What is a CRM? It is a customer relationship management tool as well as a database with functions that allow the improvement of prospecting, customer loyalty, and the improvement of customer service. How to master the art of selling with CRM?
A well-used CRM allows:
1- to increase turnover and reduce costs;
2- to optimize the efficiency of employees;
3- have a better understanding of customers.
How do you increase turnover and reduce costs with the use of a CRM?
There are several reasons why a CRM allows you to be more efficient and reduce costs. Let’s start with the most important thing, that is to say the contact base. The customer contact base is unique and centralized, which makes it possible to rationalize the management of contacts in the company from a single base where all contacts are entered, with all their sources and characteristics (active customers, sleepers, etc.). The effectiveness of the CRM can be measured by the increase in the number of contacts in the company’s database, with the income generated by new contacts compared to the number of contacts from the previous year. This can also be measured by the reduction in the number of “dormant” customers, and the increase in the average shopping basket. More efficient exploitation of the customer base is possible by setting up prospecting and loyalty chains (automatic scheduling of emails, calls, letters, etc. and sending using autoresponders).
How can the increase in turnover and reduction in costs be calculated?
How to master the art of selling with CRM?
It is possible to calculate the return on investment by comparing, for example, the operations carried out before and after the implementation of the CRM.
The 7 advantages of a CRM
1- Reducing the cost of customer acquisition
It is in fact possible to analyze the acquisition cost of each customer based on the return on investment of each marketing action and it will therefore be possible to choose your commercial actions in order to better use the marketing budget.
2- Increase in turnover per customer
The analysis and identification of products owned by a company and those consumed by competitors makes it possible to implement a policy of increasing the number and value of products consumed by customers by setting up reminders on the dates keys (end of competitors’ maintenance contracts), through dedicated arguments on a competing offer (takeover offers, etc.). It is therefore easy to offer new targeted services to current customers.
CRM makes it possible to offer new services thanks to better monitoring of customer accounts, but also through the integration of new technologies. And that is very important to know How to master the art of selling with CRM?
3- CRM makes it possible to optimize the work and efficiency of employees
By automating sales processes and structuring the activity, it is possible to compare the increase and reduction in employee performance from one year to the next and to be able to act to rectify the situation if necessary.
CRM makes it easier to find information: Being able to find in one place all the emails, calls, documents that are linked to a given contact saves a lot of time, both for a sales representative and for an individual of the technical service. This gain can be measured by time lost by an employee to find information.
4- Process optimization
The benefit of a CRM solution is that it makes it possible to analyze the company’s existing processes in order to analyze and simplify them. For example, to simplify document validations which can now be done without wasting time and in the transmission of a file electronically. CRM also makes it possible to simplify decision-making and the use of forms, as well as to get rid of procedures which are no longer relevant today. This will help the company gain agility.
5- More efficient management of actions is possible thanks to CRM.
CRM makes it possible to analyze more precisely what employees and sellers do and to have concrete information on their activities. It is then easier to directly influence their actions through visit and call objectives on specific segments of the customer base, or by defining a minimum amount of time devoted to prospecting in meetings with sales representatives.
6- Reduction of administrative tasks
A CRM will allow the reduction of administrative tasks thanks to the automation of work such as the production of activity reports, the management of automatic unsubscriptions to newsletters, the calculation of sales forecasts, the implementation of reminders and alerts.
7- Reduction of errors and entry time
The information is entered only once by a person, and the entire structure of the company then benefits from it (salespeople, marketing department, technical department, etc.). In addition, the direct integration of data (name, email, etc.) allows you to save time in data entry by avoiding manual entries.
CRM provides better responsiveness to employees by allowing them to no longer forget information (reminder, follow-up, etc.), which allows, for example, sales representatives to act at the right time when the customer makes a decision.
The goal is of course to retain the best customers by offering them the feeling of being privileged customers, who are listened to and who are important to us. CRM allows us to place customers at the heart of the company and do what is necessary to satisfy them in order to keep them and make them buy more from us.
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