In a world where customer is the king, what is your strategy for success? Smart businesses know that a happy customer is their biggest asset, and always put customers first. Satisfied customers tend to stick around for long, spread positive word about your business and are more likely to refer your services to others. However, building strong and long-lasting customer relationships is a lengthy process and requires years of effort.
Fortunately, advancements in technology have simplified the practice of building customer relationships and helped businesses offer high quality customer satisfaction with ease. Today, companies are using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to attract, nurture and serve customers better. Customer Relationship Management is a set of best practices, strategies, tools and technologies that enable better customer interactions and allow businesses to develop great customer relations, thereby increasing sales and growing business revenues.
The average global spending in CRM software is expected to reach $40 billion by the end of 2018, which evidently points that more and more businesses are now realizing the importance of customer satisfaction. If you too have been contemplating about getting a CRM software for your business, here are 5 critical reasons why you certainly should.
Faster Sales
The primary objective of a CRM software is to help streamline your entire sales process and close deals faster. CRM comes with a set of tools and software solutions that help you capture and qualify leads efficiently, schedule and manage customer meetings, follow up systematically and prioritize sales activities as per customer preferences. This enables you to close deals in your sales pipeline faster with greater ease. CRM applications can help increase sales by up to 29%, sales productivity by up to 34% and improve sales forecast accuracy by 42%.
Effective Marketing
Cut-throat market competition and dynamic customer demands are pushing businesses to scale up their marketing activities in order to stand out. CRM software is a powerful marketing tool that helps businesses automate marketing activities and achieve better results. It allows businesses to analyze market trends, watch consumer behavior closely and hit the target market through the right communication channels. It also enables marketers to plan and manage campaigns efficiently and engage customers successfully in the long run. A recent report published by StrongView states that 60% small businesses are planning to adopt CRM for their email marketing initiatives in the upcoming years.
Greater Productivity
CRM aligns your people and processes in a way that they tend to become more productive. CRM tools replace redundant day-to-day activities with automated workflows, saving time and streamlining sales operations to a great extent. New innovations such as mobile CRM bring greater flexibility by allowing easy access to customer insights anytime, anywhere. A recent study shows that 3 out of 10 sales reps report improvement in productivity by 20% with the use of CRM software.
Customer Information Management
CRM packages help sales and marketing staff to store your customer information in a centralized customer database, mostly over the Cloud. It offers a comprehensive, 360-degree view of customer contact details and complete information of all your interactions with every customer. 74% of users said their CRM system gave them improved access to customer data. Easy access to customer data helps sales reps to nurture prospects and plan follow ups effectively. CRM vendors also comply with IT security standards, ensuring that all your data is secure and protected from cyber threats like data loss or theft.
Effective Customer Engagement
Every customer wants to be valued and treated well. Effective customer engagement involves supporting clients throughout the customer journey and retaining them in the business for a fairly long time. CRM helps you analyze customer behavior and buying patterns, allowing you to offer personalized deals from time to time. 47% CRM users say that their CRM had a significant impact on customer retention and customer satisfaction. Automated customer service tools help you resolve complaints/issues effectively and support customers 24×7. A satisfied customer tends to stay loyal and is more likely to refer your brand to others.
CRM is a buzzword in the modern business world for all the right reasons. It adds value to your business; helps grow sales and keeps your customers happy. Moreover, it is easy to use, flexible and highly intuitive. The future of sales lies in building successful customer relationships and adopting a CRM software is the best way to reach there.
Sources: Salesforce, Software Advice, Capterra, Super Office