Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an integral part of a company often used to manage the B2C and B2B relationships of a company. It is designed to help companies manage customer data – transactions, contacts, proposals, documents, history and sometimes payment information. The CRM software of today is about managing a company’s social interactions with existing and potential customers.
Today’s CRMs are highly scalable and customizable, enabling companies to gain customer insights and feedback with a back-end analytical engine, view opportunities using predictive analytics, streamline the business operations, and customize consumer service depending on their known history and prior business interactions.
What are we observing when companies put together their primary requirements from any CRM software?
- Gathering and Retaining Information
Companies want to store a wealth of information about their customers. They want this to be secure, so that malware or intrusions do not cause the hard work to go to waste.
- Cross-Departmental Communication
They want the CRM to ease communication and collaboration between departments interacting with Sales.
- Email, Slack and Social Integration
This is a prerequisite for any modern day application and CRM is no different.
- Automation and Tracking
Prospective CRM buyers may find it impossible to keep track of everything around them and are asking for added value from scripted tools and bots that help with automation and lead tracking.
- Mobile Setup
With salespersons and other folk always on the move, mobility is imperative for most clients.
- The Silver Bullet – Increase Sales!
Finally, no getting away from this one. Companies expect a decent ROI from the new CRM buy and/or migrating to another CRM version. This includes increase in productivity and sales.
Some more things to keep in mind:
Standardization across branches, localization requirements, not be clumsy or too complex to use. Don’t go after the CRM software with the biggest brand name. Analyze and assess what works best for your company.
The tricky question that needs answers in any company:
Salespeople often complain that they also expected to gather and enter data about the customer while their job is only to drive revenue. Will this task fall to a separate data entry team or to the Analytical and Marketing segments of your company? Apply a carrot and stick policy to drive data into the system else the CRM will not achieve its aim. Solve this quandary for effective results from the CRM.
How can SoftwareHunt help?
Here’s how SoftwareHunt goes about picking the right CRM Software for you:
- Will it meet the needs of your business as you scale?
- Is it being sold and serviced by a reliable vendor and partner?
- Will it be easy to upgrade and/or is a SaaS solution?
- Are 80% of your requirements being met without the need of any customization?
- Will it help plug any weak chinks in your company – lead database, productivity lapses, marketing automation, social connect, etc.?
- Is it simple and easy to use for everybody in the company? Not just Salespersons. User adoption is key to success.
- Can it be implemented causing no distress to customer or sales team?
- Does it allow easy migration of old customer data and contacts?
- Does it come with a bunch of useful canned reports and allows customization of reporting requirements?
- Finally, does it fit within the budget of the company?
When picking any CRM software for our clients, we ask three questions:
- What problems are they trying to solve?
- Leads tracking
- Managing customer relationships
- Increase sales
- Why is the issue so urgent now?
- Who is championing the purchase and subsequent implementation?
- Is there a budget for the purchase and implementation services?
- What has the history with past purchases and implementations?
- How will we measure the success of the CRM implementation?
- Transparent reporting on lead status or
- Increase in sales revenue or
- Improved collaboration between teams or
- Faster response to customer complaints or
- Other or
- A combination of some or all of the above.
SoftwareHunt is an independent consultancy service. We will match you with the right software application instead of just promoting big brand products. As your unbiased partner, we understand your needs and draw up the right specifications to complete the right list of software applications and vendors.
SoftwareHunt continuously evaluates new software products, allowing us to give you quick and accurate information to make your decision. We also negotiate with them and hold them to their word. You could even get a discount on the software vendor suggested by us!
Your CRM software needs to be cost-efficient, simple to use, quickly deployable, and personalized with changing needs. Make sure that the CRM system you choose is compatible with all devices. We make sure that the software demo complies with the specifications drawn allowing you to test for strengths and weaknesses before final commitment.
Let SoftwareHunt do the hard work. You and your sales team rest easy. Call us today for a discussion about your CRM needs!
Visit us on www.softwarehunt.in and tell us about your needs. We’ll make sure they are met. Feel free to call us on 02233494500
