sale is made to after the product or service is delivered, your customers go through a certain workflow with your company. At each stage, they may be working with someone different in your company. And customers have different goals and different needs at various phases of the buying cycle. Addressing each of these different stages while delivering a seamless experience for your customer requires careful project management.
A CRM helps you stay on task so you never drop the ball (and potentially lose a sale) with your customer.
In your CRM, you can assign tasks to specific people. You can assign deadlines to each of those tasks. And you can use your CRM as a running log of what’s been done and what needs to be completed to keep the customer extremely satisfied with your business. Drill down to the details without losing sight of what the entire customer experience looks like from start to finish.
- Unbalanced Budget
Is your budget off balance? You might be able to shave some money off your sales and marketing costs, while at the same time gaining more revenue with a CRM. Let’s break it down.
There’s a chasm between sales and marketing teams. These two teams rarely put their heads together to come up with new marketing campaigns or sales scripts. By working out of two separate silos, you’re losing money and customers by not communicating what works and what doesn’t between the two.
While both departments are busy working separately to get to the same goal, your customers are getting confused. Confusion while shopping is a surefire recipe for losing customers.
Bring the sales and marketing communications under one digital roof to bridge this gap. With CRM, both the sales and marketing teams can get access to the communication information they need to make better decisions. It’ll pay off because the customer will start to see consistent messaging, making it easier for him to work with your company.
- Low Productivity
Ever heard the expression, “what gets scheduled, gets done?”
How about “accountability breeds responsibility?”
A CRM lets you schedule and assign tasks to specific people. It also lets you track who consistently follows through with tasks and who frequently drops the ball so you can hold your team members accountable. The end result? Boosted productivity.
- Poor Customer Service
Customer service can make or break a relationship with your client list. If a customer feels well taken care of, he’s more likely to remain loyal to your company. On the flipside, poor service can cause your customer to bolt to your competitor.
A CRM platform improves your customer service levels by tracking customer needs in one place. If a customer has a complaint that the tech team needs to address, everything can be managed centrally in your CRM. The customer service agent can get updates on the progress toward solving the problem. If you need to loop in the accounting team to offer a refund, you can do that too. All of the players can collaborate in one area so the customer’s end experience is a good one.
- Lack of Data in Decision Making
When it comes to making decisions about budget, marketing strategy, or sales cycles, are you shooting in the dark? Or do you have the right data to make informed decisions?
A customer relationship management platform gathers data throughout the sales process, while the customer works with your firm, and after a project is complete. This data can then be taken and put into reports that show why people didn’t buy, where you’re losing customers in the sales cycle, what’s causing your customers to leave, and more. The more data you have, the stronger decision-making abilities you’ll have.
Ready for CRM?
If your business is suffering from any of these — disorganization, high costs, low revenues, poor productivity and customer service, or a lack of data – it’s time to get a CRM system in place. Having a central place to manage all of your customer relationships helps streamline your business and improve the customer’s experience with your company, which ultimately leads to more revenues and growth.
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