Why deploy a CRM in the service of business strategy?
More than ever, and it is not the latest crises (yellow vests, covid) that will contradict it, the digital transformation of the company is back at the heart of the debate. Why ? Because your customers have profoundly changed the way they buy and I assure you (or not) that will continue to evolve. To keep up with this frantic pace, while changing the model of your offers and your organization, you will have to rely on a responsible corporate vision , shared objectives , with one or more method (s) to achieve them, but also efficient tools and processes. And to do this, you are unlikely to escape the implementation of a CRM(customer relationship management in VO or GRC for customer relationship management in VF) which will support the company's strategy in its development.
What is a CRM or GRC?
It is a tool and it should be seen as such. A CRM (Customer Relationship Management in VO or
GRC for Customer Relationship Management in VF) allows, among other things, to
optimize the quality of the customer relationship , to build loyalty and to
maximize turnover by relying in particular on:
• purchase
recency (last purchase)
• frequency
of purchase
• the
amount (average basket)
• upsell
possibilities (upmarket)
• cross-
selling possibilities (cross- selling)
• all other
customer / prospect marketing data
Behind this acronym, we therefore find "a set of
systems to optimize the relationship that the brand maintains with its
customers, in order to retain them and increase its turnover per customer"
.
It also allows "to coordinate a multichannel customer
journey (point of sale, mobile, Internet) in order to offer a unified customer experience " and "
combines the analysis of customer data and marketing actions ( the word in
French never used) put in place ”.
Companies that have customer relationship management
software are not legion (27% in France), including here locally. However,
companies, whatever their size, would be well advised not to miss the opportunity.
Customer data: a major issue
The challenge is to digitize its operation in order to
control its customer data . This does not mean abandoning “physical” customers
and data, quite the contrary. Any good digital strategy is integrated into the
overall vision of the company: it is therefore necessary to merge the
"physical" and the digital: the "phygital" which, if it was
still timid in corporate strategies, will finally be brought in. to develop
with new services.
Why ? Because now, customers are looking for a global
customer experience, consistent and homogeneous with your business, whether
online or offline: welcome to the era of omnichannel (evolution of
multichannel).
It has indeed become common (80% according to IFOP) to first
look at the products of a store online before coming to buy them in the store.
Conversely, you can try a product in store, compare, give yourself time to
think it over, then buy it online (from a competitor if you don't have an
ecommerce site) , on your mobile and look at the order confirmation on his
tablet. And complain about customer service or after-sales service on social
networks . And in B2B, the buying journey also begins with an online search.
Efficient and adapted CRM software guarantees this
omnichannel service. It improves the customer experience but also allows you to
follow your journey andcollect and analyze customer data to get to know him
better . The result is an improvement in the effectiveness of campaigns,
customer service, the development of customer engagement, and better loyalty,
the real engine of your growth.
When we know that, in an increasingly competitive market (6
competitors on average per company in 2014 against 18 in 2019 according to
Hubspot Research) , prospecting remains more expensive than loyalty , we easily
understand the key role of such tool to integrate it into the business
strategy.
CRM is an essential tool for your business
Everything can be recorded in your tool which qualifies your
customers and your audience (linked to your website), to capture and then
follow prospects and customers in their purchasing journey (“buyer journey” in
original version).
Either from pre-sales (research of information, answers to
problems) to after-sales (advice on use, loyalty).
Also discover this article: What is a CRM
for?
This customer relationship management tool is also used to
record and store in the same place all the information collected by your
salespeople, send targeted emailing automatically but also to manage:
o Marketing
(ideally coupled with automation software):
automations defined according to predefined scenarios, based on
personalized criteria
o Sales
management: improves the efficiency of
salespeople
o Management
of after-sales service (after-sales service, ticketing), through:
- the establishment of a knowledge base on the website
linked to CRM ideally
- programming and deployment of a chatbot
- the integration of social networks in the after-sales
process
- a call center responsible for remote customer assistance
or a mix of all four!
To align sales and marketing departments
Your sales and marketing teams have objectives to achieve
(weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually).
o For
marketing , this can be measured in the effectiveness of campaigns (content,
emailing, SMS, etc.) such as the number of qualified prospects or opportunities
generated, for example.
o For the
sales team , the number of new customers invoiced , customers visited, sales
proposals sent, or turnover achieved at the end of the month in a given zone,
product or segment.
Your CRM solution will simplify daily work with, for
example:
o assignment
of tasks to different team members
o scoring
prospects
o the
creation of contact lists by offer / zone / commercial
o reports
of visits to appointments, notes from salespeople or after-sales service, and
emails exchanged
Beyond the implementation of reporting tables to measure
(see below), one of the keys to the success of the alignment remains the
ability to organize a coordinated work of the two teams. The tool comes will
help you unify the "enemy brothers" around common goals.
To measure your sales and marketing efforts
What cannot be measured does not exist. Niels Bohr (Danish
physicist and Nobel Prize winner).
A powerful CRM allows you, among other things, to precisely
measure:
• The
productivity of sales representatives (visits, quotes, appointments, pipeline,
etc.)
• The main
classic business indicators (KPI Sales, CA, etc.)
• The
effectiveness of marketing campaigns (SEM, SEO, social networks ...)
• The
loyalty of your customers
• How and
how many new clients do you attract through referral (with the NPS Net Promoter
Score)
• The size
and quality of your customer file which gives value to your business (
especially in the event of resale )
Companies that have successfully deployed it do better
You should know that 49% of CRM projects fail ( Forester Research ), for the reasons we
mentioned here . I admit, it can dampen enthusiasms.
But for those who succeed , we note among other things that:
• a company
engages one of its customers through its CRM, this same customer will spend
between 20 and 40% times more on the next order . (Source: Hubspot)
• a CRM
allows each salesperson to increase their sales by 41%. (Source: Hubspot)
• salespeople
using CRM exceed the sales target set annually by more than 24% ( Source:
Aberdeen Group)
• salespeople
increase their productivity by 26.4% when they connect their social networks to
CRM and use it via the mobile application : (Source: Nucleus Research)
• 75% of sales
managers say using a CRM helps them manage and increase sales (Source: Hubspot)
• sales
teams record 15% more productivity when they use their CRM from their
smartphone. (Source: Hubspot)
And especially....
• a CRM
allows an increase of more than 300% in the conversion rate of prospects into
customers . (Source: Hubspot)
And of course the cracks of the world trade are all equipped
with it. A coincidence according to you?
