Things to know about CRM
I’m often asked by business owners, how can a CRM benefit my business. There are some fundamentals every business owner, from a CEO to a SMB owner should know how CRM can committing their business. Here are my top things to know about CRM
1. Will My Employees Use The CRM Software?
Most CRM software system failures are due to a lack of adoption by sales people. One of the key things to know about CRM is that success is not down to the software, but how well it is adopted by each user and how well it supports their roles.
The system is there, but because change is hard, many people just flat out reject it. Do you have a team willing to learn? Does your CRM software provider have a good customer service team or training model you can implement? You will want to make sure the CRM system is as painless as possible for your employees. Find out if the CRM software is fast and easy to use. It is important that your team get adequate exposure and training and that you support the change from the top down. Leadership trickles down.
2. Is the CRM Software Vendor a Good Partner?
It’s imperative that the CRM software provider understands your business model and can help your team use it to fit their unique needs. A CRM partner that cares about your business will make sure their solution is explained and utilized to best suit your business needs.
3. Can We Get The Raw Data?
The day will come when you want to migrate your data or do a thorough analysis and you will need to be able to extract the raw data from your CRM software system. If you are considering an in-house CRM system make sure the data can be saved in an industry standard system file. If you are going with a hosted CRM software system, just make sure you can get a copy of your data when and how you want it.
4. Is the CRM System Reliable?
When a CRM system is fully integrated in your sales team it is your lifeblood. If the CRM Software isn’t working your sales people probably aren’t either. If you go with an in-house system, you need to make sure you IT people are capable of rebuilding the system if it fails. If it’s too complicated for your IT team it’s probably not the right system for you. If you go with a web-based CRM software system you should check with them to make sure they have disaster recovery plans and standby procedures to prevent you from being without crucial data.
5. Is the CRM Software System Flexible?
As your business grows you need a CRM System that grows with you. Find out if expanding to multiple offices domestically and internationally can be supported. Also, as you expand you will ultimately have more users on the CRM software system and need to find out in advance if there’s a limit to the number of users you can have and if the additional user licensing costs and how much. Clearing this up before it’s an issue can save you from it becoming an issue.
ProAptivity can help with all the things to know about CRM
A CRM system benefits an organisation through the visibility of its sales activities. This visibility is fundamental to managing sales performance and control of the sales process. This visibility enables management to understand why, when, who and how opportunities are being won, stalled, or being lost. If it cannot be monitored, it cannot be managed. The visibility offered within the CRM system also allows management to make educated business decisions based on hard data. A CRM system will enable structured data to be used to access performance. This assessment should indicate which sales person is out performing others.
ProAptivity are an independent CRM solutions provider. We focus on the implementation, training, and support of highly customised CRM software solutions. Our CRM software supported by our sales training provide customers with the tools needed to deliver successful sales process management.
Fundamentally, we help organisations embed CRM best practice throughout their organisation. This helps organisations become more competitive, customer focused and ultimately more profitable.
If you need help in understanding why my business needs CRM, maybe some of our eBooks could help! Alternatively visit Maximizer CRM for more information. Contact us today in Belfast on 028 9099 6388 or at our Bedford office on 01234 214004. Alternatively email us on info@proaptivity.com. Contact us today for a free CRM consultation that will assess if your business is CRM ready.
