CRM Archives

Purge Your CRM

Purge Your CRM: Unmasking the Spooky Secrets Lurking in Your Data

Welcome to a Halloween-themed journey through the mysteries of your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system! It’s no secret how important a well-functioning CRM is to your business, but do you ever get the eerie feeling that something is amiss within it? We’ll explore five chilling challenges that cause problems for your whole team, haunting the day-to-day operations. With a few practical solutions, you’ll be well-prepared to banish these dementors and enjoy a smooth and efficient data management experience. Let’s purge your CRM!

The Phantom Data Entry

Do phantom records plague your CRM? Duplicate entries, missing information, and data inconsistencies can frighten you. These ghoulish errors don’t just waste time; they can lead to costly mistakes and a prolonged sales cycle. Implementing rigorous data entry protocols is the key to fighting these data monsters. Have a plan in place on how you input data into your system and also how you update and maintain it. This way, your CRM will be free from the ghostly grip of bad data.

The Poltergeist of Poor Integration

Have you ever experienced the hair-raising frustration of incompatible software? Data silos and miscommunication can be as disruptive as a mischievous poltergeist. They cause delays in important communications and likely cost your business customers. To put these integration issues to rest, consider comprehensive CRM integrations. You could implement a third-party API integration tool or work with a developer to build a custom backend solution. Seamlessly connecting your tech stack will ensure a smooth data flow and scare off all inefficiencies.

The Zombie Accounts

Are there accounts that seem to be stuck in perpetual limbo, never progressing? These zombie accounts can drain your resources (sales reps’ time!) and weigh down your sales pipeline. To breathe new life into them, devise personalized nurturing strategies that utilize a series of targeted messages. The goal here is to be creative and resourceful in how your team can efficiently connect with potential buyers. Don’t be afraid to test personalized messages at different intervals to optimize response. Re-engaging with dormant leads can eventually turn them into valuable clients who are more Laura Croft and less Walking Dead.

The Curse of Inefficient Workflows

Inefficient workflows are like the house that hands out toothpaste to trick-or-treaters on Halloween – it prevents your team from having fun (productive). Identifying bottlenecks, automating repetitive tasks, and streamlining processes are the main avenues that will free your team from these shackles. Even though your team may be very busy, be sure to include key stakeholders in this critical mission. Doing so will ensure that your CRM is no longer haunted by time-consuming and frustrating workflow issues, thereby empowering your team to focus on strategic tasks.

The Specter of Analytics Paralysis

Are you drowning in a sea of data, unable to make sense of it all? The specter of analytics paralysis can really be overwhelming. Not only does this limit the insights your team is able to compile, but it’s also likely means you’re missing relevant data points hidden within the mess. Now is the perfect time to simplify your reporting, take advantage of data visualization techniques, and make data insights more accessible. As a team, make a push to clean up the reports you’re using and determine the specific information that is really useful in evaluating performance. Organizing your data can banish the chilling effect of information overload and ensure that your CRM becomes a valuable source of insights.

Keep Calm and Maximize On

Don’t let the lingering phantoms of CRM issues spook your revenue operations any longer. This Halloween season, embark on a mission to uncover and resolve the problems that may be haunting your system. From ghostly data entry to mischievous integrations and even zombie accounts, each challenge has a solution. As your team addresses these problems, you’ll realize improvements in how the group operates, so take the first steps to ensure a more productive, data-driven, and efficient future for your business. Bid farewell to the CRM ghosts and enjoy a fright-free experience as you explore the possibilities that await.

Schedule your free consultation to see how Revenue Ops LLC can help you exorcise your CRM today. Happy Halloween!

Boost Your Business: A Mid-Year CRM Check

Hey there, fellow business trailblazers! Can you believe summer is almost over, and pumpkin spice lattes are just around the corner? Now it’s time to boost your business and ensure your Salesforce system is ready to tackle the rest of the year. As a revenue operations team, we developed a simple guide to help you perform a CRM check that will put your business on the path to success!

