CRM Software

Introducing CRM Software. A Comprehensive Guide and Historical Overview of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software

What is CRM (customer relationship management) Software?

CRM Software is a software that helps to manage a company’s interactions and relationships with both potential and current customers. CRM software builds up the customer relationship through managing client interaction, tracking leads, and streamlining processes. CRM’s overall goal is to boost and increase sales by improving business relationships.

Customer relationship management is not just about managing people after they become your customers. The ultimate goal is about how you manage people before and after they become your customers.

How CRM Software Helps You To Enhance And Manage Customer Relations?

Any sales rep knows getting a qualified lead is not an easy task. Nurturing them is even harder. Converting them (lead) to your customer is the ultimate challenge.

Customer relationship management is not just about managing people after they become your customers. The ultimate goal is about how you manage people before and after they become your customers.

When you send a welcome email to a customer who’s just signed up for your CRM product, you take the first step towards building a relationship with that customer. When you focus on your leads and respond quickly to their queries, that’s another sign of building good customer relationship management. And when they finally sign on, leaving them with no second thoughts on post-sales support is part of the CRM package.

If you want to do all these tasks without missing out on a single move, you need help. A telephony software can let you jump on a quick call, an email client can help you send emails, but when these diverse tools are spread around your desk, it can become very difficult.

How does CRM work?

CRM software includes the functionalities which will allow the users to track down the customers and interaction of the company through various available channels which include a contact form, emails, phone calls and etc.

CRM software provides the sales and marketing teams with a set of tools that will help to manage the entire sales and marketing funnel, starting from lead qualification to opportunity management, forecasting of the sales, and deal closure. CRM software will enable the customer service team to manage the requests of all the customers and automate the service operations by following custom pre-defined processes for customer care excellence.

CRM systems are packed with the features of tracking which records interactions of numerous customers online. In addition, CRM will also automate the sales process and provides managers with the tools which allow tracking and measuring the company’s productivity and performances. For example, CRM will remind you of the tasks that you need to complete at the given time. You can also perform pre-scheduled activities like sending emails and also initiating phone calls. Everything can be recorded easily with the help of CRM, giving you enough time to make better action plans to close potential deals.

How does Customer Relationship Management work

With a CRM system, it doesn’t have to be challenging

CRM software tool brings multiple functionalities— email, phone, report creation, analytics, activity tracking, automations—into one system. So instead of switching tools every few minutes, you’ll stay on one tool, get all the functionalities you need, and have a 360° view of every customer—always. This gives you more time to focus on the human aspect of sales: reaching out and solving people’s needs.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software stores customer information, interactions and analytics within a central database that users can access anytime, anywhere. In more detail, CRM systems assist with:

Sales

Generate and assign leads, track where each customer is in the sales cycle, view customer history and keep tabs on accounts and renewals.

Service

Monitor and track sales and service records and resolve customer service incidents.

Marketing

Administer and manage marketing campaigns, send targeted emails and qualify leads. Some CRMs also have include marketing automation functionality.

Distribution Analytics

View trends, drill into the details of your sales pipeline and build customized reports for a thorough analysis.

Benefits From CRM Software

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Winning customer trust

When you have a 360° view of your prospects you understand them better, and you make the kind of decisions that create lasting relationships with them.

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More business opportunities

You can tap into the rich context in CRM software to up-sell and cross-sell smarter. Your deals are always alive, they’re just waiting to become sizable.

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Pipelines without bottlenecks

Spot and eliminate stagnant deals faster, zero in on the hottest deals and transform your pipeline into an updated and dynamic sales engine.

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No more data entry

Spreadsheets and emails expect you to enter data by default. CRM software are built to free up your time for real sales activities.

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Purity in communication

Customers don’t have to repeat information, and reps can use historical context to promptly take conversations forward.

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Utility beyond sales

Customer support and marketing teams can also use CRM tool to optimize email campaigns and improve ticket conversations.

Key Features of CRM Software

Contact Management

A 360° View of Your Customers

Relationships are the lifeline of your business. The more you know about your customer contacts, the more successful your business will be in the market. CRM software provides a powerful contact management solution that helps you keep track of all your customers, leads, partners, vendors, suppliers, etc. You can store key contact information, email and communication history, purchase history data, case study, notes, preferences, documents, contracts, quotes, invoices and more, giving you a complete picture of every relationship. The best part of an online CRM software – as this information is stored within a centralized database, it can be accessed by different users in real-time anywhere and anytime.

Lead Management

Complete Visibility of Your Opportunities

If you are working on closing multiple deals at different stages within your sales pipeline, or have a lengthy or complex sales cycle, keeping track of all the details can be challenging. Opportunities can fall through the cracks. That’s where CRM software system comes into effect and plays an important role to handle this situation. It gives you complete visibility into your sales pipeline so you can efficiently move leads through your pipeline, guiding sales reps through predefined steps to the final sale. Lead and Opportunity management also gives you a better understanding of how your sales cycle work, so you can make tweaks when necessary. With more information at your fingertips at real time, you can uncover the best opportunities and focus resources where they matter most.

