Paulina Romero HCRM or Customer Relationship Manager. Seems like the name says it all yet, what does it really mean? What does it imply within the administration of your company? How to know if you need a CRM?
What is a CRM for?
A CRM is a software that allows you to centralize in a single database all the interactions that your company has with its clients (current and potential). But it is not just a software, it is a set of business practices and strategies that revolve around this information that the CRM will automatically track and manage for you.
In addition, a CRM gives your company much more flexibility since you no longer need to install the software on all of your computers (and have it stored and usable just there). Now, for a monthly membership fee, you and your entire team can access your CRM from any browser, at any time, anywhere. The information is no longer paralyzed in a few computers but it is uploaded to the cloud and thus, is at hand to anyone who has access permission, at all times. This gives your company a lot of flexibility and, of course, improves the productivity of your team.
How is a CRM related to an Inbound Marketing Strategy?
Remember that the Inbound strategy is based on attracting, converting, closing and delighting your customers. All your marketing and sales strategy revolves around your client's interests and their buying process. Having more specific information about them, allows you to achieve this, since with a CRM you can:
- Know your customers better. You can automatically track their history and thus, anticipate to their needs, their doubts.
- Segment your customers. By doing so, you can offer a more personalized attention according not only to the interests of the client, but also to the stages of the purchase process that he has gone through. For example, you can automate that, according to their interests, potential customers receive basic content while you delight more consolidated customers with premium content products.
- Achieve the necessary communication that must exist between your Marketing and Sales teams. Both teams can login on any device (at real time) and the information that they have access to, will always be updated for everyone to see.
- The CRM automatically directs the right sales opportunities to the sales team, at the right time, which translates into profits for your company.
Does Your Company Need a CRM?
You know your company could use a CRM software if:
- You still work with excel sheets. Yes, they can work to a certain extent but a lot of time can be lost in updating and sharing them. If your company is growing, you will spend hours updating information. Moreover, it is likely that by the time you have finally shared it with others, this information has already changed. With a CRM that automates several of the processes and to which all the teams have access to in real time, you can control and manage your business in a more efficient way.
- The performance of your customer service department is poor. Not monitoring the complaints and suggestions from your customers properly, will make you lose them permanently. Remember that you not only want to generate sales but also keep your customers satisfied so that they continue to be with you, whether it is buying your product or service, or recommending it to others.
In short, if what you do now does not allow you to have the information that you need in order to better serve your potential and current customers; does not allow your teams to communicate in real time; does not automate several communication processes (both with the client and between your marketing and sales teams), you need a CRM.
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