Customer relationship management (CRM) systems offer a great way to communicate with customers and target sales and marketing activities around customer interests. CRM itself is more than software, even though we often speak of the software itself. It’s a mindset around the use of software to enhance customer relationships and communications with customers.
From the ongoing conversations, communications, and interactions, abundant customer data emerges. This data, however, can be problematic. Let’s take a look at some common problems found within CRM data and how you can prevent or fix them.
Three Common CRM Data Problems and Solutions
Problem: Customer records are missing key pieces of information
You open the data file and find that important pieces of customer information are missing from the file. Records are incomplete. Customers cannot be contacted because you don’t have an accurate email address or telephone number to reach them.
Solution: Check with your customer service, sales, and marketing staff to make sure that they are asking for all the data when they are in contact with customers. Integrate other systems in your company with your CRM system so that purchasing information, orders, and invoices are also brought into the system to complete each customer profile. Make sure your CRM system is set up correctly so it is capturing all the available information.
Problem: Records are outdated
You send out a company newsletter to the email addresses in your CRM system and you have a high number of hard bounces (bad email addresses). There are old records in your system dating back several years and you spot companies you know have gone out of business, been sold, changed names, etc. Your database contains a great deal of stale information.
Solution: Databases can become stale and fatigued if they aren’t used frequently. If your CRM has sat idle for any length of time or no one has been actively managing it, data can become outdated. People change email addresses frequently, for example.
One way to fix this problem is to always confirm customer information when you are in direct contact with customers. For example, if your call center receives an inbound call from a client, ask the client to quickly confirm their address, phone number, and email address.
There are also services available to scrub and clean databases. These services match records from your database to reputable sources of data, such as the U.S. Postal Service’s forwarding database which tracks all notifications to forward mail because people have moved to a new location. Using such a service from a list broker or list company can get your mailing list shipshape quickly.
Problem: Not enough new prospects
Your sales remain stagnant because you’re reaching out to the same customer base. You don’t have enough new prospects coming in.
Solution: Your CRM system is great for contacting your current customers and for keeping in touch with them. What it can’t do for you is prospect to find new customers. You’ll need to ramp up your sales and marketing efforts to get new customers back into your sales pipeline.
CRM Systems: Customers First
CRM systems put the customer at the center of the relationship. Managing your CRM data is the first step to building trust between you and your customers. Take time to make sure that your CRM database is updated and ready for business.
Blog: 6 Common CRM Mistakes
BAASS Business Solutions
BAASS Business Solutions offers CRM solutions. We also offer ERP systems and many other software on the cloud to help manufacturers improve productivity, efficiency, and profitability. Please contact us for a consultation today. We will help you choose the best business intelligence solution for your needs. Contact us or call 1-888-650-5544.