Customer Service Management

Deliver Impressive Customer Service

A good and efficient CRM tool should not only help you obtain new customers, but also help you retain the ones you’ve already won. Many CRM solutions offer customer service tools for assigning and escalating cases, tracking incidents and managing customer contracts and agreements. It can also be used as a central database to collect and store product expertise so your service team can quickly and easily find the information they need to resolve issues.

The customer service functionality in CRM software is designed to act as a central hub containing accurate, up to date information about all of your customers and their communications with your business.

Marketing Management

Plan & Execute Targeted Marketing Campaigns

Does your company concurrently manage multiple marketing campaigns across multiple channels? If yes, then you may benefit from CRM’s campaign management functionality. This feature enables you to execute multi-phased marketing campaigns that can be targeted based on customer demographics, online behaviors, purchase patterns, customer support incidents and more. You can design campaigns to attract new customers, nurture leads, target a specific audience, cross-sell products and so forth. Some CRMs like SalesBabu CRM also include email marketing functionality that’s fully integrated with your contact database, so you can send highly targeted emails. Best yet, you can use CRM software tool to analyze the effectiveness of each campaign and make data-driven decisions to increase company profitability.

When things do not go well and the customer does not buy the product, sales team can still benefit from nurturing. Introspecting and understanding the reason why the deal fell through; would be an indicator of how to further nurture the prospect. In a few cases, the timing may not be the best— an important project is underway, the budget was already drafted or the decision maker is away on vacation. These are some factors that are clearly beyond our control. In other ways, they would have been looking for a feature that is not in the product. This, once again, is a difficult situation to be in. This leads to an inevitable Closed Lost business. But all hope is not yet lost. Using email marketing, nurturing the lead could help revive the sales.

Characteristics of a Great CRM System

Smooth & Easy Integration

Rather than spending loads of time doing data entry and transferring data to your CRM, a good system will give you the ability to quickly and seamlessly import data from different software and third-party tools, eliminating manual data importing and dual data entry. It’s a win-win.

Use friendly

No matter how extensive a CRM system is, if users can’t easily learn it, your system will basically be rendered useless. Software with intuitive interfaces and great user training and support is crucial. The point of CRM is to increase efficiency and an easy to use software helps drive that point home.

Adaptability & Growth

Growth is an important part and indicator of success, whether that is with customers, employee size, or both. With those changes, you need flexibility and adaptability from your chosen CRM software. A great CRM software fits your current needs but is also equipped to grow with you and for you.

How to successfully implement your CRM system

CRM software is only as good as the humans using it. And the humans using it need a strong strategy to connect the dots behind the data. Different businesses run on different models, of course, but if you’re wondering how to implement your CRM effectively, you can start with these four points:

Define your use cases

Does your business involve extensive cold calling? Or do most of your leads come inbound? How many emails do you send on average every day? Does your business depend on field sales or inside sales or both? These are not the exact questions you should be asking yourself, but asking such questions is the first step towards consolidating your use cases.

Like the product-market match, look for use case-CRM fit

If your business thrives on email outreach, your CRM should let you track email opens and link clicks in real time, while also helping you send bulk emails. If your business depends on international calling, your CRM should have an in-built phone with the ability to buy numbers from across the globe.

Have SMART expectations from your CRM software

Always remember to have SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) expectations from the CRM software. It’s the difference between increasing your deals and increasing the number of closed deals by 100% in 30 days.

Help your sales team engage with the CRM system

CRM tool can’t be imposed on your reps; they need to use it to feel happy about it. If the CRM has a free trial, get your reps to sign up right away. It’s a great way to find out everything about the CRM, including the kind of support on offer. This also ensures your team is more invested in the software if/when you make a purchasing decision.

Who Can Use CRM System?

No matter the size of your business, if you have customers or the need to manage relationships with clients, vendors, partners, suppliers, etc. you can benefit from a Customer Relationship Management solution

Startups

Startups – New businesses that normally have a smaller number of employees and customers, as they are just beginning in their respective industries. Investing in a CRM software for startup business is a smart way to plan ahead and prepare for future growth. It also helps these businesses stay organized and efficient from the very beginning, without having to unlearn bad habits down the road.

Small and medium sized business (SMB)

SMBs have more industry experience, more employees to manage and normally more customers. They probably have a bigger sales team working on multiple deals at various stages within the sales pipeline, making it more challenging to keep track of all the details without missing an opportunity. This is where CRM software in your business can make a huge impact.

Large enterprise sized businesses

Large and enterprise level organizations have even more moving parts and added complexity: more number of employees, more locations, a more broad supply chain, and more departments, and customers to manage. For these businesses, CRM software can behave as a virtual assistant. Recording ample amounts of customer information that is impossible to do manually, is key. Like SMB’s, CRM solution also brings organization, placing all your data in a centralized location. CRM tool also makes user collaboration easier and makes sure communication doesn’t slip to the wayside.

