Like any other business owner, you want to do more for your company, but you still haven’t found the right business strategy yet, right? We all know that success exists and reaching it is not that easy. On the contrary, in order to achieve it, you have to put in a lot of effort, dedicate yourself to a goal and be consistent.
And yet… “I do all of the above, but I still haven’t been able to get where I wanted!”, you might say. Well, you should know that you need a clear, well-defined strategy – which you will find right here, right now, by continuing to read our article!
The relationship with your customers doesn’t end after you make a purchase, that’s clear. To encourage sales (of any kind), your business should actively cultivate customer relationships through a personalized CRM strategy.
The good news is that there are proven plans for success. You will learn one of the best CRM strategies to get your business where you want it to be, and more than that, you will find out what you need to do to get started.
First of all, you may wonder…
What is this CRM?
To learn about a CRM strategy, you will first need to know what a CRM is. Thus, CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management”. More exactly, it’s a system that deals with the excellent management of your company’s interaction, both with potential customers and existing ones.
It is a management model based on placing the customers at the center of the company’s attention so that it can maximize their levels of satisfaction, loyalty and acquisition.
To have a better understanding about what a CRM Software is, we invite you to read this article!
Why do I need a CRM Strategy?
Given that you are here, after having already tried a lot of other methods to succeed, we believe that it’s time for you to know what a CRM strategy means for your business and how it can influence your professional life.
“Why?” is a question that many business owners have, and that’s normal, because, before starting to do something, you must find out why it should be done, how it can help you and how it can bring more value to your company.
So, here’s the answer to your “Why?”: because this kind of strategy will help you get your business right where you want it to be, in a relatively short time, in a natural, simple but efficient way!
A CRM strategy is a well-structured plan to improve the relationship between your customers and your sales, marketing and customer service teams. Thus, the potential of your business will considerably increase, and you will enjoy real success!
Ok, but what do statistics say?
Supper Office says that: “92% of companies believe CRM technology is crucial to achieving goals”.
This is good news because we have the solution (about which you will find out more by reading this article), we have the product, so all we have to do is… ACT!
Moreover, Capterra says that: “47% of users say CRM improves customer satisfaction“.
So, with the right CRM system, you can have an excellent relationship between your company and your customers. This only brings you benefits, because a customer who is satisfied with the services you provide will also return to buy again from you. This is because people act according to what they feel, depending on what you transmit, emotionally speaking.
What are the benefits of a CRM strategy?
Obviously, when you make a plan or a strategy, the goal is to be able to have as many achievements as possible. In terms of the business you have, a CRM system and a good strategy are the perfect match to achieve your goal.
Here’s why:
- Organizing the team is much easier to do and more efficient;
- The management of the relationship with both potential customers and existing ones is handled excellently;
- You have access to a clear, highly detailed database of every company, customer, or lead your company has interacted with;
- Tasks can be set so that your employees are notified when they need to do something;
- You can easily identify opportunities for your business;
- Services to potential and existing customers can be further improved by you and your colleagues;
- You get clear perspectives and data for future performance;
Before talking about a CRM strategy, it’s a good idea to know the 5 steps you have to take when choosing a well-defined plan.
Step 1: Audit your business!
First of all, you need to look closely at your current workflows and any existing strategies. The purpose of the audit is to identify the weaknesses and strengths of the company you own, as well as the opportunities and strong competition in the market.
This analysis is called SWOT.
Step 2: Set your goals!
Then, it would be good to know what you want to achieve when it comes to customer relationship management. Do you want to increase NPS scores (Net Promoter Score- an indicator of customer satisfaction and loyalty)? Do you want to cut down on losses? Or do you just want to shorten your sales cycle? Whatever the goals, make sure they are clear when it comes to implementing a strategy.
Once you’ve taken this step, think carefully about whether or not you can reach them, given the resources you currently have. Do you have enough members in your sales team to turn your strategy and goals into reality? Maybe you need powerful tools, such as a CRM software.
In any case, make sure you have everything you need, before preparing for success!
Step 3: Identify the target customer group!
This may seem ordinary, but it is extremely important to understand who your company’s customers and prospects are so that you can create the so-called “Buyer persona”. Once you have a clear perspective, you will know who to talk to and thus, you will find the right methods and messages in order to be able to contact only those customers who are in the target group!
If you don’t have a clear overview about a buyer, customer, or prospect, you can choose to do customer surveys to find the answers you are looking for.
Step 4: Know the experience that the customer has on the Market!
Similarly, you should know the details, the advantages and the disadvantages of the whole experience that customers have, from the beginning to the end, on the Market. Familiarize yourself with all possible contact points and with the rest of the sales “funnel”.
Then, contact your target group to whom you want to sell your product or service. The most important question is: Does your sales funnel and marketing strategy match your type of buyer?
Step 5: Understand your market competition and where you stand as a business!
While understanding customers and internal processes can be great, it’s important to know how and where you stand when it comes to market competition. What types of materials or resources do your competitors provide? How can you stand out? How can you be different from the rest?
Think and find the answers to these questions, because when there are similar products on the market and people tend to choose what stands out; what’s different compared to the rest. Arouse the curiosity of the target group, make an effective marketing strategy!
