CRM systems, which attend to your need for good relationship with customers, rely on one basic matter. It is comparison of costs generated by reaching for new clients and retaining those you already have.
It’s worth noticing, that our loyal users generate bigger income for us, whereas spending in relation to gaining new clients is often less profitable. Above all, competition on market is constantly growing, and so are the expectations of specific customers. The standard of services has to maintain optimal level and this is when the implementation of CRM system comes to the rescue. In order to properly introduce CRM into company, one should analyse and understand its needs. It comes down to characterization of model in which your venture functions and it includes:
- picturing primary and priority business processes as part of company’s strategy
- setting a goal that you want to achieve with CRM system
- defining company’s technical resources
- naming potential users of the platform , their expectations and skills (possibly the character and number of training hours for them)
Another necessary step is to determine the direction in which you want your relations with clients to head. Often there is a requirement to fill in and configure a lot of different data. Remember, the more information about clients we store, the better and more complex their handling will get.
In order to implement CRM system you need to introduce some changes in your environment. They might concern e.g.:
- training your employees in the range of individual customer service
- assigning one of your offices rooms for CS (also telephonic)
- changing some aspects of your organisation’s culture
- training your employees with different ranks to use your databases
Before choosing a CRM it is advisable to look at some offers. Obviously, specific platforms have differences between them and they can be more or less specialised. Dedicated CRM will be undoubtedly much more expensive and will require more training than other. It is worth remembering, that what is optimal for big corporations might not be just as well fitted for a local market. Nevertheless, the ability to retain local customers and develop better relationships with them is crucial – no matter wthat’s the company’s type – and that’s why it is worth to invest in CRM system. However, the matter of funds you can channel for this purpose, is a topic which has to be considered, of course after formulating basic expectations.
Essential in this matter is setting the price that we are ready to pay for the system and its implementation. While analysing the cost it is important to consider unexpected situations, like debacle in implementation of CRM. The risk of this kind of situation isn’t that big, but sometimes it happens because of unpredictable obstacles. Also, remember that adaptation of the system doesn’t end with its introduction to your employees. Later analysis and tests are also necessary – only then you can evaluate logistic, technic and ergonomic value of specific CRM. Sometimes it is needful to make some corrections , so that the communication outside and inside the company proceed without failures and the reports were generated comprehensively and data gathered according to chosen key.
System’s readiness to use means that you can introduce it to all of your employees tied to customer service. In case of the easiest CRMs on-line training won’t be necessary, because their handling is very intuitive. Still, experience and expertise of your staff matter a lot in this situation. According to statistics even up to ¾ of CRMs can be rejected because the users didn’t understand and accept them – this is a huge wall to tear down. It means that the tool has to be chosen on the grounds of deep analysis, and none of its stages should be belittled. Properly run implementation can significantly influence your company’s pace, range of growth and brand development on the market – but it doesn’t necessarily look like that. CRM is just a tool, while dominant motor of changes is human factor. So, what else can we do to make its first introduction more efficient?
Importance of professional help cannot be stressed enough – thanks to specialists implementation can proceed smoothly, fitting to specific needs. Appointment of preparatory team is equally important, because its members have great knowledge of the company’s processes and requirements. The team should consist of people who easily engage in new endeavours and can understand the steps of implementation – they might even do it full-time. Establishing measurable goals (given to general knowledge) that you want to achieve, should happen at the very beginning. Of course, those goals should relate to the model that your company currently pursues. CRM system should allow your company to grow, without the need to make revolutionary changes.
