Several recent surveys of small business owners in the U.S. revealed that their top priorities for 2015 were to increase revenue; implement systems to drive profits, and to expand their customer base. Following closely as second their business goals were: to improve promotional marketing, to become better organized, and to implement software upgrades to help achieve these objectives.
Since Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are designed to position companies to achieve these goals, it’s no wonder that interest in this software solution has skyrocketed in the last few years. According to Forbes, CRM sales are expected to have a stunning market value of $36.5 billion by 2017.
While most business owners focus on several key CRM components like robust customer profile functions, automation of routine task capabilities and data analysis tools — there is so much more that this powerful technology can do to improve your business operations. Have you explored everything that a CRM can do for your company?
[blank h=”10″]
[/blank]
[blank h=”15″]
[/blank]
When everyone across your agency can seamlessly pull up a complete customer profile, then each customer can be treated as an individual. Each contact person will know what has happened previously and can adjust service to match that customer’s specific needs.
The powerful analytic and organization functions of CRM platforms help companies improve their sales in several ways.
By pairing the forms on your site with an intuitive CRM that compares historical data, you can sort through prospects using qualifiers that help gauge which leads are most likely to make a purchase. Data pulled from your CRM can lower the cost of selling to certain customers because you have immediate insight into their buying habits.
By analyzing your best customers, CRM helps you create an ideal customer profile and then searches the database for existing customers and prospects that match that profile. With this information In hand, your sales team can use its resources more productively by targeting those leads that have the most potential and raise your conversion rates in the process.
The system can also automatically help you find new leads by using the profile to comb through sources like social media, website visitors, Inbound calls and newsletter sign-ups to find viable prospects.
There are several ways that CRM enhances the work of the marketing department.