We recently explained what a CRM system is and how it’s used within businesses.

In a nutshell, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and it’s a central database that allows you to organise your customer data in a planned and constructive way. When this type of system is used effectively, it can literally transform your business – it’s a very powerful application.

If you’re thinking about investing in a CRM system, like CRM Engine, you’ll want to know just how it’s going to help you, your staff and your business.

Let’s Look at the Key Benefits of a CRM Solution…

Helps To Boost Sales Within Your Business

One of the main benefits of a CRM is that it can play a vital role when it comes to increasing sales within your business.

The system does this by storing important information that will help you to convert leads into paying customers. You’ll be able to develop streamlined and effective sales processes, aligned with your business goals, so you can then achieve the results you’re looking for.

It’s a sales tool which will also allow you to track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, providing you with accurate data so you can see what worked well and what didn’t. You’ll then be able to make some informed decisions so you can optimise your marketing strategies.

A CRM can also allow you to identify upselling and cross selling opportunities so you can improve your customer retention levels – something which should be a high priority for all businesses. The data which is readily available at your fingertips is comprehensive, valuable and will help your business to thrive.

Connect Effectively With Your Customers

A CRM database can store lots of varied information about your customers…all in one central place.

Think of the different bits of customer information like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle – put them all together and you’re building up a clear picture of your customer, who they are, what they value, their buying habits etc.

Armed with this information, you’ll then be able to connect effectively with your customers. A CRM will allow you to send out personalised and tailored communications. This could be through automated emails or you may want the system to remind you to give a customer a call. Whatever your sales processes, the CRM will enhance communications with your audience and this will promote customer loyalty and retention.

Customers are the lifeblood of any business – after all, what do you have without them?

A system that will help you to connect effectively with your audience, consistently deliver excellent service and develop relationships with your customers has to be worth investing in, right?

Access Your Customer Data Quickly And Easily

When you introduce a CRM solution into your business and start to use it, you will no doubt wonder how you and your staff managed without one.

Important data is available at your fingertips quickly and easily – anytime and anywhere.

With many businesses introducing more flexible ways of working, a central hub which is easy to access and update is crucial.

So, your staff might be in the office, working from home or they may need to be out ‘on the road’, it really doesn’t matter – they’ll all be able to easily access up-to-date and accurate information.

There are also data security benefits too which should not be overlooked. Data is stored safely and securely in one place – a much better option than having data stored within multiple systems/spreadsheets – something which can pose significant security risks and put your business in a vulnerable position.

Work More Productively, Effectively and Profitably

When running a successful business, it’s always worth regularly assessing if you’re allocating your resources effectively. Whilst doing this, it’s good to spend some time considering if workflows can be streamlined, so that productivity levels can be given a boost.

A CRM system can play a really important part in all this. It has the ability to automate repetitive and manual tasks. The system can also seamlessly integrate with other software that you’re using which promotes efficient ways of working.

Other ways in which a CRM can help your staff to work more productively include:

– You can send out communications to targeted groups of customers

– The effectiveness of communications can be monitored to inform future practices.

– More than one member of staff can deal with a specific customer, streamlining the sales process.

– Internal communications can be improved, resulting in enhanced collaborative working.

And with everything in one place, it makes it easier and quicker to access what you need which saves time.

A great feature of a CRM is that the technology will help you with process-heavy tasks, giving you more time to connect effectively with your customers. It’s all about making the best use of people’s time / efforts, and using the software to help you with this.

Make Informed Business Decisions

A CRM is a powerful tool for any business as it allows you to get a 360-degree view of your customers. With all the data held centrally, you’ll be able to analyse the data so you can gain important customer insights. With this information, you’ll then be able to make informed business decisions.

How about letting the software help you to achieve more accurate sales forecasting?

Or, why not generate reports that will allow you to identify current market trends?

It’s all about interrogating the data so you can better understand your business, how it’s performing and how you might move forward with it.

You’ll be able to ensure your allocating resources not just to the areas that need it, but also to promising ones, should you identify an opportunity.

Ultimately, a CRM will help you to better align people and processes, so you can develop your business in a smart and informed way, whilst remaining flexible and agile.

One of the best ways of seeing how a CRM system could transform your businesses is by giving it a go.

Take advantage of our FREE one-month trial of our popular Enterprise package to experience all that it can offer your business – Request Your Free Trial.

Alternatively, if you’d like to have a chat with us, please just get in touch – we’d be happy to answer your questions.

Let us support you in taking your business to the next level.

