What is implementing a CRM software program worth to your company?
The question really boils down to a few simple issues.
Ask yourself these questions to determine what value a CRM software system will bring to your business.
1) What sales opportunities are you missing that you could close if you had more efficient management?
2) What do you NOT know about your current customers that you should, how many of them will switch to the competition, and what revenue will be lost as a result?
3) Are inefficiencies in your customer service creating extra costs or causing you to loose revenue?
4) Which of your current accounts cost more than they are worth and how much are they costing you?
5) How much could CRM software save you by making your lead generation efforts more effective?
Now add up all of the real costs, as well as the lost opportunity costs and it is likely that you will find that you are losing and spending a lot more than you expected. In most cases, the total you come up with will be more than the cost of CRM software implementation.
Now, here are some more questions you can use to determine the log opportunity cost of not implementing CRM software:
1) How many accounts did your company lose in the last year and what were the annual revenues of those accounts?
2) What would you estimate the number of sales opportunities lost in the last year to be and what were they worth?
3) How much time was spent adjusting orders because of inaccurate or incomplete information and what did this cost?
CRM software helps track employee actions and gives managers the ability to see the results of sales, marketing and customer service efforts. With the data collected, CRM software gives your company new capabilities. You can launch targeted sales and marketing campaigns to uncover new revenue opportunities and service customers better.
Technorati Tags: CRM Review, CRM Software
As with all business decisions, return on investment should be a main consideration in deciding whether to implement a CRM solution for your organization. The CRM Review blog is here to assist you in making this important decision.
Most CRM programs include contact management and some form of campaign tracking. When reviewing different CRM alternatives you will want to consider the following features when deciding which CRM system to use:
CRM Review Items
Web-based or Local System – A web based system allows anytime, anywhere access wherever there is internet access and tends to reduce IT costs because someone else is managing the hardware and monitoring the software maintenance and upgrades. Local software solutions may be less expensive up front, but will require time and resources to maintain.
Interface Ease of Use – Some interfaces are built to be user friendly; others that are not may require a longer learning curve.
Configurable by Industry – Does the CRM solution you are considering have templates or add-ons or modules that can be customized for your particular industry?
Technical support – What level of technical support will you need to effectively run your system? What support is offered by each provider being reviewed?
Advanced User Permissions – Does the CRM program being reviewed have the built in security that is necessary for your operation?
Automated Backups for Data – Maintaining backups is critical to any information system. Having a built in system is helpful in making sure this critical function get done.
Marketing Automation – Many CRM systems you will review will have the ability to coordinate multi-step marketing sequences that include email auto-responders, email broadcasts, direct mail, newsletters, fax, voice broadcast and tasks such as phone calls and personal visits.
Sales Force Automation – Do you need a system that will help you manage your sales team, such as customizable steps in your sales pipeline, the ability to set up sales teams, automatically distribute sales leads and build automated triggers into your sales process to make sure your leads are being followed up on time.
Email Deliverability – As more companies use email to communicate with prospects and customers, email deliverability becomes a critical factor in successful campaigns. Deliverability assurance programs ensure that your emails bypass the spam filters and get through to the customer or prospect.
Contact Management and Tracking – As you continue your CRM review you will find that many CRM programs allow you to track all emails, faxes, appointments, tasks and phone correspondence to contacts in one place
Additional CRM Review Features
Affiliate Tracking – If you use affiliates or joint venture partners you will want to look for a CRM solution that allows partners to view their referrals and commissions online, set up their own tracking links and download marketing resources.
E-commerce – Some CRM services offer an integrated shopping cart. Some even allow for up-sells, cross-sells, special discounts, payment plans and custom html to maximize your online sales.
Process Credit Cards – If you are doing e-commerce the ability to automatically process credit card transactions through your existing merchant account or via Paypal is extremely useful.
List Management – As you complete the CRM review process you will want to find a system that allows you to segment your customers and prospects into meaningful lists that can be used for promotions and follow-up.
Billing & Accounting – Having a CRM system with integrated sales and accounting reports, custom reports, and the ability to automate recurring billing programs and notifications of failed credit transactions can be very useful in reducing the overall cost of sales and customer service. Another option to built-in billing and accounting is the ability to integrate with 3rd party accounting programs.
Calendaring & Tasks – Some useful features include the ability to access information away from the office via computer, PDA or cell phone.
Help Desk – Some CRM programs offer the ability to handle support requests, create ticket stages (to track and manage customer support issues) and set triggers to automatically initiate required actions throughout the ticket process. These can be helpful for saving on manpower in your customer support center.
Some CRM solutions offer all of these features; others offer some of these features. Take some time to analyze your needs to figure out the features you must have as you begin the CRM review process.
CRM Reviews
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Subjective considerations for Customer Relationship Management implementation
In a previous post we reviewed factors for determining the real dollar value of implementing a Customer Relationship Management system. Here we will discuss some of the more subjective factors in evaluating the benefits of a CRM system.
Simply put, if you don’t give your customers and clients what they want your business won’t make a profit and if your business doesn’t make a profit, you’ve got a real problem! The whole basis of implementing a customer relationship management system is to allow you to know what the customer wants and enable you to give it to them in a more efficient manner.
