You probably already know what a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution is and why one is necessary. A quick Google search returns 144 million results where you find benefits such as:
Store all your prospects and customers, make calls, send emails, create reports, schedule appointments, add notes, manage your pipeline, and find out who’s opened your latest email
Manage deals and tasks, automate processes, store customer information, centralize data, manage email campaigns
Manage interactions with current and potential customers
Single repository to bring your sales, marketing, and customer support activities together, and streamline your process, policy, and people
But what does it do for the customer? And how does it actually help the sales person?
It’s no wonder that most sales people hate CRMs. Many view them as “big brother” for leadership to be able to see how many calls were logged that day or how many appointments were scheduled in a given week.
The CRM then starts to be perceived more as an administrative nightmare (like recording activities and pipeline tracking) for management’s benefit. The sales rep has difficulty seeing the value of it, it doesn’t protect his/her personal income and the usage starts to decline. Then the gears are changed to focus the team on using the CRM the company has invested in – because if people don’t use it and keep it up to date, then the value of having the CRM also declines.
Put your CRM to the test:
CRM software began as a way to capture data for prospects and customer contacts offering visibility for the sales, marketing and support teams. Though solutions have evolved to extend functionality for better activity tracking and pipeline management, CRMs were not designed for the retention and growth of current accounts. Many can be customized and pieces can be added to support account management best practices, but there will still be gaps.
When a prospect first becomes a customer, the relative value that is being provided is high. They have a problem and you have a solution. Changes in personnel, priorities, advancing technology result in the changing needs of your client(s). Over time, the perceived value decreases – all the while the competition is trying to get in the door or capture more share. Then a Key Decision maker leaves (refer to Mike Jacoutot’s blog “The Silent Killer: Changing of the Guard®”) and the customer is at risk, but no one knows because in your CRM, the contact is just marked as inactive (if the rep finds value in updating it)!
Using ClientFit®, steps would have proactively been taken to minimize the risk, the score drops, an email alert is sent, and recommended steps to take are presented. It also needs for the rep to indicate there was a change – the difference is, in ClientFit® they’ll want to because it helps know what to do next.
Note that ClientFit® is not a CRM. It was not designed to be a place to store prospects, make calls, log orders, or send emails. Instead, ClientFit® works in conjunction with or integrated with a CRM.
Imagine having a place to plan strategically with your large accounts, advance current client relationships, monitor service level performance to KPIs, measure risk and guide you to expand in grow in the account. Schedule a demo of ClientFit® today to see it in action.