CRM! You hear that word a lot now. CRM, CRM, Customer Relationship Management. I need it? Why? How will it benefit my business? I've got Quickbooks, I've got Excel, I've got my Outlook contacts...why would I need more than that?
Customer management and satisfaction is one of the primary reasons we stay in business. If you offer poor customer service, chances are you won't be around too long. On the other hand, if you treat your customers as you would like to be treated, they'll probably be good lifelong customers of yours.
How do you like to be treated? Well, think about it for a moment. Isn't a joy when you call someone who has worked for you previously and they know exactly who you are? Makes you feel pretty good, doesn't it? (Here's a little secret; they probably cannot remember every name throughout the years, but with the proper CRM, they have your record in front of their eyes within seconds of picking up that phone.)
On the other hand, it's rather annoying or disheartening when you call an establishment and, even if they're doing work for you at the present time, it seems as though you're a new customer every time you call. They continuously ask for the reason you're calling, what kind of project you're doing, who you're working with, what kind of help you need and so on. It's as though you had never called before, yet in actuality, it might be that you have recently made a rather large purchase from them, and they still don't know who you are. The purchase that means a lot to you seems to mean nothing to them because they don't even remember your name. This alone is a perfectly good reason to have a CRM that works for you. Customer RELATIONSHIPS begin with knowledge of what's going on with each person with whom you have contact!
When you do a Google search for "CRM" hundreds of them pop up. How do you even begin to choose? First of all, if you're just looking for something to hold your customer names and addresses, get a free one. There are so many free ones available and it would be silly to spend a dime on one that will do just that.
Secondly, there are a lot of CRMs with beautiful dashboards and graphics. If you're looking for pretty pictures that tell you absolutely nothing, go for it! Just keep in mind, however, that those pictures will not help your company business grow one bit!
What you really need to look for in a CRM is an all-encompassing business management tool. If you are spending any money on advertising, you need to track that money to see what kind of return you are getting. If you are assigning leads to sales reps, you need to track exactly what type of lead, where the lead was from, the status of that lead, the pipeline and how the cost of getting that lead or sale plays into the overall advertising costs for your company. If it's ending up costing you more money than you make, obviously your company will not thrive, if even survive.
Many CRMs will claim to have lead management. You'd best check that it doesn't really mean only that the lead is in the system and will be marked when it is dead or sold. Be sure that all of your costs of getting and selling that lead tie in, otherwise it doesn't mean a whole lot to the management of your business.
A company that wants to grow and win will know exactly what it costs for every lead and for every salesperson to acquire a sale. They will track extensively so that they can adjust either the training, lead assignment, marketing venue, or employment.
There is obviously a whole lot more to looking for a CRM. There are a lot of systems out there, but again you need to step back to be sure you have one that works to grow your business. The very first contact with a prospect is the best place to start! And then once you get that customer in the door, have them and their current or previous job status available in front of your faces all day, every day!
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