Data: Clean and Green

Clean data needs to be the foundation of your tech stack. You have to trust what your reports are saying, and data within your systems should correlate and pass seamlessly from one system to another. Duplicate and incomplete data can find its way into your instance in many ways. Yet, no matter how it gets there, you must do something about it. A system that identifies and eliminates these pesky duplicates, like duplicate management rules in your CRM, creates reliable data for effective reporting and forecasting across systems.

Customizations: Tailor-Made Solutions

Customize your CRM to fit your unique business needs. A CRM is generally a pricy part of your tech stack, so it should be set up in a way that works best for your team’s processes. For example, picture yourself running a subscription-based service. Your mid-year analysis reveals a chance to automate the subscription renewal process with custom workflows. This time-saving enhancement ensures that nothing falls through the cracks while your team enjoys the benefit of reduced manual efforts.

User Adoption: Engage and Thrive

Encourage your team to embrace Salesforce to its full potential. Consider, for example, a growing marketing agency that uses Salesforce.com (SFDC) to streamline lead management, among other things. In a recent systems check, they found sales members hesitant to embrace the new CRM because they had lingering questions about the lead qualification process.

Organizing interactive training and feedback sessions and showcasing the benefits of your CRM to the sales team can spark enthusiasm for how efficient the sales process can be within the CRM. A few advantages of a well-organized CRM system are automation, lead qualification, and activity capture. Incorporating the team’s ideas and input will make them feel like they’ve contributed to a meaningful part of the prospect journey.

Metrics: Power Your Growth

The very fact that your CRM collects and organizes customer information means it’s holding robust data your business needs to take advantage of. As mentioned previously, the first step is ensuring the numbers tell an accurate story. From there, you should harness the power of data-driven insights. For example, you might use the native CRM reporting feature to focus on closed lost deals and their lead source or create custom forecasts that allow your sales managers to understand when and where they will realize revenue. The possibilities are endless, so be creative and use your data.

Security: Protect Your Fortunes

Safeguard your data as if it were treasure because it is. Security means that not all your data must be accessible to your entire company. It would be best if you established boundaries and unique permission sets.

Consider a financial services company using Salesforce to manage client portfolios. During a recent security review, they unearthed a potential vulnerability – some users had unnecessary access to sensitive financial data and personally identifiable information (PII). By tightening access controls, improving the profile and role settings, and implementing two-factor authentication, they can shield their clients’ interests and protect their data against potential threats.

CRM is Critical to Effective Revenue Optimization

Ben Doran, Revenue Operations Consultant

Effective revenue optimization means that your business is doing everything possible to increase revenue. It starts with thoroughly analyzing your data – sales, marketing, customer experience, etc. Then moves to a rollout of new tactics and strategies based on the improvements identified during the discovery.

The idea is that your team pulls out all the stops to bring more money in the door. The responsibility doesn’t just fall on the sales team; it’s an approach that should include all functional departments.

The CRM Factor

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) originated from the need to store information on potential and current customers. For the most part, it was a glorified spreadsheet that the sales team primarily used. While customer data storage is still one of its principal purposes, the technology has evolved to accomplish much more. Modern CRM systems can break down information silos, connect departments, and provide real-time reports on customer trends. It’s a tool that lives at the center of your organization, which every team member can access and leverage. CRM is a crucial component for revenue growth when implemented and managed effectively.

CRM Criteria

Your CRM should fit like a bespoke suit; it must fulfill your operational requirements and complement your organizational value propositions. Nowadays, how a company provides a product or service is more important than what it sells or provides. So, it’s helpful to customize your CRM system to fit your unique processes and workflows. These are a few attributes that we look for in an effective CRM system:

Interconnected

You should be able to integrate the essential applications your company relies on with your CRM. Connecting your applications saves countless hours of toggling back and forth and provides comprehensive real-time reporting efficiently, among other benefits.

We like to think of the CRM as the hub of the technology system, with other technology, like your marketing automation platform and sales enablement systems, acting as the spokes of a wheel.

