Choosing the Right CRM for Your Business

A robust CRM system is as indispensable as a word processor or email platform in our hyper-competitive and technologically-driven business environment. CRM systems help businesses of every size manage interactions with current and potential customers, streamline and optimise the sales and marketing pipeline, and boost overall profitability. However, no two CRM systems are alike, and with so many on the market, choosing the right CRM for your business can be a daunting task. 

Understanding Your Business Needs 

Before even getting into the bottomless well of potential CRM options, understanding the needs of your business is crucial. Every industry, and every business within it, is unique, and the specific needs of your sales team and the clients they speak to may not be the same as your competitors. 

What are your Business Goals? 

Understanding what your business is aiming to achieve on the whole is a crucial first step. Whether that centres around increasing sales revenue; boosting customer satisfaction; or increasing market share, these should be expressed as SMART goals. That is, they should be Specific; Measurable; Achievable; Relevant; and Time-Bound. Having these clearly defined objectives will help you ascertain what your CRM system will be expected to do for your business 

What are your Pain Points? 

What’s stopping you from achieving the goals outlined in the previous step? It may not even be that you’re being blocked entirely from getting where you want to be, but rather that pain points big and small are undermining your business in ways that make those goals slower to reach, or even deflate those goals from what you might otherwise be able to achieve. Understanding these pain points will help you know what your ideal CRM solution should be doing for your business, and how it will best address those pain points. 

Who will be Using the CRM? 

It’s important to have a sense of the technical expertise of the people who will be using your CRM system most regularly. Some CRM software packages can be more complex than others, and matching the solution to the skill level at the outset is a quick way to help bring your team up to speed with a minimum of training time. Identifying these critical stakeholders early on also helps management engage with them and bring them on board the implementation process. Buy-in from the team is crucial if the uptake of the new system is to be a success. 

Key Features to Look For in Your CRM 

Once you have a clear understanding of your needs, you’ll have a more cogent understanding of what it is you need your CRM system to actually do. Here are some essential features to look for: 

Contact Management 

A robust CRM should allow you to store and manage customer information efficiently. It should not only offer a centralised database of all customer information from across your organisation, but it should further allow the segmentation of this data based on criteria such as scale, type, and progress through the sales or marketing pipeline. All of this feeds in and out of an interaction tracking system that lets you know exactly what’s happening every time somebody from your organisation touches base with a customer. 

Sales Management 

Of course, you are only tracking your customers at all to monitor their progress towards making a purchase. This is where sales management functionality comes in, which allows you to build a sales pipeline through which you can track your leads on their journey with your organisation. The data harvested from this process can then be fed into sales forecasting, which aims to predict future sales trend based on the historical data already sitting in your system. This helps you plan for the future, if there are specific months where particular goods or services are in higher or lower demand, so that your teams can prepare accordingly. CRM isn’t just a management tool – the data insights that it offers can equip teams and managers with new decision-making tools to help guide your business and nail your goals. 

Marketing Automation 

A thorough CRM system will also come equipped with marketing automation modules, allowing your marketing team to benefit from automation and optimisation as well. These functions include tools to generate and execute targeted email campaigns, with rules and triggers to specify follow-up campaigns and how interaction with various emails affects the recipient’s status in the marketing or sales pipeline. They also allow for seamless integration of multiple social media channels, all with analytics to monitor and gauge the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. 

Reporting and Analytics 

As mentioned, a CRM doesn’t just help optimise workflows. It allows for deep dives into the reams of data produced by your activities to draw out the valuable insights within. These insights can be collated into fully customisable reports to fit the specific needs of your business or the individual teams or stakeholders within and without it. This vital knowledge can then be leveraged to aid in data-driven decisionmaking and ensure your business is operating with up-to-date and accurate information when it makes a course-correction or implements a new policy. 

Types of CRM Systems 

CRM systems come in various types, each catering to different business needs. Among the most common types you will be able to choose between include: 

Operational CRM 

These CRM packages automate and streamline your business processes. They automate repetitive tasks like data entry to help you streamline your sales, marketing and customer services processes. This enhances efficiency and service delivery, allowing your teams to make the most of their time and resources. 

Analytical CRM 

Analytical CRMs analyse the data you feed into the system to provide insights that help you leverage data to make informed decisions. They provide interactive and tailored dashboards to visually display the information gleaned from your operations to help you track trends to inform strategic business decisionmaking and seamlessly share up-to-date and accurate information across the entire organisation. 

Collaborative CRM 

Collaborative CRMs facilitate communication and collaboration among different departments. They are perfect for businesses that need to ensure seamless information sharing across teams. 

Implementation and Training 

70% of digital transformation projects fail. That shocking statistic should tell you that even with your CRM solution of choice picked out, you need to have a plan in place to ensure a successful implementation program. 

Plan Thoroughly 

Develop, or work with your digital implementation partner to develop, a thorough plan of action for how you will implement your CRM system. Understanding the timetable and schedule of work to be completed, including which teams may be affected at what times, will ensure a smooth transition and help your business prepare for the changes that will come both with the implementation process and the CRM system itself. 

Involve Stakeholders 

The people who make your business tick are an integral part of any change management program; and this includes CRM implementation. It is imperative that direct stakeholders – the teams who will be utilising the software you are equipping them with – are brought on board with the changes to be made. You can help facilitate employee buy-in by making it clear from the outset what the CRM system is being brought in to achieve, and how it will improve their everyday working lives. 

Provide Training 

Part of facilitating that buy-in also means ensuring team members have ample access to the resources and training they will require to bring them up to speed with the new system. CRM solutions exist to optimise processes and speed up the day to day tasks that define businss workflows. These benefits will be squandered, however, if employees aren’t confident in how to navigate the new system and take action quickly.  

Monitor and Adjust 

Implementation, even a successful one, isn’t the end. To really get the most out of your CRM system it pays to monitor how it performs for you and regularly assess your team for feedback and suggestions. Many CRM systems are customisable to match the ever-changing needs of your business. This means that as shortcomings or issues are identified by the people on your staff who work with the system, you will be able to act quickly to address them and keep your CRM system working the way you need it to. 

Choosing the right CRM for your business is a critical decision that can significantly impact your operations and customer relationships. By understanding your needs, evaluating key features, and carefully selecting a vendor, you can find a CRM system that helps you achieve your business goals. Remember, the right CRM is not just a tool but a strategic asset that can drive growth and success.