5 CRM Strategies to Improve Your Business

Cloud-based, digital CRM (customer relationship management) software is fast becoming the norm in the business world.  Companies are searching for strategies to optimize the usage of these investments.  Without a company-wide buy-in to implement CRM management tools, valuable functionality that could profit the business is left under-utilized or even completely unused.  According to this Monday.com article, “CRM tools help businesses organize their collections of data into a simpler user interface so they can then recognize and communicate with customers in a scalable manner.” 

With this valuable opportunity available, how do companies facilitate best practices by all employees, including sales, management, marketing, and customer service?  Employees should understand why CRM implementation is so important and how they can accomplish that.  Here are five strategies to consider:

The primary goal of a CRM product is to provide insight into the customer and potential customer base.  The more data that can be collated into one interactive tool, the clearer the picture that is gained.  CRM tools are not just address books!  Consistent and conscientious data entry allows users to analyze customer interaction with your company.  Understanding customer behavior is key to answering how, when, and where your customers are interacting with your brand.  SalesChain software provides customized analytics in the form of Business Intelligence tools and dashboards.  Sales, marketing, and service employees can all dig deeper into the data to glean valuable insights that drive next steps. 

A CRM tool is only as good as the quality of the data base.  Management of large data files is simplified by having them all contained within a cloud-based tool.  But maintaining that tool ensures accurate and useful data, therefore, Data Cleansing and De-Duplication is vital.  A system should be in place to eliminate errors, duplication, and old records.  Marketing campaigns generated based on CRM data need to be targeted, relevant and up to date.  SalesChain software unifies entries that may have been duplicated in other, disparate systems. SalesChain offers a De-Duplication service when we onboard new clients, taking data they had in spreadsheets or in other CRM systems and making sure it’s clean before we import it into our own system. We cross-reference this data with InfoUSA’s database and the US Postal service to make sure the addresses and business names are current and valid, saving headaches later in the order and billing process.

By their nature, CRM tools are designed to handle volumes of data way too cumbersome and time-consuming to be entered manually.  Regular data cleansing maintains the integrity of the information, but now what?  How can this powerful potential be used?  Analytical CRM dashboards create highly sophisticated and functional reporting tools.  Companies should implement a strategy for routine stakeholder analysis reports.  All employees can benefit from access to reports such as customer interactions, customer purchase history, upselling opportunities, customer lead interactions, key performance indicators (KPIs), and response to marketing.  Time should be allocated to allow teams to study, brainstorm, and implement insights from these reports. 

A cloud-based CRM tool creates accessible mobility from anywhere there is an internet connection.  The company sales force becomes much more efficient and data entry can happen in the moment, greatly reducing data entry errors and missed opportunities.  Therefore, it is an essential part of a good CRM strategy for there to be a mobile CRM application in place.  It eliminates dependence on an office-based server and saves money spent on installing and maintaining software on multiple company machines.  

Finally, a good CRM tool plays an ongoing role in effective marketing.  Marketing employees can use CRM to intuit customer behavior patterns, such as how they respond to marketing campaigns.  These powerful tools have the capacity to personalize marketing materials, based on analytics that include customer communication preference and buying habits.  One can identify top customers and create an understanding of the sales process.  Marketing directors can use this information to better manage resource allocation and employee workflow.