6 Important Factors To Consider When Choosing The Perfect CRM

Were you aware that 22% of salespeople still don’t know what a CRM really is?

Surely, you don’t want your salespeople to be part of this minority?

A customer relationship management (CRM) system is a program or tool that organizes all your customer information in one place. CRM tools allow your business to keep track of interactions and maintain relationships with your customers.

If you want to effectively manage your business, you should consider investing in a CRM system. 

But, how to choose a CRM system that suits your business?

In this article, we’ll examine why your business needs a CRM solution alongside important factors to consider when making your choice.

Why does your business need a CRM system?

CRM tools and systems can be valuable assets for businesses across various industries. CRM tools encourage cooperation, boost business efficiency and help strengthen your customer relationships. 

Moreover, there are CRM tools designed to accommodate businesses of various sizes and budgets. In fact, companies both new and old stand to benefit from implementing a suitable CRM system. 

If you’re a new business, CRM might appear to be an unnecessary expense. However, this could not be farther from the truth. 

In the long run, your business will not be able to manage using spreadsheets alone. A good CRM tool would provide the perfect solution to help you regulate lead conversion and customer interactions.

In contrast, as an established company, it’d be reckless for you to not integrate a CRM system into your business. If your sales team is facing efficiency issues or running into problems, CRM can be of great help.

5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs A CRM System

1. CRM tools help streamline your sales processes
2. A CRM system allows you to centralize your customer information
3. CRM tools encourage better cooperation among departments.
4. They enable you to simplify and optimize customer interactions
5. With a CRM tool, you can customize your dashboards and track and analyze metrics in real time.

How to choose a CRM system for your business

All CRM systems are built differently. Currently, there are a large variety of CRM tools and systems available for businesses to choose from. 

As such, you should choose the CRM that best suits your business. It’s vital that you first take some time to evaluate your exact business needs. You can then make a much more informed decision.

Business Objectives You Should Consider When Choosing Your CRM System

If you’re managing sales in a small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME), then your objectives would be:

• Boosting your sales
• Increasing customer retention
• Monitoring and improving your sales productivity

However, if you’re a large established organization, here are some business objectives you could have:

• Increasing deal size by cross/ up-sell-ing additional solutions
• Shortening long sales cycles
• Improving the accuracy of your sales forecasts
• Retaining your customers post expiration of your contract period

Once you’ve figured out this information, you can move on to evaluating different CRM tools and systems.

6 Factors You Should Consider When Choosing a CRM System

A good CRM system is one that allows you to manage all your data efficiently across multiple customer profiles. Remember that when you choose a CRM tool, you should consider several factors.

Here are 5 important factors you should consider when you choose your CRM system:

1) Ease of Use

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges faced by businesses is the ability of new users to adopt the system. 

Individuals have begun to expect different things from CRM systems. With a rise in millennials joining the workforce, it’s important that your business chooses a CRM tool that caters to their demographic.

An ideal CRM system is intuitive and quite easy and straightforward. This allows your salespeople to adapt more quickly. Ensure that you choose a CRM solution that communicates in the same way they do.

2) Accessibility and scalability of CRM

Convenience to users is also a major factor to consider when making your choice. 

In addition to multi-platform accessibility, an effective CRM tool should be cloud-friendly as well. This allows your users access at any time from anywhere, alongside offering lower overhead costs when compared to on-premise systems.

Some CRM companies even allow access to the cloud from your phone or any smart device. In this way, not only will you be improving connectivity, but also boosting your business productivity and efficiency. 

3) Customization and Reporting 

In different businesses, the departmental processes are quite different. For this reason, a quality CRM tool should be highly customizable to best suit every company’s unique needs. A CRM system that allows for customization right down to every user can become quite a valuable asset. 

Your business will need a system that can give you insights into business processes via detailed reports. By analyzing these reports, you can then make decisions or changes to further boost profitability.

4) CRM Integrations

To provide a 360-view of your sales and marketing processes, companies typically use various different solutions. As such, ERP integration is an important aspect to prioritize when choosing your CRM tool.

Having seamless connectivity is vital for any and all businesses, as a result of its impact on cost. A high quality CRM allows you to sync your tools and effortlessly integrate with different social media and third-party software.

5) Support

It is a fact that even some of the highest grade software solutions require support services on occasion. Based on your package or CRM provider, your sales support may come included with your license or separately. 

All popular CRM providers have their own database of certified developers alongside support teams. This is to help solve any issues should they come up. 

6) Cost of your CRM system

As you are aware, every CRM system comes at its own price. Moreover, your budget plays an important role in any business decision. 

As such, you must carefully consider the pros and cons of pricing when you choose a CRM. Remember to always review what features will be covered within your set budget as well as what needs additional investment. 

Conclusion

Overall, a CRM system is considered to be quite a valuable asset that can help your business grow. From boosting business efficiency to strengthening customer relationships to driving more conversions, an effective CRM system can do a lot.

As such, it’s important for you to carefully consider several different important factors before choosing your CRM. Evaluate all the pros and cons of different CRM tools before you choose a CRM for your business.

Making the right choice can make all the difference and surely help your business thrive!