Once you have completed all these steps, it means you are ready to implement a CRM strategy for your business!
Here it is…
The most successful CRM strategy for your business
The CRM strategy we’ve anticipated so far is to use all the features that a CRM system offers. The solution we have carefully developed – Zimplu CRM – may be exactly what you need! A software that will definitely help you to have a successful strategy!
You may be wondering what its features and advantages are and how Zimplu CRM will make your business grow considerably. Well, we have the answers that you are looking for.
Use the Automation feature that this software has
If you realize that your team is bored of doing the same tasks, which are constantly repeated, there is definitely a way to automate them. Zimplu CRM can take over a considerable part of the administrative work that comes with managing sales and customers. This way, your employees will focus on other, more important tasks.
Moreover, the 2 great benefits that this function offers you are:
- Automatic creation of activities – your employees will not forget the important tasks that they have to do, because, depending on the established condition, an activity will be automatically created at a set time interval and will remind them of what they have to do;
- Automatic sending of emails – based on this module, users will get rid of the stress of forgetting to send emails to request for renewal of contracts with various customers. You will also have a database with updated information in real time, free of problems during collaboration with customers;
Constantly update the customer and prospect database
A very important thing is to constantly update your database. This way, you’ll clearly know which customers have low engagement, which ones canceled recently or which ones are inactive, and more.
With Zimplu CRM it is extremely simple to have a complete and complex database. And thanks to it, you have easy access to all the information you need! With everything being well organized, you can keep track of customers and prospects with great ease.
Create personalized messages
The difference between “Hello!” and “Hello, [first name]” is extremely big. 72% of those contacted reported that they were more involved in the businesses that used personalized messages when contacted.
The good news is that you can create such messages directly from Zimplu, which you can send to your customers and prospects! Keep yourself informed easily, using the data collected to know what type of message would suit each client best. This is a great way to improve your relationship with your customers.
Choosing an administrative panel
Instead of having your team spend a lot of time generating reports, an administrative panel is exactly what you need.
With Zimplu, everything is much easier, because it generates reports automatically. Using this Software will save you a lot of time and hassle. Moreover, you will have much faster access to all the information. So, your employees can focus on other issues that require their attention and time.
Very important
You need to keep in mind that you may not see great results immediately after applying the strategy. Both your employees and yourself need time and practice, so don’t be discouraged!
After at least 4 weeks, you should start evaluating whether the results are as expected and what adjustments you need to make for improvements.
In most cases, making small, gradual changes is a much better idea than making big changes overnight. Why? Because everything takes time to get on the right track.
Create a free account here, and discover all the benefits we talked about in this article!
What’s in it for you, concretely?
There are many improvements you will see after you implement the Zimplu CRM system and the above strategy, such as:
- increased productivity of sales agents;
- better customer retention;
- higher conversion rates of prospects into customers;
And, of course, all of this together means increasing sales and profit for the company!
We also want you to know that many companies collaborate with us and are satisfied with Zimplu CRM. Here are some of them:
Before you finish reading this article, we want to make a little recap, so the information will be as clear as possible for you.
So, you’ve learned that the steps you need to take before choosing a strategy are:
- Closely examine current workflows and any existing strategies in your business, but also identify competition and opportunities.
- Clearly define goals and evaluate them so that you know for sure whether or not you can achieve them with your existing resources.
- Identify the target customer group and create a “buyer persona” according to your type of business.
- Have knowledge of the experience and the history of the client on the Market. See if your marketing strategy and sales funnel match the type of buyer.
- Understand where you are as a business on the market, as well as the competition you have. Find out what you can stand out with, what you have and others don’t. Remember that people always choose what brings them interest.
By reading this article, you’ve also found out what a CRM system means. If you want to find out more about this topic, click here.
Let’s not forget about the benefits you get if you apply the strategy that we recommend!
- Fast and efficient team organization;
- Great relationship management with the people that interact with your company;
- A clear, complex and detailed database;
- Setting up tasks for employees;
- Easy identification of opportunities;
- Providing improved services to both potential and existing clients;
- Clear views and information for future performances;
You’ve found out that in order to choose the strategy you need, you have to follow the steps mentioned above. So, after going through this process of knowing all the details of your business, it’s time to implement the successful strategy – to use all the functions that a CRM system offers you, such as Zimplu CRM:
- The automation function, which takes over a considerable part of the administrative work that comes with managing sales and customers. So, employees will focus on other important tasks.
- Constant and efficient database update, so you will have easy access to all the necessary information about customers and prospects.
- Create personalized messages with email templates that you can send directly from Zimplu CRM. And more than that, generate good customer knowledge, so you know exactly what approach to use when contacting them.
- Using the admin panel employees will no longer spend their time generating reports, because Zimplu will do it for them.
Last but not least, our advice is to apply this strategy with patience and confidence, without worrying if results don’t appear in a short time. Remember that you should start evaluating results after at least 4 weeks.
As Zig Ziglar said: “A goal properly set is halfway reached!”. So, make sure that the chosen strategy is clear, good and effective, and will definitely help you to take your business to the highest level!