4 ways CRM software helps manage your business effectively

It was Socrates (allegedly) who coined the aphorism “Know Thyself” and the principle still stands for businesses today. Customer relationship management (CRM) software is one of the key tools a new business needs to succeed. Put simply, it tracks interactions with current customers and provides an essential picture of where your business has come from and what it’s doing at the moment. Also, it can – with experience – be used to project an estimate of where your company is going.

The information held by CRM software is firstly client contact details such as name, email, phone number and address. From there it can store details of phone calls, meetings, voice messages and deals that are completed or ongoing.

But is the training and expense really worth it? Absolutely – here’s why:

1. You need a single, organised and searchable place to store data.

Having a centralised point for information storage means never having to search for those all-important yet elusive details that are crucial for maintaining good business relationships. These pieces of information ultimately lead to sales. Sending the same catch-up email more than once to a contact you made at a conference only shows them that you can’t remember when you last spoke. They won’t get the impression that you really care about what they’re up to and genuinely want to meet. But with CRM software you’ll have the date and details of the first email logged and can send a follow-up email instead of a duplicate if you don’t hear from them after a while. Your history with each individual is clearly laid out by the program, and with some software, employees in sales can even see a summary of each of their interactions and how these are progressing towards the deal stage. CRM software will transform the way you interact with customers and boost their engagement with you. You can even use it to harness the power of social media. On top of that, its efficiency means less time and money spent in the process and your attention is fully focused forward.

2. Communication must be clear throughout an organisation.

Shared histories with clients are constantly changing as businesses evolve and employees come and go. The best way to make sense of existing customer histories that get swallowed up in disorganised notes left by a predecessor, old leads and team reshuffles is to review things in a CRM. Here the preceding steps have been laid out and a person newly allocated to the client or deal can see exactly where to pick up the thread. With a CRM, the transition can be seamless and no time needs to be wasted by trying to pick through the interaction’s history from a variety of sources. CRM software is a stress-busting tool and will help you manage internal transitions more effectively – something employees will be very grateful for. You’ll notice less duplicated efforts, fewer mistakes and no lost data.

3. CRM software reveals a company’s state of health.

The day is long enough without having to backtrack through historical data in the hopes of coming up with a clear picture of what’s been happening with certain customers. Without a central, uniform source of data storage to help with the analysis, it’s difficult to get a comprehensive idea about how your business is actually doing. CRM is the tool for quality control, damage repair and future expansion. Without the facts and figures it arranges you can’t see the wood for the trees; it’s as simple as that.

4. Organised data allows you to predict the future of your business.

While a business is small it may be tempting to file all this information in an Excel spreadsheet and rest on your laurels. But consider doing the same file updates in five years’ time when your customer base has doubled, tripled or quadrupled. Not so easy, is it? It’s also difficult to devote adequate time to making sales when employees are lost in a backlog of recording client interactions and noting down new contacts’ details. As far as creating strategies, without easily accessible current data you can’t possibly analyse, predict and plan for the future.

If you’re convinced that CRM software is the link you’ve been missing to connect your business with its future, we can help make that a reality. You don’t need separate licenses for each user and the software can be tailored to match current processes without adding complexity. Get in touch to explore this further, or to discuss in more detail what CRM could add to your company, call One Beyond on 01252 235422 or visit our Working With Us page.