Do you want to leverage the power of a CRM to build a healthy relationship with your customers and give them the best buying experience?  With an array of options available, you may get confused about choosing the right CRM for your business.

You don’t need to worry about that. We here in this article will let you know what a CRM is, why you need a CRM and rest everything that may prove helpful to you in finding the right CRM for your company. So let’s dive into it. 

What is a CRM system?

A customer relationship management system enables you to build stronger and more profitable relationships with your clients and prospects. It helps you track and nurture your leads, streamline processes, boost your employees’ productivity, and more.

A CRM integrates all your customer data in one place, making it easy for you to manage and draw explainable insights. Moreover, it consolidates every part of your communication via emails, texts, social media, website and more. Thus giving you a connected eco-system with easy accessibility of information across your organization. 

And the best part is it empowers you to build strategies that help you become a customer-centric company.

Why your business needs CRM?

A CRM provides many benefits to help your business experience unparalleled growth and greater profitability. Here we have listed a few of them-

• Break your company silos

 A CRM helps you get over organizational silos which negatively impact customers’ and sales prospects’ experiences. It works as a shared platform that lends greater visibility into customer interactions across every department. 

Moreover, a CRM gives your employees access to detailed customer information and enables them to work collaboratively to give connected experiences to customers. 

• Improved customer Service

“Customer service is the new marketing; it’s what differentiates one business from another “- Jay Baer.

In today’s world,  customers expect fast resolution of their issues with personalized support. CRM enables your employees to give satisfactory and quick responses to customer queries by providing a single shared view of customers’ details, e.g. past purchase orders, previous interactions details, etc. Overall, a CRM helps you improve your customer service quality.

• Data-Driven dashboards

Disorganized data spread across various spreadsheets and systems can be no good to your business.

A CRM helps to bring your data into action. It presents data in organized and pictorial formats and helps to drive actionable insights. With these pieces of information at your disposal, you can measure the success of your campaigns and take the next steps accordingly.

• Provide Personalized Experiences

With changing times, customers’ needs and wants also keep evolving. A CRM enables you to understand your prospects’ needs and deliver personalized experiences. It provides a centralized database with all the customer information at your fingertips. You get knowledge of your clients’ behavior, interests, pain points, demographics, and more. With all this information in your hand, you can give personalized offerings to your customers and differentiate your brand.

How to choose the right CRM?

The right CRM should solve your business challenges and help you accomplish your objectives. In addition, it should delight your customers at every step of the sales funnel.  

• Analyze your needs

The first and foremost step you must take before choosing the right CRM is to identify your business goals. You should be clear on what you intend to accomplish and the issues you want your CRM to address. You may want to optimize your processes, track sales opportunities, reduce information silos, manage customer relations, or have any other need specific to your business.

Moreover, one of the constructive strategies would be to list your goals and then choose an effective CRM that best serves your purpose. It will save you from paying for CRM features unnecessary for your business at the current stage.

You can also consult your organization’s employees, including sales, marketing, customer support etc., to know how a CRM can be instrumental in increasing their productivity.

• Examine CRM features

Every business has its unique set of challenges, processes and business environment. Choosing a CRM that addresses your specific needs, increases operational efficiency, and enhances your customer experiences is the best.

In addition, it should have features for lead management, contact management, sales management, reporting, forecasting, and analytics. All this will help you track your efforts and monitor your campaigns.

Different departments require CRM to fulfill their distinct purposes; therefore, check whether the CRM meets all your departmental needs. 

As your business grows, so do your CRM needs. Hence, it is essential to ensure that the CRM has potential to accommodate your changing business requirements.

• Check whether it integrates with different applications

The most important feature of a CRM is that it should be capable of integrating with different external applications. Then only you would be able to take advantage of a connected eco-system, integrate your customer journey and streamline your processes. 

Your CRM should be such that it can seamlessly integrate with your ERP, Email, social media, website or any software that you are currently using. 

• Request a demonstration and test drive

Before selecting the CRM, request a demonstration to have a sales personnel walk you through its features and explain the best use. Take this as an opportunity to ask questions and check if the CRM addresses your most pressing needs.

Further, take a free trial to verify the user interface and layout so your CRM users can make the most of it. You should also check if the system is user-friendly. 

Lastly, ask whether uploading your company’s data to the test environment is possible. It will help you evaluate whether the product meets your requirements. 

WRAPPING UP- 

A CRM can prove beneficial to the success of your business. However, before opting for any CRM, you must ensure that it is a good fit for your organization. 

It should be the one that is secure, scalable and give you a good return on investment. You can also look for customer reviews and ratings to help you make an informed decision.

We have always been helping our customers to choose the right CRM that fuels their business growth. Book a free CRM consulting session with us; we would be happy to guide you in selecting a CRM that adds to your business value.