What if I told you there’s a way for you to have unique interactions with your customers? To tailor-make messages targeting clients that will change as you go through the sales process.
What if you could be notified of follow-up calls to customers so that you don’t ever forget to call them back?
What if you could integrate your social media requests from customers into a single system so that you can easily respond to them?
And what if I told you that there is ONE system that can do all this. It will consolidate all client details so that every employee can have this vital information at their fingertips.
It’s called a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, and it will boost your sales and your profit.
Let’s read on to learn how:
Increased Sales
Every business is looking to increase sales and profit. To do that, they need an efficient system to respond to customers that the entire team can access.
If your employees know purchasing habits, customer profiles, and other important information, they can tailor-make the sales process. This increases productivity which in turn will help more customers walk through the door and more sales.
Automating processes like email, social media marketing, and text message marketing will give more time to your employees to carry out other important tasks. It will also give them more accountability and insight into what kind of interactions they are having with customers.
Employees who know exactly what interactions they need to complete each day will have mental targets that they can work towards. It will make an unstructured process very clear and easy to understand.
CRM’s are also a great way to train new employees. If you hire someone new who has never used a CRM before and is not familiar with targeting customers with specific messaging, then the CRM system will make your job easier of getting the new employee acquainted with what they need to know to accomplish their targets.
Also, with everything on record, you can now go back and study what kind of interactions were more effective as compared to others. This is a great way to objectively learn from current strategies and how new ones can be made better.
Unique Customer Experience
As a customer, when you go shopping, the more personal experience, the better. It is the experience that many customers are now buying in addition to the product and service.
The retail sector is now trying to personalize the entire process from the minute a customer walks into a store. 73% of consumers say they’d rather purchase from companies that use their personal information to make their shopping experience more relevant.
With a CRM system in place, you can start a sales process with one employee and have another employee take their place, so you do not have to start the process from scratch.
You can create a system where the interactions you make with each customer are unique.
As per research, 62% of companies did not respond to customer support emails. That is a large number and problematic if you are unable to respond to a customer that is one that is potentially lost.
With a CRM system in place, you can respond quickly and efficiently. You can also tailor-make your response to customer emails based on past buying habits and include special FAQs based on customer profiles.
Below are ways customer experience is improved with a CRM:
- Increases customer loyalty
- Knowledge of your customer likes and dislikes
- Personalize marketing information
- Offer products and services that customers want
- Respond quickly to customer requests
- Offer unique discounts, offers, and free gifts
- Customers become more aware of your brand
Streamlined Sales Process
So the advantage of having a CRM is that customer information is centralized in one location that every employee can access. A sales funnel similar to a CRM funnel. You will be able to follow the process in a CRM system so that your lead eventually becomes a paying customer.
If you have the customer profile added to your system, all of your employees will have an idea of the customer’s likes and preferences. This helps all of your employees gain insight into what the customer might be looking for when they revisit your retail shop.
If your employees know the likes and dislikes of a customer before they walk in the door, that is a great advantage when trying to close a sale.
Furthermore, you can segment your customer lists so that you can easily target specific customers with direct messaging that will resonate with them. Customers prefer to have to message that is relevant to previous purchases they have made, and things may have been added to their cart but never purchased.
Segmenting your lists to include specific times of the year or month can also be done to capitalize on holiday shopping or seasons items. Automating every step of the sales process with a CRM system will lead to more profit and sales. Your employees will become more productive and smart when it comes to knowing how to close the deal.
Specialized CRM’s
Industry-specific CRM’s are a great way to find a system that will fit the dynamics of your industry. For example, the real estate business has a specific CRM like the real estate CRM which is used especially by real estate companies.
This kind of CRM will help you manage client information regarding preferences for location, size of the home, and buying price of a new home, etc.
Other industry-specific CRM’s include:
- Accounting
- B2B Sales
- Call Centers
- Construction
- Health & Medicine
- Insurance
- Rental Property Management
Looking at a specific CRM for your business is a great way to kick-start your customer interactions. It will decrease the amount of time you spend trying to figure out if the system is right for you. Specialized CRM’s have inbuilt mechanisms that are made for their specific industry.
If you are someone who is new to CRM’s and hesitant to purchase one that finding one that is made especially for your industry is a great way to start.
Social Media Integration
Having a social media platform to engage with customers is essential. If you are not using this arena to market your products and services, then you are missing out.
90% of Instagram’s 1 billion active users are following at least one business account. Social media is a platform where businesses can build brand awareness and customer loyalty. It is extremely important to use it effectively.
In the past, traditionally, social media customer interaction was the wild, wild west, with no concrete way to measure and record interactions. But with a CRM system, you can fill this gap because the system provides a centralized system that can filter these interactions in a meaningful way.
Often we do not have time to answer back to all DM’s and messages in our inbox. Not getting back to your customers on time can affect your brand loyalty. It is very important if you have social media accounts that you are responding back to your customers in a quick and efficient manner.
A CRM will help you automate responses so that you can respond quicker and spend more time on other important tasks.
Using a CRM to manage customer requests, questions and comments is essential to bringing all of your insights onto one platform. There is a term for this, and it is called ‘Social CRM.’ It means you can track your customer’s social media activity in addition to their interaction with your business.
With a Social CRM, you can add dashboards, metrics, and tools to your system so that you can better manage your interaction with customers via social media. It is one of the most important features of a CRM and why your business should be using one.
CRM Systems Are Essential For Productivity
Without a CRM system in place, your business will not be able to capitalize on the customers interacting with you. To make sense of these interactions and turn them into sales and eventually profits, you need a system to make sense of it all.
With a CRM, you can actually see the sale process as soon as you start your first interactions with a new customer. Helping you visualize this process will help you and your employees close more sales.
If you are still thinking of whether you need a CRM system in place for your business or not, you really shouldn’t be. It’s clear that without a properly structured system for your employees and your business, you will not be able to increase customer interactions, more effective marking strategies, and train employees.
If you are hesitant about which system might be best for you, then trying the free plans would be a good way to start. This way, you do not have to have to make a large investment and will be able to figure out which system is right for you.
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About the Author!
Shoaib provides ghostwriting and copywriting services. His educational background in the technical field and business studies helps him in tackling topics ranging from career and business productivity to web development and digital marketing. He occasionally writes articles for the real estate CRM.