Harris KhanHow often does it occur to you that the sales department is not working at full capacity? Without clear control over the work of the sales department, it is impossible to objectively assess the effectiveness. Every company realizes the need to account for customers and manage transactions over time. These tasks are solved by CRM-business software designed to restore order in sales, automate business processes, increase customer loyalty and create comfortable working conditions for managers.
Choose the right system is not as easy as it seems. Drowning in gigabytes of contradictory information, you begin to wonder whether your business really needs CRM? Let’s answer this question first.
Why a small business needs a CRM
There are situations when the implementation of a customer management system will not bring tangible benefits to the company. If the firm works with a narrow circle of regular partners or under one large contract and is not engaged in regular search and attraction, there is nothing much to consider. But when a company is actively seeking new sales channels and allocating funds for advertising, every lead counts. To miss them because you paid little attention to the sales funnel and the organization of the work of managers means to drain part of the advertising budget for nothing. The reason for the low return on advertising may lie in the inefficient processing of applications. It does not depend on the size of the business. So companies that provide write essay for me services need a CRM for a thorough and comprehensive customer process. With its help, all customer data and the history of interaction with them are available in a structured, detailed form.
The loss of potential customers is one of the main problems that CRM will help solve with proper configuration. Some services are integrated with the website and telephony. Information about the client comes from the order form in the CRM, a new transaction is created automatically. All requests and calls are immediately entered into the system, and not a single lead will be missed.
Processing all possible contacts is only one of many tasks. In addition, CRM helps:
1. Customer retention
When all information and the history of relations with the customer are in front of the responsible manager, he offers exactly what he needs. If the manager is fired, CRM will save the data, and another employee will be able to continue communication.
2. Organize joint work
Small companies often do not have a clear division of responsibilities – everyone does everything. Such “universal soldiers” have a big disadvantage – it is impossible to understand who is responsible for what. Most of the modern CRM systems have features for collaborative work.
3. Create a convenient customer base
Sometimes not only the manager who works with a partner must have access to information about the partner. CRM has data access settings.
4. Manage the finances
The functionality of CRM allows you to create reports and on their basis to identify key customers and the most profitable products and services.
5. Track employee performance
Use the time tracking tool to track how many hours employees spend on tasks, find slackers and effectively distribute the workload.
6. Increase sales
Managers process all incoming leads, do not forget about important meetings, calls, and letters. They know more about the client and offer what he needs. Satisfied partners come back again and sales go up.
7. Save time
A CRM can automate many routine operations – billing, reporting, organizing calls, and mailings. When all data are stored in one place, you do not have to spend a lot of time searching in different sources – mail, excel, day planner, dozens of folders in the closet, and on the computer.
8. Analyze results and keep statistics
In CRM, you can sort data in different ways and create reports. You will see how many clients are at each stage of the funnel, how much time passes from the first contact to the closing of the deal. At what point most of the leads are eliminated and why. What is the budget of the projects that are now in the work.
9. Bringing deals to the end
Knowing what stage of the sales funnel each lead is at, and what actions to take to push them further, your managers will close more deals without losing clients halfway through.
What to look for when choosing a CRM
There is no universal solution. However, several important parameters should be considered by any entrepreneur to avoid difficulties with the implementation and disappointment.
- Functionality. For small businesses, it is important to have a maximum of tools for enterprise management in one service. Such CRM does not need to integrate or use in parallel with a huge number of external resources, for which also have to pay.
- Implementation and configuration. The launch of CRM should not take more than 2-3 days. Spending more time on it is not reasonable – the system may not come up, and you start all over again.
- Customization. Service should be adaptable to the needs of a particular business. It is important that the functionality can be changed and adjusted at the user level, without the programmers’ involvement. Small businesses usually don’t need to write complex scripts, and this is something they can and should save on.
- Updates. Make sure your CRM regularly adds new features, improves old ones, and improves performance. This means the developers haven’t forgotten about their product and are actively developing it. When your business grows, the capabilities of the service will grow as well.
- Intuitive interface. Comfortable usability is half the battle. The better thought out functionality and internal logic of CRM, the easier it will be for employees to understand it.
- Mobile version. It should be convenient and functional. It is important to be able to immediately enter information, get messages and reminders, and see changes in the project.
- Initial filling with data. The service must support the import of data in various formats and transfer from other services. This will save time by not having to fill everything manually and eliminate the risk of loss.
