The 4 functionalities of CRM
- When it is at the heart of the system adopted by the company to optimize internal and external relationships, it has process value.
- When all teams use it to record, track and analyze interactions between the company and its users, it is considered a digital tool that brings more fluidity to processes.
- When it enables the development of a business philosophy that focuses on how relationships with customers and potential customers should be managed, it takes on a strategic dimension.
- And when it’s cloud-based, it enables instant
deployment, highly cost-effective scalability and the ability to work anywhere and from any device.
How does it work?
In concrete terms, a CRM is able to record all available customer data: email addresses, phone numbers, social network profiles, etc. In addition to this processing, the software can also process specific behavioral data on demand, such as customer communication preferences. All calls, questions, negotiations and interactions of prospects and customers are recorded and accessible to all teams via a contact management system.
When all the collected customer data is matched against each other, the CRM is able to offer a relatively comprehensive profile of customer consumption habits. As it is also capable of extracting up-to-date information on all the company’s activities, the software will be able to offer detailed analyses of all customer/company interactions.
CRM: an "intelligent" tool with multiple purposes
A CRM system allows you to :
- Better manage contacts
CRM allows sales, marketing and customer service teams to be more efficient in terms of follow-up, file evolution and customer history. - Boost collaborations
By processing and sharing all available data, a CRM system facilitates collaboration between employees from different departments. A sales team can collaborate with a product team to create customized quotes. A marketing team that generates leads can provide a sales agent with more accurate information to have a personalized conversation with the prospect. - Increase productivity
With CRM, time-consuming administrative tasks such as debriefing meetings become unnecessary. Management can easily access the minutes of a customer meeting via dashboards. Customer service managers can also see the customer’s history without interrupting their phone conversation. - Optimize sales management
A CRM enables sales managers to analyze customer relationships, track sales activity, assess deal viability, mobilize additional help when needed, and provide field teams with real-time information. - Get accurate sales forecasts
By providing visibility into pending sales to sales managers, a CRM enables accurate sales forecasting. By dynamically managing existing data, sales teams learn from a common experience. They can then anticipate the future via historical data. By using predictive analytics, these teams are also able to anticipate future customer behaviors based on insights from big data. - Reliable reporting
The overall view of the sales journey allows to identify and stop potential problems. The reports generated by the CRM software highlight actionable data. As these strategic reports are automated and reliable, team productivity is boosted. - Optimize business indicators
With all the analytics generated by CRM, teams can focus on the leads that matter. Data collection and reporting will boost conversion efficiency and increase cross-selling opportunities. - Build customer loyalty
Because CRM offers a complete view of customer interactions, it allows you to better anticipate problems and handle complaints in real time. By providing clear and timely responses to their requests, customers enjoy a better experience. - Ensure a more profitable marketing ROI
With CRM, marketing teams can pinpoint the marketing campaigns that are most relevant to customers’ expectations. This strategic tracking gives teams the opportunity to tailor the campaigns that work best for each type of customer. Most importantly, this additional insight allows them to optimize budgets to generate a better ROI (return on investment). - Monitor the quality of products and services
An effective CRM system collects information from a wide range of internal and external sources. Data on customer satisfaction and their perception of your company can be used to improve offerings, identify failures and anticipate problems.
CRM: a universal approach within the company
Although CRM is primarily positioned as a sales and marketing tool, the software can provide strategic information to many areas of the company. Customer relations, HR, training, supply chain, sales team management, back office, technical support, etc. By integrating and processing information about customer interactions, making it accessible to everyone and facilitating its analysis, CRM actually offers many benefits.
All calls, questions, negotiations and interactions of prospects and customers are recorded and accessible to all teams concerned via a contact management system. This exchange allows sales, marketing, customer service, logistics, HR and facility management teams to be more efficient in terms of follow-up, file evolution and customer history. As the CRM system orchestrates the exchange of expertise between all employees of the same company, it facilitates collaboration between different departments.
Sales departments
Sales teams benefit from using CRM to manage their operational strategy. They can access tangible information about their sales performance, product offerings and current campaigns. They can also automate operations such as sending and evaluating follow-up emails. This relieves sales reps of time-consuming administrative tasks, allowing them to spend more time analyzing their customers’ needs. They will also be able to work more easily with product teams to develop customized quotes.
Marketing strategy
As for marketing teams, they can use the CRM tool to make effective and accurate forecasts. As the tool allows to include data from social networks, marketers have the possibility to know in real time what customers like or not. They also know how they feel about specific brands or companies. Through this data, teams gain exceptional visibility into opportunities and leads. They are able to accurately plan the customer journey, from information request to product and/or service sale. This operational precision allows them to control sales funnels and establish relatively reliable forecasts. As such, a marketing team that generates leads can also provide a sales agent with accurate information that will enable them to have personalized conversations with prospects.
Customer care and follow-up
Supplied with reliable data from multiple sources on an ongoing basis, service teams can effectively track conversations across channels. For example, a customer could raise an issue on Twitter or Facebook, and then switch to email, phone or Live Chat to resolve it live. Without a platform dedicated to customer interactions, customer care teams risk being overwhelmed by the multitude of incoming information. This will ultimately lead to customer dissatisfaction.
Supply chain and purchasing
This is also true for all supply chain and purchasing teams. Using CRM, these departments can track meetings with suppliers and partners, record requests, add helpful notes, schedule follow-ups and anticipate next steps.
By performing these reports and analyses, companies can compare supplier effectiveness and manage the entire supply chain more effectively.
Human Resources
In human resources management, CRM can be used to speed up the recruitment process or track employee performance. It can help the HR function with resource needs analysis, employer branding, talent management automation, skills gap identification, training needs analysis and employee retention.
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