Top 5 Benefits of CRM Applications

By Neil Zawacki
Updated: August 19, 2011

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a powerful tool that allows a small business to automate and organize its interactions with the public. It also has numerous applications for sales, marketing, and customer support.

Here are the top five benefits of CRM applications:

1) Time Saved

One of the main problems with old systems was that information was stored in different locations. If a team member needed data about a customer, he would have to log onto multiple (and sometimes disconnected) systems in order to retrieve it. This could take a great deal of time to accomplish in many instances.

CRM allows you to quickly share data throughout the company. The sales department has access to the same information as the marketing department and can use it whenever they need to follow up on a lead. This can greatly improve coordination and result in higher productivity for the business.

2) Money Saved

CRM can save a business a substantial amount of money over time. Operational costs are greatly reduced upon implementation, and inefficient work methods can be quickly identified and eliminated. It also only requires a minimal investment in technology to get the CRM system up and running.

Another way that CRM helps to save money is through the significantly reduced number of misplaced invoices. All outstanding debts are immediately flagged and visible to the small business. You also save money since your customers will be entering their own orders a lot of the time.

3) Improved Marketing

CRM can be used to create and manage highly-effective marketing campaigns. It keeps a full record of customer demographics and order histories, so companies know who to target in a particular endeavor. Customers who seem to have no interest in an upcoming product can be filtered out of the campaign.

4) Customer Satisfaction

CRM can provide your agents with integrated data about past interactions with customers. They can know if the person has contacted the company before, what the problem was, and whether it was resolved. This information can speed the resolution of a problem and shows the customer that they are not being forgotten as soon as they hang up the phone.

The solutions also create a sense of ‘partnership’ between the business and the customer. The users know that they have a say with issues and that their concerns are being listened to. This generally results in a higher level of customer satisfaction and a greater likelihood of repeat business.

5) Enhanced Feedback

Product development takes a considerable amount of time and effort to achieve. CRM can assist the process by allowing customers to provide feedback about the products and services that you offer. They can let you know if there’s a problem with a particular feature or way that it might be improved in the future. Your developers can then use this feedback when designing future versions of a product.

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