CRM to improve your customer relations and build loyalty
CRM - Customer Relationship Management - software is the foundation of any sales approach. However, its functionalities can extend further and help you to make the difference with your customers. Read all our advice on using CRM.
Classic CRM
CRM is the tool used by salespeople on a daily basis. It brings together the functions for managing tasks specific to canvassing and customer relations. Here are the classic functions offered by all CRMs:
Prospecting
Prospecting is your first direct approach to part of your audience: your leads (targeted contacts). Prospecting is often seen as a physical meeting or a telephone canvass, but this is not always the case. You can also start from your contact base, segment it, and send a mailing tailored to each profile, for example.
Monitoring your actions
Your sales cycle is made up of stages. In BtoB - Business to Business - in particular, these are often spread over a longer period. The sales rep has to get back in touch with a particular person in a month's time, or another in two months' time... The risk: forgetting. That's where CRM can help. With a reminder system, you can enter your upcoming actions and be notified in good time.
Customer relations
Just as you need to keep track of your prospects, you need to be there for your customers, find out how satisfied they are and understand their expectations. A weak relationship will not keep them when your competitor approaches them. For 75% of customers whose experience is negative, the problem is not the product but the relationship they have with the supplier of that product. CRM also serves to strengthen your links. For example, you can plan regular contacts. You can also give and take news so that your customers feel that you are at their side.
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Managing your sales approach
The CRM dashboards reflect your situation: number of customers, number of prospects, weight of each in terms of value, etc. This real-time view allows you to see the impact of your sales strategy.
Extended CRM
Depending on the specifics of your business, it may be worth choosing a CRM that combines other strings to its bow.
CRM encompassing sales management
A CRM like TigerPro goes further in managing the products or services sold. Pricing grids including different variables refine the offer according to date or quantity, for example. Take the case of a set-up offer, for example: the price will depend on the location, the space to be covered, the equipment, etc. The salesperson will need to be able to define it so as to communicate it quickly to the prospect. With a tool capable of estimating it, they will be more responsive and more likely to close the sale.
CRM extended to accounting
There's only one step from quotation to invoice. Some CRM systems, such as GRC Contact, integrate the stages from pre-sales to post-sales. Invoices are automatically produced and then converted into accounting entries. This eliminates the need for intermediate data entry and reduces the risk of errors. The reasoning is equally valid in the other direction: if you're going to have management software, you might as well have a CRM module, like Evoliz. Its functionalities go as far as helping to calculate and declare VAT (Value Added Tax), and its online payment module helps to collect invoices.
CRM at the customer's disposal
Once a sale has been made, follow-up is essential. Your customers may need to contact you again, to report a technical incident or some other matter. This exchange, central to your customer relations, can naturally be integrated into your CRM. Like the support module in Initiative CRM. The customer portal with ticket management lets you monitor the workflow of requests.
One imperative: customer satisfaction
Your performance becomes a customer benefit
Choosing the right CRM for your needs is crucial to customer satisfaction. Whether you're optimising your internal management or your customer relations, your responsiveness and professionalism will make you more available to your customers.
Satisfaction: the key to customer loyalty
A satisfied customer is a loyal customer. And taking care of this is highly strategic, first and foremost in terms of cost:
- The cost of acquiring a new customer is 3 times higher than the cost of retaining an existing customer,
- the cost of winning back a customer is 12 times higher than the cost of retaining an existing customer,
- increasing customer loyalty by even 5% can increase your profits by 25 to 55%.
Secondly, improving or damaging your reputation can have a knock-on effect:
- 1 very satisfied customer tells 3 people,
- 1 dissatisfied customer tells 12 others,
- 1 extremely dissatisfied customer is likely to tell 20 others...
These figures speak for themselves and illustrate the scale of the loyalty challenge.
There are different types of CRM. Depending on your needs, you may want to choose a sales management CRM like Initiative CRM, or an invoicing CRM like GRC Contact. Or, conversely, use a management software package such as Evoliz, which can also be used as a CRM. The challenge remains to gain operational agility to optimise your customer satisfaction.
Article translated from French