Top of the list for any company – new or established.

By Mark Annett

Your CRM system is probably the most important system in your company. Many companies, at their peril, delay the use and implementation of a system to manage their CRM needs, especially while business is good. Most business owners will typically have a few personal experiences of how that is not always the case. It is not a nice position to be in at all, although it is manageable and doing so is a delicate balance of accounting and customer relationship feedback, comparing last year’s performance to this year’s. Gauging market sentiments, and of course customer feedback, is why your CRM system is so important! Remember that customer relationship management is the approach you take in managing your customer, it is not the system. The system will only tell you what you want to know and it does this by collecting information and then presenting it to you in an easy-to-read, dynamic format via reports, dashboards and alerts. From there you make your own decisions.

Do you know the answer to these questions?

1. Who are your top customers? (They make up 80% of your turnover).
2. Who are the best and fastest payers? (slow and difficult payers are either a waste of your time or they need more attention).
3. When was the last time they visited your business or called on your telephone lines, emailed you? (the more attention you pay to your customers the more they are likely to buy).
4. Who is your top sales person?
5. Who is the best customer service agent?
6. What was the most logged issue?
7. Which customer has the most issues?
8. What were the most visits your web site has had?