Many of the benefits of a Customer Relationship Management system are quantifiable while others are more subjective. Here are some questions you should ask yourself to help you determine how Customer Relationship Management will benefit your company:
Does your company really put the wants and needs of the customer first?
Do your customer service department, sales department and management staff all have access to the same customer information?
Does your sales staff have information about individual customer accounts that no one else in the company has access to?
Is your Marketing department abile to segment customer accounts so they can do highly targeted marketing?
Is your company organized in such a way that all departments support marketing and sales efforts to win and keep customer accounts?
Is customer turnover a rare occurance?
Are you tracking opinions of your customer service?
Is employee compensation tied to customer satisfaction and sales results?
Does your management team have a long term expectation for customer relationship management results?
If your answer to any of these questions was “No” then these are the areas in which customer relationship management will prove to be the most beneficial.
CRM Reviews
Technorati Tags: CRM Software, Customer Relationship Management, Web Based CRM Software
Customer Relationship Management software, otherwise know as CRM software can help a business not only manage marketing processes better but also can save money by cutting advertising costs and keeping sales staff hours to a minimum. There are several options when it comes to CRM programs. Some are web based while others reside on a local computer or server. There are programs for a single person and solutions for world-wide corporations.
We will be discussing the advantages of using web based CRM software in this article. There are many advantages to web based CRM software as apposed to stand alone software that resides on your system.
Advantages of Web Based CRM Software
Web based CRM software systems allow your staff to access customer information anytime and anywhere they have internet access. This means that if your sales rep is sitting in the customer’s office and needs access to the customer’s information he can simply login to the system and get what he needs.
Because web based CRM software is managed by the provider the provider takes care of updates, security, redundant disks, backups and many other I.T. tasks. This reduces your need for I.T. staff, equipment, office space and training.
Most web based systems provide technical support services, again reducing the need for staff, office space and training.
Data backups are handled by the provider which relieves you of the obligation and ensures that it will actually get done.
Email deliverability can be a real problem for marketers. Your web based CRM provider should have a deliverability assurance program to ensure that your emails get pass the spam filters. This can be a full time job if you do it yourself.
A web based system also allows you to have an Affiliate program that allows affiliate partners to view their referrals and commissions and manage their affiliate account online.
Calendaring and other sales tasks can be accessed at home or on the road with any web-enabled desktop, laptop, PDA or cell phone.
Often web based CRM software will have help desk features that handle support requests and track and manage customer support issues.
CRM Reviews
Bryan O’Rourke just released an interesting article on the ramifications of Social CRM. He sites a report that was produced for Salesforces.com. He discusses the implications of new social technologies and how they can affect businesses that really understand how to use them, especially when it comes to providing support and customer service.
Some of the highlights of the study that stood out to me are:
- Expectations for social CRM (tapping into social networks to improve marketing, sales and service processes) will dramatically exceed the measurable benefits. (Isn’t that always true)
- For much of the world, Facebook will – or already has – become the dominant social networking site. Marketeers and customer service managers will need to take this into consideration when planning social networking projects, while monitoring for shifts in user sentiment.
(surprising how much of a hold it has made in such a short time, the question is who will be next?)
- Consumer willingness to perform all possible customer service functions themselves (self- service) will be universal by 2011. (That seems a bit of an overstatement to me)
Recommendations
- Customer service or customer experience should measure the consistency and effectiveness of customer interactions across all touchpoints from the customer’s point of view. (Sounds like something that should be a regular habit to me)
- The popularity of social networking sites means that the service organization cannot expect the customer to come to the corporate website only, but must work on ways to reach out to the customer at these destinations as well.
- When developing a long-term strategic road map for contact center infrastructure, include call recording as part of this single-vendor solution.
Source Article is here.
CRM Reviews
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DAYTON, Ohio, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire/ — The Reynolds and Reynolds Company, a leading provider of software and services to automotive retailers, today announced that DealerMine is now participating in the Reynolds third party access program, which provides a platform for handling dealership data in a safe, secure, and verifiable manner. DealerMine is a CRM vendor with a focus on service CRM for automotive dealerships in North America.
“The benefit for DealerMine of standardized access through Reynolds is that it simplifies our processes and takes away a lot of non-productive work – running different queries into the DMS, cleaning and validating the data,” said Bob Quirion, president of DealerMine. “Now, we have a much smoother process to collect dealership data and to write back to the DMS – all of which will enable us to focus on serving our customers more effectively. We’re really pleased to be partnering with Reynolds.”
Since 2005, Reynolds and Reynolds has been working visibly with dealerships and OEMs on the safe, secure, and verifiable exchange of dealership data from a Reynolds dealership management system (DMS).
“At Reynolds, we have been addressing data access and security consistently for a number of years, as have other major DMS providers in the industry,” said Trey Hiers, vice president of Corporate Marketing at Reynolds and Reynolds. “Ultimately, dealers want to know that their data is safe and secure; that it is accessible by third parties, with appropriate safeguards and verification; and, that it will stay that way.”
