Yes, CRM in capitals, because it would be a capital mistake to have customers and not have a tool to measure everything that happens with your main source of funding: “YOUR CUSTOMERS”.
You can carry on making do with an Excel spreadsheet, keeping thousands of emails, jotting everything down in a diary or, better still, trusting your excellent memory…
When it comes to your customers’ information, better not to take chances, especially nowadays when there are a dozen CRM solutions, some of them even free.
In my case, ever since I joined Xerox in 2000, a purely sales-driven company, I started using a CRM as a routine part of my day-to-day, and since then I’ve tried almost all of them. It was called EXCALIBUR, and as usual there were salespeople who didn’t use it because they found it complicated, and those of us who got the most out of it.
So if you still don’t have a CRM, you’re living in the last century!!!!
What do I want a CRM for?
To know everything, absolutely everything, about your customers.
A customer’s basic details: Their name, position, company, contact details, how you met them (referral, event, cold call), on what date, and any other details that might be of interest (who they report to in their company, their hobbies, whether they have children, etc.)
A company’s basic details: Your customer works for a company, right? So gather all the information you can about it. The full address, contact phone numbers, website, blog, social profiles, turnover, when it was founded and who calls the shots there, its main executives.
Leads, business opportunities: The heart of the matter. You have to record every call or contact interested in your product or service, and that’s called a LEAD. Add all the information: who they are, which company they’re from, how they found you (marketing channel), what product or service they want, the value of the deal and when you expect to close the sale.
Before setting up your CRM
Be very clear about your range of products and services, the different acquisition channels you’re going to use and how many people will be involved in the customer service process. Remember that your CRM has to work before, during and after you win a customer: you need to capture all of the customer’s information, every contact you have with them, incidents, attachments, contracts, emails…
Choosing a CRM:
It’s not as complicated as it seems, because in the end practically all of them will meet your basic needs and you’ll be able to adapt them. There are free versions for companies with few employees. The most important thing is that it’s easy to use and that you train your team well so that they adopt it in their daily routine: administration, marketing, sales… every department.
Above all, make sure the one you choose is in the cloud and has a mobile app.
The ones I know and have used:
- Salesforce.com: Its programs are more focused on the sales force, but it’s one of the market leaders
- Oracle (Siebel): more geared to large companies and especially useful for call and contact centres.
- SAGE CRM: a classic that also has a version focused exclusively on sales, Saleslogix.
- Microsoft CRM: Microsoft Dynamics.
- Zoho CRM: It has a free version that’s fairly complete, intuitive and easy to use.
- MasAdmin: especially for shops
- Insightly: Ideal for Gmail or Google Apps, but also for Outlook.
- And the most powerful, the one you’ll never outgrow and the one I currently use after trying them all: HUBSPOT. The best things about it are the tags and the charts for measuring results by person, lead, status, etc.
If you’re keen to get started and don’t know where to begin, I can help: felix@conectandoempresas.es
Categories