Industrialization has reached a point where people try to automate almost every process they do daily. What to say about when it comes to business. However, until now, relationships with customers, at least in the medium and small business, for some reason are often carried out without the introduction of automation and sufficient attention to accounting. In this article, we decided to characterize the effective CRM, as well as to tell you how the life of the company differs before and after the introduction of the system.
CRM-system (Customer Relationship Management or Customer Relationship Management) is an application software for companies, designed to automate interactions with customers. It is usually used to increase sales, optimize marketing and improve customer service by storing customer information and the history of relationships with them, establishing and improving business processes, and then analyzing the results.
How did the world of sales live without CRM
In the 80-90’s, when no system of customer relations existed, sales in most companies were built according to a similar pattern.
There is an office, there are several managers and telephones. Managers themselves call and accept incoming, somehow sell, somehow lead customers, somehow answer questions. Moreover, many companies are still working on this scheme. With such a system, the results of the sales department depended, first of all, on the decency and personal qualities of each of the managers. Then the cult of the all-powerful seller appeared, and all the companies began actively developing sales skills of their managers. The question of building a system and clear rules for working with clients has become secondary.
At that time, companies were sending crowds of their sales teams to training, believing that it was magic tools and technicians that would do a superfluity for business sales. Equal conditions were won by those who managed to hire super professionals to work.
On the one hand, if you’re lucky with the manager, then he will not miss the customer, he will call back on time and bring it to the deal. However, on the other hand, in this situation, the company is completely dependent on the manager. Today you found a professional – you are in the black. Tomorrow your professional has gone to competitors (along with the client base of the company), and you are ruined. There are a lot of such stories among quite large companies when whole teams left – and the company that had a big turnover was left with nothing.
Using automated information systems, call centers, and analytical databases, it became possible and cost-effective to work with each client as if it were the only one.
Sales are automated, a client is individual
A person loves the attention to his person. He is disappointed with the “cold” reception in the bank, inattention in the store, a queue at the clinic. Therefore, he hears and remembers any attention to his needs. A company that shows (unobtrusive!) Attention to each buyer, becomes a respected and beloved customer. The client turns to your services again and again, thereby increasing the sales volume of the company without excessive costs for the promotion of the goods. According to statistics, a satisfied customer will tell about a successful purchase or service to five acquaintances who are likely to turn to the same firm if necessary.
Customer Relationship Management or customer relationship management system. Mysterious management, some relations … Companies that had resources began to implement everything that the market offered, without much understanding of the details. There are many examples where companies spent millions of budgets, put all sorts of expensive systems, and as a result, the main tasks remained unresolved.
What exactly influences the sale? Where do the applications come from? Which direction of work is the highest conversion? Thanks to CRM, the company receives answers to thousands of questions that are important for doing business and making the right management decisions.
It is important not to have a CRM in the company, but to configure it and work with it, maximize its functionality
A company without a CRM system and a company with a CRM system can be compared to two trains. Only the first train is an old slow train, and the second is a modern highly comfortable express train, reaching the final point twice as fast. Of course, on condition of a competent thinking machinist.
What functional tasks should the system solve?
It depends on this whether it will be simple or functional, with a basic set of functions or with the possibility of various integrations.
Before you make a final decision, you need to understand how you will set up the system. How will it solve your problems? The answers to these questions will help you to more closely approach the selection of your automated assistant:
How should the history of interaction with clients of the company be fixed: in reference to a contact or to a transaction? The first option – binding to the contact – is more suitable for working with a cold base, the second – to work with incoming applications.
Is it necessary to create visibility limits (when an ordinary manager sees only his own part of the database, without access to the entire client base of the company)?
What stages of sales is the client from the first contact of the manager to the purchase (sales funnel)?
What kind of analytics should be monitored: operational performance of managers (number of calls, overdue tasks) or do you need a general analyst for the company (receipts, sales forecast, conversion of each stage)?
Do you need integration with additional services (e-mail services, telephony, integration with 1C and others)?
The system should be simple but at the same time mobile, able to adjust according to market behavior.
What is the implementation of CRM-technologies
At primary sales:
Increase in profit
The seller has full information about the customer and the sales history. The number of transactions and the speed of the deal are increasing. It’s easy to focus on the best deals.
Increase the accuracy of forecasting sales
The statistical information allows you to assess the likelihood of a deal and predict the speed of passing customers on the sales funnel, which allows you to effectively manage the company’s cash flows.
Increased probability of making a deal
Automating the sales cycle and distributing best practices to all sales staff increases the percentage of successful transactions. The knowledge base on standard customer questions and answers to them, the knowledge base on the weak and strong sides of the work of competitors allows you to work effectively with the client even to a novice seller.
Reducing costs
Automation of the sales process allows you to automate routine operations, control processes, and management of sales staff.
Improving employee productivity
Managing capabilities, scheduling, and contact tools make it possible to effectively use working time.
“Beauty Chance”
Our company VRGsoft is actively developing CRM systems that can help you in your business. For example, our most recent project is “Beauty Chance”, which is intended for the beauty industry, namely beauty salons, as well as for private entrepreneurs who work at home.
This CRM system is very convenient for both clients and for the master who provides the service.
In this system, there is a schedule for the master and client. The client can choose the time and day of his procedure. The client does not need to call the master and specify details, he receives SMS notifications that his time has been confirmed and the master waits for him at the time appointed by the client.
Also, a big plus is that this system works as a mobile application. You can learn more by clicking on this link.