Author : Mary Mason
Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

So, we’ve explained what a CRM system is and how it’s an incredibly useful central database that allows businesses to organise company data and put their customers at the heart of everything that they’re doing.

And we’ve also looked at the key benefits of a CRM, including how it can boost sales within your business, help you connect with your customers more effectively, whilst also boosting productivity in the workplace.

But how does a CRM system actually work and why is it often described as a system that is essential for all types of businesses, whether you’re a freelancer, managing a small business or running a large global enterprise.

Okay, so first things first, let’s consider what makes a business successful…

Is it a fantastic innovative product that people just can’t live without?

Is it an amazing service that makes people’s lives so much easier, perhaps saving them time, so they can be more productive?

Yes, businesses absolutely need to be providing a product/service that people want but all that means nothing if you’re not actively promoting what you do and you don’t have customers buying from your business.

And that’s essentially why a CRM is so important for all businesses.

It’s a database that allows you to store important data in one central place. This then allows you to develop relationships with your customers, track their actions during the buying journey – ultimately resulting in you boosting sales and growing your business.

Let’s look at the key points that explain how a CRM works:

It puts customers at the centre of your business

A CRM puts your customers at the very heart of your business – and this exactly where they need to be – so, whether they’re people who buy from you regularly, brand new customers or people that have expressed an initial interest in your product/services, the system allows you to focus on them 100%.

When a customer interacts with your business, you’ll want them to have a positive experience. A CRM will help you to achieve this. It allows you develop a good understanding of your customers so you can develop effective relationships with them. This can then lead to an increase in sales, whilst also helping you to develop your brand. It will encourage repeat sales and will also inspire your customers to recommend your business to others.

It provides you with a central platform to store important customer data

In any business, there’s always a lot of powerful customer data to be stored – and it’s all important information for developing your business.

A CRM creates the perfect central place to save this data, making it easy for everyone to access and update. Your team can be confident that the information they’re accessing is accurate and up-to-date. And when your CRM is cloud-based, it also facilitates remote working – your staff can access important details quickly and easily, no matter where they’re located.

You’ve essentially got an online database that will allow you to introduce joined up approaches and communications. This will help you to streamline your processes so your business can operate as efficiently as possible. It can also improve collaborative working and this can be great for boosting staff morale.

It helps you with your sales and marketing activities

A CRM is a fantastic tool for helping you to promote your products/services.

It does this by allowing you to send out targeted marketing campaigns. And it’s been proven that this type of approach can lead to a significant increase in sales.

A CRM also allows you to personalise the marketing messages you’re sending out to people, addressing them by name. Again, it’s been proven that conversion rates can be increased when using this personalised approach. It’s all about communicating in such a way that suits that particular customer.

And in addition to these methods leading to increased response rates and sales, they can also result in stronger brand awareness.

Essentially, you’re marketing efforts can be very much focused on the customer, rather than your products/services.

It allows you to provide excellent customer service

When looking after your customers, it’s important to have systems and processes in place that will help you to do this.

It’s about providing what they need at every step in their journey. Get this right and it can result in loyal customers and brand advocates. But if you fail to hit the mark, you could just get a one-off sale, if that.

A CRM allows you to track your customer along the buying journey so you can interact with them as needed, ensuring they receive excellent customer service and ultimately a positive experience from your business.

We believe that one of the best ways of finding out just how a CRM system could transform your business is by simply trying it out and experiencing the benefits for yourself.

Why not take advantage of a FREE one-month trial of our popular Enterprise package, so you can see all what this type of system can offer your business – Request Your Free Trial.

Alternatively, if you’d prefer to have a chat with us, please just get in touch – we’re always happy to answer any questions you may have.

Let us support you in taking your business to the next level.

Author : Mary Mason

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

Here at CRM Engine, we help businesses to organise their customer data by providing them with a bespoke CRM solution which is fully customised, easy to use and helps to streamline business processes.

When people get in touch with us to find out more about what we do, one of the first questions is often ‘What actually is a CRM?’, as it’s all completely new to them. They’d like to get their head around on what it can do, the benefits of having such a system and work out how it might drive their business forward.

With this in mind, we thought it would be helpful to publish a series of blog posts to help make things a bit clearer. 

The topics for the posts have been informed by the questions that we get asked the most, along with some of the themes that have come up during conversations we have with people about CRM Engine:

• What is a CRM?
• What are the benefits of a CRM?
• How does a CRM work?
• How do I choose the right CRM for my business?
• What is CRM marketing?
• How can a CRM enhance productivity?

