CRM 1080

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 Horror Stories - CRM1080

There have been CRM failures for more than one reason. The better prepared you are, the less likely you will have to deal with it. Here are some questions and points that should be addressed prior to making the leap:  

1. What if you are unable to migrate your current system data to your CRM system?  

2. What if the solution does not solve your business problem? How will it impact your existing operations?  

3. Lack of ability to integrate seamlessly with 3rd party applications.  

4. Lack of ability to create custom screens, fields and automated business rules that are specific to the way you do business.  

5. Employee perception is not addressed and employees are unwilling to use system.  

6. Lack of service received to implement the solution successfully. Services include configuring the system the way you do business and receiving sufficient end-user and manager training to be self-sufficient and not completely rely on the vendor for every minor adjustment.  

7. Does your current computer system meet the minimum system requirements for yourCRM software?  

8. Can you afford for your CRM system to go down? If not, how will operations proceed?  

9. How easy is it to move to another vendor? Can you export your entire database? Can you upgrade your application to an enterprise level product without too much inconvenience and cost?  

10. System security – this may not be a concern when you are small but as you grow, it will come to play.  

Go evaluate and ask !

I trust you had great holidays — Happy New Year!   

There are probably tons of articles for what the CRM world is going to bring to the market this year…  Perhaps you should read the ones from 2009 to see if the “predictions” were just a great wish list by analysts.  Instead of predicting what CRM features are going to be popular or should be popular this year, I am going to take a different approach.     

So, here is my take on where we are headed…   Let’s just say the keyword is Contact Intelligence.  And what do I mean by Contact Intelligence?   What if pertinent information about your relationships is fed to your CRM system automatically and what is the point?  The point is that building a business is not purely based on the quality of your products but rather based on the relationship you form with your customers.  So, the more you know about them, the more you cater to their every unique need.    For example, Let’s say you have 50 prospects in your pipeline;  Now,  what if your system automatically provided you with the latest content relating to your prospects region, industry, organization or even personal accomplishments.   And what if you could use this information as a “gateway” to a deeper conversation and/or providing kudos for an accomplishment to your prospect.   This level of relationship touch builds trusts and may just be what is necessary to close the deal.   

The technology that can provide this level of sophistication and intelligence is already in R&D.  In some lesser way you are already seeing the beginning of these “features” when companies and/or analysts talk about CRM integration with Social Networks.  But integration with Social Networks is just part of the picture…  Integration without intelligence is like having a car and not knowing how to drive it.   There is vast amount of data with the various Social and Public Networks — the key is to integrated these networks with CRM in a manner than can provide value to both the user of the CRM solution as well as the recipient — in this case the prospect or client.   

As the year progresses… I will be sharing more about the technologies that are making headway in Contact Intelligence the way I defined it.   In the meantime, it is critical that you review the usage of your CRM solution to ensure that each customer touch point is optimized for the highest possible results.   Also, make sure you review all automated processes to adhere to changing business processes and/or focus.   

Happy New Year – May the force of your CRM solution continue to drive your business towards the goals you have set!   

Regards,
The CEO

Capture, Route, Follow-Up and Close Leads from the Web!

You work for an office automation solutions company.   You are one of 100 sales reps but you specialize in selling high end copy machines — you know, the ones that does pretty much everything except pour coffee…   

It is a busy day and you are on the road when your PDA sounds off  — you have mail.  It is a new lead that was just routed to you by your CRM solution.    The lead was a result of the prospect visiting your website and filling out a web form. 

So, why did you receive the lead and not any one of the other 99 sales reps?  Well, it is because based on the type of solution requested by the prospect and other infographics, your CRM system was intelligent enough to route the lead to you.   And here is the best part!  Your CRM solution already contacted the lead on your behalf and provided with initial brochures, case studies, benefits, etc.   Now, you just have to follow-up with a phone call.  And just in case you miss that step — well, you won’t!  Because, your CRM system is intelligent enough to keep bugging you until the call is made! 

Next, your CRM solution makes sure that you utilize the best practices established by your organization to ensure that you close the sale.   The system also informs sales engineers that they will have to work with you to demonstrate the solution to the prospect.   All of these activities are being scheduled and/or taking place at precise intervals. 

The above capturing of leads and automation is a must have tool in today’s competitive landscape for sales representatives.  Companies no longer can rely on static web pages with basic telephone numbers or email address for prospects to call or to send a question.  With web forms, leads are captured from the web and routed to the appropriate sales rep based on criteria that you set up.   Automated triggers can also send out acknowledgements, follow-up reminders, drip marketing messages, etc.   The system also can automatically create a contact record as well as a sales opportunity record.   So, now, this opportunity is in the Sales Rep’s pipeline.  This pipeline is visible not only to Sales Rep but also to his supervisor, his regional manager as well as the VP of Sales.  All of this happens in seconds form when a prospect clicks on the submit button requesting the information on the corporate web site. 

Your marketing folks will be really happy too!  Because, your CRM system will automatically associate the sales opportunity to “corporate web form” as the marketing source.  So, on a realtime basis, marketing folks will be able to tell the impact of various web pages and/or web forms. 

So, welcome to the world of CRM and capturing leads from the web.  It is the only way to improve response times, associate the right rep to the right deal, follow-up in a timely manner and close the deal based on the science behind best practices. 

Now… go close the deal! 

Regards,
THE CEO

Hello There…. 

