The definition of the Customer Relationship Management A.K.A CRM has changed over the years and see how! What started off as a plan to improve customer service, has now become the core part of the business strategy. Today, businesses prefer having a CRM software to sustain and thrive in the market.
What is CRM? CRM is a strategy to manage all your company’s relations and interactions with users and potential customers. CRM is not just limited to sales. It focuses on all round relationships with customers, suppliers, team members and end-users. The CRM strategy is brought into action through a software which is CRM software.
A CRM software is a depository where services for departments such as sales, marketing, customer insights, lead generation, data management, client retention and data tracking are seamlessly integrated and monitored. The issues that arise w.r.t these departments, are addressed and bottlenecks are successfully resolved.
Whether to use a CRM software in your organization is a no-brainer but the hard part is choosing the right CRM software service to your organization. We have made a list of factors that you should consider while choosing a Customer Relationship management Software. Check it out:
- Your Goals
- Budget
- User experience
- Mobility
- ERP Integrations and API
- Scalability
- Automation
- Metrics and Analytics
- Vendor Reputation
- Features
- CRM Set-up
- Sales Expertise
- GDPR Compliance
There is a plethora of CRM providers in the market to choose from. You need to streamline it according to your pain points and objectives; and which provider can accomplish it the best. It could be to get potential leads, improve customer service, systematizing inter-team efficiency, overcome the barriers of sales cycle, boost the conversion rate, upgrade the marketing applications along with others. Long story short, you must know your goals.
The price of the CRM subscription entirely depends on the services you want to avail. But what you need to consider is the benefit of using “A” particular service, how would you like to use it – the features and add-ons that will come with the service, mode of payment – whether you would like to pay upfront or opt for monthly subscription, whether you would like to have it as a cloud solution or on-premises CRM.
Do your research and choose a cost-effective one. It is advisable to go for a free demo from one or two CRM providers before zeroing in on the service solution.
Ultimately, it all boils down to how user-friendly is the new CRM system. An intuitive, easy to navigate the system is what you should consider primarily. Complicated system will be a loss because not only does it slow down the efficiency of the resources but also the adoption and productivity within the organization.
From our experience, Freshworks CRM is easy to set up without the need of developers. There are no detailed or laborious learnings here, you can start selling instantly. Bonus point is that you get a free trial of 21 days to assess the product.
The world now fits into our palms, thanks to every service that is available on mobile. Post COVID pandemic, people now feel safe to use services on mobile. Most cloud solutions can be accessed using any device that is connected to the internet but only some companies provide better mobile services. Make sure the CRM system that you are choosing has mobile app, many CRM systems offer all features only for desktop applications.
A good CRM should integrate with the applications you already have. It could be any ERP software, HR software, accounting or marketing software, e-commerce or sales software. CRM applications should work in tandem with various new applications that will be added at any time and perform seamlessly across the teams throughout the day. This increases the productivity and saves ample time of the teams.
CRM applications should also provide one source of data where the entire business and teams within, can clout the information for better analysis and decision making.
Every business is unique and so are their goals, processes, dynamics and customer base. Ergo you need to choose a CRM that is flexible, tends to your needs and adapts to your working processes. The CRM solution should be scalable. It should grow with the business and should be able to smoothly upgrade to advanced versions. Steer clear from “one-size-fits-all” solutions. They can be expensive and not all services might be aligned with your business strategies.
If leads should be managed consistently, you should adopt automation in your business. The size of the business doesn’t matter because efficiency is what we are rooting for here. To overcome the roadblocks in the sales funnel, workflow automation is necessary. Streamlining current leads, contacts and deals can be micromanaged once the automation is initiated.
Measuring your efforts to know where you stand parallel to your growth is crucial for businesses. Simplifying the sales workflows and evaluating these workflows should be the numero-uno agenda of the CRM. Obviously, the data should be easy to access across the teams. It should analyze what is working and what is not. It should understand the roadblocks, leads and sales funnel. It should also showcase team members’ performance track. This data driven information will go long way in the betterment of the sales and in turn the growth of the business.
Just because it is popular, bigger, or expensive does not make it the best for all businesses. The questions that must be answered before fixating on the vendor are – to what extent will the solution help business? Is it secure and reliable? The service, training and tools, customer service, usability should be seamlessly integrated within the processes.
It is always preferable to read customer testimonials, reviews from tech experts or recommendations from leaders within the industry should be considered before deciding on the vendor.
– Marketing – Marketing automation software is a must have service and it should run multi-channel marketing campaigns, enable leads, email marketing, build web forms and landing pages and analyze the results.
– Helpdesk service – Make sure that the CRM system comes with 24/7 customer service and helpdesk support features to ensure that teams are working at disposal. CRM consulting can go a long way in minimizing the cost, time, and efforts of the businesses.
– Dashboards – Do not underestimate the potential of the dashboard. The customized dashboard facilitates the log in-log out, easy-to-access and analyze the metrics.
– Social media – The e-commerce CRM should use social media to manage customer relationships. Customer interactions, lead generations, brand mentions can be monitored using this software.
It could be Cloud service or on-premises service depending on your business type.
With Cloud service (It is a SaaS – Software as a Service), you don’t need a server or technical proficiency. You just need to log into cloud-based CRM from your internet browser and start using it. You need to be always online. If the connection is lost, then you will not be able to access the data. The data is stored on the vendor server.
With On-premises service, it is hosted at your location and you own the software. You will have direct access to the servers. But you need an in-house IT staff at the location. You might have to pay hardware and software subscription charges upfront.
Once CRM program is installed and integrated, it’s burdensome to reverse the process. So be mindful of the resources in the team, who should do the training and who can have access to the system. It goes without saying that limited but skillful and efficient people in the team should get to the core of it.
The last but latest feature that should be considered is the GDPR compliance. Customer data, security and privacy is the most crucial part of the strategy. This software manages in efficient storage and processing the privacy of customer data. Trust is what forms the basis of your business and strategy. Hold on to that at any cost.
Whenever the customer demands or places any requests about his/her information, the CRM should be able to retrieve easily and do the needful. This one-click solution is time saving and reduces the percentage of human errors.
Freshworks CRM provides VPN cloud, malware, spam protection, AES 256-bit encryption and GDPR services.
Some Parting Words
CRM is the panacea that companies need today to streamline the sales process to pave way for future endeavors. CRMs should effortlessly integrate with other applications without hampering the architectural changes. So, be sure than sorry. Although we cannot pin-point that this CRM software is the best in the market, we can surely say that the best one is the software that meets your needs and aligns with your goals.
Highly Recommended: Freshworks CRM is cost effective and suits all business types. This cloud-based CRM solution is highly secure, agile and easy to use. There are now two words about the scalability, but the best part is the ROI can be secured within 7 months by Freshwork CRM users.
