Before CRM became a big deal, companies were struggling with how to improve their interaction with their customers. Business owners tried all sorts of things in an effort to their business relationships with their target audience. The results were not that impressive, however.
Then came CRM – an interesting, industry-changing concept that forever revolutionized how businesses manage their customer relationship efforts.
In the early 90s when this technology was discovered, the term CRM was used to describe a system where members of an organization could record and analyze every contact with a client. At the peak of the 2000/2001 internet bubble, a CRM system was a must-have.
Unfortunately, after the peak, disillusionment filled the air for the next few years, mainly because of the inability of expensive CRM systems to meet the heightened expectations of the users.
The emerging technologies’ Gartner Group Hype Cycle graph offers a clear explanation of the pattern that the CRM system has followed since its inception.
Image Source: Journey Sales
The graph illustrates the traditional pattern characterized by a slow start, unjustified euphoria, followed by disillusionment, and finally up to the realizable sanity level. CRM is currently on the realizable sanity stage.
Organizations that embraced the earlier CRM systems had to contend with in-house applications that were hosted within the organization’s physical servers. A lot of improvements have taken place since then.
Today, CRM systems are cloud-based where teams can access apps and data through an internet browser. Other terms used to describe cloud CRM include online CRM, web CRM and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) CRM.
The launch of a new technology signals the beginning of the Hype Cycle. The 2018 Gartner’s Update of the graph suggests two key technology areas where sales leaders can enhance their sales execution – integration and machine learning.
Image Source: Smarter with Gartner
What Is CRM?
According to Salesforce, CRM is a platform for managing all your company’s (or brand’s) relationships and interactions with its customers and potential customers.
If you are just stumbling upon this term, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It was conceptualized and specifically designed with one simple goal in mind – to enhance business relationships.
Customer relationship management might sound a bit complicated but if used correctly and with the right tool it can significantly boost your interactions with your customers.
The best CRM software should help your company achieve various things, namely:
Each time you hear people talk about CRM, they are usually referring to a CRM system. A CRM system is a tool that assists in the management of contact, sales, productivity and many more aspects of the business.
The application of customer relationship management solution allows you to focus on the company’s relationships and interactions with individuals the entire time they will be part of your business.
The best CRM will even help you acquire new customers, win their business, provide support and most importantly enable you to provide additional services for as long as the relationship remains.
Are CRM Systems Fit for Just One or Two Types of Companies?
Not at all!
Even if you are just starting out in the world of business, you will quickly locate the best CRM for startups. CRM systems such as Zoho CRM allow everyone (in any line of business) to better manage their external relationships and interactions and in turn, stimulating success.
With a CRM tool, you can store contact information for your existing customers and prospects, easily identify conversion opportunities, keep an account of service issues and even monitor marketing campaigns in one centralized location.
What is more, every member of the organization who wishes to access all the customer interactions can do so whenever they like hassle-free.
Anyone who has interacted with easy access to data and visibility can testify to the benefits that follow. For instance, better collaborations give birth to increased productivity.
There is nothing as good as when everyone in the firm can track customer communications, what the customer has purchased, their last purchases, the amount they deposited and many other vital details.
Many people tend to think that CRM software is exclusive for large and medium-sized organizations. Surprisingly, customer relationship management software is particularly beneficial to small businesses where teams are always looking for new ways of achieving more with less.
Are you thinking of ditching your CRM software?
Don’t do it just yet!
Here are enough reasons why you should hold onto it forever.
CRM is the biggest software market across the globe. Over time, it has stood out as the best technology asset that a firm can invest in. One of the things that have given cloud CRM software prominence is its ease of integration with other business applications.
As a result, companies that adopt CRM systems can cover all the aspects of their business cycle with increased sales and marketing returns, and at the same time, reducing expenses.
You might not have discovered it, but operating a business in the absence of CRM can cost you a lot of money. If you have to spend time administering every aspect of your business, it means that you have less time for handling everything.
If your sales team is the active type, they generate a lot of data. At the same time, sales representatives are always on the road, interacting with customers, meeting prospects and discovering invaluable information.
In the absence of CRM software, all this information remains in the form of handwritten notes, inside the heads of sales and marketing reps or on laptops.
What are the likely consequences?
Some people argue that they can successfully collect and record data without a CRM system. However, even if you can, you will still face one major problem – making sense of the data. You will experience challenges in extracting the finer bits and pieces that you need to succeed, which can subsequently slow down your efforts.
Imagine the time you will spend creating reports. Don’t you think you will end up wasting a lot of valuable selling time?
