Before CRM system implementation, many organizations go through the difficult task of choosing the proper software, price evaluation, sorting through different features and finally, seeing if the CRM will in fact do, what it is the company wants it to do. After all that hard work, it surprising how many businesses do not use their CRM system to its fullest capability.
Get The Most Out Of Your CRM System
What can companies do to get the most out of their CRM system? If the system is implemented correctly, it should be a key tool for all customer-facing departments. So what should you do to make sure that you are making the most out of your CRM system?
1. Provide CRM training to the employees
Organizations need to focus on training their staff to effectively use a CRM system because there is a big difference between using the system with its most basic functions and being fluent with it. Employees should not only understand how to use the needed functions, but also understand the benefits of CRM and how their knowledge of using the system will help other departments and the business in general. The extensive training is beneficial for the overall understanding of CRM benefits and helps users get deeper involved into business processes and be aware of why they are asked to keep the data in CRM. One of the best ways to engage users is to identify eager employees and teach them how to use the system to its greatest potential. Then, to utilize the CRM and achieve maximum results, it would be useful to schedule regular workshops to teach employees how to train their colleagues. First of all extensive training will make users more productive and encourage them to develop their own daily procedures. Also, by sharing their knowledge of system with colleagues, the users can mutually develop techniques to improve user adoption and make teamwork more productive.
2. Encourage user feedback
The implementation of customer management software does not end as soon as the system goes live. The most important time to achieve productivity is when the employees start experiencing the functions of the system and dealing with issues you could not predict or they seemed less important during earlier implementation phases. The period of the system adoption by users is very important because if there are any malfunctions in CRM that can decrease user productivity, there are chances to adjust the system taking the user feedback into account. Use this time to launch the survey to find out what employees like and what they dislike about the system.
As soon as you get the feedback from the employees, you will be able to react effectively. In the case that the survey will show some minor problems, which can slow down the user productivity if they happen often, you will be able to fix it immediately, which is far better in the early stages of using the system because the unidentified issues will make people reluctant to use CRM as their daily tool.
3. Gamify your customer relations management
CRM is not considered as an entertaining piece of software, but it does not mean it should not be engaging. Find ways to create some fun for sales or customer service teams to use CRM on a daily basis. It could be as simple as a scoring system that can count the achievements of each team member like the first contact, 5th contact, 1st meeting, etc. It is possible to establish a hierarchy of leaders to encourage the spirit of competition inside the team or the entire organization. Think about the tools for the users to boost their performance via special rewards or promotions. Be creative in gamifying your CRM and it will help you transform an office routine into an exciting experience.
4. Make sure your CRM works properly in fields
If you have a workforce that works in fields, making sure that the CRM app works correctly on their devices is crucial. This means that it’s important for the software to work on mobile devices such as tablets and desktops. A flexible CRM system is key, especially if sales reps use their own devices policy since then the software will have to work on a variety of devices. Make sure that you integrate the CRM system with all of the technologies that you use and other cloud or in-house systems and applications in your company. For instance, you can link the CRM with your website to track leads and study consumer behavior on your website and other in-house systems. By integrating the CRM software with your accounting system, you will reduce risks of data mistakes, will make the CRM system more adaptable and save time for users. Modern CRM solutions offer integration with the most leading accounting systems as a standard.
5. Be consistent with your data
It is crucial for businesses to validate and correct the data prior to entering them into one’s CRM database and establish the data hygiene processes to ensure the customer information is kept as up-to-date as possible. Sometimes sales reps might enter incomplete data without having much time to correct it. That is why sales data shouldn’t be the only source of information inside the company. Do not limit CRM to just to sales processes. Let every customer service agent, sales manager or even receptionist – anyone that interacts with a customer- to input the data they are dealing with into the CRM. Analyze all of the customer-facing roles in the organization that should use CRM because customer service is not just about up selling, but also, how to make customers happy. The information your CRM system gathers can be invaluable for all departments dealing with customers across the company.
To get the most out of your CRM system, you should develop policies for how customer information should be handled in order to achieve consistent data entry. Also, make sure you are using the most out of your CRM data. Modern CRM systems offer the ability to launch marketing or email campaigns straight from the CRM. This means that you should make sure that there is no need for a third party software to run your marketing campaigns because everything is created and managed in real time in the CRM!
CRM is an extremely powerful tool that can help your business to grow. If you want to succeed, focus on just a few important things that will make your processes better. With your CRM working to the maximum to deliver a unified view of your customers, you can concentrate on building the strategies to keep your current customers and identifying new up-sell opportunities. Apply the advice above to achieve a highly successful CRM implementation and the CRM will completely change the way you do business and help you to get better results.
Hi Pradeep,
As i can figure out these are best strategies which will make sure that you are making the most out of your CRM system.