A loyal customer makes the best PR for the brand. Not only does he make a purchase but he also recommends the company’s products or services and starts a dialogue with the company, e.g. through social media. The more such customers the brand gathers the more trust it creates among new, potential customers.
This article describes several reasons why it is worth implementing CRM in the company and thus strengthen customer loyalty.
1. Measuring activities
The vast majority of managers make decisions based on hard data. However, multidimensional analyses are a time-consuming and error-prone process.
Modern CRM systems analyze data on an ongoing basis. They follow the statistics of all sales stages, analyze the possibilities of winning opportunities and lost sales opportunities, monitor the results of individual team members and create sales forecasts.
In short, CRM provides analytical material that can serve as the basis for further company activities. For example, CRM Salesforce offers extensive data analysis capabilities.
2. Complete knowledge of the customer and his needs
In order to offer a tailor-made solution to a customer, a company must have a precisely defined target, i.e. know almost everything about its customer. Additionally, according to Customer Think, as many as 68% of customers resign from the company’s services or products because they are dissatisfied with the service.
Few companies can afford a significant ebb of customers, so managers are looking for solutions that allow them to take care of their needs.
The CRM system, which enables building a knowledge database on the company’s customers, can also be helpful here.
It collects data, contact history, sent offers, notes from meetings or telephone conversations, as well as other necessary documents and information in one place. The system also makes it easier to create a portfolio of customers and segment them in terms of profitability.
For smaller companies, using knowledge on the customer is a chance to stand out from the competition. Customers appreciate individually tailored offers and this is a sign that the company is seriously interested in their needs.
The Salesforce Sales Cloud is the perfect tool to perform these tasks. It allows sales representatives not only to determine the best moment to close a transaction but also to predict the real needs of the client, which they can meet.
3. Personalized communication
Personalized communication is not a fad; it is a necessity. More than half of managers in the world believe that customization of their offer is crucial in the fight for the customer.
They are right to follow their intuition as research shows that as many as 75% of customers react better when a salesperson knows their name and makes proposals based on knowing their needs (obtained through prior contact and analysis of the available data, e.g. on social networking sites).
However, salespeople cannot be required to remember the preferences of all the customers they have served in their lifetime or to peek into handwritten notes. That’s what CRM is for – a system, which collects all customer data and analyzes it.
A salesperson receives a ready tool, thanks to which he is not only aware of how to talk to a specific customer but also knows what additional products he can offer him.
Salesforce Sales Cloud mentioned above is a tool that gives salespeople the option of advanced customer data management and creation of a personalized offer.
A good salesperson undoubtedly stands behind the sales success, but a support system providing the necessary knowledge about the customer, allows him to use his full potential as well as that of the offered product or service.
4. No sales without marketing
The closing of the transaction by the salesperson is the last stage of the sale. Before this can happen, however, the marketing department must create the right messages for the target group and ensure that they are delivered in the right place and at the right time. CRM systems are a great source of knowledge for marketing departments to design campaigns.
Thanks to the information gathered by retailers, marketers can further customize the campaign message to the audience and also examine the conversion rate on the basis of the data collected in the CRM. Thanks to data analysis, marketing departments receive important feedback, which in the future will allow them to further fine-tune campaigns and avoid errors related to insufficiently tailoring them to the target’s needs or focusing on inappropriate communication channels.
The tools offered by Salesforce make it possible, among other things, to measure ROI and conversion from the marketing activities carried out, regardless of the channels in which the activities are carried out or their number. By turning words into action, we can immediately design new marketing processes directly in the CRM system based on the available data. Such possibilities are offered, for example, by Pardot, a Salesforce product dedicated to B2B marketing activities.
No more wasting money!
5. Integration of internal communication channels
Communication is extremely important not only between the client and the company. In order for all processes to be carried out properly, internal communication must also run smoothly and correctly.
A good CRM system allows for the segmentation of employees in terms of responsibilities and their easy coordination, clearly and transparently reflecting the structure and hierarchy existing in the company. It is also important to offer a platform for the exchange of views, information or materials in order to easily coordinate the work of large teams or to support salespeople in difficult topics. Online access can also be a key option, as it gives the managers the ability to monitor staff progress at any time, and employees the ability to access the knowledge base and communicate with colleagues at any time.
