CRM solutions centralize pieces of information that relate to both current and future clients, which allows marketing, sales, and customer service teams to stay on top of their tasks. Among other capabilities, your agents will be able to log customer communications and purchases. In this way, you won’t lose any detail regarding a client’s relationship with your business, which will certainly help to increase the productivity of your sales force.
There are many CRM solutions available, each designed to accommodate businesses of different sizes and budgets. Although the benefits of using a CRM solution might be clear, making the right choice for your business is an entirely different matter, one that requires some planning. Here are a few tips to help you pick the right CRM solution.
You can only make the most of your new CRM solution if you identify what it is you hope to realize out of installing the software. You won’t be able to assess your usage and performance if you have not defined what business success should look like. In such a case, you run the risk of missing out on success entirely. To help you identify what the ideal outcome should be, try to determine whether you wish to:
• Promote the level of organization and efficiency
• Reduce customer churn
• Improve customer service
• Understand and refine the sales process
• Allow remote access and functionality
• Develop a successful leads generation strategy
• Secure your data
Determine the CRM solution’s cost in terms of time and money
Implementing your new CRM solution could take as much as a year. However, this will depend on your security requirements, team size, process of sales, and the volume of data. If your aim is to be operational quickly, SaaS CRM applications allow quick configuration and can accommodate your entire team. Apart from allowing easy addition and removal of users, you’ll only pay for what you use if you choose such a solution. On the other hand, heavier CRM models require a significantly larger investment and take a lot longer to install. Remember to keep your objectives in mind.
Find out whether your new software will integrate with other business tools
To make the most of your new CRM solution, you need to ensure it will work well with every other tool used to run your business, including your company’s:
• Calendar
• Marketing platform
• Live chat system
• Support desk
• Email
• Business phone system
Since running a company often requires the use of multiple tools, it is best to have programs and utilities that integrate with one another. In this way, you’ll waste less time looking for information, deleting duplicate data, or switching back and forth between tools.
User-friendliness
CRM solutions need to suit the end user well. You should, therefore, choose a CRM solution that’s easy to learn and use. The more intuitive it is, the faster your team members will put it to proper and productive use. Many members of staff don’t like having to update their CRM files manually. If your team members are not feeling confident, they probably won’t put your new CRM solution to proper use, which means you won’t get the most out of it. Unfortunately, your business will most likely suffer as a result.
Armed with this knowledge about CRM solutions, making the right choice should be a lot easier. Remember, CRM solutions come with varying levels of customization. As such, a solution might fit your business right out the box or need tweaking.
