The success of your business depends on its day-to-day operations which, in turn, rely on the company’s human and technological resources. Both need to work in tandem to ensure timely completion of tasks. With businesses becoming more and more automated with passing time, a lot of them tend to invest in online tools and software to increase productivity and save time.
While it isn’t a bad idea to have such software in place, a lot of business owners do find themselves questioning the inherent need for it. That’s because of the fact that technology can never replace the human touch or intervention, especially when it comes to obtaining necessary due diligence before entering any information into a system.
CRM is a Web-based tool that allows users to generate automated leads, store customer records, reduce errors, generate reports, and save time doing all of this. On the other hand, it also ups the risks of duplication of information (in case the same person’s information is entered under different names), makes the authenticity of the lead questionable, and can result in loss of data due to system failure/crashing.
There are several factors that need to be taken into consideration before deciding whether or not you really need a CRM tool. Plus, you also need to understand CRM in its entirety.
What Is CRM Software?
While many companies are under the impression that the CRM system is just an online software tool that helps collate customer data, it may be much more than that. A CRM system is a combination of several strategic processes that business operations need to imbibe in order to run smoothly.
Many businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, tend to use MS Office tools to maintain and access customer records. These tools, however, lack the structure that is needed to connect the necessary dots, predict trends, forecast numbers, which ultimately enable teams to operate at optimum efficiency.
A lot of companies prefer not to purchase CRM systems and believe that they can achieve the results they’re looking for by working more systematically and using the technology that is already available to them.
Why You May Need CRM Software
It Helps You Get Organized
As your business expands, your contacts and their information will expand too. And when I say information, I’m talking about a ton of data related to their social media accounts, email IDs, birthdays/anniversaries, contact numbers, names of team/family members, their preferences, buying history, and so on.
Losing such crucial information can cost your business dearly, plus asking your clients to repeat this information because you lost it wouldn’t really help your company establish any credibility. On the other hand, keeping all this information in one place in an organized manner would enable you to work efficiently and save you a lot of switching and swapping of files.
Lets You Record Data
There’s no denying that it is impossible to remember every detail about each of your clients. You won’t have the time for it, plus you’re better off channelizing your brainpower towards other important things and strategic activities. A CRM program can help you as it lets you record and store large amounts of data, which can be easily accessed from any place at any time, thereby freeing you up to do much more with your energy.
Provides You with the Latest Status
Thanks to CRM technology, you can now keep tabs on each of your leads or potential clients, making it easier for you to allocate time and resources to them in order to close the deal. Most CRM systems will allow you to track the entire sales process in a systematic way. This should let you know as to where your leads and clients stand in the entire chain of events. This makes you more productive and more confident of dealing with them.
Automation Saves Time and Human Effort
Build strong relationships with your clients by harnessing the power of automation. Never forget to send them emails, reminders, newsletters, articles, and other online resources. All you need to do is set a pre-defined set of tasks for your clients as and when you acquire them and leave the rest to CRM. Combining this strategy with a personal touch every once-in-a-while should work wonders in nurturing relationships with your clients.
Makes It Easy to Share Information
Instead of informing every member of your team individually each time a new development takes place, why not use your CRM software to share the information with them centrally, and which all of them can access and update?
This can be particularly helpful if your team is a large one. It also helps keep them aligned and updated on all the important developments. It is also possible to view the status of the tasks assigned as well as send out email and text notifications.
CRM software can fail too. Here are a few reasons why.
A Lack of Strategy
Many companies make the tragic mistake of depending too much on CRM technology alone, instead of strengthening their business objectives and then aligning a unified CRM strategy to them.
Will It Bring Obstacles?
CRM software will not yield the desired results if it is complicated to use. Your team, and not just you, needs to see a real and sufficient value in the CRM system, else its use will be irregular, insufficient and stifled. Factors such as a poor user adoption rate cause CRM technology to fail. Technical errors do not help either.
Does It Serve Your Specific Purpose?
CRM systems are intended to help achieve specific business goals and objectives. CRM software used in projects without a substantial plan for going forward and measuring results is doomed to fail from the start.
Conclusion
Having a CRM system in place is only half the battle won. Although it can be immensely helpful, underusing it can also lead you to believe that it isn’t doing justice to your business. It is advisable to consider all the entailments that come with it before arriving at a decision about integrating it into your business.
