How to choose a CRM tool for your customers
You want to develop your business with a CRM tool but you don’t really know which one to choose. Here Saalz explains how to choose the right CRM tool.
A CRM tool must be adapted to the adopted strategy
This is the first step. The CRM strategy is a management-level plan to ensure that the CRM process and the chosen technology can achieve the company’s goals.
Analysis of the situation
The company conducts an analysis of the situation taking into account internal and external factors. It is in fact a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) that aims to determine how the company is doing.
The company is doing well in order to examine the readiness to implement theCRM tool for CRM: Customer Relationship Management. Managers analyze and evaluate the existing customer strategy, the market segments served, the company’s position in the market, the marketing channels, etc. They try to find answers to questions such as:
What target market does the company serve?
What are the company’s customer objectives?
What is the company’s position and market share?
What is the cost of customer management?
How effective are current customer acquisition and retention strategies?
What products/services does the company offer in what category?
How well do customers know about these products/services?
Who are the company’s competitors, and what are the profit margins?
What channels are used for product distribution?
Which channels are effective? Which ones are becoming obsolete?
How do channel partners feel about dealing with our company?
Will the company buy, lease or create its own CRM?
What is the feasibility of each option?
Thus, the situation analysis serves as a basis for knowing what managers want to achieve by implementing CRM.
Building the foundations of a CRM project
Before implementing CRM projects, it is necessary to make various changes to the company’s environment, such as:
Changes in work culture present in the company’s organization. Since theCRM tool can mean different things to customers in different areas, it is necessary for the company to start training staff on CRM tools.
The company’s leadership also sets the vision of how CRM will transform the company into a customer benefit. The company needs to start training its staff on customer relationship management systems. Clear priorities are established for objectives and activities such as improving the customer experience, reducing costs, increasing revenues, etc.
Goals (qualitative outcomes) and objectives (quantitative outcomes) are set.
Customer Relationship Management
The expert governance structure is formed, which is essential to identify and allocate resources and responsibilities appropriately. The organization’s internal IT staff is responsible for performing several roles related to the CRM tool: such as networking, database management, front-end development, systems integration, etc.
Management identifies change and project management needs in the organization, as well as risk factors.
Identification of business processes
Processes are the means by which the company gets things done. The processes can be of the following types:
Vertical: They are located entirely within a department. For example, customer acquisition is just a marketing process, while annual revenues and tax calculations are accounting processes.
Horizontal: they extend over several departments of the company. For example: the manufacturing of a product is transversal to R&D, finance, materials management, sales, etc.
Primary: they have a major impact on the company’s costs or revenues. For example: picking up and delivering packages are primary processes for a courier company.
Secondary: They have a minor impact on the company’s costs or revenues.
Front-Office: They meet the customers. For example, the processing of complaints for the after-sales service.
Back-office: They are where the technicians are directly involved. They are not known to the customers. For example, database management, purchasing, etc. The company must anticipate which existing processes may be affected and to what extent.