Many businesses are investing in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems because providing excellent customer service is a top priority. In the B2B space, where businesses tend to know their customers on a more one-to-one basis than B2C, a wise CRM system investment and correct usage is even more vital.
Here are some CRM best practices B2B businesses should follow:
It’s easy to think that technology is the answer to all your challenges. In reality, it’s only part of the answer. You also need to use that tech properly and ensure that it fits with the rest of your business.
So, before you choose a CRM, think about what challenges you’re facing and what you want to accomplish. Then, consider how a CRM fits into all that.
Speaking of solving business challenges, you need to choose a CRM that actually ticks all of those boxes. There are many CRM systems out there but not all of them are created equally. You need to properly research your options, from their capabilities to their weaknesses and even the vendors.
Here are some questions to consider:
If you don’t get your team’s approval before any business change, you’ll struggle to get the best results. So, before you introduce your new CRM or even the mere idea of switching to a new one, get your team’s thoughts.
Make sure they’re kept in the loop right from the very start. For example, you could have representatives from each relevant team at the initial planning meetings. This ensures your messaging isn’t diluted and your teams will feel as though their ideas are valued.
The right CRM system offers many benefits but if you don’t use it properly, the tool basically turns into an expensive filing system for your customer data. That’s why you must focus on training your teams to use the new CRM - even if they’ve used a similar system in the past.
Consider testing your employees on what they’ve learnt to make sure they’ve understood everything properly. Retraining on a regular basis is a great idea too - to ensure information is being retained and your employees are following best practices.
The best CRM systems include sales force automation features. For example:
As you can see, CRMs are designed to help your business by handling much of the manual work, like data entry and collection. This reduces the chances of human errors and boosts your team’s productivity. Less time spent on repetitive tasks, more time on other business-critical projects.
You can read more on how sales force automation can improve your sales and marketing strategies here.
A CRM system has this remarkable ability to consolidate customer data from multiple sources so you no longer need to trawl through several disparate systems to find what you need. What this also means is it facilitates cross-team collaboration.
A CRM system ensures the same information can be easily accessed by any department within your business which boosts productivity and efficiency. Great CRMs even integrate with core business systems to encourage file sharing. For example, Dynamics 365 CRM connects with Office 365 and Microsoft Teams so your employees can easily share files across various functions and geographical locations.
CRMs capture and efficiently organise huge amounts of data. To truly maximise the benefits of this capability, you need to ensure you’re also analysing that data. The best CRM systems come with intuitive, built-in analytics features and automatically present the results to you.
For example, Dynamics 365 CRM offers the following features:
Intuitive features like the above can save your teams time. Now they can focus more on analysing that data and coming up with next best steps.
System implementations aren’t simple projects. That’s why many businesses opt to outsource over taking it in-house. When you outsource, you can benefit from:
At the end of the day, the ideal approach is to work closely with someone who knows what they’re doing when it comes to CRM systems - from implementation to everyday management. However, there are several things to consider when you’re choosing your CRM partner, such as what you should be asking when you’re selecting one and how it compares to handling the process in-house.
Our guide covers everything you might want to know in more detail. Download the guide to CRM implementations via the button below to learn more.