Easy to use

Ideally, a CRM streamlines your business processes and presents a clear path for selling your products and services while managing daily operations. However, the system’s efficacy largely depends on its setup and the functions applied. Underutilization will be counterproductive, so you should take advantage of as many of the system’s features as necessary.

Regulated

Your CRM should facilitate a way to administer the system efficiently. Managing users and privileges should be relatively easy. In addition, automating processes should be a fundamental function of the system. Data validation rules and other advanced security features would also be helpful.

Choosing a CRM

Whether you’re finally deciding to move off of Google Sheets or just looking to expand or upgrade your CRM technology, you must consider these factors during your decision process:

Growth

Scalability is an important consideration where technology is concerned. You not only need to think about your present circumstances but your future plans as well. And growth applies to both business sales and users. Ideally, your selected CRM system will expand and evolve with the business.

Price

Obviously, a robust CRM system can be costly, but hopefully, the returns make the investment worthwhile. Usually, the more advanced functions, automation capabilities, and native integrations the system offers, the more you will pay. In addition to the software costs, there will likely be startup and development costs to migrate and implement existing data and frameworks.

System Demands

Make sure the tool you choose fits your current process. Getting caught up in all the upgrades and integrations is easy, but you’ll just be frustrated and upset if you don’t use them. It’s best to start simple, satisfy current needs, and build from there.

Effectively Optimize Your Revenue

Effective revenue optimization is crucial for growth and business sustainability. With that comes the need for a CRM tailored to your unique needs. Hopefully, the above points encourage your team to look intensely at your current tech stack and provide you with some tools to start thinking about the next phase of CRM development or how to evaluate a potential change for your organization properly. When done correctly, a well-implemented CRM system will be the lynchpin to help your organization make data-driven decisions and help you optimize your revenue.

Revenue Ops LLC is an experienced team of sales, marketing, and customer success professionals committed to helping clients improve performance. The ultimate goal is to streamline workflows so our clients can make data-driven decisions that maximize revenue. We apply our deep knowledge of CRM systems like Salesforce and sales enablement tools like Salesloft to optimize sales potential by stimulating and tracking customer interactions.

Are you looking for some help and guidance through this process? Our certified consultants are ready to talk with you!

The Benefits a FinTech and CRM Integration

The Benefits of a FinTech and CRM Integration

Blind spots cause problems. Not just while you’re driving but while you’re trying to navigate the information superhighway. How can you decide where to go when you don’t have the correct data? How can you avoid an accident if you can’t see what’s hiding out of sight?

Integrating your financial technology (FinTech) system with your customer relationship management (CRM) system is critical to get a 360-degree view of your clients and all their interactions with your company. And not just their financial exchanges but all their actions overall.

Did they call customer service? What products have they purchased lately? What is the Lifetime Customer Value? These are critical questions to consider when making the best decisions on how to move the business forward.

FinTech and CRM Together

An incomplete picture of your business is both unhelpful and potentially dangerous. The lack of clarity means your decision-making is missing something. How do you actually know your growth is sustainable? Are you making decisions based on reality or your perception of reality?

These questions highlight the importance of having clean data in one place – particularly within your financial numbers. Accurate and centralized data creates easy access to real-time insights and breaks down the typical info silos among departments. The best way to do this is to integrate your FinTech and CRM, in addition to all of your other corporate sales and marketing technology. That way, you can see a comprehensive picture of your entire sales and marketing funnel through the retention process and analyze both pre-sale and post-sale metrics to see what’s working and what’s not.

Integrations help us to connect the data from these disparate systems into a unified platform so that we can analyze the data and create a single source of truth upon which we base our business decisions. As a result, everyone evaluates the same data in a single system, thereby eliminating the need for manual manipulation and making it possible to create data visualizations that tell the story about what’s happening in the business through the data.

Integration Options

There are a few different integration options depending on your CRM and FinTech applications. It’s also important to consider your short-term and long-term business objectives when deciding which integration path to take.

