Effective CRM: the key to customer loyalty
CRM is a powerful tool that combines technology and business strategy to give you a full, consistent view of your customers in a way that continually strengthens the relationship.
Managing critical sales, marketing, and customer information is essential for success and business growth.
Let’s look at three huge advantages that a CRM system provides.
Ensure that nothing falls through the cracks
A customer relationship management (CRM) is a database of everyone who comes in contact with a business—prospects, customers, partners, vendors, suppliers, employees, and contractors—and activities associated with them. Knowing the history of your contacts creates informed communications and superior customer service. For example, you can track customers with existing jobs and make sure they are proceeding as planned. Also, you can see how problems are being resolved—with tickets, cases, and incidents created within the workflow to make sure issues are dealt with. You can monitor and schedule communications and customer outreach. This includes calls, lunches, newsletters, and other opt-in selections so that you stay at the top of your customers’ minds when jobs come up.
Ensure everyone feels special
The more information you or your staff can access about your customers, the more important they will feel when dealing with you. As a result, when a customer calls, you can see who spoke to who last, what orders were placed, and issues that were solved. Plus, all emails, tasks, calendars, notes on the account, and other relevant data. Having real-time data will make conversations go smoothly and make customers feel like they are in the good hands of a supplier they can trust.
A great CRM system creates value if you ever plan to sell your company
Information from the past helps plan for the future. Buyers don’t want to rely on an owner’s memory to assess a business's health. They want a database with a company’s entire community, history, pending orders, backlog, communications, and profiles. They want data about the most profitable customers and the least profitable, the profitable products and the losers. Buyers will pay a premium for this information.
What makes a CRM great?
Importantly, whilst a CRM system is great for businesses, it is only as good as the information that goes into it. Therefore, to truly make it shine, it needs the following:
An administrator
A strong administrator genuinely likes working with software and taking ownership of the accuracy and completeness of your database. They will be experts in using the system and invested in running it efficiently.
A committed senior executive
Leaders should be outspoken and committed advocates for a CRM system. They must use it themselves, and encourage its use across the whole organisation. A CRM is a long-term investment that impacts the company culture, so leaders should push for it to adapt and drive that culture.
Visibility
Your business operation should be transparent to you and your managers. Therefore, the best practice is to integrate a CRM into a print management information (MIS) system, establishing one interconnected database that spans your entire shop. This means you will have real-time visibility into every aspect of your operation and the flexibility to adjust as needed.
Do you have further questions? If so, we can provide answers
Learn how print MIS provides an effective CRM system to help your print business; if you would like to speak with a specialist, please feel free to get in touch.
