We get it. CRM and CRM reports may not be the most exciting things since cake pops. But really – why invest your time, money and mental health on a system you aren’t using, or aren’t getting the most out of?
Companies are projected to spend $36 billion on CRM software by 2017, according to Gartner's Forecast: Enterprise Software Markets, Worldwide, 2012-2017, 2Q2013 Update. Another report, Current Trends in CRM Adoption and Customer Experience from Computer Economics, found that over 60% of professional or technical service companies are using some sort of CRM. It's everywhere! Yet, we hear from clients every day who say they aren't using their systems as much or as effectively as they could be.
Our latest blog series addressed this problem, and, before we close it, we want to make sure you didn’t miss a thing.
First off, before considering a CRM, consider this: you need to get certain information out of your crm, quickly and easily. This includes data on ROI, lead management, customer engagement, and campaigns. Are these available in your system? Great – then let’s put them to work!
You probably hear a lot about CRM and how it helps bridge the “sales and marketing divide.” It does more than that however! Using the types of data we mentioned above, you can be sure your operations team knows what to expect and when to expect it. No more surprises (and no more blame).
It's easy to say all of this, but do companies actually take the time to use this information? YES! We spoke with T.J. Pancake of SupportEXP, a company specializing in performance optimization consulting and training for financial institutions. You can read more here, but he sums it up nicely:
I have seen reports help us target the markets that are going to be the most efficient for us to locate our time, and to see how our previous marketing has done. I see potential on the marketing side that we haven’t tapped into yet. In addition, I see this bridging the operations-sales gap as it helps us to look to the future to see what operations we will need, as well as keeping track of calls to clients.
So by using the metrics and reports we blogged about, you can make things happen.
Now for some fun. We recently attended a wonderful gathering of local CRM users (and users-to-be). We came up with some (we think) pretty clever acronyms that are a bit more interesting than Customer Relationship Management.
- Crazy Random Mess
- Can’t Really Makesense
- Causes Real Mania
In the end, however, we concluded that with a little planning, your CRM can be your Central Relationship Master. What's your take?
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