…and the ability to connect with people – from customers to coworkers – is an important skill that leads to the growth, success, and longevity of all types of businesses.
After all, relationships are what makes the world go around, right?
Plus, to add to it, relationships are also directly linked to business profitability. That’s why client relationship management systems (we’ll refer to them as CRMs) have become some of the most valuable tools for growing companies today.
In fact, 91% of companies employing 10 or more people are currently using CRM technology in some capacity. Let’s dive into the many wonderful benefits of CRMs, and how they can be a total game-changer for sales, marketing, and customer service processes, as well as the overall growth of your company.
A CRM platform is what keeps track of all customer and potential customer communication and information. With automated technology, CRMs are responsible for the gathering and organizing of all customer-based data. It’s a pretty important job when you consider that a company’s growth depends highly on overall customer satisfaction.
At its most basic level, CRM software takes consumer data and compiles it into a single database. Then, every person within a company can have access to the same exact information at all times. While this is still at the heart of what makes CRM platforms so important, the uses and benefits of CRMs have expanded and advanced into many more features that contribute to the growth of a company.
The list really could go on and on. Improving business relationships is the key to long-term growth, and CRM technology is the best way to make relationships flourish.
Short answer…absolutely! CRM software can be beneficial for all businesses, but especially ones that are growing. When you’re in a phase of growth, you’re bringing in more and more data and communication that needs to be sorted and organized to be useful for marketing and sales efforts. Without the right system in place, many possible leads could be lost and potentially helpful data could be wasted.
CRM platforms are the ultimate organizers for all current and incoming communication data — which is why before increasing the amount of leads or customers that are coming in, it’s a good idea to have a set system in place to be able to process all of the new information. That’s where a CRM can truly shine for your company.
If you’re wondering whether or not there are specific types of companies that need a CRM more than others, you’re in the right spot. Here are the companies that benefit the most from CRM software:
Identifying trends in customer behavior is one of the key uses of a CRM — which is why anyone making sales of any kind could use the help of a CRM for communicating with prospects, analyzing behaviors, and making notes on the likelihood of closing certain prospects. In selling, cross-selling, or up-selling, CRMs are the way to go.
Data-based marketing is what drives interest and grabs attention. Instead of using general data to form marketing campaigns, it’s much more effective to use real data from your own customers and leads to create content — which is where a CRM comes into play.
Combining CRM solutions with integrations like marketing automation, sales automation, and product management is a great way to streamline tasks for efficiency. CRMs can save you time every single day, and they’re also what free up energy for strategic or creative tasks – making them must-haves for any efficiency-focused businesses. CRMs can even help cut down on costs and help you get the most out of your leads.
A CRM may be used by companies, but those same CRMs also offer tons of benefits to customers. If you want to show customers that they are important to your company, a CRM will make the point loud and clear. When all customer information is organized and stored, customers get fast answers to questions, immediate transfers to correct representatives, and tailor-made solutions to any issues that arise.
To see all of this in action, take a look at how Amazon uses the benefits of a CRM. As a customer, Amazon provides personalized ads based on every shopper’s preferences, as well as the option for convenient, single-click purchases. As a company, Amazon has soared to the most successful heights with the use of a highly advanced CRM infrastructure. It puts customers’ needs first, while harnessing all data for personalized marketing and sales strategies, and streamlined efficiency in all areas.
It’s further proof that CRMs offer versatile solutions to all types of companies – big or small. Most importantly, CRMs contribute to any company with goals of expanding or scaling.
According to Finances Online, which offers market insights and research for all types of businesses, companies using a CRM see a 50% improvement in productivity, a 65% increase in sales quota, and a 74% improvement in customer relationships.
At its heart, CRM software guides lead management from the first point of contact to all the way through the buyer’s journey — and also helps to ensure the quality of said leads. The many uses of CRMs don’t stop there, however.
Before we had today’s advanced technology (or before using a CRM), data was updated by hand — but that’s not even close to necessary anymore. Not only do CRMs cut down on time and free up energy, but they also hugely reduce the possibility of human errors.
Whenever a person within a company – whether from sales, marketing, or customer service – speaks to a customer, that customer’s information and preferences are automatically updated. You can also trust the data, since it is automatically synced. And, at the same time, everyone across multiple departments has access to the exact same information with the help of a CRM.
Automation can hugely help increase productivity and efficiency for companies — and there are many day-to-day tasks that can be streamlined using a CRM, which cuts down on wasted time and even production costs in some cases.
Time and efficiency becomes even more important when a company is growing because there’s an increase in data coming in. Sales, marketing, and customer service teams that have the help of automations can put their focus where it’s needed the most — because if repetitive tasks eat up too much time within a company, there simply won’t be any room for growth. CRMs free up time for employees to focus on tasks that require human attention, while simultaneously reducing the risks of human errors in repetitive tasks.