It is mid-month, your accounting department sends out past due notices and you realize that some of the notices come back because the address is bad.  A quick check reveals that the address information has been correctly updated in your CRM system but your financial application is still showing old address or typos.   This is just one small reason why CRM Integration to your back-office financial/ERP application can make a HUGE difference if they “talked.”     

Integration

Welcome to the world of CRM Integration.   I have often advocated that it is a must for a 360 degree view of the customer because it completes the picture of the customer when information is not located in your CRM application. 

What are some of the most common reasons for having CRM integration to back-office financial applications?  
Here is just a sample of what can be integrated: 

• Seamless and updated Customer, Vendor  Contact Information
• Ability to View Back Office Information in your CRM such as:
  • Purchase Orders
  • Invoice History
  • Credit Status
  • Account Balance
• Automatically Convert Quotes from your CRM into Orders in your Financial System
• Keep updated Inventory Information between your CRM and Financial System

In addition to viewing the above information, automated data updates to and from financial applications greatly reduce unnecessary duplicate data entry and facilitate data consistency throughout your business. The tight integration and real-time access to information has many benefits, from reducing user account management and end-user training on multiple applications to increasing data integrity and improving efficiency, plus decreased usage licensing costs for integrated applications like QuickBooks, PeachTree, Macola, MAS, Great Plains and so on. 

Just how does integration benefit your organization?
Well…  here is just a sample of the benefits: 

• Get a true 360-degree view of your customer on one screen
• Quickly identify cross-sell and up-sell opportunities
• Easily access account balance information
• Identify additional purchasing power — or lack thereof
• Identify availability of products for sales
• Quickly assist customers with order status
• Generate more accurate quotes and proposals
• Avoid redundant data entry
• Maintain data integrity through automatic updates between systems
• Reduce the need to login and learn financial application interface by accessing information directly from your CRM Solution.

Buyer Beware?
Hopefully, I have been able to whet your appetite with relations to CRM integration to Financial applications.   There are many solutions out there, just make sure that it is the right kind of integration.  So, often the word “seamless” is well intended but because of the various variables, it may not be.   What works for one company may not work for yours.  At the end of the day, integration must improve efficiencies to your organization.  

Most vendors provide a good solution that works…  
Click Here for Integration to QuickBooks.
Click Here for Integration to Financial applications. 

May CRM Integration complete the 360 degree view of your Customer! 

Regards,
The CEO 

If you have been using CRM for sales, this is your chance to compare your return on investment to the averages.  Simply answer the poll below and see where you stand.

Hello there Marketing Enthusiast,      

By now, you must have heard about email marketing… and if you have not, there is a good chance that you have received mail from an email marketing campaign. eMail marketing is one of the fastest growing marketing strategies right now.     

Email Marketing — CRM 1080

  E-mail’s ROI in 2008 was $45.06 for every dollar spent on it, according to the Direct Marketing Association’s Power of Direct economic impact study. This compares to $48.34 in 2007, and a projected $43.52 for every dollar spent in 2009.   

 So, its about time that your business realized its full revenue potential using email marketing campaigns.  Still not sure why it may be right for you?    Here you go…. my Top 10 Reasons why Email Marketing may be the right for your Business:   

1.  Cost Less than Traditional Marketing.   Let’s face it, mailers and other forms of advertising can put a real dent in your pocket.  With email marketing, you reach thousands of prospects at minimal costs.   

2.  One Marketing Campaign Does NOT fit all. Consumers tend to respond to communication that they can relate to.  With email marketing, you can do just that — Target and Personalize your communication with your audience.   

3.  Schedule your Delivery. Unlike traditional advertising, with email marketing you can make sure that prospects get the message when you want them to get it.   

4.  Ability to Get Consumers to Act. One of the unique power of email marketing campaign is that you can provide a link or a button that allows your consumer to act immediately.  We all know how we have bought things on an impulse.  The right solution with the right incentive and easy means to purchase always works for the business.   

5.  Know the Truth Immediately. Because email marketing is as Real Time as it gets, you will be able to see results within hours and sometime even minutes of sending email.  The truth sometime hurts, but there is even some good news even if your campaign is failing — you can quickly change it (message, time-sensitive discounts, target, etc.)   

6.  Provide Opt-In/Opt-Out Options. Today’s consumers want to control when and how they want to communicate with you.  By providing personalized opt-in and opt-out options, consumers are more likely to engage in receiving marketing content because they are in control of what they want to receive and when they want to receive.  And with Online solutions, the entire management of who gets what is managed by your audience — so you don’t have to worry about it.   

7.  Easily create Drip Marketing.   If you have been in business long enough, you know that it takes at least 6 touches before consumers are comfortable with a particular product line.   

8.  Know which Marketing Campaign works! By that I mean, brings the best ROI.  So, that you can continually improve your delivery for the campaigns that don’t work as well.   

9.  It’s more than just a Sales & Marketing Tool. eMail marketing is fast becoming the method of choice for both business and consumers to communicate… whether it is Upcoming Events, Tips & Tricks, Business Update, Guides and more!   

10.  It’s Integrated with your Customer Database.  An Online CRM Solution (there are plenty of them out there) that supports email marketing with easy to use templates will manage not just your email marketing activities but also all your other communications including sales and customer service tracking.   So, one great solution that integrates all key components for success.   

Now, it’s time for you to act — start using an email marketing solution that is part of a broader CRM solution to help you achieve all your marketing needs.  In just a few steps and a few days, you can reap the many benefits thousands of companies are already experiencing…  Btw, here is a video on YouTube that may provide further clarity on the subject:      

Email Marketing Overview.       

On your side,
Zeynep