What is CRM? What are the Benefits of Using CRM?
Many companies know that focusing on both products and customers is more beneficial than solely focusing on products. Companies that prefer to follow such a policy aim to maintain customer satisfaction at the highest level to survive in a competitive market. At this point, CRM, which is a crucial tool for ensuring customer satisfaction, is one of the most preferred elements by companies in today’s digital age. With CRM, companies can easily analyze and report, and manage customer relationships on various topics. In the content, you can find detailed information about what CRM is and its benefits, and access a comprehensive guide on the CRM system.
What is CRM?
The abbreviation of CRM is “Customer Relationship Management.” CRM, which stands for “Customer Relationship Management”, is software that improves existing business operations and enhances business relationships for companies operating in business life. In other words, CRM encompasses all the techniques, tools, software, technology, and strategies that can be used to acquire customers, retain existing customers, and provide customer-focused solutions.
It is crucial for today’s companies to know the desires and needs of their customers in order to establish better and more effective communication with them. Once relevant customer information is collected, processing and managing this data becomes critically important for companies. At this point, companies use specialized software to manage and track the data they have obtained. These software solutions also have various functions such as storing data, ensuring its security, integrating it into systems, and statistically interpreting this data. Another answer to the question of CRM could be that it is an aid in managing all relationships with current and potential customers.
Among the important functions of CRM are retaining existing customers, reaching potential customers in their target audience, and acquiring new customers. Additionally, when requested, CRM software can collect and process various data obtained from different sources, including websites, email call centers, sales, marketing, and advertising.
The Main Features of CRM
Many experts in the field of human resources and management emphasize the importance of building and maintaining a customer portfolio. It is directly related to managing communications for this purpose. Data analysis can be conducted to examine the large amount of information stored in the database. Additionally, the primary goal of customer relationship management systems is to integrate marketing, sales, and post-sales customer relationship management processes and automate these processes. The use of CRM in this process can reduce error rates and increase customer satisfaction.
As is known, managing relationships with customers is an ongoing process. Therefore, it meets the dynamism that needs to be continuous in the digital environment. Furthermore, it prioritizes the needs of customers.
CRM is not just a technological product. It also represents an integrated system that encompasses the organization’s culture and knowledge of adopting a technological system by employees. Apart from these, CRM’s three different approaches to differentiation can be defined as follows:
- Process-oriented: A system continuously used by a company to nurture and manage its relationships with customers.
- Technological: A cloud-based system used to continuously record interactions between the company and users, provide output in the form of reports, and analyze data.
- Strategic: A philosophy that determines how a company’s relationships with customers and other potential customers should be managed.
A company can utilize the data obtained through CRM by detailing it. For example, it can use this data to offer personalized opportunities and campaigns for its customers, improve its products and services, develop cross-selling strategies, and ultimately strengthen customer support to increase brand value.
Who Should Use CRM Software?
CRM software is often used by sales and human resources teams, as well as department managers. However, over time, CRM software solutions have evolved and become useful for new areas as well. Other sectors that commonly use CRM include service, marketing, and commerce.
Continuous actions are required for the development of CRM. These actions include collecting customer information, analyzing the acquired data, expanding and deepening this information, and continually improving the results.
Benefits of Using CRM
CRM software are highly powerful systems that consolidate data from sales potentials and customers into a single place for companies. Thus, they record all calls, meetings, emails, and provide valuable data to the company by analyzing them. Other benefits of using CRM can be summarized under the following headings:
Providing Enhanced Customer Experience
In the increasingly globalized world, customers expect personalized and fast support around the clock. CRM systems can assist in providing the high-quality service customers expect. With CRM software, orders placed by customers can be quickly viewed, and records of each interaction can be accessed to provide prompt responses to customer inquiries.
Having a Clear Perspective
Having a clear perspective on customers is provided by CRM systems. With advanced software, a customer’s history with the company, the status of their orders, pending issues, and more can be viewed in one place. Moreover, social media activities in public areas, likes and dislikes, and posts about your company and/or competitors can also be tracked by including them in the system.
Identifying potential customers
CRM software can help identify new prospective customers quickly and easily, allowing you to add them to your customer network and classify them correctly. This way, you can focus your sales efforts directly on your target prospects. Additionally, you can create more appealing plans for prospects who require more attention and add them to your company’s customer portfolio. With CRM, you can classify the most accurate information about customers and their expectations. It enables you to focus your sales and marketing skills on the right customer target.
Providing Product and Service Improvement
Working with a CRM system gathers information not only about your business but also from various sources in the industry. It functions as a sort of “customer tracking” engine, easily accessing individuals’ thoughts, opinions, predictions, expectations, and feedback about your company, products, and/or services. This allows you to detect overlooked issues early and address any concerns or doubts individuals may have.
Making teamwork more efficient
Thanks to CRM, you can view and manage all data related to both customers and sales from a single center. This allows you to have up-to-date information on active sales, meeting requests, proposals, and orders. With CRM software, you can enable your employees to work with a common mind. It fills in each other’s gaps, thereby increasing business productivity.
Providing Effective Management in Internal Company Affairs
With CRM software, many internal company processes can be managed more effectively. For example, you can assign tasks to any team member and easily track their progress. Additionally, since your assignments are instantly notified to the relevant person, you don’t need to spend extra time on communication. Similarly, you can be notified instantly when tasks are completed.
What are some popular CRMs?
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Zoho
- Microsoft Dynamics 365
- PipedriveFreshworks (formerly Freshsales)
- InsightlyCopper (formerly ProsperWorks)
- Bitrix24
- Agile CRM