You can use a pre-built integration app to connect your FinTech system to your CRM. This app has been developed and vetted by software companies to ensure that no malicious programming code is lurking somewhere within. Therefore, you can feel confident in the security of the integration, and it should be reasonably quick to implement. The drawbacks to this approach are that customizations are limited, and subscription fees are usually required for the duration of the integration app’s usage.

Another option is to work with a developer to build a custom integration between your FinTech and CRM. Custom app development can be expensive but accommodates full customization and flexibility around your business processes and needs. Subscription fees may not be associated with this approach. Still, your system will likely require regular maintenance to ensure that the integration consistently meets the stringent guidelines outlined in the FinTech industry for managing data.

Finally, some FinTech solutions offer a built-in or native connector to link directly to the CRM. This option provides the least amount of customization. Usually, it requires you to purchase a specific tier of your FinTech solution package to gain access to the ability to use the native connector. This solution works best with lightweight FinTech programs that don’t pass a large volume of data from your financial platform to the CRM.

Integration Steps

Integrating your FinTech with your CRM sounds good, so how do you start?

The key is to find an integration partner who is familiar with both your FinTech system and your CRM. They will help you create a list of potential integration methods that can be utilized with your particular tech stack and can help you evaluate the pros and cons of each approach.

Here are three things you can do to prepare for the integration process.

Document the essential pieces of information you wish to sync between systems and key KPIs you’re looking to report on once the two systems are integrated. This list of requirements will help the integration partner understand the end goals for the integration and ensure that the synchronization captures the appropriate data for reporting purposes.

Determine a budget that you’re comfortable with for the integration. Understanding what funds you have available for this integration will help the partner propose potential solutions suitable for the tech stack and your budget.

Discuss a reasonable timeline and project plan for the integration with your integration partner. In addition, creating a post-integration support plan to maintain the system would be prudent.

Get Started

Revenue Ops LLC is here to help you with your integration needs. We have experienced experts on staff who can help you connect your FinTech systems with your CRM so that you can eliminate your company’s blind spots and surface those metrics you need to make the right decisions at the right time. Contact us today to set up a discovery call so that we can learn more about your business and your integration needs.

Implementing Salesforce Successfully

Things to Think about before Implementing Salesforce

Ben Doran, Revenue Operations Consultant

Effective Salesforce rollouts require a well-crafted plan and careful execution. Implementations are intricate and demand a thorough knowledge of how the system works. As with everything, experience is vital to a smooth integration. This post is not meant to scare you but to equip your team for the journey ahead. Read on to learn more about what you should consider before implementing Salesforce.

Salesforce is a powerful system that provides users with unparalleled capability. The tool is a must-have for any company looking to grow and stay connected. It’s so much more than your parents’ CRM – it’s a customer service tool, a help center, a marketing platform, etc. But as the saying goes, “with great power comes a great implementation.”

What Does Integration Look Like?

Like the kid in school who is friends with everyone, Salesforce plays well with external applications. From Dialpad to Adobe, you can easily access hundreds of apps through the Salesforce system.

Before you start the implementation, we recommend mapping out a complete list of integration needs. Make sure you know what you want and how the systems will communicate with each other.

Pro Tip: Actual integrations take time and require technical expertise. While the DIY spirit is admirable, it usually doesn’t end well here.

How To Train the Team

Salesforce is not an autonomous vehicle; it requires someone to drive it. The driver here is your team, and as it takes time to learn how to be a good driver, Salesforce also has a bit of a learning curve. Therefore, helping users with best practices and terminology is crucial. The two questions you want to answer are:

How are we going to train everyone?
Where can users go if they have questions?

It’s just as important to have an internal team trained and motivated to use Salesforce as it is to have the tool. Depending on your capacity, training can consist of anything from a series of teamwide meetings focusing on how the platform works to mandatory completion of Trailhead units. This Trailhead curriculum is a free resource created by Salesforce to educate users. It’s a great tool to introduce newcomers to the Salesforce ecosystem. In addition, training allows your team to get up and running on the platform quickly.