In customer-facing teams, communication is the highest priority. Being able to clearly and easily communicate with customers or clients is essential to anyone in these types of roles and the overall success of a company — and now, there are more different ways to communicate than ever before. Luckily though, CRMs can help manage every single one.
In a growing company, it’s normal to have an uptake in incoming calls and inquiries. With a CRM, large amounts of calls are made much more manageable. For example, tools like call tracking can hold, prioritize, place, and even record every single incoming call. This is a huge help in assigning calls to the right representatives and keeping detailed records of all conversations.
At the end of each day, call tracking allows you to see the entire day’s worth of calls in a neat, clean row. Since all customer data is already recorded, each call log has all necessary information for preparing representatives to reach out.
Chatbots can also be a useful CRM tool for open-communication with customers. As soon as someone shows interest by landing on your website or social media page, chatbots can easily get conversations started and sorted. This creates convenience for customer-facing teams and potential customers because certain interests or questions are addressed immediately and said conversations can be seamlessly passed off to the right person for the job.
With emails being an ever-important type of customer interaction, email tracking is also very helpful. Email tracking lets you know which cold emails start to warm towards leads by seeing exactly which emails are opened, and by who. Then, automated follow up emails and targeted email campaigns can be sent to the right leads at the right time.
Psst… After all, timing can make all the difference in warming up leads and moving them forward in the direction of becoming loyal customers.
CRMs also allow you to use social media management tools to respond to all necessary comments, messages, mentions, tags, and questions that come through your social media platforms. It would be easy to miss social media interactions without the help of a CRM because of their sheer volume — but with the right CRM tools, you’re sure to never miss an important message again.
Customers feel valued and satisfied by companies who make communication a top priority. By making communication easy and organized for both parties, companies can start to expand to brand-new levels of growth.
Communicating with customers is an obvious priority for all companies, but what about the interactions that happen within a company? CRMs help keep all team members in open, clear communication with each other as well as with all other teams. This means that the sales teams stay connected with other sales team members but also with the marketing and customer service teams — and vice-versa.
As a company grows, hires more people, and scales, the need for open and clear internal communication also increases. Aligning all departments within a company creates the most efficient way to guide leads through every stage of the buyer’s journey. It also makes collaboration, strategizing, and content creation more effective for every department.
Customer satisfaction is the key to business growth, and CRM systems are designed to put customers at the very center of their goals and strategies. Everything within a CRM is meant to benefit both companies and the customers they serve — and there really is no better way to focus on the needs of customers while still streamlining work processes and facilitating major growth.
Now that you know how a CRM can enhance your business processes, increase sales, and help skyrocket your company’s growth, let’s talk about how to harness these benefits. You should know that there are different types of CRMs to choose from, and finding the right fit is the first important step.
Operational CRMs are used to automate business processes, streamline communications, and drive conversions to grow a company. Operational CRMs are used to improve the marketing, sales, and customer service departments through automation and organization.
Hubspot is a leading example of an operational CRM platform. It facilitates better marketing, sales, and customer service processes by combining hundreds of integrations into an all-in-one platform. Any business — from small businesses to larger enterprises —looking to grow or scale could benefit from using Hubspot CRM.
Analytical CRMs are used for the main purpose of gathering and analyzing data. The software can be pretty technical, but it’s also effective in getting clearer pictures of customer behaviors and insights. With a detailed look into customer analytics, companies can create more personalized marketing campaigns and customer support services.
Zoho Analytics is an example of an analytical CRM. Zoho transforms raw data into clear, usable reports and dashboards.
Collaborative CRMs are used to open up communication between departments within a company while keeping everyone working on the same page — and companies who have different physical locations or lots of different teams and departments can find collaborative CRMs extremely useful for syncing everyone up.
Copper is a CRM that allows all departments to have access to the exact same customer information. It’s pretty straightforward and easy to use, and integrates very well with Google Workspace.
With advanced technology, it’s easy to get distracted by the many bells and whistles of CRM platforms. But when deciding what CRM platform is right for you, remember that the most important goal is to increase sales. If a CRM platform takes too long to show results or is too complex to maintain, that could take away from the desired effect.
As you can see, the growth possibilities and benefits are limitless when incorporating CRM solutions to meet your company’s needs and goals. At The Automation Co, our team of automation experts are ready to help you transform your marketing, sales, and customer service strategies with CRM solutions that can be tailor-made just for you. We’re in the business of helping businesses grow, and by offering full CRM service support, we can help you get the most out of today’s leading CRM platforms – including Hubspot and Salesforce. Our highly trained experts know what goes into using CRMs to generate sales and build lasting success.
We’d love to get to know more about your company so we can help you get the most out of your CRM platform. Click here to get a quote today.