Why Choose SalesBabu CRM?

SalesBabu CRM offers a wide variety of CRM categories and systems to meet the needs for various industry verticals including Sales, Service, Analytics serving customers in the market.

At the end of the day, the only CRM that offers the full range of features and functionality, at a cost that is scalable to fit any business, is SalesBabu CRM. And, with the free demo and a trial offered to all new prospective clients, that’s a truth that you’ll be able to discover for yourself. Still, you may be wondering what other advantages there are in choosing SalesBabu CRM. Let’s take a moment and identify a few:

SalesBabu CRM Grows Revenue. To grow revenue, you need more than a simple CRM application—you need SalesBabu. Managing contacts is just the starting point. With the most trusted CRM, you can track all sales activity—every lead, opportunity, and customer; and take action from anywhere, anytime, enabling you to spend more time selling to the lead who are interested, ready with their personal marketing data and social insights.

SalesBabu CRM is customer focused with our affordable pay model, the cost of success is dramatically lower. Taken altogether, these and other advantages show that SalesBabu CRM is focused on providing you a superior service, at an affordable price.

SalesBabu CRM Is Completely Cloud-Based Application. A CRM system in the cloud means that users can have its full functional access, without having to install costly in-house hardware or computer servers. No hardware means you will be up and running and positively impacting your business in no time at all. Everything comes to you with SalesBabu CRM solution—contacts and accounts, leads and opportunities, forecasting, analytics, notifications, contact management, etc.—creating a powerful workflow, so you can configure the Sales CRM to your business requirements. Here’s why SalesBabu is most Trusted best CRM software for all businesses

SalesBabu CRM solution provides a complete Customer Management Solution. Our CRM software is fully mobile, and covers every customer touch point and every stage of the customer lifecycle, so you can close leads, log calls, and do it all from anywhere anytime. At the same time, sales activity monitoring and tracking ensures instantaneous customer updates, so there are no surprises when you are on the move.

SalesBabu Is Most Trusted Best CRM Software Today, many companies—large, medium, and small—use SalesBabu CRM to close their deals, faster. Using SalesBabu CRM is as easy as clicking a button, which means better adoption rates, and more effective collaboration, mobilization, and revenue growth. Why use SalesBabu CRM? Simple, because customers, analysts, and industry experts agree, when it comes to CRM, SalesBabu CRM is synonymous with ‘ease of use.’

Customer satisfaction will always be the most key focus of any business. More so than any other elements, your relationship with your customer is what will define your success. So, ask yourself: What is that relationship worth?

Investing in a SaaS, scalable, customer focused CRM solution will enable your organization to cater a satisfying experience to the people who keep you in business, and to do so on a personal level. SalesBabu CRM empowers you to provide an effective, custom experience for every one of your customers, whether you have a customer base numbering in the dozens, or millions.

No matter what services or products you may offer, the truth is that customer satisfaction and happiness is your business. And, with SalesBabu CRM solutions, business is good. Click for free CRM software DEMO

The Life and Death of Customer Relationship Management Software. Present-day CRM software first arrived during the 1990s with the push from contact management software, toward SFA (Sales Force Automation. SFA made it possible to retain the functionality of contact management software, while automating certain key tasks, such as customer interaction monitoring and tracking. The word CRM originated during mid 90s, and brought the concept of customer relationship management (CRM) firmly to the fore-front of business discussion, resulting in more and more organizations investing in creating CRM software applications. The increase in competition led to a more varied selection of CRM applications, each offering a wider collection of services.

These improvements to CRM software allowed for more concrete and focused marketing efforts, greater ability to address individual customer pains, and an improved level of automation. This resulted in increased time efficiency for the organizations in question, and an enhanced ROI over previous software tools. However, CRM did not become the unparalleled gamechanger it is today, until the introduction of the cloud.

CRM Software In The Cloud.

The term cloud is used to describe the use of computers in a network to store and process digital information. This digital information can then be accessed from anywhere, anytime around the globe through an internet connection via web-based CRM applications. Cloud also grant users to integrate across various platforms, accessing each-other, continually updated information, all without the need for expensive in-house hardware installation and maintenance. In short, the cloud brought with it a means by which companies could bring together their customer-service strategies.

Today’s CRM software is an extensive, comprehensive automated solution for all aspects of the customer journey. And by improving the customer experience, organizations that invest in CRM are seeing highly positive results. Taken all together, CRM software is a world-wide beneficial solution to the issue of customer relationships, and will doubtless remain an essential factor in business success for years to come. However, before a company can begin to reap the benefits of advanced CRM software solutions, it must first understand the functions, features, and capabilities that make CRM solution valuable. This will make possible to better understand and determine which tools and CRM software solutions are the correct fit for a particular organization.