How to get the most out of CRM software

Customer relationship management (CRM) software isn’t just about sales and service automation. It’s also how to engage with customers, anticipate their journey, and exceed their needs.

An effective customer relationship management tool assists with the automation of tasks, offers insights, and improves customer service. It should cover the basic tasks your company requires, while ensuring each component integrates and collaborates with one another. Here are three scenarios of how a modern CRM system can help you optimize and connect your sales, marketing, and service organizations.

Align sales and marketing

Sales and marketing components can work together to help you better understand a customer’s needs and address those needs through the right marketing channels. Some of the ways these two functions can work together to help you are:

• Connecting with buyers at the right time and through their preferred channels.
• Determining what types of messages to send to customers and when to deliver them.
• Prioritizing and nurturing the right leads, ensuring a smooth hand-off from marketing to sales.

Increase sales productivity

The right CRM software allows your sales team to find and prioritize the right leads and deliver insights when and where your sales teams engage with customers. These systems can work together to:

• Predict future sales and budgets so you can plan accordingly.
• Help your agents streamline the sales process—from initial contact to closing the deal.
• Have client data centralized so that agents have access to real-time information and can deliver solutions quicker.
• Offer your sales staff mobility options that work across browsers and devices.

Build better customer relationships

Bringing customer service and sales together helps you determine and predict your customers’ preferences and makes it easier for your buyers to interact and trust doing business with you. When these two solutions combine, they can help you:

• Get insights into your customers’ journey so you can meet their expectations.
• Provide mobile applications for your clients and staff no matter what device they’re using.
• Offer customers an easy-to-use, self-service portal so they can be in control of their data and quickly find answers to their questions.