What is the purpose of a CRM system?

It's true - CRM systems have become an integral part of many businesses. But are many of these businesses enjoying the benefits that they should be? In this article, we'll explore the purpose of CRM systems and discuss how they can bring order, efficiency and growth to your business. We'll highlight the key features that make CRM systems so valuable.

What are the key benefits of a CRM system?

Let's look at the principal benefits of a well-structured CRM system –

1. Generating leads

The more structured the lead generation process is, the higher quality will be the leads in your database. Here are a few examples of how a CRM will help modernise and streamline your lead generation - 

- New record creation from emails

When someone drops you an email, it means they already know your company exists and can potentially be interested in buying your product. A good CRM will 'scrape' lead data from an email in just one click.

- New record creation from web forms

Web form lead generation is a powerful way to enrich your database with high-quality leads. A CRM automates the process. No more manually copy-pasting the data from form submissions into a spreadsheet. Your CRM will pull and centralise all the field data from the completed form.

- New record creation from LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great source for new leads. The best CRMs offer integrations that automate the process of importing the details for you with just a couple of clicks.

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2. A CRM will help you to build and maintain better customer relationships

Relationship marketing should be among your most important and effective marketing strategies. The difference between a lead that converts and one that doesn't is all about the quality of the relationship you build with them.

You need to gain customer trust. This generates loyalty and brand advocacy. Here are different ways that an effective CRM system will achieve this - 

• Setting automatic workflows to congratulate customers and leads on important anniversaries or holidays.
• Storing your communication history with leads and customers.
• Improving customer satisfaction - reducing response time and improving the quality of customer support.
• Increasing customer retention. With automated workflows, your customers are never left unattended. You're always there for them with the right message. 

3. Using your CRM to report sales

There are so many benefits to CRM sales reporting.

• Highlighting patterns in specific areas of impact.
• Identifying 'blockages' in your sales funnel.
• Bringing structure to business processes.
• Monitoring your business activities.
• Analysing your sales performance.
• Calculating employee commission.
• Motivating your sales team by giving them a sense of direction.

The best CRM systems will create a vast array of reports, including

• Sales pipeline report
• Total sales report
• Sales by customer report
• Sales by owner report
• Time in stage report
• Lost reason report
• Lead source report

4. We build better employee relationships with CRM

Often neglected is the huge benefit that a good CRM system will bring to your organisation in the form of enhancing the employee experience. People like working with efficient processes and will become more productive.

An employee who is happy with their tasks and working conditions will inevitably work faster and, more importantly, convert more. CRM systems automate a range of tasks and processes, such as manual data entry and data enrichment, allowing your people to focus on more important, profit-generating tasks.

5. Email auto-linking

Your CRM system will automatically link all sent and received emails to your CRM's relevant records. All communication with any one recipient is stored in one place, no matter which manager leads the thread.

6. Using your CRM for round-robin scheduling

CRM also allows for a fairer distribution of tasks between employees. For example, it will allow your employees to set up a workflow that automatically creates a new task whenever a new lead enters the sales pipeline. It assigns sales reps to it on a round-robin basis.

What are the pros and cons of a Custom vs a Generic CRM system?

Business Custom Features

The generic CRM solution is great if you want a simple way of managing customers, but it may not offer all the features your business needs. A customised service can be tailored to meet individual requirements with its easy-to-use tools and advanced functions that fulfil every need in one package.

Scalability and Adjustments 

Custom CRM software is the best option for your business because it allows you to make changes and stay ahead of competitors. The generic solution might sometimes offer some basic advancements, but they won't be specific to your business needs.

Development Timeframe and Cost

A custom-built CRM system can take many weeks, even months, to develop, whereas an off-the-shelf system can be implemented almost overnight.

Bespoke CRM Systems that work for your organisation

Introducing a custom CRM system into your business will bring countless benefits - order, efficiency and growth.  To get the most out of your CRM system, you need to understand its purpose and key features. Find out how a bespoke CRM system will benefit your business.

Your Web Alliance custom CRM system will be the perfect tool for both managing prospects as well as marketing to your existing customers. We design our systems to work for you - not the other way round. You'll have all the data and all the processes you need at your fingertips, poised to work on your behalf.

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