CRM is one of the latest buzzwords kicking around the industry right now. If you have a small business, you may want a better understanding of just what all the buzz is about. What is a CRM? and why is it important?
CRM stands for customer relationship management.
Customer relationship management is the process of managing interactions with existing, as well as past and potential, customers. At its simplest definition, a CRM system allows businesses to manage business relationships as well as the data and information associated with them.
There are two surefire ways to grow your business:
1. Attract New Customers
2. Keep your Existing Customers Happy – so they keep coming back to youCustomer relationship management or CRM can help you do both!
Broadly, CRM is any practice, technology, or strategy designed to help businesses improve their customer relationships. Customer relationship management uses a customer-focused approach to achieve various business goals by creating, tracking and analyzing customer data.
In today’s marketplace, CRM often refers to the CRM Strategy or System —specific tools, usually a web application or software, that allow organizations to focus their attention on individual customers and associates—be they buyers, suppliers, service users, or anyone else the organization does business with.
A Customer relationship management system is designed to gather all of your customer, sales and marketing info in one central place, to provide a 360º view of all your customer data. Details like the customer’s name, email, phone number, and communication preferences, as well as interaction and purchase history, can be made available to help your teams reach out to customers for the right reasons and through the right channels.
What is CRM Software?
CRM software (customer relationship management software) is a tool that’s designed to help your organization offer your customers a unique and seamless experience, as well as build better relationships by providing a complete picture of all customer interactions, keeping track of your sales, organizing and prioritizing your opportunities, and facilitating collaboration between various teams.
Great customer relationships are based on the consistent and personalized experience offered by your organization, regardless of where a customer is in your sales cycle. This means that every team in your organization, from Marketing to Sales to Support must offer a consistent experience when interacting with a customer.
When your business is starting off and you’re managing all your customer information on spreadsheets, this may be viable, but not advisable. The amount of time spent on data entry could be better spent bringing in customers and closing deals. This becomes exponentially more complicated when you grow your business and expand your customer base. This is where CRM software comes into play.
Interact Better and Keep a Track on Your Customers with CRM
At the very simplest, CRM helps you manage customer contact information—so much better than a spreadsheet! It makes it easy for you to track the interactions that you and your team have with your customers—whether that’s sales calls, emails, purchase history, support tickets, or something else. You can even set up alerts if, say, no one has talked to a key customer in a while, and it’s time for one of you to reach out.
Get More Business from Existing Customers
Connect with your customers through email, text messages, rewards, coupons and more. When it comes to encouraging existing customers to spend more, having a good CRM solution in place is a must. You can search and segment your customers into profiles, and create special offers just for those groups, for example, “half-off welcome back discounts”.
Your CRM can also track the results of your advertising campaigns to see which ones are working best, so you can figure out how to better serve your customers and get more business.
Gain an Edge Over Your Competition with a Customized CRM System
More is not necessarily better when it comes to features. Software with too many features can be overwhelming and expensive. You want to make sure whichever CRM solution you choose it will integrate seamlessly with all your customer-related services, so you don’t have to think about keeping your data current across multiple software programs. Based on your need, you can either go for a basic or a super-advanced CRM platform.
Fortune 500 technology made affordable for small business. At Shopper Loyalty Rewards, we aim to provide our clients with the best CRM solutions that can improve their operational efficiency and increase profits. Shopper Loyalty Rewards uses the latest digital technology to help manage the relationships and interactions of your business. We research ways through which your business can optimize its client base to maximize client retention, satisfaction, and ultimately profits.
Let us prepare a CRM strategy that best works for your business.
Want the best customer relationship management software? Contact us today to learn more.
