The whole idea behind Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is to ‘track and profit’ from the customers retained in the portfolio through business operations CRM is a customer-focused strategy that requires a fine coordination between both people and processes. A truly coordinated CRM system is a tool for delivering on a variety of marketing outcomes

  • Target and serve customers on an individual basis
  • Permits a one-to-one marketing as opposed to mass marketing
  • Long term relationships with customers (especially with profitable ones)
  • Remove intermediates/channels of wasteful barriers and distortions
  • Reduce Marketing costs

CRM

A report published in the Harvard Business Review identified that an increase in customer loyalty by five percent could increase profits in telecom by over 50 percent (Cockburn, 2000). A recent study by ICL for a UK Telco highlights importance of retention of profitable customers, especially the top ten percent of profitable customers in terms of generating additional revenue and profit.

The benefits of CRM

1. Improved Sales Performance

The best CRM software allows the follow-up of top quality leads and reduce TIME wastage following prospects - Win rates are drastically improved. You can also check customer buying history to identify potential leads, upset opportunities, or, most importantly, repeat customers.

Top customers are highlighted making them more personalized, increasing engagement and conversion. Weak links in the sales process can easily pinpointed and addressed.

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2. Increased Profitability & Efficiency

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Profitability is creating efficient processes across your business operations to ensure sales are not lost and costs are minimized. Using CRM, data can quickly be accessed by employees to serve customers varying needs or to address a critical business process.

Customer engagement such as calls or emails can be tracked so the necessary actions can be fulfilled. The best performance areas are easier to identify, making rewarding employees easier.

Other forms of efficiency include reduced training cost by implementation of CRM tools

3. Faster tactical decision making

When a clients information is stored in one place, and tracked centrally through one platform then things can be tracked and easily analysed on the fly. No need to follow-up other team members and “see where things are at”.

Many businesses who fail to use a CRM often find various bits of information are stored in the minds of each of their sales people, but there is no single consolidated source giving a overview as a whole of that potential lead or existing clients. Therefore a CRM gives a perfect reference for a sales team and business owner to see where things are at and track a customers interactions with the company.

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4. Stronger data security

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Think about it - when you have your planner or diary lying around at a cafe while you go to the bathroom, anyone can pinch it! The barrier to getting in and finding out your customers information is much lower when you don’t use a CRM system effectively. Therefore its important you consider using a CRM system like Magnetize because all of your customers information and notes are stored in a place no one without authorisation can access them. You basically have better control! Better control over what people can access, what is visible to what people, and no need to worry about someone ‘stealing’ your customers information and important notes.

Think about it: If all your customers notes were in your diary and you lose it, you’ve lost everything! A CRM system means even if your office burnt down (god forbid) then at least everything is safe in the cloud and you can get back up and running quickly.

5. Optimized mobility

Many CRM’s allow for easy access wherever one may be. Back when businesses were using planners, journals and spreadsheets, data wasn’t easily accessible. Now businesses can utilise a CRM like Magnetize and easily have information at their fingertips, within seconds, anywhere in the world.

Businesses who fail to adopt a CRM lose out to their competitors who do because they aren’t at the front of the race, they aren’t able to easily and quickly access the information they need to.

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