Business owners have long known that process automation is essential. No warehouse accounting or accounting reports are kept without the use of an automated system. There are applications that allow you to quickly place an order and send it to a specific address. It is convenient to do this from a mobile phone or other gadget. The manager receives the main documents ready-made, all that remains is to process them. But for some reason, relationships with customers are still not maintained as automatic accounting. This can be said about small and medium-sized businesses. CRM systems will perfectly help with this.
You can often hear from business consultants how many business owners do not build relationships with clients in an automated system. For there are CRM-systems that issue customer records and help develop their own business by simplifying the work.
What is a CRM system and how to work with it?
If every manager in the company keeps track of customers in the way that suits him best – records phone calls on paper, keeps the number of orders in an Excel spreadsheet, etc., then what can this approach lead to? In addition, a manager may forget to record new calls, an employee may fall ill / go on vacation / quit. What about the lost information then? This can lead to serious negative consequences for the firm.
But there is a way out – quality CRM-system will help to generate, record and save everything.
If you decide to use the system, then here’s what awaits you:
· The company will have a standardized system of contacts;
· Owners will be able to control the quality of the sales department;
· The statistics of work with leads is displayed;
· Perhaps planning based on the analysis of the overall work of the company’s employees.
CRM system is software designed for companies that conduct trading activities. It helps to increase sales, optimize the marketing department and improve the quality of customer service. In general, this approach has certain advantages that you should definitely take advantage of.
CRM benefits.
Many businessmen unanimously argue that no small and medium business can do without this system. Even if your firm employs three people, this approach will help to identify gross deficiencies in the work, which may lead to the fact that the firm does not grow.
Let’s highlight the following advantages of the system:
· CRM stores information about everything related to customers: calls, messages, orders. Therefore, no potential client will be lost. All incoming contacts are recorded, which makes it possible to understand that the funds invested in attracting new customers were spent meaningfully.
· The owner will be able to control and manage the work of his employees. You can often find that in small organizations, managers independently somewhere fix their work with clients, while not having any common base.
· Forming a client base and statistics. Any information about each client is available in a few clicks. Based on this data, the entrepreneur will be able to think over development steps in order to increase the volume of his business.
· Launching new ideas to attract new customers and work with previous ones. Developers worry about their business owners being able to communicate properly with their customers. Developers are committed to helping entrepreneurs.
But always remember that all data is open and available to all employees of the company. therefore, you need to clearly control the information. Consider also the fact that the implementation of such a system will require financial investments.
What are CRM systems?
These systems are divided into several types:
Boxed – such a system is installed on your server and is under your service. Therefore, it is worth taking care in advance that you had your own server, free space on it and an IT manager who will control the operation of the system.
Cloud – you can buy a license to use the system, which is located on the developer’s server. You will not be tasked with keeping the server running. The whole process lies with the developer, you just have to use his services.
Before choosing, pay attention to terms of reference for CRM… It should meet your expectations. If your specialist does this, then it will not be so complete and detailed, since there is no deep knowledge in the development of this system. If the developer himself takes care of the preparation of those tasks, then it will be easier for you to navigate how convenient this option will be for you.
What to look for when choosing a CRM?
First, define a list of functions that you put in front of the system. If you prioritize call processing, then check that the system supports integration with telephony. If you focus on leads, then CRM should integrate their CMS.
In general, you should be guided by your tastes, what exactly you want to get from CRM. If a specialist offers you a certain option, which has all the functions you require and a suitable cost, then you can agree.
What could be in your CRM system?
1. Integration with telephony. In an amicable way, any option should work with telephony. You should be able to understand the situation with incoming and outgoing calls. If your managers manually enter all the information about the calls, then this is not reliable.
2. API integration. It is important for any company to use programs that integrate applications, keep records, draw up documents, etc. The selected version of the system should be able to interact with 1C, IT telephony and other services that you use.
3. Ability to build tasks. The system should offer tools that help account for employee interactions. The whole process of the general work of your employees should be recorded in CRM. In addition, you can configure the system so that tasks are set automatically.
4. Import of data. You need to understand how you need to enter data. The speed and simplicity of loading data into the system is important. The most practical option is to select the transfer of information from an Excel spreadsheet.
5. Contacts and contractors. Reference books should be convenient. The difference is whether you work with individuals or legal entities. The level of nesting will depend on this. When in the first case, one level will be enough, and in the second, several will be needed, since different employees call from the same company, and for each of them there should be a separate line.
Epilogue.
The purpose of this article was to clarify what a CRM system is in general, why it is needed and how it will help your business. Implementing the system is no more difficult than any other software.
