What your business needs from a CRM solution
Businesses operate in general on very different scales and thus have different needs when it comes to a customer relationship management (CRM) system. CRM software provides many advantages to sales teams and its main purpose is to help turn customer contacts into buyers. Collecting contacts and generating leads isn’t the problem, it’s what is done with those leads that matters. The right CRM solution should help businesses keep track of their interactions with all of their customers, maintain strong relationships with existing customers and ultimately help sell more products and services. Here are five factors to consider when choosing a CRM solution for your business:
- Easy setup
Getting everything installed as quickly and efficiently as possible without overwhelming your team is very important. It’s also in your best interests to choose a CRM vendor that provides personalized assistance every time you need to upgrade to a new version or add more users, thus ensuring that your software is configured properly from the start.
- Mobile access
Sales reps need to be equally effective both inside and outside the office, so the ability to access deals and contact information from any device is crucial.
- Integrations
If you have to exit your CRM every time you need to send an email or confirm an appointment, that lost time will kill your team’s productivity. Look for a CRM solution that integrates with the business software you already use so that everything can be done in one place.
- File storage
Online CRM solutions should have adequate file storage for all your data. A CRM system is the type of thing that grows exponentially as a business ages and the space to keep track of past as well as current data is essential.
- Cost effective
There are many options to choose between when looking for a CRM solution and most vendors do all of the above, and more. However many of them have big business price tags. Ideally your choice should be based on finding the best all-inclusive CRM software for one simple price.
For a successful implementation, your CRM system must prove its value to sales teams by alleviating common pain points and helping them win more deals. If a CRM solution can help improve communication between sales and marketing teams, find new customers and keep them, then you have chosen well.