Your team should create a working vocabulary and an outline of best practices. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but an internal resource will help answer questions and reinforce standard operating procedures. It may sound like tedious work, but you’ll thank us later.

Internal Salesforce Resource

Who is going to be your Salesforce “person?” Who will be responsible when questions, problems, or recommendations arise? While Salesforce is an independent and self-sufficient application, you still need someone internally to oversee the day-to-day operations.

There are a few determining factors when assigning this responsibility. For example, an admin may be a good idea if you’re looking at running a large-scale operation with 50+ users. Admins usually come with a series of certificates and a wealth of knowledge about how the system should run. At the bare minimum, though, you will need someone internally who is comfortable setting up new users, editing fields, and ideally working with Flows. In addition, you’ll find an internal resource who can quickly troubleshoot and answer questions to be very efficient and productive.

Choosing the Best Salesforce Implementation Partner

Similar to the dating landscape, there are many options for finding a consultant to lead your implementation. On Google alone, you’ll find the names of 100+ businesses that say they are the best. This process can be confusing and frustrating unless you know what to look for in a partner. Arguably, experience and communication are the top qualities of a capable partner.

Has the company implemented Salesforce before? This is probably a good question when evaluating any business but so crucial here. A lot goes into implementation, and you really need to trust that the company knows what they’re doing. Before making a decision:

Reach out to their references
Check their Salesforce Certifications
Read their case studies, if available

Communication is often overlooked, but it’s the key to any healthy business relationship. Because of the technical requirements and the level of customization of each Salesforce system, you must be comfortable with how the consultants communicate with you. For example, making sure the system works the way you planned and getting all your questions answered promptly are communication considerations.

The Salesforce platform can transform your organization. But, before that can happen, the tool must be implemented appropriately. Getting to that place can be an uphill battle if you’re unprepared. Therefore, a comprehensive plan that outlines what happens before, during, and after the implementation is critical. In addition, working with the right consultant will make the transition as smooth and easy as possible.

Our Revenue Ops, LLC team is committed to providing the best experience possible. We have a tried and true system for Salesforce implementations that starts with a complimentary discovery meeting to discuss your needs. Then we map out a plan with specific tasks and timelines to strategically incorporate Salesforce into your operations and tech stack. We take the time to review project progress and address any questions throughout the process.

If you want to discuss how we can help you to implement Salesforce successfully, don’t hesitate to contact us!

How CRM Helps with Customer Retention

Customer Retention

You know that customer acquisition is crucial for the growth and development of your business. But, what might be more important is customer retention.

Recent statistics report that it can cost your business five times more to get a new customer than it would cost to keep an existing customer. These stats also show that increasing your customer retention by just 5% can increase your profits anywhere from 25-95%.

Are you ready to maximize revenue through customer retention? Then, it may be time to consider implementing client relationship management or CRM software into your business.

Read on to learn about customer retention and how CRM benefits your client and business.

Importance of Customer Retention

Customer retention focuses on keeping current customers engaged with your company and products. Happy customers will keep buying from you, referring you to others, and staying connected in communication with you.

As mentioned in the statistic above, it is of high value for your business to keep your current clients. Doing so increases profits and expands your business.

Relationship of a CRM with Customer Retention

As you integrate your CRM strategy into your business, it’s essential to know how this strategy fits in with customer retention. Here are the benefits of CRM for your customer retention strategy.

No Customer Forgotten

A large part of retention is ensuring that no customer falls through the cracks. A CRM offers an organized database to keep all customer information and actions. This organization allows you to follow up with each customer accordingly.

Utilizing a CRM allows you to keep all data under one roof and best serve your customers. Keep all information from email campaigns, social connections, and phone calls within the contact card for each customer. Never again miss an opportunity to connect with a potential customer or follow up with a prospect.

Customer Personalization

A benefit of interacting with your customers through a CRM is the ability to tap into customer personalization.

