A guest post by Bart Sneary, CRM Solutions Lead for RBA
From seeking more details about current customers’ journeys to purchasing your product or service and identifying their top pain points or needs, it’s no secret that business communicators often rely on marketing, sales and customer service to fully understand the audiences with whom they communicate. Communicators are engaging with their prospects and customers in many varied ways and at different points in their processes more so than just a few short years ago.
But, if these groups are working with out-of-date processes and technology, it can be a struggle to work together. Delays, errors, outdated customer lists and lack of understanding who someone is and what their overarching relationship looks like with your organization can hurt productivity and will undoubtedly impact outcomes.
Luckily, there is a solution: unite your inter-departmental work and engage with confidence with a modern customer relationship management (CRM) solution. CRM is a technology tool that can replace or augment legacy systems, streamline your business processes, and ultimately benefit your company by both sharing customer-centric information among those who need to know and saving time and money.
No longer used as just a sales contact database, companies that implement CRM systems see benefit through:
- Improved operational efficiency by closing gaps and reducing redundancies.
- Optimized and tailored processes.
- Increased employee productivity.
- Boosted visibility into employee performance.
- Increased customer satisfaction and retention.
- Enhanced identification and conversion of prospective customers.
While there are many CRM solutions on the market, not all will match your business communications and corporate needs. Over the course of my career, in which I’ve almost exclusively worked in technology, I’ve seen my fair share of failed CRM solutions. In the “How to Make Your CRM Indispensable to Sales and Marketing” e-book from RBA, a Wayzata-based digital and technology consultancy, we explain the keys to building and maintaining a CRM that delivers results for your company and communications.
For business communicators specifically, a robust CRM can help you:
- Improve your collaboration with the sales team.
- Show the value of communications by more accurately tying your efforts to your bottom line.
- Manage projects with multiple departments and internal audiences.
- Know when to best communicate with key stakeholders.
- Manage and analyze interactions throughout your customers’ journeys.
- Automate marketing and communications processes through email campaigns and smart web analytics.
If you don’t have a CRM already – or want to learn how to maximize its value – download this free RBA e-book today. Learn how CRM can help corporate communications for amazing results. Recognize the who, what, where, when, and how of communicating with potential, new or legacy customers.
Are you already using a CRM? If so, what do you like most about it — how would you like to see it improved upon? Let’s start a conversation in the comment section, below.
