How to find the best customer relationship management software package for your

business.

GUIDE to CRM

CRM helps organizations manage their interactions with their customers.

CRM at a glance

74% of businesses used CRM in 2013

CRM applications can boost employee productivity by 26.4 percent.

This knowledge often leads to:

Businesses can use this data to:

1. Increased ROI2. More personalized

customer and lead interactions

1. Find patterns among customers

2. Track their progress through the sales funnel

The Evolution of

CRM Software

entered the CRM market.

DATABASE MARKETING came about in the

for MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

1980sCOMPANIES FOCUSED ON

getting details such as

NamesAddresses

Phone numbers

Software as a Service (SaaS) Salesforce introducing the first Software as a Service CRM

Platform as a Service (PaaS) In 2007, Salesforce developed PaaS as a way to make custom applications for the Salesforce CRM.

Social MediaBusiness

Intelligence Systems

CRM applications have added

MORE FEATURES

Platforms now integrate with:

Major CRM Features

New features are constantly added, so functionality varies greatly.

At their core, every CRM should haveCONTACT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE and DATABASE MARKETING

Contact Management

Contact management creates a profile for each customer with basic information.

phone number

email address

physical address

keep importantaccount information

UP TO DATEand the sales process

ORGANIZED and EFFECIENT

Contact management helps businesses:

Customer Interaction Management

Customer interaction management software tracks each touch-point a sales representative has with a customer or prospect

This helps companies determine which strategies are CONSISTENTLY SUCCESSFUL or WHERE A RELATIONSHIP BROKE DOWN.

Customer Interaction Management…

Sales force automation, helps automate a number of sales process tasks including

populating the user’s calendar with the details of the meeting

Sales Force Automation

(SFA)

SALES FORECASTING FUNCTIONS that

PREDICT FUTURE SALES FIGURES based on

HISTORICAL DATA

Sales force automation often includes…

SFA software can create in-depth productivity reports that detail each sales reps performance and can come in standalone best-of-breed applications.

SFA functions can even expand into inventory management, and product knowledge management.

Choosing between the two comes down to the needs of your business.

specialized tools that excel at specific tasks.

suites have a wide range of functionality, albeit in limited form.

INTEGRATEDBEST-OF-BREED

A best-of-breed SFA platform is often the best option for managing large amount of clients.

market research has shown that SALES FORCE AUTOMATION IS THE MOST

SOUGHT AFTER BEST-OF-BREED APPLICATION,

Industry Specific

Before moving forward in the buying process you should investigate any CRM platforms specific to your industry.

PACKAGED GOODSARCHITECTUREENGINEERINGCONSTRUCTION (AEC) and FIELD SERVICE MANAGEMENTare all examples

Overcoming the Adoption Obstacle

numerous studies surfaced detailing

among companies attempting to implement this new software.

LOW ADOPTION RATES

As the CRM industry has recently blossomed…

LOW ADOPTION RATES

It’s imperative to gain an understanding of the underlying causes of low adoption rates and move to address them as swiftly as possible.

The Learning Curve

Unnecessary Functionality

The factors are three-fold Inflated Expectations

The Solution: BETTER TRAINING

Despite significant progress in user experience and interface design, CRMs are still not the most intuitive platforms to use.

THE LEARNING CURVE

Businesses often develop unrealistic benchmarks for adoption and usage without properly assessing how much time it will take to achieve those results.

INFLATED EXPECTATIONS

The Solution: RESEARCH

While it’s tempting to choose a CRM with hundreds of bells-and-whistles, the truth is that your employees won’t use what they don’t need.

UNNECESSARY FUNCTIONALITY

The Solution: PRIORITY BASED CONFIGURATION

After you’ve had time to assess the successes and failures of deployment…

…revisit your configuration and make more informed decisions about functionality.

Current Market Trends

Mobile Applications

It’s predicted that the number of mobile CRM apps will surpass 1,200 this year, as demand for on-the-go information continues to rise.

Customer experience management (CEM) software is better thought of as the next step in the evolution of CRMs. It adds to that by integrating information such as customer’s online buying behavior, and in-store purchases.

Customer Experience Management

CRM software helps businesses maintain contact details, as well as past deals they’ve closed. CEM helps businesses utilize such data in order to better understand customer behavior.

Now that you've learned the basics, head over to our website where you can download the complete guide or read more about how CRMs can help your

business.

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