CRM Importance In Business – A Comprehensive Overview

Before signing up your company for any CRM software and leveraging its powerful customer relationship management feature, the firsthand question that you have to ask yourself is, “Why do I need a CRM Software?” Yes, the question ‘Why’ simplifies your CRM selection process, and you will end up choosing the right CRM solutions for your business. Though it is frustrating to go through numerous product sites and review sites to identify the best online CRM, we have made your task easier by listing down the importance of CRM in the business world.

By going through this list, you will be able to identify “the qualities” that your business requires and easily sign up for a software that caters to this prerequisite. Remember, it is not at all recommended to choose the best CRM, instead, go for the CRM Software that is actually beneficial and right for your business operations.

Before venturing into the advantages of customer relationship management software like Apptivo in business, we will discuss the evolution of this automated solution.

Evolution

The concept of “Customer Relationship Management” has existed since the beginning of time. Be it – the very first model of business, the barter system, transaction through coins, or now, currency notes. In any mode of a business transaction, businesses have to have a good reputation to bring in more customers and retain the existing customers. For this, there has to be efficient management of customer relations. In short, the role of CRM in business was never absent from the world. Rather, it had left its footprints since the development of trade.

Importance Of CRM In Business

The significance of CRM solutions varies based on the scope of your business. Imagine you are running a small-scale business, you may not be in need of all the features endorsed in an online CRM. Rather, the importance of customer relationship management in small businesses is quite specific. Based on that, you have to select the app.

Some of the most prominent businesses of the world utilize relationship management software to manage their business operations. They invest in advanced automation tools to streamline their operations and put together the inter-departmental engagement. The end result – more productivity, less workflow redundancy.

On the query of the value of Customer Relationship Management in business, the following section would shed light on the ‘why’ part while going for CRM software.

Database Management

With the influence of this powerful cloud solution, sales and marketing teams can manage an exclusive database to feed information on their customers, leads, opportunities, employees, and contacts. Here, you can keep track of all forms of engagement with the customers.

The collaboration tools like task manager, notes, calendar, call logs, and emails assist in improving transparency among your employees. This can be accessed effortlessly from anywhere at any time.

Picture this: Dave is one of your employees in the sales department and due to some personal reason, he had to leave his position midway without any prior notice. To take over Dave’s position, you have hired Caroline. Since there was no proper time for the handover of responsibilities, it will be difficult for Caroline on what to do and where to start. Though someone from the team can explain the basics, the main tasks managed will not be clear unless there is a proper system. If you have opted for an online CRM system, Caroline can easily retrieve the tasks assigned to Dave and find information on the status through the collaboration tools.

Customer Retention

There is no doubt that customers are the pillars of a successful business. That being said, businesses focus on retaining their customers. According to Smallbizgenius, 82% of companies agree that customer retention is cheaper than bringing in new customers.

Therefore, a small rise in the customer retention rate results in higher profits for your business with minimum investment. The main ingredient of a customer retention strategy, the customer service becomes efficient and simple by leveraging the helpdesk tools offered in the customer relationship management solutions.

Consider: You are running a retail store that sells clothes to customers. Clothing is a basic necessity. However, not all people purchase clothes all the time. For this reason, most clothing stores collect information about their customers when they purchase their products. This will help them to keep in touch with their customers and help them communicate important information like the store timing, sales, loyalty programs, and other major news to their customers. The importance of CRM in retailing is that it helps to increase the lifetime value of customers through their help desk management system.

Data Analysis

Though there are different types of selling, the one method that has gained popularity and acceptance from market analysts is the Data-Driven Selling Approach. According to Gartner, 60% of B2B sales organizations will transition from experience and intuition-based selling to data-driven selling by 2025. This explains the gravity of metrics and how they structure the sales strategy of businesses. Hence, key performance indicators (KPIs) based analysis helps not only in sales analysis but also in introspecting your teams’ performance.

By integrating your business operations with an efficient data analysis system, sales and marketing teams can understand their customer base and segment their business strategy according to multiple key factors for better visibility and increased conversion rate.

