Does your business need a CRM? 10 Warning Signs
By: Phillips Campbell
Tags: Marketing, Business, Customer Service, CRM, Technology

Although Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has become a burgeoning phenomena, there is no wisdom in simply jumping on the bandwagon and investing in CRM technology. Firstly, you should know what CRM software is and how it will impact your business operations. Secondly, you should look for the following ten warning signs which might indicate that it’s about time you get a CRM software.

1. You are still using excel sheets to run your business

Using manual processes like spreadsheets result in business operations being highly inefficient. It wastes precious time of your employees doing repetitive tasks which leads to a decline in productivity. Also, employees these days find working on Excel sheets extremely boring.

Your business can take a lot of mileage by using a CRM as it eliminates the need to do repetitive tasks manually through automation. Some of the most common applications of workflow automation in a CRM are marketing automation, sales automation and customer support automation. All these will make your business hours more productive and fruitful by finishing routine tasks for you without any hassle.

2. You do not have a single point of consolidated and centralized customer data

The more information you have about your customers, the better strategic decisions you can make. However, a plethora of information is of little value if it is being stored in Google sheets, business cards, handwritten notes etc.

A CRM can give you a 360 degree view of your customers by allowing customer-facing employees across different departments maintain every interaction they have in one central database. Information could be accessed and updated in real-time.

3. Your salespersons have insufficient knowledge about your customers

As your customer base grows, it becomes increasingly difficult for salespersons to remember each and every detail related to a customer since there’s no database to give you instant consolidated information about the customers. If customers get the slightest hint that they are being neglected, they will simply walk away. That will be downright damaging for your business.

With a CRM in place, salespersons will have all the relevant data about the customers at their fingertips e.g past calls, meeting, emails etc. They will know who the customer is and what product he is interested in based on the past interactions. Hence, a CRM will enable the salespersons to serve the customers in a more personalized manner.

4. You are treating all customers in a similar fashion

The need to know your customer base for targeted marketing has become more important than ever. If you are targeting every customer with the same promotional content, you are making a big mistake. Every prospect needs individual attention depending at which stage they are in the sales life-cycle.

A CRM system gives you the ability to segment leads based on their interests, needs, preferences, demographics, industry vertical and more. It helps salespersons in planning effective strategies to move the leads from one stage of the sales funnel to another quickly.

5. Your marketing and sales departments lack coordination

The marketing department is responsible for nurturing leads whereas the sales department is accountable for closing deals. Both need to work in harmony to ensure that leads are converted into opportunities and finally deals.

With CRM, marketing and sales departments can now stay updated by having access to real-time data related to a customer’s profile. Marketing team can pass on the leads to the sales team without any manual effort. The sales team can then act on those leads and try to convert them into deals.