At the same time, managers cannot offer the needed support because they can easily lose focus on the activities of the teams. The absence of oversight translates to a lack of team accountability, and eventually, low productivity.
As you can see, it is not only the sales team that loses when a company fails to invest in CRM. The problems flow from one department to the other, and ultimately, the entire company suffers.
Now that we’ve established the benefits of retaining your CRM system, how can you ensure that you are getting enough ROI from your CRM?
Tips For Improving Your CRM Return On Investment
1. Enhancing user adoption
Poor/low user adoption is one of the leading reasons why companies are dissatisfied with their CRM ROI. Unfortunately, it is a common problem when it comes to the deployment of customer relationship management systems.
How can one ensure successful user adoption of CRM?
Image Source: Super Office
Begin by offering CRM training to all your employees. Make a deliberate decision to focus on employee training on issues to do with consistent and effective utilization of CRM. One of the ways of achieving this is identifying and teaching tech-savvy and eager employees about the CRM system.
From there, you can consider scheduling regular sessions where you can train these employees on how to relay what they have learned to their colleagues in their various departments.
Ensure that those designated to use the CRM software learn how to use every aspect of the system. This is crucial so that you can get the desired results.
User adoption should be encouraged across the board, including in all levels of the management – a top to bottom approach is essential. Every person within the organization should be aware of how the systems work as well as its benefits to both the business and their respective roles.
When employees realize that company management is keen on learning how the system works, they will also be interested in learning and using it.
Remember to define roles for each team and the individual employees within the project. Early team involvement is imperative. Engage them throughout the implementation process from the very beginning.
Besides training, also troubleshoot and explore. Make maximum use of the training and support given during the system implementation.
Go the extra mile like encouraging a culture where questions and uncertainty are acceptable. The objective is to create confidence amongst the teams as far as the adoption of CRM is concerned. Doing this will have a positive impact on your ROI in the long run.
2. Continuous improvement
Image Source: Process.St
If you want to keep your employees feeling good and motivated to make the most out of the CRM system, show them that you are listening to them and acting on their feedback.
Take note of the features that your business users are prioritizing. By checking them out steadily, you will realize that the CRM system will become increasingly usable, with trust being built between business and IT.
Nothing is set in stone.
Something good can become better, if not the best. The same applies to your CRM system. The design of the CRM software can always be enhanced. Get improvement ideas from internal and external users and then act on them.
If possible, make it easy for them to post their invaluable feedback.
Be careful, though.
Don’t ask for feedback if you aren’t ready to act on it. If users realize that you are taking them for a ride, they will eventually stop commenting about the possible areas of improvement and your business will be on the losing end.
3. Don’t settle for just anything – instead, go for cloud-based CRM
Nearly all reputable CRM firms offer cloud-based software. So why is it advisable to choose the Software as a Service CRM model? It is because you will not have to worry about dealing with things such as servers, software related issues, version upgrades, and so on.
It will also mean saving on expenses related to hosting and in-house system and information technology experts. Apparently, these expenses are way higher than what you would pay as a subscription fee.
The other big advantage of cloud CRM is that it offers excellent efficiency in your system and you are guaranteed of industry-level data security.
Other advantages of cloud CRM include:
4. Pay attention to the essential features
CRM systems come with a lot of features. One of the reasons you aren’t getting enough ROI is the failure to choose the features wisely.
A productive approach entails focusing efforts on the application of customer relationship management software features that matter to your line of business and paying minimal attention to the features that your business doesn’t need.
It is not easy to find a CRM system that fits perfectly with your business needs. To overcome the challenges that come with this inadequacy, there are a couple of things you can do. You may need to invest in extra features, customizations, integrations, and the automation of pertinent workflows as well as business processes within your CRM system.
These are the things that you need to make the most out of your CRM system. All these activities will further promote increased productivity and consequently, increased ROI.
Have you mobilized your CRM software? If not, look for a cloud-based CRM that has mobile capabilities. This feature enables users to not only monitor customer interactions, but also manage proposals, leads, and projects from any device, at any given time.
A mobile CRM is one of the best tools for improving effectiveness and productivity in companies where employees are always in and out of the business premises.
5. Social CRM
As already stated, you cannot reap optimal benefits from a CRM system if you operate it in isolation.
Among other things, consider integrating your CRM system with social media platforms – if your system doesn’t come with inbuilt social media integration. Besides being able to insert the email address of a new contact, this strategy permits users to virtually detect every social media profile associated with the email address.