Assume: You are managing a global business and hence, you cannot apply the same sales strategy throughout the globe. Instead, you have to analyze the customer segments and devise your sales strategy accordingly. Similarly, it is crucial to monitor the performance of your salespersons regularly in order to ensure stable delivery of customer service. In short, metrics design your overall sales and marketing strategy.

Advanced Automation

Nowadays, businesses across the globe increasingly implement automation into their business. In this information era, automation has created a definite position that is irreplaceable and businesses believe that they have a major role in reducing redundant tasks and increasing productivity.

According to a Study, one-third of the total sales tasks can be automated. This is a great boost for businesses looking to shift their sales team’s focus towards selling instead of focusing on redundant paperwork. CRM tools are powered with automation to make the entire sales strategy simple.

Imagine this: You are the sales manager and you are retrieving a report on your team’s performance in the previous quarter. You notice that the team has spent less time interacting with clients. When you further probe this, you realize that your team has invested too much time in maintaining the paperwork after the call or email. By using a sales CRM tool, the sales team can easily record all the interactions and focus more on selling.

Third-Party Integrations

Businesses utilize multiple solutions to cater to their different business purposes. However, they face setbacks while trying to access multiple information at the same time. This leads to unwarranted time delays and confusion. Furthermore, this affects the productivity of the employees who have to manage unnecessary follow-ups.

An efficient system can implement timely solutions by collecting information from multiple platforms, thereby, enabling the users to gather, track, and analyze the complete workflow from a single point of view without switching multiple tabs and creating several spreadsheets.

Assume: Your sales team uses multiple spreadsheets to maintain the leads, prospects, and customers. Every time, your team has access to each sheet separately and analyzes the performance through the sales stages. Isn’t it frustrating? The importance of customer relationship management is to reduce repetitive tasks, integrate all the information in a cloud system, and prevent multiple accesses. The strategic importance of CRM is its capability to integrate all the information from multiple platforms in a single system in real-time.

Enhanced Customer Service

Customer service is a very important component for an increased lifetime of any business. When the customer service delivered is good, there is a higher chance of customers retaining service with your business. On the contrary, if the customers feel that they are not treated well, they easily sign up for alternate solutions without much confusion as they have multiple options.

With the induction of new companies, the level of competition has increased drastically across all the sectors. Hence, the customers are also given an option to choose from a wide range of sellers.

Assume: Two companies A and B are selling the same product with different brand names. However, both products have similar characteristics right from pricing to features. But, most of the customers prefer purchasing them from company A. When a survey was conducted on why they prefer this company, their answer was mostly customer service. Company A provided better customer service than B. So, this made company A a people’s choice.

Improved Efficiency

The prime purpose of choosing any software is to reduce the workload of employees and reduce the requirement of additional resources. Businesses also sign up for a CRM solution with the goal of streamlining their managing process. A CRM software has the ability to manage all the redundant tasks and play a significant role in preventing employees from shifting their focus on important tasks.

With the development of technology, a lot of upgrades have occurred in our everyday life. This includes the customer relationship management industry. The integration of businesses with a CRM system has brought notable development in the efficiency of the companies.

Assume: A company is using traditional spreadsheets to manage the database. Additionally, individual spreadsheets are used for each type of interaction like calls and emails. When a customer calls regarding the status of the previous interaction, it becomes tedious to go through multiple spreadsheets right from locating the customer information to identifying the previous interaction. When a CRM system is in place, the company can easily open the customer profile and view the previous interactions. Furthermore, the waiting time of the customer is reduced and they become satisfied with the service.

Conclusion

What we covered in the above post covers the most fundamental importance of CRM in business. As your business grows, and you start exploring your CRM system, you will move away from your traditional business management and make use of the powerful automated tools to manage your overall business workflow. Your customer relationship management software combined with an engaging sales and marketing team opens the door to multiple opportunities and scope for your business. We can conclude that this powerful software has become an integral part of business management applications and sales communities across the globe.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I Create and Set Triggers in CRM apps?
• How do I Create Custom Email Templates in CRM Apps?
• How to set the access level for the Associated Objects in the CRM App?