The CRM tool for “Customer Relationship Management” is often named within companies concerning the management of customer relationships. And for good reason, CRM is software that has become essential for companies in order to centralize and coordinate all the information relating to their prospects and their customers.

Saving time and efficiency come together with the use of a CRM within your company. Here’s why…

CRM: definition

CRM is customer relationship management software. Behind this general definition hides a real toolbox offering different functions to make the most of your customer database.

Among the many features that CRM software offers, you can benefit from:

  • customer files including the sales history for each customer and possibly other key data such as the use of after-sales service for example;
  • analysis of information concerning the current state of the market on which to offer you goods and services to facilitate the implementation of marketing automation;
  • the integration of automated sales management tools;
  • an optimized after-sales service with the implementation of a call center or even chatbots;

When a company begins to develop and increase its customer record, CRM becomes an essential customer relationship management tool so as not to make mistakes or blunders that could break the trust and loyalty of customers already acquired.

CRM: how does it work?

A CRM offers different functionalities which, for each of them, play an important role in the personalization of the follow-up of each customer contact. At a time when the sale of goods and services has no more borders, customer loyalty is essential to ensure the sustainability of your business. A customer who notices that his needs and any past disappointments have been taken into account with a product or service will be more inclined to remain loyal to the same company that offers him listening and personalized follow-up.

For this, the main tools offered by CRM software are focused on:

  • the marketing strategy adopted by the company;
  • sales management;
  • optimized after-sales service by creating multiple channels for receiving complaints and questions.

Whatever marketing strategy your company adopts, it must be as close as possible to the needs of your customers. For this, it is essential to build up a customer database that includes all sales, after-sales service recourse, and returns from your various advertising campaigns.

These different data represent one of the strong pillars of the growth of your company. In order to limit the risk of errors concerning the interpretation of these different data, it is essential to centralize them in a single CRM tool. Indeed, CRM software offers a visual more impactful than a simple Excel file.

In addition, CRM can also integrate a sales management tool. Your sales teams will then be able to focus on retaining new customers and no longer waste time on sales management.

In addition, the quality of customer service has a large influence on the trust and retention of your customers. A defective product or a service that does not meet the result sought by the customer can occur in all businesses. In this situation, the customer seeks above all a reactive after-sales service that can offer him a quick solution to his full satisfaction in the event of problems.

Some complaints require personalized follow-up by a call center. Other difficulties can be resolved quickly by the customer himself by setting up a chatbot for example. In both cases, the responses to the customer must be consistent across the company, in order to maintain customer trust. For this, the use of a CRM is once again essential.

CRM at the service of customer relations

The customer relationship is at the center of a company’s growth. In order to nurture the company’s image with customers and best meet their needs, the customer database is becoming a very valuable tool for salespeople as well as for after-sales service.

The definition of CRM is unambiguous about its usefulness. The acronym CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, which can be translated into English as “customer relationship management”, highlights the particular importance to be brought to your customer relationship.

So that all employees in contact with customers can have quick and easy access to the various data in the customer file, the CRM makes it possible to centralize the customer database in the same software. Both sales representatives and customer service managers will be able to consult this database, in order to offer a response adapted to each customer in a customer-centric approach.

In addition, the simplified and centralized accessibility of customer file data allows a company to adapt its self-care tools, in order to offer immediate and precise answers responding to recurring customer questions. These tools can take the form of dynamic FAQs or chatbots.

The data collected in a company’s CRM software also helps optimize an omnichannel customer journey. The omnichannel approach makes it possible to provide uniform content between the various information media of a company, in order to limit the risk of divergent content between several media (email, phone call, contact form on the website, social networks, etc.). 

The advantages of CRM software

The advantages of using CRM software in a company are numerous and mainly allow a real saving of time and efficiency regarding the different sales and customer requests.

Among the main advantages identified with companies using a CRM, are at the top of the list:

  • centralization of customer data in the same CRM software;
  • facilitated work between the various managers and sales representatives of the company with access to the same up-to-date customer database that can be used with ERP software, for example.

CRM has therefore become an essential tool for companies wishing to develop their activity in a sustainable manner. CRM software makes it possible to adopt a marketing strategy focused on customer loyalty and the conversion of prospects into customers. CRM can be combined with an inbound marketing strategy which consists of attracting prospects to your company, without having to canvass them.