The Hidden Side of CRM

Projects are everywhere. Regardless of what your business does, in some shape or form, project management is a  way of life for all businesses. The emerging trend in the market shows that project management and CRM are siblings in the same family.

Before we explore the family resemblance between CRM and project management, perhaps we should spend a moment defining both of these terms.

 So what is CRM? Simply put, CRM is a strategy that synchronizes sales activities, usually involving technology to accomplish those goals by automating your sales processes. In other words, once the sale is made CRM is usually NOT part of the picture, other than maintaining communication with the customer to ensure they are still happy and/or to market additional services, products, and contract renewals.

 Ok, so what about Project Management? Project management is the strategy that regulates activities necessary to plan, organize, and synchronize resources within the scope of the project, budget of the project, and timeframe of the project in order to achieve the successful outcome of the project. In other words project management and CRM both synchronize efforts to maximize success while minimizing the costs.

When we consider the primary purpose of any business (excluding non-profits) is to profit, then any tool, system, or process utilized within that business must help the business to become more profitable. When we examine CRM and project management, it becomes quite apparent that both are value-added tools intended to boost the frequency of sales.

So why should you look for a combined CRM and project management business tool and what should it do for you?

Using CRM as a tool to synchronize your sales activities enables you to automate your sales process as well as facilitate the reduction of your sales cycle. Project management tools synchronize activities and resources to ensure your project is delivered in a timely manner while managing delivery expectations. When CRM and project management are combined you have the ability to monitor and manage your sales and delivery activities, in real-time, and maintain a history of customers, expectations, and results. Perhaps the biggest overlooked opportunity that can be leveraged through a combined CRM and project management tool are up-sell and cross-sell opportunities that would not be captured in a traditional project management tool.

How many times have you found out after the fact that your project manager was privy to invaluable information about your customer? Or that your PM had conversations and discovered your customer’s goals or plan to expand; how many times did you miss that opportunity? When CRM and project management tools are combined, then your sales staff has the ability to review information that will enable them to cross-sell and up-sell to new and existing customers. 

But more than that, everyone involved in communicating with your customers has access to the same information to ensure that a unified message is communicated from pre-sales to post-delivery.

CRM and project management are invaluable tools that give your company an edge over your competition, and the energized synergizes when the two tools are combined only enhance your competitive advantage.

When it comes to CRM, make sure you look for project management tool and unlock your hidden sales.

Dr. Thomas M. Fryer

You worked hard to expand your Social Network.

Now it is time to make use of it….

Answer to this….

CRM  DEFINED…

CRM is first and foremost a strategy and corporate philosophy that puts the customer at the center of business operations so as to increase profits by improving customer acquisition and retention.

It involves identifying high-value customers and automating processes so that sales, marketing, and service efforts will be more efficient and effective.

In its complete form, CRM provides a 360-degree view of the customer and integrates all necessary information about the customer at every touch point – be it traditional voice, Internet-based, or wireless.

A CRM software solution is the vehicle that enables the 360-degree view. The major integrated system components that make up a CRM system include account and contact management, sales automation, marketing automation, customer care (service and support), and integration with back-office applications.

CRM is first and foremost a strategy and corporate philosophy that puts the customer at the center of business operations so as to increase profits by improving customer acquisition and retention.

It involves identifying high-value customers and automating processes so that sales, marketing, and service efforts will be more efficient and effective. In its complete form, CRM provides a 360-degree view of the customer and integrates all necessary information about the customer at every touch point – be it traditional voice, Internet-based, or wireless.

 A CRM software solution is the vehicle that enables the 360-degree view. The major integrated system components that make up a CRM system include account and contact management, sales automation, marketing automation, customer care (service and support), and integration with back-office applications.

Small Business Owners: In search of business growth

  

CRM Software exists to help you retain your existing clients and acquire new ones. Because of the efficiencies you will realize, your team will be more productive resulting in higher earnings which can be used to grow your business. 

 Increase Customer Satisfaction. You may have to spend between 3 and 13 times to acquire a new customer compared to selling to an existing one. So, it’s pretty simple. Keeping your existing customer happy will allow you to grow by continuing to sell more to your existing customers while using precious funds to acquire new ones. The Customer Service module of a CRM software will allow you to identify any potential issues prior to it escalating to unmanageable circumstances. 

Let Sales Team Concentrate on Selling. Every minute your sales person works on paperwork is less time selling your product and services. By providing them with tools, templates and automation, they will concentrate on what they do best – Sell! And with CRM software, your sales team can be reminded to follow best practices that will help them increase their closing ratios and better forecast trends.  

