In a competitive business environment, it is of utmost importance
to keep track of the sales activities. There has to be an organized structure
to the activities being executed. The management of the company has to be aware
of the enquiries made, the quotes & discussion or action on the same. The
follow-up activities & the closing of the deal. With all of the above being
recorded into a CRM system. Following are some features of a CRM that optimize
the resources of the company -
a) Cloud Support -
In today's business environment, you absolutely, positively,
need your CRM to be web-based or exist in the Cloud. Being able to access your
software anytime, from any device is crucial for small businesses. Especially,
if you're the owner and you plan to have on the go meetings with partners,
clients, etc. You need to be able to access your CRM solution at all times.
b) Customer Database with Integrated Reports -
Every CRM will have a customer database where you'll be able to
manage your contacts, but you need this database to also be able to support
custom fields if you plan on tracking customers by other criteria than the ones
that come out of the box. The integrated reporting comes into play if you want
to be able to generate reports based on your customer details to gain better
insight into your customer base. This allows you to see what demographics are
purchasing your services/products most, and which campaigns have been most
effective in driving new and repeat customers.
c) Email campaigns and management -
Within your CRM solution, a must have feature is email tracking
and management. This ensures that every communication you send via email is
tracked in your customer details, so you know exactly what has transpired in
every single conversation ever. Being able to run email marketing campaigns at
some level is a must as well. While your CRM may not provide the same level of
mass emailing power as pure marketing solutions, they should have some campaign
abilities. This enables you to try and build your sales pipeline and track all
customer contacts within a single system.
d) Import and Export -
While this may seem pretty basic, you'd be surprised how many
CRM solutions botch this one. This is important if you're out sampling
different CRM systems and find that you want to switch to a different one.
Being able to export all of your data easily and import to a new system without
any errors will be a godsend.
e) Tracking the Sales Pipeline -
Another basic ability of CRM software is to track the sales
pipeline. Your CRM solution needs to have the features to track your leads and
contacts all the way through the sales pipeline as they become opportunities
with an associated value to them, all the way to end of the lifecycle as they
become your customer. Every step of this process should be trackable through
your CRM software.
f) Lead Management -
Basically, every prospect that comes to your store or website,
needs to be managed. Lead management is another absolute must in your CRM
solution because it allows you to score every prospect as ready to sell,
cross-sell, up-sell, or needs to be nurtured or saved for a later time. Lead
management helps you run more effective marketing and sales programs, and makes
sure you prioritize the "hottest" leads.
For more info on Logistics Software go to www.softlinkglobal.com
0 Comments