Speaking of software, while there are plenty of business solutions out there that can help run a  business smoothly, the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is designed specifically with your customers in mind.

CRM software solutions help sales teams manage their customer communications, focus on their most valuable opportunities, and provide the best customer experience throughout the entire buying process. 

 

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Initially, when the concept of CRM was devised, only large enterprises could afford such effective and business-driven software. Today, businesses of all sizes (be it small, medium-sized, or large) have access to easy-to-use and affordable CRM software options.

Being a leading CRM software development company in Australia, we are going to explain the value that CRM can bring to your business. 

How CRM software solutions benefit my business?

Well, when a business first starts, keeping a track of the customers by address book, email, and spreadsheets make sense. However, is it really possible to keep track of everything manually when the business is growing? The answer is no. Why?

• Valuable customer information hides in the employees’ inboxes.
• Spreadsheets are hard to interpret, update, and keep in sync with the team.
• Customer communication is inconsistent with your employees.
• Notes get lost or thrown away.

Here, the real problem is that the most crucial data is spread across multiple systems which makes it difficult to leverage the necessary information and collaborate on sales.

This is where CRM comes into play.

It not only helps you to gain new customers but also to retain existing ones. And that is why most companies and businesses are showing great interests to invest in CRM. 

According to a 2018 report by Gartner, “CRM software revenues have now overtaken database management systems to become the largest of all the software markets.”

How does a CRM solution work?

• It centralises all customer data

Many market research reports indicate that almost 92% of businesses collect data on customers and prospects. Now, having access to all data in the database means fewer silos within your organisation. It definitely helps you achieving customer-centricity.

Customer information includes, but is not limited to, addresses, email ids, phone numbers, and last contact made. The CRM also records when the next follow update is, what was discussed last, even the status of an open item. 

Since a CRM system centralises all customer-facing information, the business workflow becomes organised. The sales department cannot blame Marketing for not communicating with them. The marketing department cannot blame Sales for not implementing their campaigns. And the Customer Service department cannot blame Sales for disappointed customers.

Everyone in the organisation has the same access to the same customer information.

• It supports the customer-centric strategy

You want to make your customers happy and to do that, every system should be put into the right place to make all business tasks easy to perform and complete. This is what CRM software does.

CRM software comes with many features that businesses can utilise in order to complete work faster, understand their customer base and make smarter business decisions, all of which has an end goal of making life easier and more satisfactory for its customers.

• It automates customer-facing business processes

The customer-facing processes include sales, marketing and customer service.

Primarily, a CRM strategy focuses on the customer-facing processes and makes them better in terms of meeting the needs of the customer.

Check out the following sample chart to understand what is included in each process:

CRM keeps track of all lead-related actions and what has been said and done. At the same time, CRM is a library of phone calls, documents, and emails. 

Whether you are in sales, marketing or customer support, a CRM system can help to automate a particular business process, as well as to automate the way each process works together with the other. 

Is my business ready for a CRM?

Companies often begin to look for CRM software solutions when their sales communications start to get messy. By then, they may have already lost many opportunities and revenue due to disorganisation.

Hence, it is better not to let yourself get to that point. If your business has a sales process, it is better to get a CRM solution as per its requirements from the beginning.

If your business still does not have one, reach the CRM software solutions experts at Visions & Solutions.