What is CRM and do you need one?

CRM like many social networking platforms is built around people and relationships. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, and in simple words allows for businesses to manage business relationships and the flow of data and information associated with them.

A well-built CRM system provides a seamless integration of every area of your business that touches the customer – marketing, sales, customer service etc. The goal of CRM is to use technology in order to gain insights into the behaviours of customers. But how do you know when your company is ready for CRM?

There are some things you have to ask yourself to see how CRM can benefit you:

1. Do you really know your customers or do you think you know them?
2. Is there one central system running your business?
3. Do you have separate systems for sales and marketing?
4. If you answered yes to any of these questions, have you ever asked yourself how they impact your bottom line financially?

Some other things to help you consider whether you need to invest in a CRM system. As a company, do you have separate accounting, sales, marketing, and customer databases? How many people are using pen and paper calendars or stand-alone calendaring like Outlook? How are your Sales people managing their work? Are their sales forecasts being done on paper or in Excel? Where is all this important forecasting information stored – one database, various PC’s, other places?? When salespeople are no longer employed, are their leads and prospects leaving with them instead of staying with the company? Or how about this, do you have a sales process that you are ‘supposed’ to follow but have no way to enforce? How complicated is it to generate sales reports and forecasts?

The way businesses market themselves today is changing. With restricted budgets and an evolving landscape, marketers have to be able to effectively segment their prospects and customers and deliver the right messages at the right time. Even as your business grows, accurately managing and forecasting sales has become more of a challenge. CRM helps businesses to simplify sales and processes and make the most of every opportunity.

Recent studies have shown that companies with a fully utilized CRM system can increase sales by 29%! CRM software is experiencing massive growth as companies operating across many sectors have aided in this investment globally. CRM will be at the heart of sales and marketing and digital initiatives for years to come. If you haven’t already, now quite possibly is the best time to find out exactly how you and your company can benefit from a CRM solution.

Signs you may be ready for CRM:

Sales

1. Are forecasts done on paper or in Excel and then compiled manually?
2. Do remote sales people have their own databases that their manager or other team members cannot see?
3. When salespeople leave or are terminated do they take their entire set of prospects, leads, and referrals with them so that new sales people have no information and have to start from the beginning?
4. Does your organization have a sales process that your sales teams are supposed to follow but you have no way to enforce it?
5. Does your sales management team have issues with proactively managing your sales pipeline and producing timely and accurate, forecasts?
6. Are a large percentage of sales brought in late in the quarter and many at a significant discount?

Are there issues with branding/consistent messaging occurring because everyone has their own style of writing company letters, with their own letterhead and signature files?

Marketing

1. Are mailings done through the accounting database and most of that costly marketing material is being sent to, and thrown away by, purchasing agents and accounts receivable people?
2. Does marketing have problems segmenting or targeting their prospects effectively?
3. Does marketing have issues with accurately measuring return on investment for their programs?
4. Does it take several days or even weeks for trade show leads get into the system?
5. Are there concerns that those costly leads are adequately followed up and marketed?
6. Are visitors on the company web site quickly responded to or followed up on?

How do you get everyone in the company use to it and provide real time data? Make it easy. Don’t try to over complicate things. Provide staff of all varying degrees with user settings that are personalized to their work and set the right parameters for them!

Call us at Mantralogix at 1-866-320-8922 and we’d be happy to talk to you about Sage CRM and ways to start increasing your sales! Happy Selling! What is CRM and do you need one?