The Reynolds third party access program provides a number of methods for dealerships to work with the vendor of their choice in a safe, secure, and verified manner when handling dealership data.
About Third Party Access
Reynolds and Reynolds provides the largest program for third party access of any dealership services provider in the industry. Dealerships that use a Reynolds and Reynolds DMS to run their business can choose from more than 100 third parties who can provide safe, secure, and verified handling of a dealership’s data.
About Reynolds
Reynolds and Reynolds is the automotive industry’s leading provider of automobile dealership software, services, and forms to help dealerships improve business results. The company is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, with major operations in Houston and College Station, Texas, and Celina, Ohio. (www.reyrey.com)
Source: PRNewswire
CRM Reviews
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The 80/20 Principle was first discovered approximately 100 years ago by an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto while he was studying income and wealth patterns.
He discovered that there was a pattern of “predictable imbalance,” and that by identifying and focusing on the top 20% of our efforts, we can leverage our results in virtually any area of our lives, and vastly improve our effectiveness.
Not long ago, a major insurance company did a study on its sales force to see where the majority of its sales and profits were coming from. Low and behold… 20% Of The Sales Force Produced 80% Of the Profits!
They went one step further, and analyzed the top 20% of the sales force to identify if there was a “predictable imbalance” amongst this highly productive group of people.
Guess what they found? That’s right…
The Top 20% Of The Top 20% Of The Sales Force Produced 80% Of The Profits!
I have personally used the “Pareto Principle” in many areas of my business and personal life, and found it to be an extremely effective tool for determining where and how I should be spending my time and efforts.
I’ve boiled it down to the top 7 ways to use the 80/20 Principle in your business and personal life.
CRM Reviews
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It always surprises me how few marketers actually “test.” For example, have you ever tested one price against another to see which price pulls the most sales leads? I’ll bet most of you haven’t
Well starting today, here’s a brief list of the most important things to test:
1. Headlines (in ads and sales letters)
2. Price, payment plans and combination offers
3. Guarantees
4. Offers and Bonuses
5. Mailing Lists
6. Media
7. Sales Copy
And the list goes on. There are an endless number of variables you can test in your business. Here’s the exciting part: One “minor” change can have a major impact on your business.
For example, let’s say you test charging a 3% fee instead of a 2% fee for your services and your sales remain exactly the same. Let’s further assume you’re selling approximately 200 new clients a year. That increases the dollars per client by 50% multiplied by 200 clients or …
Well, you do the math
That’s a lot of Extra Dollars Per Year With No Extra Work On Your Part!
Or say you offer some extra bonuses to the customer for doing business with you and find that it increases your sales ratio by just 10%. That’s 20 new customers and 20 extra paychecks.
That’s the power of testing. Put it to use in your business today.
For managing and tracking your tests you can save a lot of time and effort using a CRM Program. Learn how at CRM Reviews
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The first rule in marketing probably should be: “Remember, You Are Not Your Customer!”
It is both easy and expensive to get in the way of what works based on your own biases and assumptions about your customers and what you think they want. Often when faced with different advertising options or marketing approaches a business owner will say “I would never call on an advertisement like that” or “I wouldn’t read something that long” or “That doesn’t fit our image”.
This can be a big mistake. A research study of advertising executives “guessing” what people thought vs. what the people really thought showed that the advertising executives were wrong by as much as 72% on various questions.
Making assumptions about your customer can be very costly. If you don’t know how your customer will react then you need to quit guessing and find out more about your customer through actual surveys and testing.
The more you know about your customer, the more customers you will have.
Conducting surveys to assess customer satisfaction and understand your customers needs can be an effective way to learn the truth about your customers.
Using a fully integrated CRM program will enable you to design a survey, send it automatically by email, measure the responses and take actions based on the analysis.
You can also assess customer satisfaction with every support ticket. Send an email when a ticket is closed to solicit feedback on the customer experience with the ticket.
In addition, you can use surveys to determine and optimize your marketing strategy by sending a survey to a select panel of customers/advisers, to determine their views on product direction or product positioning.
You can also conduct surveys to understand email and media preferences and run campaigns targeted at those who are most likely to respond.
Technorati Tags: customer research, customer survey
Like I have stated in other posts, it’s far easier to re-sell an existing client. It’s also…
Far More Profitable!
Think about it…once you’ve spent the high upfront costs to acquire a new client, it’s relatively inexpensive to send them a letter promoting another product or service.
For example, after a Mortgage Broker provides a loan for a new customer, what other products or services do you think they would be interested in?
By-Monthly Payments, Debt Management Consultation, Credit Repair, Tax Preparation Services, Insurance (i.e. Health, Life, P&C), Retirement Planning, Buying Or Selling A Home, Buying Income Properties, Commercial Financing, Etc.
The list is endless. The sky is the limit. You just need to look at your own customer base and look at their wants and needs and figure out what other products or services will satisfy those needs.
Now it’s up to you to either offer these services yourself, or set up Joint Ventures with other companies who already offer these services and split the profits. Either way, you can increase your bottom line without adding a lot of extra effort.
More information on automating your marketing.
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