Maximise Company Performance with these Six CRM Tips

What difference would an increase in company performance make to you?

Customer Relationship Management solutions, or CRM solutions, offer a powerful way to manage your business.

CRM solutions are a way for you to track your interactions with your customers while keeping their information in a central location that your employees can easily access.

When this information is kept in a single, central database, all departments, including: accounting, marketing, sales, and customer service, can view the same information and so provide reliable and high-quality customer service in sync with each other.

This prevents a loss of information or a lack of synergy between the departments of your business.

Professional services can make a huge difference and help you transform your CRM implementation.

But it's not enough to simply adopt a new CRM system (technology) and expect immediate results. For best results, upgrade your CRM system to a CRM solution. A CRM solution is the way you utilise your system - your business processes supported by your CRM System, or technology. With a CRM solution you can leverage your software to drive meaningful business outcomes.

Are you ready to make the change?

Are you using CRM as effectively as you could be?

Employees spend a lot of time looking through customer data.

When your CRM software is set up correctly, and your employees are trained so they are supported in their work by the CRM system, they will be able to quickly access the
information that they need - this makes your employees more efficient and provides
your customers with amazing service.

Unfortunately, most businesses do not realise the potential that CRM software offers.

In this article, you'll learn how to optimise your CRM software in six simple steps.

#1 - Encourage employees to collaborate

Customers will quickly become frustrated when they receive inconsistent or conflicting information.

For example, if your sales team tells a customer they will receive a quote in three days, but your customer service department says that it will take six days, then your customer will be confused, frustrated, and likely take their business elsewhere.

Encouraging employees in all departments to communicate effectively will ensure the information provided to your customers is consistent and correct. CRM allows you to track all internal and external communications, and provides all employees with a clear record of what has been communicated to the customer.

By using a CRM that shares emails, your staff can access email when they need it, rather than drowning in a millions of irrelevant emails.

This is one area of CRM software that is often overlooked; however, it may be the most valuable in regards to customer service.

#2 - Integrate critical account data

Integrating information across all of your enterprise systems prevents fragmented information from spreading across your system. Put simply, integrated account data means all available information is uniform and accessible from a single location.

Small businesses may be able to depend on one system. However, large companies require multiple systems to store information, and CRM software allows data to be integrated and accessed from different departments seamlessly.

#3 - Identify your most profitable customers

Your CRM system allows your employees to identify the most profitable customers, so these customers' requests can be prioritised as soon as they are made.

This does not mean less-profitable customers will receive poor customer care; it simply defines the way customer requests are handled and ensures the appropriate staff members handle these requests.

For example, a VIP customer will best be handled by an experienced member of your team, not an employee who has only been with your business a few days.

#4 - Create training manuals

Consistency is vital when delivering customer service to your customers. By teaching your employees how to handle customer interactions, communications will be smoother and of higher quality, and there will be fewer hurdles that a customer must go through.

Most true CRM systems integrates seamlessly with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions which allow you to develop a process that ensures exceptional customer service at all levels.

#5 - Analyse customer behaviours

CRM systems helps team members predict customer needs, behaviours, and preferences. Many companies ignore this function, which prevents them from providing high-quality customer care.

Analysing customer behaviour helps determine the best way to interact with customers, how frequently customers purchase your products or services, and the different ways customers utilise customer support.

One company having success from mining their CRM for prospects is Lend.com.au . Shaun McGowan, their CEO says "We are constantly mining our CRM database to look for remarketing opportunities and consistently make additional revenue from our prospects database. It's a gold mine for us."

#6 - Establish KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measure how well your employees are performing, and whether you are achieving your business objectives.

Defining KPIs is one of the most important methods for converting your customer data into valuable insights.

Your CRM system, when properly utilised, becomes the central hub for all customer data and communications, allowing you to measure the effectiveness of your customer engagement activities and easily identifying areas for improvement.

Examples of KPIs include:

- email clickthrough rates
- email response rates
- number of complaints received each month
- and the number of lost opportunities

Your CRM system can also be used to improve sales targets, for example improving profit.

Determine the best KPIs for your business and track your business objectives and challenges instantly.
Summarising the six steps for CRM mastery

By utilising all six steps described above, you can help your business and customers achieve unified success.

Each of these steps ensures your customers are receiving the service that they deserve, and will help make your employees more efficient communicators and team members.

When your CRM system is set up correctly - and all employees have been trained to utilise the functions that your CRM software offers - you will see an incredible increase in your customer satisfaction and retention.

Your CRM can be used to help discover other opportunities in providing excellent customer service, gaining more leads, and closing sales.

Have you made the change yet?