7 STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR CRM STRATEGY

You’ve clicked on this article because you have a CRM system already in place but it’s just not performing as well as you thought it should. Do not fret, Digital First are here to help. We’ll walk you through the 7 steps to creating a CRM strategy for your business.

Before we get into things, we’ll go through what exactly CRM is.

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and it refers to arange of services, technologies and processes that companies employ to help analyse data from consumers. It also helps manage all relationships with stakeholders that are involved with your organisation.  

Here's a handy video explaining a CRM:

There are a range of CRM platforms to choose and they usually offer the following:

• Content sharing
• Email integration with Outlook and Gmail
• Sales forecasting
• Dashboard-based analytics
• Instant messaging

 
However, there are more modern platforms, such as Salesforce, that provide much more value to your business. Examples include: marketing tools, customer service and cloud-based ecosystems.

Now we’ve clarified what the system is, here are 7 easy steps for improving your CRM strategy:

1. Create Goals

Create short term and long-term goals that you want your business to achieve. These need to be realistic and measurable. This way you can monitor your progress and make changes if need be. 

2. Customers Come First

Your customers put money into your business and, without them, you wouldn’t be afloat. It is so important to focus on each customer as an individual; as they harbour different traits and buying patterns. Once these are identified, you are able to segment your accounts to increase overall metric-effectiveness.

3. Internal Communication

It is your staff that will determine whether your goals are met from this strategy. You must involve your employees in every step of the strategic process, as this will help them feel invested in the business and will benefit everyone involved.

4. Slow and Steady Wins the Race

You may feel pressured to keep up with your competition and remain ‘modern’ in your customers eyes. However, you must make changes gradually, so they can be fairly monitored and this will also give your team time to adapt. 

5. Gather as much Data as you can

Use your CRM to catalogue what kind of information your prospective customer shares from what is posted across all the social media channels. This will give you an edge in understanding what your customer wants, how they expect you to deliver on those wants, and what they are likely to want in the future.

Read more about how analytics can benefit your business here. 

6. Sync Everything

Make sure you are importing client-related appointments from your calendar, updating cancellations and other changes, and sending reminders when appropriate. Syncing everything together will help guarantee that you’re utilising your CRM to its full ability.

7. Analyse and Improve

Every business has its own unique challenges, and no CRM strategy will be without issues. You must accept this and be willing to revaluate your approach at any time. Knowing what is ineffective can often be nearly as valuable as knowing what is effective, so be grateful for every chance you must identify weaknesses in your system.

Seven simple steps on structuring your CRM strategy. Digital First already have these strategies in place however, we are constantly improving on each. We hope this article helps you!

How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose- BILL GATES

Need help with implementing a CRM system in your organisation? Contact Us and we'll walk you through each step.