We are possibly going through one of the most challenging times this year. 2020 has been a year of great challenges – and yet, it has also been a year of great opportunities. While the COVID 19 spread has led to a pandemic, which in turn has prompted a lock down physically and a shut down economically, businesses can take heart in the fact that a new reality is upon us and it is really up to the small business owner to go ahead and seize the day.
When we are talking about opportunities, we are looking at the forced reality that has prompted businesses to concentrate their operations wholly and solely to online quarters. Now, more than ever before, it has become important to actually create a digital presence that can prompt conversions and lead to business growth. In such a scenario, you would need all the tools and technology that you can possibly find so that you are able to make your place online, find your audience and narrow down the prospects so that you can convert them with ease and efficiency. Does all this sound like a huge task for you?
Then a CRM software is what you are looking for. What exactly does a CRM software for your business do and what can you expect from a SaaS CRM platform or system? Well, plenty! Read on to know more.
The SaaS CRM is one that basically hosts your CRM software from a server and thus, you are spared the heavy cost of purchasing and maintaining the CRM software. Not only can you find the right CRM software for your business in this way, but you can also customize it more easily and create efficient integrations that pertain to the marketing automation side of your business. This essentially means that you can conduct your business operations from this location and platform with all the information in one relevant place!
CRM stands for customer relationship management, which organizes the customer data into task related databases and fields that would be used for marketing automation as well. This is done by providing insight details regarding the leads that are generated so that you can turn these leads into actual potential customers. A CRM software also provides a detailed comprehensive report which states all such findings, right from the leads to customer acquisition to the analysis about better methods and modes to reach to your target audience and ultimately increasing the sales. A CRM software or system is very important from a business point of view with regards to strategies regarding marketing, sales and customer targeting. This ultimately talks about the growth of the organization and helps you understand the areas you need to focus and keep growing in future.
7 tips to keep in mind while selecting the CRM software for your business:
1. Size of your organization
This varies from business to business and industry to industry. So before choosing the CRM software, one should go through the requirements and understand the features they are looking for specifically and then choose the one which best fits the team and the sales pipeline that you typically set. Because people often choose their CRM systems without considering the fact that size of their organization plays an important role.
2. Be user friendly
If the CRM software is not user friendly it will not really solve any problems for the business. Most of the users end up facing trouble when it comes to the setup and the maintenance of the same, since they feel as if they have to employ a whole new team of technicians to do the same, thus eating into their costs. This is the case for many SaaS CRM platforms and you should be careful to choose the best one so that you are not stuck with many wasteful hours when it comes to installation and integrations for marketing automation.
3. Integration of software’s
A best CRM for your business needs to be capable to work in harmony with present applications and other platforms that you would be using within the sales pipeline. If one’s CRM doesn’t play nice with your email marketing solution or with your CMS systems or your team in general, it would be nothing short of a problem.
4. Better way to manage and access information
With a SaaS CRM solution, your customer data will be easier to manage and access, from any part of the world. This is any day better than a traditional CRM software. This is also a cheaper option, so one needs to budget it well.
5. Budgeting
Since our CRM for the business market is huge, we really need to do an extensive research before deciding on the one. The research should include a lot of sub points with the “cost” being an important point of discussion. Check out and compare all the costs, and make sure the best one which fits your budget should be selected in the end.
6. Customization and Integration
Since many CRM software companies provide you with the customizing service, avail those if you can’t find one ideal choice. Try building the ideal package that will solve your business growth purpose. This will also help in easier integrations, especially if you are using SaaS CRM.
7. Make sure your CRM software is mobile friendly
You would need to make sure one can operate the software even by using their mobile phones, since many don’t provide this as an inbuilt feature. This would be useful when you are traveling or looking to get customers from other parts of the globe as well.
How to acquire and use a CRM software efficiently?
This can be done only by extensively doing research about your audience, your team’s tasks and the different decisions the business needs to take in order to attain goals in an efficient manner.
After proper evaluation, one should check out the CRM software platforms that are available in the market, and make a list of the pros and cons in keeping with your exact requirement. After that, it’s time to tally! To know what all checks the box. After ticking your requirements, if you feel a particular CRM software is made for you, go for it. But if you feel it doesn’t check most of your requirements, you can try customizing your own CRM software. This service is provided by many CRM companies, so make the best use out of this feature and customize a framework that fits best for you.
