Organizations burn thousands of dollars in implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to add value to their business in various forms. Yet, getting a positive return out of that investment can be time-consuming, specifically if the employees working in the organization are reluctant enough to use the system or are not updating the data on regular basis into the system. So, what does a company needs to do to get the best out of their CRM system?
Top 5 Tips to Help Organizations Maximizing the Utility of a CRM Software
Identify your Target Audience
Research the potential Return on Investment (ROI) on the CRM for every concerned employee or department before selecting the CRM for your business. Identify the company’s needs and what you really expect from the CRM. If you stint on this point, adopting the CRM is not going to be a difficult task for you. The best way to customize your CRM can be done by identifying the need of your end-user. For example, identify the need for CRM for sales operations and marketing teams. Simultaneously, keep an eye on the other important business operations that your business follows which requires special attention.
Automate Your CRM software to make it easy to use for employees
Interface design is one of the crucial factors which requires attention while customizing your CRM. In order to maximize user interaction and make it easier for employees to use the software, ensure that the flow of screens matches with the business process flow. User-based security rules for hiding the fields or modules as per user role and displaying the information which are relevant for the user need to be automated in CRM. This makes it easier for the user to manage their work and also helps in maintaining data security/privacy. Issues of data confidentiality of customer data by the company are also resolved.
“Remember, it is not obvious to fail to remember that every employee working in the organization logs into the CRM framework consistently. The same field name may make perfect sense to a sales operation team but may leave a blurred concept in mind for a sales representative”. Hence, it is very much important to customize your CRM in order to fit the requirement of end-users of the system.
Provide Proper CRM Training to the Employees
Companies are often able to implement CRM effectively for their business but lack in providing proper training to the employees. In order to consistently utilize the system, companies need to focus more on training employees. One of the best ways to do this is to identify the eager employees and teach them regarding the system. Once they have the grip on the system, schedule regular sessions to train other employees on the system to maximize the utility of the system.
Keep the Data in Sync
One of the critical tasks in CRM is maintaining a consistent process for managing customer data. It is quite a difficult task to get all the users of CRM to enter every information on time while working on the deals. However, by providing an easy-to-use application, you can make sure that data accuracy is maintained every time the user is entering data into the system. Another aspect to keep the data up to date in CRM is an investment of time and money. One needs to spend some time and money to keep the data clean, fresh, and up to date. Removing duplicate data and preventing data duplicity is a good place to start with for maintaining accurate data. This can be done by maintaining primary variables such as email address, flags, and such for checking invalid data.
Mobilize your CRM
A cloud-based CRM offering mobile functionalities allows users to track their customer records, manage leads, opportunities, proposals, files, and projects from any device, anytime. For companies providing flexible working hours to their employees due to inconsistent in and out office timings, such a solution can help in improving the productivity and effectiveness in work. As an addition to this, you can integrate your CRM with various social media platforms. This helps users to detect social media profiles virtually based on customer primary data, leading them to see their contacts and leads based upon their frequent posts. This also helps companies to capture customer communications in real-time and fix issues quickly by reaching out to the customers in real-time.
Moreover, you need to keep in mind, there is always room for improvement. It is important to keep users make feel good regarding the CRM system they use. Always try to plan for the features which can prioritize the business. You will not only be able to eliminate the issues you face with the system but also will be able to continue to use the system in a more usable manner.
Now, you can easily integrate your CRM with other business applications like an ERP and automate the business process!
