Companies big and small are all investing in CRM software to streamline their interactions with customers and improve client satisfaction. But what is CRM, and how can you find the best software for your business’ needs? Check out our guide below to get the information you’re looking for.
What Is the best CRM Software?
What Is a CRM System?
CRM, or customer relationship management, is the process of providing your customers with a personalized experience that will feel rewarding to them for every interaction they have with your brand. By connecting every aspect of your business, from marketing to customer support, a CRM system will allow you to provide your clients with a consistent experience at every point of their experience with the products or services you provide for them.
Features Included in CRM Software
Now that we see the goal behind implementing software for CRM, let’s take a look at some of the common features CRM suites include to work towards that goal:
Customer Information
When your customer support agents use a CRM system, they’ll have a complete history of the customer’s interactions with your company as soon as they’re in contact with the customer and the products or services they’ve purchased from your company. They won’t have to start from the beginning of the problem, allowing accurate support for the issue at hand to begin right away to improve your customer’s experience.
Lead Management
Recognizing the opportunity to position a new product or service for your customers can be difficult for sales agents to do on their own. However, with CRM tools that analyze customer data automatically to recognize patterns and see where sales opportunities lie, they’ll be better able to know when to make an offer to maximize the chance of closing a sale.
Workflow Automation
CRM technology can automate certain processes involved in your customer relations to help make your employees’ workflow more efficient and accurate. For example, CRM suites can help to direct customers automatically to the correct department for their particular issue so your agents don’t have to handle routing customers. Preset communications with customers can also be automated to give your employees one less task to follow up on and ensure every interaction is consistent for your customer.
Social Media Integration
CRM technology can also assist you with maximizing your brand’s social media presence. You’ll be able to see what discussion about your brand is occurring on social media, whether positive or negative, so that you can strategize accordingly. You’ll also be able to get a better insight into who interacts with your social media pages to get a clearer picture about your audience.
Automatic Reporting
Gathering accurate data about how your business operates allows you to recognize patterns to see what strategies work and what needs rethinking. CRM suites that have the capability to automate this reporting will give you all of the information you need to develop a plan to continue growing your business.
How CRM Benefits Your Business
You may be wondering how the various features CRM systems include can be beneficial for your business. Here are some of the advantages that your business will enjoy from implementing an effective CRM system:
Better Customer Retention
If your customer runs into a frustrating situation when using your product and can’t get their issue resolved conveniently, there’s a good chance they’ll stop doing business with you and look to your competitors for their needs instead. Effective CRM helps to avoid this situation by supporting your customers throughout their experience with your product so that they want to continue doing business with your company.
Increased Productivity
By automating a variety of different processes that your customer support agents would otherwise have to do themselves, such as sending email follow-ups with instructions for customers, CRM technology helps to make your workforce more productive. Workers can focus on helping customers instead of being distracted by mundane tasks that can easily be automated instead.
Detailed Analytics
Any good business plan is built on data analytics, and CRM can help with this aspect of your business too. CRM systems can automatically gather data on your interactions with customers, sales, and other information about your business and provide that information to you in easy-to-read reports. That will allow you to make a more effective plan for how to move your business forward.
Boost in Sales
The lead generation and tracking capabilities included in a CRM package will help you more effectively position your products and services to sell to customers. This will help you generate more revenue by capitalizing on all of your sales opportunities. The improved customer experience this software allows you to offer will also improve your bottom line as the positive buzz about your company draws more customers in.
Accurate Forecasting
Knowing the trajectory your business is heading will help you plan for the future more comprehensively. Sales forecasting features included in a CRM system will let you recognize trends, and will help you set realistic, actionable goals and metrics to meet as you strive to help your business expand over time.
Finding the Best Software
There are dozens of options available to business owners when choosing what CRM system to use for their company. Each of them comes with their own unique set of features and benefits, so take a moment to consider which aspects of CRM your business can benefit most from. Choose a proven, reputable CRM provider that offers all of the features you’re looking for to maximize the benefits you enjoy.
Our advanced, cloud-based approach to CRM will help you reach new customers and strengthen the connection that you have with existing ones. From social media marketing to financial reporting and so much more, our system will help you with every aspect of your business’ interactions with your client base. Take a virtual tour at Anthem Software to see all the ways that our proven system can benefit your business!
