A Customer Relationship Management system popularly referred to as CRM is a competent tool for customer management throughout their lifecycle. The application is an amalgamation of technology and strategy that aids in managing customer relationships in a more organized way. It is also a precise prospect mining tool for expanding business and to target customer base.
For the Small and Medium enterprises, CRM is still a dilemma. They are not yet as open to adopting CRM due to presumed misconceptions such as CRM is meant only for bigger corporates or it is an expensive tool for a SME. These misinterpretations are probably thriving on the fact that it is still not well understood that a CRM system can be easily tailor made to suite a SME’s business need. This in turn also translates into the expenditure of a required CRM package. Above all, most of the CRM software are cloud based which makes it globally accessible for the user from anywhere and enables accessing data from a central repository which negates redundancy.
Does your business need CRM?
A common question asked by SMEs! Below are the questions that you need to ask yourself, to get to answer.
1. Do you face challenges in tracking customer related documents?
2. Are you tracking leads from different sources at one place?
3. Do you miss on giving enough priority to important leads?
4. Do you feel you are not able to track your campaign results effectively?
5. Are your customers from diverse background?
If the answer to these questions are ‘yes’, then it is time to look for a CRM software. Listed below are few benefits a SME can get from a CRM software.
Customer Preferences
A good customer management involves maintaining flawless customer relationships and doing the best possible to meet customer’s need. CRM is a definite aid for a SME in understanding customer’s needs and drawing inferences. It helps in providing insights to help a business to design products and services according to client’s preferences. On the other hand, understanding the general psyche of the customer base also gives an SME an idea about the ideal employees to be hired to serve their customers.
Lead Generation
This is a crucial feature of a CRM system since it is a competent lead generation tool. CRM can run marketing campaigns for conferences or trade shows, or source lead generation from website enquires, or from direct customer calls. These generated leads are smoothly integrated into the central data repository. Hence any of the authorized user can look at the leads in just one click. The software lets the organization define priority parameters which helps in picking up the priority leads for quick closures and high revenue.
The 360 degree overview
Database management and segregation of customer data are tedious tasks which eat into productive hours. Most of the CRM software allow automatic and flawless segmentation of data. The software also tracks activities on a lead or a customer. Since all of this data is mapped to one repository, it becomes easier to access the same via one click, draw inferences and formulate a sales strategy around the customer.
Scoring the Home Run
Lead generation is not the end of the road especially in sales. It is about making a sale at the right time and building relationship with the customer. A CRM system aids in keeping the focus on customers by sending automated mailers and text messages as reminders for follow up meetings, seasonal greetings and calls, prompts about special days such as birthdays, anniversaries etc, and helps to keep the customer delighted. This in turn helps in building a relationship which ensures that a lead or a prospect is converted to a customer.
Grievance Resolution
Losing a customer would mean loss of business. More often than not, this is due to unresolved grievance that a customer has either due to poor service, bad quality products, bad management, late delivery, etc. Without a CRM system in place, it is be impossible to keep a track of the complaints that customers raise. However since CRM generates a unique id for each customer, tracking customer purchases, transactions, or any grievance becomes absolutely easy and convenient.