Identify your Most Profitable Customers and Keep Them Happy. With CRM software you will be able to identify and provide a higher level of service – whether this is done through automation or simply an indicator on the Contact Screen that informs all your employees to provide “platinum” level service when speaking to valued customers. 

Focus Marketing Efforts on the Best ROI. Because your marketing dollars provide you a bigger return, there will be less wastage and more funds available through campaigns that work. With CRM, you will be able to identify growth opportunities within your business. 

Reduce Disorganization. Since meetings, routine tasks, events, reminders and more can be automated, your employees will be better organized to make the most out of their work day. This will also allow you and your managers better insights as to all your resources and how they are utilized. From a personal perspective, disorganization also increases stress which reduces productivity for the individual and all around him/her. 

Bring New Employees Up to Speed Fast. When there is a change of staff or a new team member that supports your customer, your CRM software can provide accurate and detail historic information to ensure the highest level of transition. And since your business process and process workflow may be used to guide an employee through each step, you will spend less time training your new employees. 

Do More with Less. CRM systems provide a host of automation that can be incorporated into your core front office operations – Sales, Marketing & Customer Service. By incorporating automation, your small business will be able to “respond” like your larger competitor and lend more credibility to your current and future customers and vendors. 

Improve Team Morale. In a small business environment, every employee may wear more than one hat. Because of this, it is extremely important to provide your staff with the tools and technology they need to get their jobs done and feel good about it. The higher the team morale, the higher the productivity, and the better your company will do.

Like many technologies that have profoundly changed the way we do business, CRM is here to stay. Just like e-mail, once embraced by all your employees you will wonder how you ever survived without it.

The key is to spend the necessary resources to identify your needs and partner with a CRM Software vendor that will support you today and help you grow into the future.

With your CRM strategy and software in place, you will be able to win more deals, have a better relationship with your customers, vendors and suppliers and you will have a better handle on the health of your business.

CEO’s Best Practices

1. Business executives must “own” CRM projects, from identifying goals and objectives to defining supporting business processes and metrics to ensuring adequate funding for implementation  

and support. Upper management buy-in and leadership is critical to the success of any CRM initiative.    

2. CRM projects need governance – not command and control. Recognize the dynamic and interdepartmental nature of marketing campaigns, sales interactions, and service calls, and manage CRM deployments accordingly – by a representative team or governing body. Get input from all major areas that make up a CRM initiative, including sales, marketing, and customer care, early in the process.   

3. Establish a customer-focused culture throughout the entire organization.    

 4. Ensure seamless integration with your back-office applications so critical elements of other third-party applications help provide a true 360-degree view of the customer.    

 5. Get expert advice from technologists who have mastered the art of successful CRM implementations.    

6. Design and implement employee buy-in programs that help your team understand the value of CRM.    

7. Review, update, and implement automated business rules throughout the organization and report on the efficiencies and effectiveness of their use.    

8. Implement a system that is highly open, robust, and scalable as the amount of information you gather and manage will grow with the organization and increase over time. Make sure your corporate IT is responsible for the integration strategy, maintenance of master data, and adherence to technology standards in connecting these new applications.    

9. Identify your most profitable customers and provide products, services, and promotions that keep them as happy, loyal, customers.    

10. Identify tangible and measurable links to business performance before implementing a CRM project. First identify the processes that require change, the current level of performance achieved, and ongoing improvements.    

CEO

To ensure the success of a CRM initiative, upper management must have a clear vision and establish a customer-focused culture.

Organizational issues are just as important, if not more important, than the technology behind a CRM implementation. It is well-known that people resist change. The introduction of a new system may be perceived to challenge the balance of how things are done, who wins, and why, and can have dramatic operational implications. Because of this, it is critical that new-system implementation has organizational buy-in up, down, and across, with strong leadership from senior management. The fundamental changes involved may be perceived to have far-reaching impact for your representatives, as well as the business processes and technology that support them. Forethought, coordination, and skill are required for a successful CRM implementation.

For a CRM project to succeed, it is critical that senior management understand that CRM is a business strategy to which they are fully committed, and that they are realistically cognizant of CRM’s many facets and ramifications. At the head of the charge is the CEO, the one person the organization looks toward for company direction and philosophy. It is the responsibility of the CEO to win the support of key groups within an organization – from the board of directors to financial analysts to direct reports – all the way down to the customer.

The CEO must realize that CRM is an initiative for major organizational change and, to this end, must have a clear vision of what he is trying to accomplish. The CRM project requires commitment and leadership and should include organizational objectives that are measurable by specific success metrics and criteria.

Better Manage Your Business -CRM 1080

Have you ever been frustrated because you can’t find your agreements?       Or don’t know which of your employees last spoke to a client?    Or which one of your sales brochure is the latest version?         

