Employing CRM to add manageability to your business
12/09/2013
1 min read
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software vendors have information and tools that can help your company better manage your customer data and utilize it to both retain and increase business from your customers. With CRM software you can track customer information, order history, phone contacts, payment details, and more. According to the recent survey of Hypatia Research 85% of respondents plan to invest in Customer Data Management solutions within the next 24 months.
If your company is currently not using CRM software, below are some reasons to consider acquiring it in the new year:
- CRM software will centralize all information related to current and prospective customers. With all arms of your business using one database to access customer data, you can ensure your entire staff has all of the information necessary for their daily customer interactions. You will also remove duplication of effort. For example, if a member of your billing office finds out a customer’s contract is about to expire, they can check the database to see if the customer has already been notified of this before they make contact.
- CRM application can provide your sales team with the tools to manage the sales process, assess trends emerging in your sales patterns, and bottlenecks that need to be improved. It can help you track sales pipeline and key stages in your sales process.
- Leverage CRM capabilities to improve communications internally between departments and to improve sales conversion. For example, if your accounting office discovers a client’s contract is coming to a close, they can notify your sales team with the click of a mouse.
- CRM software has built-in reminder systems to help ensure customer follow-up occurs when you want it to happen. A daily log can tell an employee who they need to reach out to each day and what manner they should use to do so. You can rest easy knowing none of your current or prospective customers are being left behind.
- CRM software can automate customer-facing business processes and duties that can take up a great deal of time and manpower. This frees your employees to spend more time on positive customer relations and less time on administrative tasks.
- Using CRM software will help your company keep pace with its peers. According to research conducted by Computer Economics, Inc., 61% of service businesses, 50% of financial services, 44% of manufacturers, 31% of public sector businesses, and 24% of health care organizations use CRM software.