With such information, organizations can quickly determine where their contacts and leads post frequently.
Social media integration also facilitates speedy resolution of issues before they get out of hand. The only way to accomplish this is to use social media’s real-time listening tools that help in the aggregation of customer mentions immediately they appear online.
It is also worth noting that not everyone will publish a complaint on your social media page. Some prefer to tweet about their experiences with your brand, with some posting on online forums or blogs.
If you can capture such conversations in real-time, you can quickly get a hold of the customer and resolve the issue as soon as possible.
6. Ensure transparency when it comes to data
If you haven’t done so yet, make it a priority. Transparency not only saves time, but it also minimizes errors because it allows every member of the firm to have decent access to similar information at any time.
At times, the marketing team usually lacks access to data related to sales. Try and ensure that teams have access to company data within the CRM system to allow for the proper adjustments of their lead-nurturing strategies.
In any case, one of the roles of a CRM system is to facilitate a centralized database that’s easily updated and real-time data.
7. When was your last CRM software upgrade?
Some people invest in a CRM system, and that is as far as they go.
No upgrades.
No reviews.
Nothing.
Unfortunately, failure to upgrade to new versions results in lower ROI. It is time to get the latest version of your CRM application – if you don’t have it already.
The beauty of newer versions is that they tend to have update functionality, additional integration hooks and customizable features for mobile as well as social media technologies.
Updates come with enhanced functionality not to mention higher productivity. Version upgrades can also result in business process improvements in aspects of campaign marketing, lead management and general access to a wide variety of customer data.
8. Focus on building relationships with customers
If your CRM is not delivering enough ROI, the chances are that you stopped building relationships with customers a long time ago, and you need to act ASAP.
Image Source: Research Gate
The irony is that CRM systems are incredible tools for connecting with your customers and creating mutually beneficial long-term relationships with them. However, experts caution against assuming that all is well just because you are using CRM to connect with your customers.
Brands need to recognize that relationship building is an evolutionary process. You need to understand that customers keep evolving and changing their preferences. The surest way to retain them is for your business to evolve and also adapt to the customers’ ever-changing tastes and preferences.
The only way to know when your customers evolve is to maintain a human connection. Be genuinely interested in the things that are happening in their daily lives. Seek to understand the new challenges that they are facing and let your products or service to evolve accordingly to continue offering useful solutions.
Failure to do all these will lead to a reduction in your client base. The liberated and highly-connected modern consumer will not think twice as far as moving to your competitors is concerned. They only care about having a brand capable of meeting their needs satisfactorily.
9. Pursue an automatic sync
Unless you are on a free CRM software version, your CRM system should automatically sync with your business calendar. It should also be in a position to import all your customer-related meetings. If it doesn’t, and you’ve been looking for a reason to call it quits, now you have a sufficiently good reason to do so once and for all – without a drop of guilt.
It is unfortunate that in this day and age, some CRM providers have not acknowledged the importance of automatic syncing. The best CRM systems allow users to schedule appointments with clients from your Smartphone calendar, Google calendar, or outlook, send your clients invites, and then relax, knowing that your CRM has taken note of everything.
10. Proper management of the overall CRM budget
Image Source: Discover CRM
It is impossible to identify possible cost-saving areas if you do not manage the overall budget of your CRM system – and hence, the undesirable ROI.
Some expenses are easy to anticipate, but others only become apparent when it’s too late to act. Sadly, one of the leading reasons for CRM project failures is improper in CRM budget management.
You need to seek a clear understanding of the entire budget and then manage it carefully. Have a clear picture of the overall project cost – all the way from the initial implementation to every little expense associated with the running of the CRM software.
Being aware of non-avoidable costs helps a lot. Some of these costs include:
Once you’ve understood where the money budgeted for CRM goes, you can easily determine what you can avoid and tasks that can be automated. Once you’ve wisely reduced the CRM budget, even just a little, your ROI will begin to grow.
Bottom line
Whatever you do, be willing to give your CRM system the best. Make changes when the need arises. Understand that things won’t always remain the same. Technology is quickly evolving, and you must, therefore, evolve with it and adapt accordingly.
Remember that employee involvement is critical to the effective utilization of your CRM system. As such, you need to do everything possible to make sure that everybody within the organization is on the same page. Buy-in from your employees is very crucial to the success of your CRM efforts.
Be careful not to impose it on your workers lest they make it fail deliberately. Make them own it first, and you will see how easily things fall into place. Before you know it, they will all be wondering how they ever worked without it.