So, let’s start at the beginning…

What is a CRM? 

• CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. And with customers being at the heart of any business, having ways to effectively manage relationships with them is absolutely crucial.

• It’s a central database that allows you to organise all of your customer data, having it all easily accessible in one place.

• It’s a system, specifically a database, that many businesses use on a daily basis to manage all their interactions with both customers and potential customers. If you don’t have one yet, it’s definitely worth exploring your options… after all, where would your business be without your customers?

• A CRM solution helps businesses to provide outstanding customer service, allowing them to keep their customers happy, respond to their needs and ultimately stand out from their competitors.

• It helps businesses to increase their sales and be as successful as they can possibly be.

• It allows businesses to streamline their processes and make it easy and straightforward for them to develop great relationships with their customers.

• Staff can work more efficiently when using the system, as it allows procedures to be digitised and tasks can be automated.

• A CRM can be introduced to improve productivity within the workplace due to being a central hub that encourages staff to work in the most efficient way.

• Everyone within the business can access up-to-date customer data quickly and easily, and from wherever they are based. This is ideal if you have staff working from home or across multiple locations.

• The database can keep a detailed record of communications with your contacts, seamlessly integrating with other software such as your email client. This can then inform how best to interact with them to promote your products/services and encourage sales, facilitating joined up communication strategies within your business.

In a nutshell, a CRM solution helps businesses to get organised and manage their communications with both current and potential customers. 

And with customers being the lifeblood of any business, it’s definitely worth having a system that will help you to develop thriving relationships with them and encourage them to buy from you, ultimately resulting in a successful business.

In our next blog, we’ll be looking in more detail at the amazing benefits of having a CRM system – you’ll soon see how it could work wonders for your business.

Are you interested in investing in an easy-to-use system that’ll help you to get your business more organised, run it more efficiently and boost your sales? 

Sign up for your risk-free trial of CRM Engine or contact us today to learn more about how this database can be of benefit to your business. 

Author : Mary Mason

Customised/Bespoke CRM or Online CRM? What’s best for your Business?

Since the 1980’s when CRM was then known as Database Marketing, getting inside knowledge about your customers meant that you could spend your hard-earned marketing budget where it will be most effective.

Whilst there were large businesses developing Enterprise Database solutions on mainframes in the 70’s, the growth came from the smaller providers in the Mid 80’s selling contact management solutions such as ACT, Goldmine, and Maximiser. This delivered a single customer view and made selling a lot more targeted.

In the mid 90’s CRM (Customer Relationship Management) became the de facto identity for building Customer relationships – the clue being in the name! Then over the years these offerings grew into ERP’s (Enterprise Resource Planning) and added other functions of the business like Product Management, Manufacturing and Accounts systems.

In the late 90’s cloud technology meant that CRM could be bought by businesses at an affordable level which meant they didn’t need to invest in expensive on-site servers and SalesForce was born as Software as a Service (SaaS) so you could pick a package to suit your needs and budget.

Through the 2000’s CRM was beginning to take off and SaaS solutions became the preferred choice. However, as competition grew amongst the CRM SaaS suppliers, so too did the size and choice of packages that were being offered. Businesses knew that they needed to get a CRM and turned to cloud based SaaS solutions for the answer but now they were having to choose from individually priced columns of options which had functions in them that were either not required or were in other columns.

So businesses had to compromise with their selection and integrated their SaaS CRM into the IT infrastructure. However, more often than not, this decision was not backed up with a CRM strategy or the input of those who were going to use it. Even with training, if the sales and marketing user teams felt it didn’t add any value to their current work processes, the CRM wouldn’t get used so making the process and data ineffectual.

With price driving most decisions and with Digital Transformation being the underlying strategy for businesses to take advantage of their chosen markets, Businesses can now get a CRM solution designed to meet their exact needs and more importantly, the workflow of those who are going to use it.

Today, the cost for an SME to invest in a customised/bespoke solution is now competitive with the online SaaS solutions. This means that having a written CRM strategy and input from those that will be using a CRM (the stakeholders), a businesses can get the solution that meets their unique requirements and choose functions that are relevant to help that business move forward. As time goes on, new functions can be added again to meet the growth requirements of that business and at a cost that is affordable.

So what would you prefer – a Customised/Bespoke solution that you can “grow into” or one off the shelf? If the former, check out CRM Engine which can be tailored to your precise requirements, when you need them.

If you want some help choosing, contact me at ja@jamie-allan.com or phone on 07786 228553