A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is THE critical tool that any business organisation must have. It is one of the most popular sales tools used by most sales professionals – with 91% of companies with more than 11 employees now using CRM software.

As the name implies, it is a tool that helps salespeople to better facilitate a working relationship with their prospective and existing customers. It can make a difference between a relationship that benefits both business and customer, and one that leaves everyone feeling unsatisfied.

With virtually every company having a CRM software to streamline their sales operations, it is safe to say that it is a major competitive weapon that a business cannot afford to ignore.

However, if knowing its pervasiveness in today’s sales landscape is not enough to convince you to invest in one, then let us break down its ROI for you. According to IBM, the ROI for CRM is substantial; when fully integrated, a company can achieve the following benefits:

• 50% improvement in team productivity.
• 65% boost in sales quotas.
• 50% reduction in labour cost.
• 74% of businesses improve customer relationships.

To break down these statistics, we detail in this post the top six benefits of CRM software in business.

1. Manage Leads and Customers in One Place

As you collect more information about your leads and customers, the more capable you become in providing them with a personalised experience. However, to maximise that information, you need to store them in one centralised database – and not just jot them down on sticky notes or file them in disorganised cabinets.

A CRM software serves as a one-stop-shop where you can access and share leads, and customers record much more effectively to a relevant sales representative. So, regardless of whom the customer is interacting with, they will have the same information instantly available. This leads to a reduced time spent on the sales process both by the clients and of the employees.

2. Improve Communication with Clients

By having a central repository of all customer interactions, it will be much easier for your employees to understand the unique preferences and needs of the customer even though it is their first time meeting/speaking with them. With most CRM software being cloud-based, sales representatives can quickly pull customer data while away from their office desk. This means they can discuss details of the deal with clients with accuracy and precision – whenever and wherever they are.

3. Provide Excellent Customer Service

With a CRM software, your customer’s issues can be resolved much quicker and more efficiently. Since sales representatives can retrieve all customer’s past purchases, preferences, and interactions, they will be able to come up with a solution much faster. If the sales representative in question cannot determine a solution, they can tag other representatives to the deal, or even crowdsource for answers through customer portals.

4. Spend Less Time on Menial Tasks

Sales activities are considered as the most critical sales metric because they are the only ones that can be directly controlled and influenced. So, if your sales representatives spend more time on menial tasks rather than on more important activities, it means that you are wasting the opportunity to influence your profits directly.

Instead of doing all things manually – from filling out reports to sending follow-up emails – a CRM software allows you to leverage automation so that you can take the burden of many of these routine tasks off your employees’ shoulders. This means that your salespeople can focus more of their time and efforts towards closing leads and resolving customer issues, while the CRM software takes care of the rest.

5. Increase Transparency

Transparency is crucial to ensure that a sales organisation functions efficiently and without any internal conflicts. One of the ways CRM software improves team transparency is by automating the assignment of leads. By automating this process, your team is less likely to think that they are being treated unfairly and that the process has been impartial.

A CRM software also shows who has achieved the most sales and why their output is being commended. By making this information accessible to all team members, internal clashes can be avoided, and the team would be much more open to working with each other – which then leads to better productivity and improved sales.

6. Get Detailed Sales Analytics

Lastly, a CRM software enables you to leverage more powerful analytics features which can help you analyse sales data and get deep insights with ease and efficiency. With a CRM software such as Pipedrive, you can determine which channel provides the highest quality leads, where your customers live, and demography that most of your leads and customer belong to.

Additionally, you can also identify which customers bring in the most money to your business, and even gauge the performance of each of your sales representatives. With this data at hand, you can make better business decisions, and help your sales team achieve the established targets.

Through a smarter and more systematic sales processes, better teamwork, and new insights gained from sales data, a CRM helps companies to adopt customer-centric business models that enable them to achieve long-term growth.

To learn more contact KONA Group today on 1300 611 288 or send an email to info@kona.com.au.