As your customers engage with your content on your website or through email, you will be able to send them more of the content they want from you.

Use customer segmentation to specify the emails or portions of emails preset contacts will receive. Tap into a “give the people what they want” mentality, and provide the right content to the right person at the right time through segmentation.

Seamless Customer Experience

Creating a seamless customer experience is pivotal for customers coming back to your business year after year.

A CRM gives you an up-leveled customer service system through managed customer support and follow-up. Track customer support tickets or requests to ensure proper follow-up and next steps with each customer.

Keep your ticket system on point by assigning customer requests or feedback to the right team member for a smooth resolution for each ticket.

During a customer’s life cycle, they can weave in and out of engagement with you. Utilize your CRM to keep customers engaged. Use well-timed email campaigns or personal connections to draw them back to your business.

Create re-engagement emails for customers who haven’t connected in a while. You can also offer specific resources for those who have submitted support tickets to help them in the future. The goal is to keep a smooth experience with each customer interaction with your business.

Accurate Reporting

A valuable benefit of CRM software is reporting and analytic tracking. When you send email campaigns, you won’t have to guess which content is best received by customers. Accurate reporting allows you to see where your customers engaged the most.

With a CRM, you will have regular reporting data to show the state of your relationships. Examples of this are the number of contacts, customer engagement with campaigns, any unsubscribes, growth or loss in customer pipelines, and more. All valuable data can improve and grow your business under one umbrella and save you time and energy.

One Team, One Mind

If you have a team within your business, part of keeping things seamless for customers is making sure your team is on the same page.

CRM gives each team member or department access to customer data. Ensure each customer receives the same level of service across all team members or departments.

From one stage with a customer to the next in a different department, a customer can expect a clean transition from one team member to the next.

Customers are more likely to stay engaged with you long-term if they feel valued by your whole team. This value begins with a team that remains one step ahead of the customer.

Automate Systems

Your time as a business owner is valuable, and so is each customer relationship. Bring the two together using automation within your CRM system.

As your customer enters different levels within your marketing funnel, use automation to nurture customers into a deeper relationship with your company.

Use automation to re-engage with customers who may have disengaged or have become unresponsive. You can do so with automated campaigns and special offers. You can also use automation to keep your company or products top of mind with well-timed emails that manage themselves.

Automation takes the work out of routine connections points and gives you more time to focus on enhancing and scaling your business.

Build Retention with CRM

Customer retention should be top of mind for each business owner. It costs more money and time to gain new customers than it does to keep current clients.

To keep your current customers, you have to be intentional with your business processes. Retention ensures each customer has a positive experience with each interaction with you. Consider investing in a CRM system for your business to best nurture and care for your customers to keep them long-term.

We can help you improve your customer relationships using tools like Salesforce. We work with businesses like yours to increase revenue by optimizing technology, streamlining processes, and customizing reports and dashboards so that you can make data-driven decisions to drive your business forward.

If you want to build and maximize your revenue and aren’t sure where to start, contact us today to schedule a consultation.

How To Develop a CRM Strategy

Why Develop a CRM Strategy

Customers are central to everything you do in your business, but if you don’t have a strategic plan in place for everyone in your organization to connect with your clients, you’re missing a critical opportunity. If you’ve made the move to invest in a customer relationship management (CRM) system, you’re definitely ahead of the game – but it’s only the first step. You need a CRM strategy to tie it all together and ensure success.

More than ever, the customer lifecycle has become more circular than linear, with buyers regularly bouncing between your marketing, sales, and customer service teams. Once you’ve implemented CRM technology, all of these teams have a way to access critical information about each customer, including the products they’ve purchased, service tickets opened, etc. In the current environment, more and more customers expect tailored solutions that meet their unique, individual needs, and your CRM system can help your business deliver that – but not without an overarching strategy. So, where do you start? Once again, it’s a circular process, but one that’s well worth your time.

