Whether you're a small or large business, a marketer or a financial advisor, you need to keep track of your customers. You can keep track of them in different ways. No one probably uses paper address books anymore, but excel databases probably do. But no spreadsheets will allow you to do what a CRM system does. What can it do and why is it the best solution for customer records?
Contact database
CRM serves as a directory where you store all your information in a clear way. If you have business people among your clients, CRM fills in their basic details automatically from the commercial register. Thanks to optional fields, you can enter personal data, contacts or even interests and hobbies for your clients. You can also tag clients so you can see at a glance what you are dealing with.
In short, you can tailor the entire solution to your needs so you can record exactly what you need for your business.
Appointments and reminders
Schedule appointments, calls and other tasks on your calendar right in the CRM. You can then always see what activities you have scheduled with the client on the client card. So if you make an appointment with someone, you'll see it on the calendar and in the address book.
You can clearly see what you have planned with whom. And with reminder settings, you'll never forget anything.
If you are looking for other hacks to have more time in addition to acquiring a CRM, check out the article on time management for business people.
Client relationship history and customer care
Does the client mention any details in the meeting? Write it down in a note and you can bring it up at your next meeting. For each contact, keep track of meetings, documents, offers, emails you've sent - in short, everything you've ever discussed with the client, and most importantly, how much money is at stake.
In addition to business and marketing, recording this data also helps with customer care. For example, if a client calls you and customer support has access to the CRM, they can immediately address them by their last name and have complete information in front of them about what, when and where the client purchased from you. Thanks to this, he will find a solution to the given situation faster and the customer will hang up the phone with the good feeling that you are giving him above-standard care.
Detailed and clear reports
How many clients are in which stage of the sales funnel? What are your business results for the last month, quarter, or year? And which merchant has the most credit for it? These and dozens of other data are quickly available in CRM, usually also in clear charts. You don't have to save dozens of Excel tables, set up macros in them and evaluate data in a complex way.
A clear sales funnel is the basis of every reporting in CRM. We describe how the sales funnel works in a separate article.
Marketing campaigns to saved contacts
By linking your CRM solution with mailing tools, you can easily send out a mass email or newsletter to customers or potential clients.
You can segment clients in CRM according to different categories. For example, according to market affiliation, length of business relationship or services in which they have shown interest. Thanks to this, you can better target your marketing campaigns to your contacts.
Automation of routine tasks
CRM ensures that traders spend as little time as possible on administration and can fully devote themselves to communication and meetings with clients. CRM partially automates, for example:
- searching for and filling in information about clients,
- sending emails
- or creating offers and contracts.
By automating the routine agenda, CRM not only makes the work of salespeople easier, but also shortens the sales cycle, thereby improving sales. In other words, when traders have more time to sell, they sell more.
Client records accessible from anywhere
Another advantage of a CRM solution is accessibility - you and your colleagues can access client information anytime, anywhere. Thanks to an app on your phone, you can enter information immediately after a meeting, for example via voice message.
If you are interested in what data every good trader should record about clients, we have written an article about it.
CRM is a solution not only for contact records, but also for sales management and automation, marketing or HR. It will strengthen customer relationships and facilitate teamwork.
Before you buy a CRM, try it for free. Most CRM developers offer a time-limited demo version, thanks to which you can find out how the program works for you and how much it can handle for you.
