In today’s digital world CRM technology helps businesses work smarter by enabling them to manage customer data more effectively. Regardless of their sizes, or industry, companies can unlock abundent growth potential by leveraging their data. Using it to enhance the customer experience and nurture inbound leads, whilst driving productivity and performance of the sales function.
CRM makes it a more level playing field for even the smallest and most ambitious SMB, by giving them that competitive edge in what is an increasingly competitive world.
In this aticle, we dive into the numerous benefits of CRM sofware specifically for SMBs.
Some of the key benefits of CRM software:
1. Understanding your customers
CRM helps businesses understand their customers better through better data management and modern CRMs help businesses leverage all customer-related data in a way that helps them understand their experience with your service or products.
A simple example could be using customer contact data and sales insights to send personalised emails on products they would be interested in. Or a more advanced example could be using website analytic data to gain insight into which pages your visitors (prospects or customers) have been visiting—then tailoring content related to that specific topic or customer problem their visit pertains to.
Ultimately, the better you know your customers, the better you can serve them. Having data on your customers at your fingertips helps you operate more effectively and efficiently in sales, marketing, and customer service.
2. Increasing sales
CRMS are smart tools for sales teams, as they help them qualify, nurture and convert their sales leads better through automation, tools to help them prioritise work and gain data insight to help them better manage their pipeline.
And as the further benefits will demonstrate, CRM helps salespeople understand their customers and know their needs and wants, therefore providing them with the right messages that offer the right solutions.
Thanks to clever marketing automation technology, businesses can effectively attract, nurture and convert. More than ever, sales and marketing teams can work closer to nurture leads more effectively, thus positively impacting conversion rates by delivering a better experience at each buying cycle stage. That means more sales opportunities, accountability, and marketing team measurability.
3. Companywide view of the customer
Many modern CRMs hold data in a centralised manner that allows other teams and even areas of the businesses to access customer data. This cross-functional access and ability to record all customer interactions from various touchpoints mean a joined-up approach from the company. The left hand knows what the right is doing. And this means a better experience for the customer. For example, if a customer happens to have had an interaction online with a chatbot or customer service advisor, that conversation is tracked and appears in the customer record. So next time a team member looks at the customer record, they’ve got full sight of the customer’s interactions thus far.
Removing silos in this way means greater efficiency and productivity, too, as time isn’t wasted looking for information on the customer, which is good for the customer and good for the sales team.
4. Anticipating customer needs
As we mentioned, a good CRM will record purchase history and allow you to analyse that data to understand your customers’ buying habits in greater detail. It stands to reason that a sales team needs to know what a customer might be interested in in the future based on their past purchases or interactions with the business. In the case of sales nurturing, perhaps the lead is yet to purchase for the first time, but their digital footprint shows an interest in a specific product.
In this way, email stats such as opens and clicks can also help the sales team infer a level of interest in a specific product, allowing them to focus their activities on customers and products that are most likely to lead to a sale. And from the customer’s view, they will receive relevant and engaging communications instead of viewing your blanket emails as spam.
On a broader scale, understanding buying trends can also help you forecast demand, ensuring supply is maintained and helping you capitalise on any growth in demand based on trends. For example, ensuring you have a compelling proposition, up to date product information, product offers or even guides relating to products and services in demand right now.
5. Better customer service
The previous two points perfectly summarise that CRM helps deliver better customer service. Happy customers are loyal customers, and we know it costs less to sell to an existing customer than to acquire new customers.
Happy customers are also more likely to become brand advocates and help with that magical word of mouth. Of course, CRM doesn’t take care of other aspects of the value chain, nor does it ensure that your products arrive on time or your service is delivered in the highest possible quality, but it can ensure you stay connected with your audiences, it provides you understand your customers, and so you can tailor your operations around the customer’s needs. And truly become a customer-centric organisation.
6. Automated and streamlined processes
CRM is a game-changer for busy business owners. The automation, streamlining and improved productivity that comes with modern CRM lessons the administration burden on teams as activities such as calls, emails, meetings and webchats automatically log. So, sales teams can focus more time on sales-generating activities instead. And as CRMs allow salespeople to gain full sight of their pipeline and use notifications and alerts to remind them of vital activities, they can also focus their efforts on the most pressing matters and activities that will generate sales.
From a marketing perspective, email communications and nurturing campaigns can be automated to generate personalised emails based on lead or customer activity and digital interaction. Discover the abundant opportunities that marketing automation activity can offer your marketing and help you nurture leads and shorten your sales cycle.
7. Sales pipeline reporting and insight
An efficient sales team can generate opportunities and make the most of the opportunities presented to them. CRMs assist massively with this by allowing individuals, teams, and managers to view the sales pipeline.
By evaluating activity and looking at their performance on a sales report, dashboards sales professionals can take ownership of their performance and focus their energy and resource on the activity that generates sales. Driving efficiency and profitability simultaneously.
Sale professionals can also analyse their sales data, or a manager can look at an entire team’s activity to see what activity and industry focus has been the most effective in conversions and profitability. And managers keen to get the most from their teams can use their sales activity insight and sales performance data to deliver coaching that will help individuals improve their performance and drive their own sales performance.
Summary
CRM isn’t just for large companies; they can be the key ingredient to sustainable and long-term growth for smaller businesses and SMBs too, as these many benefits highlight. Knowing which CRM solution is best suited to your exact needs is important however, if you are to succefsully introduce and capatilise on CRM tech. For more advice visit: https://rocketcrm.co.uk/
About Rocket CRM
Rocket CRM is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 and a Platinum ClickDimensions accredited partner, helping small to medium-sized businesses and charities harness the power of scalable CRM technology. Our mission is to make powerful CRM software simple with custom-built, user-focused solutions.
