The support department, or function, is typically the next to be introduced to the CRM system. Once the sales team is entering and updating contact and account data, as well as product quotes and orders, the bulk of the customer information required by the support team is already present. Details of handling issues with customers (pre- and post-sales) are able to be seamlessly stored with all other related history. This allows the sales department to view related customer activities, and have the necessary data to support their efforts. And ongoing service and support activities frequently result in new sales opportunities. With a common system used by both support and sales, this opportunity is able to be more effectively captured and tracked to its conclusion.
One of the most important aspects of providing customer support is documenting the event: the question or problem posed, and the solution presented. This is the best method of capturing redundant or recurring issues, and becomes the basis for creating greater efficiencies in handling customer issues. Certainly, there are “standard” questions or issues which present themselves with each of your products or services. By creating standard support responses to these questions, you can substantially reduce the time your support personnel spend on standard support issues. Further, identifying “standard” support issues is a means to identify potential improvements to be made to the product or service, and thereby eliminating the number or complexity of recurring issues.
Driving new business
The front-end of the sales process is marketing. Marketing creates awareness for your products and services, and delivers visibility to your company and brand. Marketing is important to drive new business to your company, but is also important in creating additional product or service awareness with existing customers, keeping them coming back for more. Marketing is measured in terms of “impressions”. Every time a prospective buyer is exposed to your company, brand, product, or service, you have made an impression. Frequently, it takes multiple impressions to encourage a prospect to take action. There’s an old sales adage that says “it takes six to stick”. This means that it takes an average of six impressions – six times the prospect sees or hears something about your company or product – before they contact you. Impressions can come in the form of electronic or print advertisements, direct mail or email, telesales, word-of-mouth referral, etc.
The CRM system offers a variety of tools to help with marketing and sales efforts. A good start is with the implementation of an email marketing campaign, presenting a straightforward means for reaching out to target prospects and tracking the results of the effort. Tracking results is the cornerstone of a managed marketing effort. Creating impressions comes at a cost to the business, and making the most of each impression is the goal of the sales and marketing departments. By tracking in detail the performance of the email campaign, the company can understand whether or not the message is reaching the target market and, more importantly, whether or not the target market is responding to the message. This approach allows for further refinement of the message, and simplifies targeting prospects for more direct selling processes. Through a concerted effort of campaign tracking and sales follow-up, the business is better-able to direct marketing dollars towards real business-generating activities.
Accounting impacts
While CRM systems may contain comprehensive details of a customer relationship, they rarely contain critical, core accounting data. This is due to the fact that the CRM system IS NOT an accounting system. There are many related bits of data, however, that should be communicated to the accounting system. While there may be some redundancy in the data stored in these two systems, the use of data may be quite different, as well as the processes involved in dealing with it. A simplistic approach to relating the CRM system to the accounting system comes in two primary areas: maintaining customer information and product information.
First, customer information such as address, contact data, etc. should be kept up to date. Customer information is probably stored in the Accounts Receivable area of your accounting system, and much of that basic customer data should also be present in the CRM. The CRM system will also contain prospect and non-customer data, which is typically not desirable to store in the accounting system.
The second type of data that is related to the accounting system might be the products information, which could be similar to the inventory in the accounting system. Products in the CRM system are items available to quote and sell to customers and prospects. Quotes may help the business forecast future inventory requirements, and quotes and opportunities that are won and accepted become sales orders in the accounting system.
