Five Ingredients for a Perfect CRM
How many out here love cooking? I am sure many will raise their hands. Just like for a perfect dish, you need a perfect blend of all key ingredients, for a perfect CRM application you need a perfect blend of some of the key ingredients. Unless you have the right mixture of those key attributes, your CRM app is not going to add any value. In meet ups or startup forums, whenever I deliver a speech on the importance of having a proper CRM, the question that always pops up is how to make our CRM practice a perfect one, and my answer to them always remains the same. You just need to have a perfect blend of five key ingredients to make it a success. Read on to know more.
The first and foremost element for a successful CRM implementation is considering it as a strategy and not as mere software. One must understand that buying CRM software is not implementing CRM. It needs a proper vision and strategy that makes CRM successful. The entire organization needs to be aligned accordingly. The management should strive towards building a CRM culture inside the organization only then they can reap the benefits of CRM. Without a CRM focused culture, you can’t expect a success.
The second key element is focusing on customer satisfaction and turning as many of them as possible to a loyal one. A popular myth in early CRM adopters is: You use CRM software and your customer satisfaction index will shoot high. That’s wrong. Always keep in mind; you should use CRM to engage better with the customers. Use it to infuse the customer-obsessed mentality in your org. You’re your team to use CRM as a tool to keep to raise the bar for themselves and convert their satisfied customers to loyal customers.
The third element and one of the crucial elements is customer service. The organization needs to remember that it’s the direct interaction with clients that makes them satisfied and in turn makes CRM successful. Service is the intangible element of CRM. The better your services to your customer, the greater is the chances of making your CRM a hit. Given the fact it is intangible in nature, it is hard to measure or plan. But one simple way to elevate the Customer Service using CRM culture is to start asking your team to put themselves in customer’s shoes before taking a decision. Be it a call center or back-office work, if you are working for your customer then thinks like a customer.
The fourth element of CRM is Database Management. CRM prompts the organization to continuously interact with the customers. However, if one does not store or capture the essential details from those discussions, then it will not be of any use. Thus creating a meaningful database is very essential for a successful CRM. The Database can contain almost everything related to the customer; right from their contact details to their latest purchase or feedback anything that holds relevant for your business.
Fifth and the final element is SalesForce Automation aka SFA. This is about how best you can automate your sales management process. It is an integral part of CRM and helps the organization to automatically record all the stages in a sales process which typically include sales lead tracking system, sales forecasting, order management, product knowledge, salesforce performance tracking etc.
To wrap it up, buying CRM software will not automatically ensure stupendous growth. You first need to adopt a customer-centric culture to reap the benefits out of CRM.
