Why You Need Bespoke CRM Solution for Your Manufacturing Business?

Six Challenges in Manufacturing That Can be Managed by CRM Program

1. Poor Inventory Management: Managing adequate stock and inventory to keep the manufacturing processes going on without a halt is a time consuming, effort sucking, and hectic task that indirectly impacts the production cost to eat out your profitability.
2. Non-Updated Business Strategies: Managing production in line with the predicted demand is a great challenge for most manufacturing businesses that still work without CRM deployment. Failure in on-time optimized production to meet the volatile demand harms your business growth rate in multiple ways.        
3. Lack of Collaboration with Channel Partners/Supply Chain: Getting real-time updates from the channel partners and supply chain stakeholders is a great challenge because it poses several problems in planning for manufacturing the particular products at priority. Shortage of in-demand product means loss of profit and customers both.
4. Failure in Understanding Future Needs and Trends: Poor data collection, management, and quick analysis refrain the manufacturing businesses from understanding the future needs and trends well in time. Delay in understanding the demand trends and customer behavior results in trailing in competitive marketplace.    
5. Lack of Communication: Lack of streamlined communication flow and absence of source for getting required information independently lead different teams towards operational inefficiencies and reduced productivity.   

Poor Support for Customers and Employees: The post-sales customer support cost is a serious concern for manufacturing businesses because of its increasing cost. Lack of support to employees is an often-neglected performance silo. The relationship management is a key task where most manufacturing businesses fail because of not having a technically advanced bespoke software program. 

In 2021, manufacturing companies from the United Kingdom spent around 34 thousand U.S. dollars on software solutions. By the last of 2023, this number is projected to surpass 37 thousand U.S. dollars. Source: https://www.statista.com/

Importance of Bespoke CRM Software for Manufacturing Businesses

• 34% B2B buyers are more likely to buy and 32% B2B buyers are more likely to renew the contract because of quality customer experience.(Source: Deloittedigital, January 2021)
• B2B companies share 55% of total CRM usage.
• “Majority of manufacturers embrace bespoke CRM software solutions to improve sales process, sales order, sales quotes, order’s status, work orders, and product dispatches”. - Mr. Shailesh Kumar, Production Manager at Web Alliance (UK)

To thrive in consumer-driven marketplace, manufacturers need to have tech-smart solutions to counter the challenges that directly or indirectly impact their growth rate. Customer experience, smooth communication, data collection, data analysis, flawless processes, future-oriented insights, informed decision-making etc are the key contributors to the growth of manufacturing industries.

Eighty-eight percent of B2B executives now consider customer experience to be very important, so, it’s clear that manufacturers need to think beyond price and features. About 65% of companies start using a CRM within their first five years in business 13% of CRM users are in the manufacturing industry. 74% of businesses say CRM software gave them improved access to customer data. Almost 60% of businesses say their productivity improved by using a CRM platform.

• “The majority on manufacturers in the UK believe that they are data-driven, when in reality they could be relying on old, out-of-date data.”- Keith Tilley
• 82 % of companies make decisions based on stale data-driven information, and,
• 85 % businesses accept that stale data leads them to incorrect decisions resulting in lost revenue. - BUSINESS WIRE, May 11, 2022

What is CRM in Manufacturing?

Manufacturing CRM solutions allow manufacturers to track and store client’s and intended users’ data-based information customized to particular objectives. The real-time data-driven information helps key decision makers take well informed smart decisions at right time to manage various aspects of production processes and supply chain including material requirement planning based on indicative forecast, master production scheduling, works order processing, estimating, inventory management, etc. The best CRM software for manufacturing businesses is designed to provide a 360-degree view of interactions of customers and other stakeholders.

Why You Should Invest in CRM for Manufacturing: Seven Benefits  

 If you still don’t have a bespoke CRM solution for manufacturing unit, you might be missing a competitive edge that your competitors have to surpass your business growth. A little investment for hiring bespoke CRM consulting and development company may help you compete and improve profitability. The key benefits of hiring a bespoke CRM development company for your manufacturing businesses are- 

• More numbers of quality leads
• Improved sales performance
• Intelligent production planning
• Accurate data-based demand forecasting for strategic planning
• Improved customer service for strengthened customer relationship
• Real-time tailored-to-need reporting to improve supply chain management
• Data- driven insights into customer behavior 

Must Have capabilities & Features of Manufacturing CRM Software

  In the competitive marketplace, no manufacturing business can afford to neglect the must-have competencies delivered by custom manufacturing CRM deployment. Every business has different workflow, target customers, challenges, and processes; therefore, ideal tailored-to-need manufacturing CRM development needs to address the identified issues and silos within and outside the organization. Seven key features of a bespoke manufacturing CRM solution that make it the best CRM program for manufacturing business, are-

• Customer Service Management: Customer case management; analysis of customers’ concerns; multichannel case development; automated customer survey
• Distributor And Dealer Relation Management: Support of pricing models; authorization management; collaboration management
• Sales Workflow Automation: Customer email templates customization; tracking of tasks for sales team; automated reminders
• Customer Retention: Customer segmentation; discount management
• Opportunity Management: Sales pipeline monitoring; opportunity prioritization; automated quote creation; Collaboration between departments; quote status tracking; management of sales agreements; sales orders tracking.
• Customer Interaction: Automated email distribution; warranty expiration reminder; promotion announcements; post-warranty service offers; equipment usage guide; multichannel communication; customer portal.
• Lead Management: Multi-channel lead capture, lead distribution, AI-driven recommendations
• 360⁰ Customer View: Customer profile data storage, customer order history, customer interaction history

How to Have Affordable Manufacturing CRM Services & Support

When you approach a CRM development agency to have bespoke CRM software to improve the growth performance of manufacturing unit, you get service and support in two major categories-

• Manufacturing CRM Implementation: If the core features and functionality of a reliable CRM platform is assessed in line with your goals, the CRM development agency strengthens it by customizing features and functionalities to bridge the automation gap. Alternatively, you can ask the Manufacturing CRM specialist company to develop, integrate, and implement the bespoke CRM solution just for your specific requirements. 
• Manufacturing CRM Consulting: The scope of Manufacturing CRM consultancy includes defining a tailored-to-need manufacturing CRM features set; preparing customization roadmap; developing business case, designing CRM architecture; providing timing and cost estimates; delivering UX & UI mock-ups; etc.  

Bespoke Manufacturing CRM Integration Options to Help You Save More

A bespoke CRM program is used to streamline and improve a number of manufacturing processes. By choosing the best suitable Manufacturing CRM integration in line with your prime concerns aligned to particular segments, you can leverage the benefits of Manufacturing CRM while saving more-

• Manufacturing CRM software + inventory management software
• Manufacturing CRM software + accounting software
• Manufacturing CRM software + PLM software
• Manufacturing CRM software + field service management software
• Manufacturing CRM software + ERP software

Pro-Note

The required features and functionalities vary according to particular business nature; therefore, customized off-the-shelf CRM solution may not deliver the expected results. Bespoke Manufacturing CRM development, integration, and implementation, supported with training and managed support service, empower you remove the efficiency silos in concerned operational areas to improve productivity, performance, and profitability.