Salesforce products fit these requirements perfectly. The tools for managing users and their rights allow for easy, simple and understandable reproduction of the company’s structures.
Chatter, the social networking platform that is an integral part of Salesforce, offers a host of opportunities for creating thematic and task groups, while significantly simplifying communication regarding difficult and complex sales opportunities or marketing campaigns.
All the important system functions are available in the mobile application, on tablets or smartphones. The process started in the office can be continued on any network device, or even offline, if, for example, you wish to complete the data using your tablet while travelling by plane.
6. A tool for a manager
Undoubtedly, a team or department manager will benefit from the implementation of the CRM system. It will make it easier to report salespeople’s activities and sales successes or failures, as all data will be collected by the system. However, modern CRM systems go one step further – they draw their own conclusions from the presented data, suggest the next steps and show interdependencies.
It is important that even during his absence (a business trip or simply a vacation) the manager still has access to the data and can follow the processes on an ongoing basis and correct the actions of his employees. The system should also provide an easy and quick way to delegate tasks and check their implementation.
For example: Salesforce offers several reporting tools with different levels of complexity, as well as Salesforce Einstein Analytics Artificial Intelligence. Configured to work together, these tools allow you to predict profits, evaluate leads and sales opportunities, and help you find promising opportunities.
They also show the employees’ progress in a visual and clear form. Other configuration elements allow you to automate the process of creating tasks and monitor the time of their completion without a single line of code. In many companies, the administrators are the managers themselves, who adjust the Salesforce platform to their needs and those of their team, if necessary.
7. Data security
No company can afford a leak of personal and sensitive data, especially now that the GDPR regulation has come into force. According to its provisions, an entrepreneur may be fined up to EUR 20 million for a breach of the regulations on the protection of personal and sensitive data. For many companies paying such a fine would mean bankruptcy. It is also difficult to measure the loss of customer confidence, which, especially for many companies in the financial or insurance sector, means irretrievably lower market shares.
CRM systems not only collect data in one place and provide backup. Customer data is stored in the cloud, which is currently much safer than storing it on desktop drives. They are equipped with modern and constantly updated security mechanisms, ensuring protection against unauthorized data access.
However, the security of data stored in a cloud is not only about sophisticated security measures. It is also crucial for the customer to be able to access the data at any time, from any place in the world.
Ensuring secure storage of customer data should be a priority for every company. For Salesforce, data security has the highest priority, and access to the platform is offered 24/7, with an actual level of availability of 99.9%+. Access to the services can always be checked on an ongoing basis for each of the products on https://status.salesforce.com/.
8. Investment that pays off
Sources say that every dollar invested in CRM provides more than an eight-fold return, so the profitability of the system’s implementation is very high and is still rising.
However, the rate of return depends on several factors, such as the size of the company (number of employees), demand for virtual space and the need to adjust the application to the needs of a specific company, as well as the form of support the company prefers (e-mail, interactive chat or call center). However, whatever option you choose, your investment will pay off quickly.
Do you feel convinced?
Remember that when implementing CRM, your company has a great chance to notice an increase in the sales profitability rate and the effectiveness of marketing activities.
According to the survey (500 randomly selected users of CRM software), half of the respondents noticed that the system significantly improved customer satisfaction, which considerably boosted sales, and 45% recorded an increase in revenues.
The CRM concept has existed since the 1980s but only in recent years has it become commonplace due to the technological leap enabling the creation of a user-friendly, configurable system, which can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Implementation of CRM in enterprises serves not only to maintain existing customers and acquire new ones but also introduces integration in the company, improves processes and communication between individual departments.
If one of the priorities of your company is to provide high quality services and build a loyal customer base, the CRM system will prove very helpful in achieving these goals.
Author
- Product Marketing Manager
-
She has been involved in the IT industry and Salesforce for three years. At the moment, she works on business development, generating leads, organizing business events and widely understood product marketing. She supports Craftware’s sales team reaching new customers and building long-term relationships with them. A certified Pardot specialist, a tool for automation of B2B Salesforce marketing.