Step 1: Define success

It’s hard to track progress without a roadmap, so taking a step back to assess how you define success will help you determine what’s most important to your business. Convene your leadership team and ask some soul-searching questions.

What does your business look like five or ten years from now in a perfect world?
What are your expected growth engines?
Who is your target customer? What do they demand from you?
Will client retention overtake prospecting in importance?
How will your business shift and adapt as a result?

All of these answers will help you shape a vision for your company’s future – and what it will take to achieve it.

Step 2: Determine the most important metrics

We’ve all heard of KPIs or key performance indicators. However, they shouldn’t all share equal importance. Take a moment to think about your core customer base. Are they avid users of social media? Do they listen to the opinions of influencers? Are they consumers of thought-leadership content in your industry? All of these questions lend themselves to answers that will lead you to the best metrics to measure the success of your business. And keep in mind SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals – for example, one of your SMART goals might be to increase marketing email open rates by 10% before year-end. Try to determine the goals that seem most relevant to your organization and your target customer and use those guardrails to determine your big-picture goals.

Step 3: Gather the right data

Tap into the appropriate tools to ensure you have all the right information to assess your progress. Revenue Ops LLC can help you do this based on your unique goals and KPIs as well as your CRM system. Existing technology can help you more accurately measure the success of your email campaigns, your targeted customer outreach, and your client contacts. However, this can quickly turn into a jumble of meaningless numbers when you don’t understand how to prioritize the data and align it with your organizational goals.

Step 4: Deliver to your customers

If you use Facebook or Instagram, you’re well aware of the power of personalized advertising. Have you ever thought to yourself, “How did my social-media platform know I was looking for exactly what their ad just delivered to my page?” Aside from suspecting the eavesdropping Alexa device in our homes, the truth is that we as consumers are increasingly expecting a more customized experience from advertising. So you’ll need to use the data you’re gathering in your CRM to gain a clear picture of your customers and their expectations – and a much better understanding of how to service them.

Step 5: Get feedback

Surprisingly, one often-overlooked element of a CRM strategy is collecting real-time feedback from your customers and prospects. Consider using tools ranging from quick surveys to phone interviews to glean more information about customer satisfaction and awareness of their needs and perceptions. All of this information is critical for informing your teams and your CRM technology about how to measure client satisfaction (and likely retention)!

Step 6: Track your performance

Take the feedback from your research and technology and apply it to the goals you set in Steps 1 and 2. Remember that these data points at any given moment are simply snapshots in the bigger picture. You’ll need to collect this information over time to get a truly accurate view of your progress and strategic success.

Step 7: Share your information

The data you’re gathering is so important – don’t forget to share it with key people across your organization. Your colleagues in marketing, sales, customer service, and even leadership will have ideas on improving the metrics going forward. Be generous in sharing the information and don’t discount the input provided by all of the stakeholders in your organization. Some of the best ideas are those that bubble up from the least-expected places.

Step 8: Strategize again

While all of the steps outlined here are important for your overall success, a great strategy isn’t created in a vacuum. Instead, it relies on consistent input and evaluation. So, at regular intervals, take a step back, assess your metrics and your progress, and gather input from stakeholders across your business. Although the strategy is a critical component of any successful business, it’s a living, breathing entity that needs your constant attention, assessment, and re-evaluation to be truly effective.

Would you like some help with creating or evolving your CRM strategy? Schedule your free consultation to see how Revenue Ops LLC can help you improve your customer relationships today using tools like Salesforce. We help businesses like yours increase revenue by enhancing technology, improving processes, and optimizing reports and dashboards so that you can make data-driven decisions to drive your business forward

The Key To Revenue Optimization Is Your CRM System

A Guide to Achieving Better Relationships and Interactions

Are you a business owner who spends more time on menial tasks than on initiatives directly related to revenue optimization, such as customer relationship management? Do you feel like you’re spinning wheels trying to increase revenue by creating more products?

What if there was a way you could get off that treadmill? And instead, maximize your revenue by optimizing your business processes and tech stack so you can better connect with your current customer base.

