One of the most important aspects of business is forming and maintaining customer relationships. At the end of the day, customers are what revenue drivers of an organization. The lack of positive relationships can jeopardize the success of business. Having a customer relationship management (CRM) system provides the tools needed to ensure positive relationships with your customers.
What is CRM Software?
CRM software acts as a central hub that handles and holds all information related to your clients or prospects. This can include anything from contact information to sales details. CRM software is designed to streamline customer interactions. From managing contacts, to appointment setting, a CRM system provides an invaluable tool to your customers.
In addition, CRM solutions act as a tool to assist your sales teams and customer services teams. A CRM solution can help them to meet deadlines, schedule appointments, track important tasks, and stay organized. The possibilities with a CRM solution are endless. Expect to be able to better handle customer requests, more accurately forecast sales, and more. A CRM solution can benefit various roles across your entire organization.
With the information your teams collect on their prospective and current clients, you will optimize your opportunities to make sales. Consider how CRM can track buying patterns. If a customer was interested in a specific product in the past, the information will be displayed in your CRM solution. This way, you can present them the products again to complete a sale.
A good and suitable CRM solution makes it possible for you to manage key interactions with customers or prospects. A CRM solution should be able to help you identify where a client or prospect is on the buyer’s journey. This way, you can act on next steps to complete the sales process more efficiently.
In general, a CRM solution can help you overcome the following business challenges:
- Too many spreadsheets
- No visibility to the sales pipeline
- Inability to access customer data
- Losing qualified leads
- Issues pulling KPI reports
- No access to back end data
Things to Consider When Selecting a CRM Software
We understand that it can be overwhelming to select a CRM system that works for your organization. Afterall, there are many options available on the market, as well as many different factors to consider in evaluating CRM solutions. Here are some things to consider to make your CRM selection process easier:
- Features and Functions
First off, it’s important to understand the needs of your organization and employees. Needs can vary depending on the size, industry, nature of your business, and more factors. Different roles can get different benefits out of a CRM solution. Overall, a CRM solution should streamline, automate, and improve your department and business processes.
There are many features and functions available on CRM solutions. It’s important to carefully identify the ones that you need at your organization. This way, you can avoid paying for features that you will not be using. There are also development options that allow you to customize your CRM to meet the specific needs of your business.
Visit the BAASS marketplace to view some of our development solutions.
Consider a software that will integrate with your existing platforms. CRM software can be greatly enhanced when integrated with other solutions such as ERPs. Integration can greatly streamline your business processes and increase efficiency around your organization.
Another feature to look for is mobile capabilities. If your company uses devices like smartphones and laptops, you will most definitely require a CRM that has a mobile platform. This way, your CRM can easily be accessed from those devices if your employees are out of the office.
- Scalability
When looking for the right CRM system for your organization, keep scalability in mind. Choosing a CRM system that has the ability to grow, as you grow, is important. Getting stuck in a contract with a product that has limited scalability can prove detrimental to your efforts, long term.
In addition, as your organization grows, it will require more out of your CRM solution. Without a scalable solution, you may be unable to fulfill certain demands or adequately serve your customers. A scalable CRM solution can help your organization manage and support such growth.
Consider the opposite situation too: your organization may have less needs than anticipated. In this case, it would allow you to scale back so you’re not stuck paying for capacity that is unneeded. Especially for new businesses, this sort of flexibility can be very beneficial.
- Vendors + Partners
Lastly, it’s important to consider your CRM vendor and their experience. Consider requesting CRM demos to have a sense of whether or not the specific software works for your organization. This can help you evaluate and compare the various CRM solutions available.
Once you have identified a system that meets all of your requirements, don’t forget to research their support system. Having 24/7 access to customer support can save time, energy, and stress as complications will inevitably arise. Now that you’ve decided on a CRM software to implement, it’s time to request for a proposal!
Ideally, your CRM vendor should have experience with CRM implementations in your industry and with organizations similar in nature to yours. Your selected partner can play a large role in how well your CRM can be leveraged at your organization. Training can contribute to how smoothly CRM gets adopted at your business. With knowledgeable experts, your vendor can provide your employees with more tailored training suited towards the specific needs of your organization.
BAASS Business Solutions
At BAASS Business Solutions, we seek to help our customers improve processes to become more profitable. We take the time to understand the needs of your business. With over 30 years of experience, we know that a CRM system is indispensable for managing your business relationships.
We will help you select a software solution that will improve efficiency, service, and profitability at your organization. For more information about CRM, contact us. To learn more about our offered CRM solutions and view our CRM related resources, click here.
