Whether you are a Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
newbie or veteran, a CRM is one tool that can really change the way you do
business.
What is a CRM?
According to TechTarget,
a CRM tool is “technology” that companies use to manage and analyze
customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle, with the goal
of improving business relationships, assisting in retention, and driving sales growth.”
The benefits of a CRM include:
- Organization
- Consolidating customer and prospect data and touch points in one place.
Lets everyone across the organization see what is happening.
- Delivering
a consistent customer experience - Gives you the ability to automate
communication and make adjustments based on prospect and customer
behavior
- Real-Time
Data - Tracking
and analyzing customer interactions such as what ad
they responded to, whether they downloaded your latest PDF, or engaged
with your email. Data gives you a better understanding of prospects so
you can build actual, solid relationships with them.
- Instant
Communication - Gives you the ability to reach out and talk to your entire
database.
But your CRM can’t provide your business with any of these
benefits if it’s not set up properly or completely.
Here are the top
three ways to see if your CRM is performing optimally:
Is your team using it?
Even though a CRM helps to automate some aspects of your
marketing and sales processes, your team still needs to access the information
so when leads are hot and ready to be sold to, they know when to call or email
them.
Do you see movement on your dashboard?
Are new leads coming in? If you are looking at your
dashboard day in and day out and not seeing any movement of prospects coming in
and going through your funnels, there is a problem somewhere down the line that
needs to be resolved. Whether that problem is your intake, follow up
communication, or part of your team, that will have to be investigated.
Are you seeing proposals going out or sales being completed?
Again, just because no sales are occurring doesn’t mean
something is wrong with your CRM. It could be time to check in with your team
to see what is inhibiting them from closing. Are your costs not competitive? Do
you need to work on nurturing your leads more? Or are they just having
difficulty selling and need additional training?
While a CRM doesn’t provide you with all of the answers, it
can be a great tool to analyze what is working in your business and what needs
attention.
If you need help with your CRM, fill out the SMT Contact Us
form below or call the Sales & Marketing Technologies office at (407)
682-2222 to speak with one of our automation experts today. The consultation is
free.