Or why don’t your employees realize that “Bob” is your high valued customer that requires special attention?      

 If this sounds familiar, you are in dire need of CRM. When implemented successfully, a CRM initiative will transform your muddled, messy, mis-managed and disorganized business into a lean, mean, tech-savvy machine!         

Although there are many ways how CRM Software can help you better manage your business, I have limited our discussions to some of the popular ones below:         

1. No More Messy Desk – Track & Manage Information in One Place. Stop buying post-it notes for reminders. All your contact information and reminders will be available in your CRM System.         

2. No More Lost Documents, Contracts, Images, Music, etc. CRM Software will allow you to attach documents, images, etc. to each contact. So, to review a document, simply bring up the contact and look at the document attachments.         

3. Don’t Waste Time Looking for Past E-Mails. Because e-mails are synchronized automatically, your history folder will always be repository of past e-mails sent/received to a particular individual. No more having to search through tons of e-mail for a particular attachment.         

4. Leverage Individual Expertise through Knowledge Management. Every organization has a few individuals who know a lot about the business. CRM software allows you to track various information, documents, brochures, etc. in a knowledge management area. Because this is a searchable knowledge base, anyone in your business will be able to search and access policies, brochures, industry information, business documents, HR documents and more.         

5. Automate Business Processes to Set Action into Play. So, you want to make sure that when your sales reps complete an introductory call, they get a reminder to send a thank you e-mail. Or how about sending a “friendly reminder” to your contacts one day prior to your appointment to make sure that all parties show up for the meeting. Automated business rules, when done right will save you time, money and lots of frustration.          

6. Know Which Marketing Campaign is Bringing in Results. You spend hard earned dollars to advertise in the Yellow Pages, local Newspaper, Direct Mail, Internet, etc, but do you have a clue as to which campaign is really working? CRM will change all this. You will be able to focus your marketing dollars on campaigns that clearly provide the results you are looking for – sales!         

7. Improve, Automate and Be on Top of Sales. Standardize your sales process with automated reminders, to-do’s, follow-ups, best practices that you know work. Review and be on top of activity logs, top opportunities, forecasting, quota and much more. CRM’s sales force automation features will help your sales team excel to new heights.         

8. Track & Provide High Levels of Customer ServiceGood service is no longer memorable. Great service makes all the difference. With CRM, you will be able to track each and every customer service call and the steps taken to resolve them in a timely fashion. With Automation, Knowledge Base and standard processes, your customers will be rewarded with Great service which will result in return visits and referrals.           

9. Use Dashboards to gauge Key Performance Indicators. So, you have 5 minutes before you dash off. But how is your business doing? Meetings? Sales? Marketing? Customer Service? With CRM, you can create customized Dashboards that will give you a quick graphical overview of all the things that are important to you and your business. Dashboards can also be extended for all your employees so that they can better focus in their area of specialty.         

10. Consolidated all your various database silos into your CRM solution. Most small business have several different databases – all have name, address and telephone numbers of your customers, vendors, prospects, etc. Over time, frustration begins to set in as you realize that one database telephone number was updated and the rest were not. Before too long, people are calling the wrong number and accounting is sending invoices to the wrong addresses and you know the rest. The point here is that you can consolidate all disparate databases into your CRM software.       

Most people confuse CRM Software with a contact organizer – If you are one of them, don’t feel too bad. Because of the tremendous success of CRM software, most contact management or contact organizers advertise themselves as “CRM” in one form or another just because they may have part of what a complete CRM software delivers.   

There is a vast difference between Contact Organizer or Contact Manager Software and a CRM Software. Contact Managers are geared towards individuals with features limited to the needs of a single professional.   

 For small and growing businesses, Contact Organizers will not be able to handle the needs of a team – workgroup features, speed, security, storage, limited features for sales automation, workflow, marketing automation, customer services, integration to other products and the list goes on and on. Some Contact Managers are available for small groups of users. However, why go with Contact Manager Software when you can achieve so much more with CRM Software at a price you can afford.   

The key message here is, if you use Microsoft Outlook or other e-mail systems to do e-mail and track information about your contacts and schedules, that is NOT CRM. Yes, you are better off than not having any kind of an electronic system to track your customers but you are way behind in what you can do with CRM in place.   

A true CRM Software solution provides complete front office automation for Account and Contact Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and Back-Office Integration.   

Contact Organizer Software versus CRM Software-CRM1080

Contact Organizers are great for Single Professionals   

With Limited Needs While   

CRM Software provides a Full-Featured   

Team Solution for Growing Companies