Five Key Benefits of Investing in CRM Software

June 14, 2019

Firstly, what is CRM?

Put simply, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. Utilized by companies across the world and with a deep history that is rooted in the foundation of businesses, it manages the interactions that your business has with potential and existing customers. Investing in CRM software is a must for any business that wants to succeed within their industry. Why you might ask? Well, not only can it increase profitability in the long term but it can also improve customer service (a benefit of which is explored in more detail below). If you want to stand up to your competitors (or even turn them into your customers) you want to ensure that your business is doing what it can.

So what are some of the other advantages of investing in CRM software? Here are the top five benefits

It will guarantee a better customer service

Companies should invest in a CRM system because it can help them to connect with their customers. Adding a personalised element to the communication, it will grow the trust between your customers and yourselves, allowing you to communicate with them individually. Most CRM software gives you the opportunity to live chat and email your customers (and visa versa) whilst storing their customer profiles. This is incredibly useful for companies that sell physical products, as a customer can inform you of any issues that may have occurred with delivery, or ask you any queries that they might have

It will increase your revenue

Following on from the above point, as CRM software guarantees better customer service, this can lead to increased revenues. Through the software you can set up loyalty programs which are based on the customer’s personal requirements – this personalisation will make sure that they are only being shown towards products/services that they haven’t already bought but could be interested in. This anticipation of possible purchases can convince the customers to invest their money on similar products. You can also use the software to up-sell, allowing customers to add on another product on top of the one that they are already intending to purchase.

It will improve reporting and analytical date

As CRM software stores all of the information in one place, your business can ensure that it can analyse data with ease. It will allow you to automatically generate reports, locate your customers information easily, create a performance report (which is essential as you can compare how your business is performing in comparison to your competitors) and create sales goals. By improving the process of reporting and analysing data, you can make a crucial decision on how to improve your customer loyalty, the marketing campaigns you produce and how to increase your revenue.

It will help to create a faster sales process

Sometimes, businesses have a system implemented that has the disadvantage of drawing out the sales process and making it less user-friendly. In order to make this faster and to make it more appealing to potential customers, you can invest in a reliable CRM software. Giving a more efficient response to customer leads and information, it will result in a faster turnaround time. This is vital if you want to keep your profits up and if you want to convert potential leads into sales.

It will help your business to increase its customer pool

Whether you work within a business or are running one, you know the importance of discovering new customers. It’s all about building your brand, increasing your companies revenue and drawing in new customers. As mentioned above, you can use CRM software to store customer profiles. These customer profiles can, in turn, be used to determine the type of customers that are interested in your products/services. Once you get a good idea of this, you can pursue potential customers.

In conclusion…

There are just five of the key benefits of investing in CRM software. An essential for both startups and businesses that have been established for many years, it will boost your business and allow you to be on the same level (if not higher) than your competitors. It can not only improve the level of customer service that you are putting out but increase your business revenue, allow you to create detailed reports and analyse data and to reach new customers. When you are thinking of investing, make sure that you do your research on the software that’s available to you. Hiring a CRM professional is also a tactic that will ensure that you are keeping up to date with the latest CRM trends and are one step ahead of your competitors. If you are a smaller startup and you might not initially be able to afford a CRM professional, look towards outsourcing a CRM company. Whatever you choose, know that CRM has many advantages that you can utilise to grow your business.

 

 

Mark Asquith

That British podcast guy, Mark is co-founder of Captivate.fm, the world's only growth-oriented podcast host. A Harvard, TEDx, Podcast Movement and Podfest speaker (amongst many more!), he's a wildly approachable Brit and Star Wars/DC Comics geek.

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