CRMs have become the new craze across digital marketing in different sectors and industries, but it seems like many businesses are still trying to grasp what the big deal is, and why a company would need one. A system like no other, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and does just that. You can enter key client information, save notes and correspondence, and stay organized with your leads and sales funnel.
But what many tend to ask is, \”So, what do I need to look for anyway?\” While there are many considerations that go into choosing a CRM, here are the top 3 you must know.
B2B or B2C
The first thing to establish is what your business is (if it is straight to the consumer, or straight to business) and use that initial criterion to filter out CRMs that might not be a good fit. Some are truly designed solely for e-commerce, which might not be relevant to your business, while others are designed for a service that you might not offer.
Either way, look at key players in the industry and why they are considered highly amongst others in your industry. Salesforce is a leader in its industry for both B2C and B2B, and so is Microsoft Dynamics. Nutshell is considered an up-and-coming CRM in the B2B industry, as is LeadSquared in B2C.
Pros/Cons
The pros outweigh the cons, but it is important to discuss both sides of the views. Pros of implementing a CRM include
- Increased automation
- Organized contact information
- Targeted marketing
- Detailed analytics
However, the cons mainly revolve around:
- not being able to upload and process data fast enough
- not enough time to maintain it fully
- the training process can take awhile, and there is no guarantee that everyone will get it.
Most of these are pretty easy to dispel, but it would be a good idea to talk about CRMs before meeting with vendors to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Key features
The key features need to be customizable, and easy to change. Dynamics shift, people come and go and the show must be able to handle it. Similarly, look at its capabilities for contact storage (how much spaces and access), as well as quick data uploads, such as with CSV files.
Also look at the training schedules, as that will demonstrate how much they want you to teach them and vice versa. The features should be able to adapt to volume as needed, as well as provide key insights and analytics to show you what is working and where the gaps should be mitigated.
Interested in learning more about CRMs, and the power it wields when it comes to driving high impact, measurable success for your business both in the long-term and the short-term? Please contact us today.
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