We call this working smarter, and this is what revenue optimization is all about. The key you need in your toolbox to achieve this goal is a quality CRM for small business software.

Don’t worry if you don’t know what a CRM system is or how it can help you; we’ve got you covered. Keep reading to learn about optimizing your revenue streams through improved customer relationships.

What Is A CRM System?

A quality customer relationship management (CRM) system can revolutionize the way you do business. Historically, the buyer’s journey was conceptualized as a linear process. Customers moved from marketing to sales and finally over to customer service.

However, in today’s business landscape, customers move back and forth between your teams regularly. And because of that, your teams need to communicate seamlessly to give your customers the best experience possible. Ideally, one that imprints a lasting, positive impression.

The customer lifecycle is now much more intertwined and less linear than ever before. With a fully integrated tech stack that allows all teams to access the CRM, everyone can see data they need on a customer’s profile, regardless of where the prospects are in the buying process.

This is where a cloud-based CRM can revolutionize the way you do business by allowing everyone on your team the ability to offer informed advice to your prospects and clients. Your team can see at a glance what products each customer has purchased and any previous customer service tickets opened, leading to a more personalized experience and increased sales and customer loyalty.

How CRM Can Help Your Business Improve Customer Service

Customers have spoken. And they want better customer service from the businesses they choose to support. And, more importantly, service is a significant factor in their final purchase decisions.

So, don’t put off improving your customer relationship management system for your business any longer. Improve the relationship you build with your customers. Then you’ll improve not only your customer service but also your bottom line.

Don’t discount your prices in an attempt to bring back repeat customers. They represent your warmest audience as they’ve already purchased from you before. Instead, give them an amazing experience, and they’ll pay top dollar to come back for more.

As you build out the story for your ideal buyer’s journey, consider how important the last phase is. This is why customer lifecycle optimization can improve your customer relationship.

You spend countless hours and hundreds of dollars acquiring new leads every month. Don’t waste that time and money by neglecting new customers after they purchase from you. Each time a customer reaches out to your organization, the person they talk to needs to see all their other touchpoints to service them efficiently.

By offering this individualized customer service, you can stand out from the crowd in your industry. When others aren’t going the extra mile in customer service, you can offer world-class service and a more personalized experience for your customers.

Offer exceptional service post-sale, and you’ll build a reputation that will increase revenue and your customer base. You can do this seamlessly because everyone on your team can access every client’s profile and information.

How CRM Improves Your Revenue Optimization

At the heart of every business is revenue generation. You’re always looking for more ways to increase sales and profits. But what if you instead looked at how to optimize your current sales and marketing tech stack to increase revenue?

By using a centralized program amongst all your revenue departments, you break down the silos. You can increase revenue with the products and customers you already have.

Now your sales operations team can provide valuable information to your customer service team, and vice versa. Break down the walls and open up communication.

If you’re not sure you’re maximizing the profit potential from your current CRM system, then you should reach out to a professional. Don’t keep wondering if your sales figures could be higher without creating new products, hiring more salespeople, or running more ads. Instead, take the data from your integrated tech stack and create reports and dashboards that will allow you to make data-driven decisions for your business.

With the right system in place, you can increase your revenue without increasing capacity. Don’t leave any untapped potential on the table. Now is the time to optimize your capacity so you can grow your business. Seek help from certified experts who can show you how to make the most of your CRM system to increase your revenue.

Grow Your Business by Growing Your Relationships

You know you should put your customers first. But it can be hard when you’re running your business; the details easily slip your mind when dealing with day-to-day tasks. This is why systems and processes are vital to your success.

Create a system that involves an all-encompassing customer relationship management program. A CRM for small business can revolutionize how you do business and improve your revenue optimization today.

Schedule your free consultation to see how Revenue Ops LLC can help you improve your customer relationships today using tools like Salesforce. We help businesses like yours increase revenue by enhancing technology, improving processes, and optimizing reports and dashboards so that you can make data-driven decisions to drive your business forward.