Common Expectations from CRM and How Can it Truly Work for You

Technology has made it easier for consumers to get what they want. They demand instant gratification, and companies must meet them or suffer the consequences. The transition of consumer behavior in this direction has resulted in firms across different industries adopting Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solutions to deliver a highly differentiated customer experience, something that is now more of a norm than an expectation. In addition, a CRM software can improve several company activities, as show on the image below:

As we all know, putting the customer at the heart of your business strategy is the key to success. CRM allows you to do just that. It also allows you the time and freedom to concentrate on other areas of your business, safe in the knowledge that an automated system is keeping you and your team up-to-date and fully aware of your clients’ needs, and that is just a single piece of what a good CRM software can do for your company. We can enlist some other benefits you can find by using a proper CRM software:

• It is a place to store all of your clients’ information in one place, which is easy to update and share with the whole team. The best systems also save any updates immediately.
• Every member of your team will be able to see the exact point when your business last communicated with a client, and what the nature of that communication was. Do they need an immediate follow-up call? Does the relationship need a little rekindling?
• CRMs can give you instant metrics on various aspects of your business automatically. Some programs can even generate reports for you. If you have a complete and detailed CRM then you will be able to us this data to forecast and plan.
• You will be able to see the complete history of your company’s interaction with a client. Perhaps this can be a guide to how to approach future customers, or give you a run-down of where things went wrong if interaction was unsuccessful.

A good CRM will also be integrated with your calendars and diaries, relating important events or tasks with the relevant client. It can also suggest suitable times to contact customer and set reminders.

However, a significant number of CRM projects fail to deliver on what is expected of them. Many professionals still misinterpret the benefits of a CRM software. Below you may find a recent survey done by Tech News World about the expected benefits of a CRM program:

Although a CRM program can offer you and your company a great deal of improvement in several areas, it is vital to any project to fully understand all company’s needs and settle expectations properly. In order to gather a better understanding of why CRM does not give better results, let us look at some of the most common expectations from it:

CRM will make the sales team follow processes and document its work

CRM can be used as a comprehensive repository for all customer interactions. The staff can use the data stored here to follow up on leads, pick up where they had left off earlier, and assist customers based on their previous interactions.

However, old habits die hard. Most sales people are quite secretive by nature, and as such, reluctant to share what they know. Even though a CRM can provide an enterprise-wide view of customer interactions, the data must still be added to the system first. Driven by self-preservation, some sales people may write off CRM as cumbersome and time-consuming, decreasing its overall efficiency.

CRM will make sure that your marketing initiatives are effective

An effective CRM will make it possible for you to share all your internal marketing messages and marketing campaign information with your employees, showing them how marketing is helping drive sales. However, it is doubtful whether this will make your campaigns more effective. If the information just sits there, it will not increase your marketing ROI.

There is a way around this. Following up with customers, having conversations and determining what they need is what will help enhance the effectiveness of your marketing programs.

CRM will result in a seamless integration between marketing and sales

Inter-departmental relations are created, maintained or sabotaged by the people who work there. This is a cultural issue, which cannot be solved by CRM alone. Developing and sustaining a cross-functional synergy between marketing and sales will therefore require effective leadership, and not some magical CRM solution.

CRM will help increase your business

Most firms, especially credit unions and banks, still wait for business to come to them. They feel that an effective CRM will also translate into more business. This expectation is unrealistic and false. An efficient CRM implementation, as it is quite clear by now, will not automatically generate more sales nor instantly create a new sales culture.

People can learn CRM on their own

While most CRM solutions may appear to be intuitive and easy to learn, everybody may not be sufficiently engaged or technologically advanced enough to grasp the entire host of functionalities associated with a robust CRM. You need to develop a culture of rigorous and regular training, measurement and evaluation to ensure that everybody is on the same page with your CRM.

CRM should be managed by the IT team

Even though the IT teams need to be involved in evaluation of alternate CRM platforms, it should not dictate the uses and functionalities of the system. CRM should be handled by your marketing and sales professionals, and it is they who should be accountable for it.

Having listed out the common expectations around a CRM system, here are some of the steps that you need to adopt for an effective CRM:

• Active mapping and reengineering of your sales processes
• Proactive convincing of your internal constituents that CRM will help them do their job better
• Phase-wise deployment of the CRM system
• Complete accountability for the users of the system
• Direct involvement of other departments besides sales and marketing when deciding on your CRM goals
• Creating the role of a Chief Customer Manager
• Repeat.

A well-managed and planned CRM implementation will give you increased visibility of your customer – Often referred to as the 360-degree view. Each time your customer interacts with your business, such as through the phone, email, makes a purchase or inquires, that information is recorded in your CRM software, which gives you all the data you need to implement a more personalized experience. In addition to having access to all customer interactions, CRM allows you to use this data for analysis. Whether you need to review buying history, demographics or send an email campaign, customer analysis helps you sell, up-sell, retain existing customers and attract new ones. As your CRM data grows, you will understand how important this feature is. CRM allows you to look at your own data quickly, efficiently and accurately, build targeted marketing campaigns and events that will encourage customers to connect with your business.

Although many would think that CRM is just software, it is so much more than that. CRM is a strategic methodology that centers on building better customer relationships.  CRM software gives your business the best possible understanding of your customer and your customer’s experience with your business from sales to marketing to customer service.  Ultimately, with a CRM software, it is possible to make very smart decisions about how to improve your business, your customer relationships and how to manage you financial and human resources towards the best results for your company.