The acronym CRM comes from the English Customer Relationship Management and whose translation into Spanish can be “Management of customer relationships”. There is a belief that a CRM is only sales management software, but this concept goes deeper and has greater consequences in a business.
CRM is a business philosophy and a series of relationship marketing strategies in which a company understands that its most valuable asset is its customers and does everything possible to put them at the center.
“Companies only have one source of income: customers, and only when the value of customers is understood can the reality of companies be changed.”
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is a product line of enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management intelligent business applications announced by Microsoft in July 2016 and released on November 1, 2016.
This is one of the products of CRM.
Some of the reasons which you must choose CRM to solve business challenges are:
CRM as a Strategy and Management Model:
CRM is the management of customer relationships based on the analysis of interactions with the company, whether they are called, meetings, emails, purchases, complaints, or incidents. CRM is data analysis and decision-making based on these relationships.
A company that uses CRM as a management model seeks to differentiate itself from its competitors through the use of the information provided by its customers, approaching them, and learning from each of their interactions to increase its value proposition.
A CRM is not just a database repository, nor a directory. A CRM is a business intelligence unit from which to conclude, to make decisions, which can greatly affect the future of a company.
And it is that CRM is, in short, a way to develop the company from the knowledge of the customers, allowing them to differentiate and segment them according to their preferences to give them the experience that they expect and not the one that we invent. These acronyms, understood in-depth, are synonymous with customer loyalty, understanding of market niches, and business development.
CRM as Management and Modernization Software for your Business:
But when we talk about CRM, most of us refer to its objectification as management software.
Its definition is that of computer systems that support the management of customer relationships through the automation of certain processes, data storage, sales monitoring, and promotional campaigns while helping in the reporting and business analysis.
This definition does justice to what a CRM at a tactical level and as a tool can contribute to a business. Both in loyalty, as in segmentation, analysis, and value proposition, CRM plays a fundamental role.
It is important to understand that implementing CRM is a decision to change, for which it is likely that many of the employees have not been adequately prepared. Change is a culture that needs to be promoted within the organization. Change means evolution and improvement and must be a value that forms an integral part of the company’s business policy and strategy.
CM as a Sales Driver:
A CRM allows more efficient communication between different interlocutors or departments of a company since all interactions (calls, emails, invoices, budgets, can be managed from the same place), for this, it is essential that the CRM is not a departmental island and is integrated with other tools such as project management or billing.
The implementation of a tool like this should not be a trauma either for the company accounts or for the workers who are going to use it.
CRM has generally been used by commercial teams who use it as a repository for their client portfolio and agenda. A good CRM is a platform that allows a quick and accurate view of the interactions that a customer has had with the company so that they can be reviewed and act about calls made, emails, invoices, budgets, life cycle, and (where appropriate) the reason for abandonment.
A CRM provides knowledge of customers and/or prospects, their phase of life within the company, their value in monetary terms, and the time spent on them. And all these metrics are essential for a department as dynamic as the commercial one.
Don’t Ignore the Importance of Mobility:
Always think about the processes and functionalities those mobile employees require. Traditionally, sales teams are a prime example of mobile workers. Members of the sales team, using a Smartphone or working from home, must have access to information anywhere and at any time. Deploying a desktop tool, or one that only works on the local network is a straitjacket for contemporary workers.
Ensuring the participation of sales teams, and especially their directors require that decisions related to the configuration of the solution involve them. Team leaders should meet with the team to understand its needs, respond to its concerns, and assess its requirements. A good idea is to designate someone committed to the vendors, as responsible for the implementation of a CRM, who will adopt the role of “SuperUser”.
CRM as a Marketing Tool:
Marketing, with the digital revolution, has moved to another stage in which data is available to everyone. A state, where a large part of the actions are measurable and where the possibilities are endless, regardless of the budget.
As with CRM, marketing used to be a territory mostly exploited by large companies with large budgets. The rest of us had creativity, speculations, and multiple spreadsheets … Today this has changed. Many strategies do not depend so much on money as on talent and analysis, but there is also greater competition and a more dispersed target audience.
From the analysis and study of the data collected in the tool, the marketing department can find out which sector and customers are the ones that best relate to and get the most benefit from the company.
The CRM marks the base of the value proposition to the different segments and also the most effective channels to make it reach. Inbound marketing as a strategy arises in part thanks to the input of CRM data.
If all this is added to the importance of having CRM data and project management in a single tool, the reasons why these tools are indispensable for marketing departments or agencies are obvious. However, a large part of our clients is made up of this segment.
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