Is it time to invest in CRM?

CRM solutions have made great strides in the past decade to cater to (and often drive) the rapidly evolving marketplace. Today, an enterprise grade CRM is not just a marketing tool; by capturing and analysing customer data in one place, businesses can develop more effective strategies based on customers’ needs and wants.

In this blog we look at how different teams can benefit from CRM, and how companies from different industries are using CRM to drive growth.

How different teams benefit from CRM

Sales

A CRM enables salespeople to have all the information about their customers and prospects in one place. With that, using the different analysis and reporting tools that commonly come with modern CRM solutions, they can identify various trends in their customer’s behaviour, uncover up-selling and cross-selling and be proactive in their communication by easily setting up alerts and notifications.

Marketing

Marketing teams can easily tailor their campaigns using information from customers’ and prospects’ records kept in the CRM. In doing so, the audience is more likely to engage and consequently campaign results improve exponentially. More importantly Marketing and Sales have a platform that enables them to align their efforts and achieve common objectives.

Customer Service

Being able to access all customer and product information from a single pane of glass, means that front-line employees can address customer enquiries and resolve issues faster and more effectively. A modern CRM will also integrate with all available channels (telephony, website, email etc) so customers can receive the same high level of service however the choose to communicate. And a record of these communications will be kept in the CRM, available for any other team to view.

Product development

Product teams can leverage the CRM to create dashboards showing trends on product sales, returns and customer feedback. With this information readily available they can spot product deficiencies faster but also trends that will allow them to more effectively implement improvements or develop new products.

Finance

CRMs like Salesforce come with quote-to-cash tools that can automate the invoicing process, preventing typical errors that can cause frustration to customers and employees alike. In addition, using just one platform to manage the entire customer relationship with the business can significantly increase productivity.

Management

With all the information in one place, management reports and dashboards can easily be created without having to export and compile data from different systems. Management has clear visibility on different performance metrics in real time, so they can make better, more informed decisions.

How companies from different industries use CRM

Aston Martin

As a luxury brand, Aston Martin excels in personalisation. Over its 103-year history, the firm has made just 80,000 cars – a fraction of what other brands can make in mere days.

Eager to identify new opportunities using data, the company needed a CRM that could act as a central point for all customer interactions. By aggregating customer and sales data from across its global network into a CRM tool, Aston Martin gained an end-to-end view of the sales cycle.

Now the brand is able to track the entire customer journey and help its sales and marketing teams coordinate their activity to generate, convert and retain leads. What’s more, the integrated dashboards allow Aston Martin to reach out to customers at key moments in the sales cycle using targeted marketing initiatives.

As a result, Aston Martin empowered the human touch across its customer interactions and deepened the emotional connection consumers have to this world-class brand.

Clarion Events

With consumer attractions and industry conferences spanning nearly every sector, Clarion is a world-leading events organiser. After consolidating its CRM systems from 11 separate tools to a single environment, the firm is now in a better position than ever to capitalise on new growth opportunities across its 50 markets.

The unified digital platform allows sales reps to capture and share customer information, track opportunities and schedule meetings all at the touch of a button. The company has also been able to deploy more targeted advertising campaigns; marketers can segment follow-up communications based on customer or leads’ previous engagement levels and hone in on more reliable prospects with minimal effort.

Mobile integrations mean sales reps can access vital information about customers on the go and Clarion has begun to explore how AI can reveal new insights on its sales and marketing strategy.

Jurassic Fibre

In the race to transform British internet speeds, Jurassic Fibre has been a standout success. The telecommunications company has grown from plucky start-up to leading player with over 3,000 customers in just a few years thanks, in part, to its CRM system.

Jurassic Fibre’s CRM tool allows the company to automate manual tasks and offer omnichannel custom support; keeping processes simple and allowing customers to reach out using their preferred method.

The integrated software environment provides a 360° view of customer data, meaning the entire customer journey – from initial enquiry to fibre cable installation – is available in one digital interface.

Jurassic Fibre has even been able to further its organic growth by capturing data from interested customers living in soon-to-be-served regions. As a result, sales reps have been able to follow-up when the broadband infrastructure is available and the company is ready to onboard new customers.

Financial Times

With its reputation for keen insight and analysis of the latest news, the Financial Times is one of the largest and most respected providers of independent business journalism.

The FT now enjoys a global audience of over 2 million online readers each day. The publisher’s CRM allows everyone from sales reps to journalists to access insights on the best performing stories, trending topics and advertising impact.

With a unified view of customer information, the company is able to attract and retain both advertisers and subscribers. Customer issues like login and billing queries can be solved quickly using the intuitive interface and ad teams can easily measure the popularity of the latest stories. In turn, ad teams can evidence the impact of its direct advertising offerings to sponsors and attract further investment.

Overall, by adopting digital tools and an integrated CRM system, the publisher has been able to navigate the challenges of modern independent journalism more effectively and while maintaining its standards for high-quality reporting.

Lovehoney

Lovehoney is a major retailer of sexual wellbeing products. The company boasts over 2 million customers worldwide and a sex-positive brand that resonates with modern consumers. The e-commerce company’s new CRM has eliminated data silos across the global organisation and transformed the customer experience for the better.

Customers now enjoy a seamless experience, from account creation to purchase. With fewer issues and manual processes to follow, the company has saved time and money, and found new opportunities to take a more proactive approach to customer service.

For example, using its up-to-date record of customer interactions, Lovehoney is now more equipped to handle large sales events like Black Friday and Valentine’s Day and focus on meeting customer’s needs. Similarly, automated chatbots mean customers can find answers to common questions more easily.

Combined, the comprehensive CRM solution has helped Lovehoney foster a strong reputation for seamless purchasing and attentive customer service.

Personal Group

People Group has grown to become a leading provider of people-based insurance solutions and employee benefits. Central to their competitive offerings is their CRM system which allows The Group to coordinate its customer interactions more effectively.

After consolidating its CRM under a single unified solution, Personal Group gained a new level of insight into its customers and sales cycle. Teams across Personal Group now enjoy a 360° view of customer data and are able to optimise their likelihood of upselling products to customers.

The digital tool also allowed the company to automate key processes like contract generation and processing across its operations, freeing up time for its staff. As a result, People Group has been able to focus on long-term customer needs and invest in training programmes for its staff.

Altogether, the complete CRM solution has enabled People Group to become more responsive to customer needs and efficient as an organisation.

Source: Salesforce, makepositive

Final thoughts

Ultimately CRM helps increase efficiency across multiple areas within an organisation. As a result businesses of all sizes are able to cut down costs, increase customer acquisition and retention rates, improve collaboration between different teams, and develop sustainable competitive advantages.

If you are new to CRM or think you are not seeing the benefits you expected from your existing CRM solution, get in touch: [email protected]