REVIEWSThe 6 reasons why you need a CRM apply to any organisation, no matter if you’re an Enterprise, nonprofit or SMB. A CRM offers tremendous advantages to propel your business forward (particularly if implemented correctly by an expert consultancy like CloudAnalysts.)
6 Reasons Why You Need a CRM
1. A CRM sets your business up for growth.
On average, an inside sales rep spends only 32% of their day selling. The rest of the time they’re looking up information, trying to plan out which lead to call next, or logging notes. A CRM improves that, and can make your spreadsheets and customer data interactive, shareable and embedded in (semi-)automated sales process. More efficient sales reps, means more sales, right? If you like that idea, then you’d like a CRM.
- Use your CRM to link the various activities and people together that are needed to convert a prospect into a customer.
- Basic tasks and workflow steps can be automated to both save sales time and to channel leads through the sales funnel faster.
- A CRM allows you to bring your various sales tools under one hood for easy access by the sales, marketing and support teams.
2. A CRM makes you more future-focused
Historical sales overview constantly keep you looking at the past. But past performance isn’t always a good indication of future success. It’s far healthier and productive to shift a company’s focus towards the future. Now is as good a time as ever. With predictive intelligence earmarked as a key digital technology, gaining more accurate forecasting and undertaking sophisticated analysis can offer major sales management insights, stimulate the team and boost performance. That’s what a well-configured CRM could allow you to do.
3. CRMs strengthen the Sales team
We all know that the A-team does things better and faster than the B-team. True in games, true in sales. Even if you hire the smartest sales guys, a beginner sales reps doesn’t have the knowledge or experience.
How do you transfer their knowledge across, cost effectively, without burdening your star sellers with mandatory training of juniors? A CRM allows you to embed Sales Tips and Best Practices into the system, offering new / weaker sales reps the advice they need as they are working, setting them up for success. Business rules? Embed them. Think: repeatable success processes. Then, once you have ‘your sales methods’ embedded into your CRM, add predictive artificial intelligence to boost your sales further
4. A CRM finds opportunities in existing accounts.
We all know that the best new customer is the one you already have. Well, a CRM offers enhanced analytics of sales opportunities from your existing leads and customer base. Combine this with its ability to communicate 1:1 with more people effectively, and you can see that a CRM is a genuine revenue driver.
Contrast that with many company’s reality of vital customer data in Outlook inboxes, and siloed data in spreadsheets held by individuals: you cannot build shared insights as to what product to sell to which customer when.
5. A CRM fundamentally aligns Marketing and Sales in customer relationships.
It’s inevitable: Sales AEs move forward in their careers just as anyone else. What a CRM promised to do, though, is help a new Sales rep to take over a prior rep’s accounts seamlessly. With all prior emails, notes, phone calls recorded in the CRM, onboarding a new Sales rep is a breeze. Customers benefit from a professionally continued buying experience. Instead of impacting sales performance negatively, consistent professional communication with the customer boost brands.
Need a better link between the Sales and Marketing teams? Between the Sales leadership, Area managers and reps? When positioned correctly, a CRM can enhance trust and cooperation between management and staff.
And, once sales and marketing teams agree to what constitute a sales-ready lead, (see: 4 steps to align sales and marketing) marketeers can pursue branding and lead nurturing activities to support the goal of greater revenue directly, one lead at a time.
6. A CRM allows you to get to know your customer better.
I’m sure you’ve heard of this as the holy grail for marketing: a 360˚ customer view, with all your date in 1 place? It would allow you to create 1:1 personalised customer communication at scale. And that would benefit your Marketing but also Sales and Service.
360˚sounds so perfect. But in reality, a CRM is a business management platform that lets you get closer to your customer. This helps you to understand and serve them better. Via the insights found in your CRM, your sales reps can present their leads with the most suitable product/service matrix for each individual account; and communicate with each lead / contact at the right time, in the right way, in the right channel. This truly represent competitive advantages in any industry.
Which CRM right for you?
There are CRM solutions for all types of organisations. As Silver (Ridge) Salesforce partners, CloudAnalysts consultants can guide you to a CRM cloud solution that befit your company size, industry and type of organisation. Salesforce CRM has many different clouds, plus add-on solutions. E.g. To support the Sales team to configure complex quotes, you may wish to learn more about how to: Grow Your Business Successfully with Salesforce CPQ.
How your business can benefit from a CRM
Like to explore CRM as a solution for your company? Let’s discuss your company needs, which CRM clouds might be a good fit; and what sort of configuration, development and training you may need. Book a call with our friendly team of experts to talk about your needs, or get a live demo of what your CRM solution could look like.
Last Updated on November 10, 2022
