“Customer relationship management (CRM) is an approach to managing a company’s interaction with current and potential future customers that tries to analyze data about customers’ history with a company and to improve business relationships with customers, specifically focusing on customer retention and ultimately driving sales growth.”
Source: Wikipedia
Customer Relationship Management is not something start-ups should even dare to cut back on. While trying to build a presence and take on the bigger brands that have existed for years, you need to invest in building good relations with your existing customers in order to sustain your company and increase its popularity.
Here are four reasons why CRM is absolutely crucial for your start-up:
i. Enables better customer service
Having proper CRM techniques in place lets your employees use it to the fullest to improve customer service which in the long run builds strong relationships with the customer. Having proper database of customers along with their history of purchases allows you to interact with them in a better way. Also, by keeping records of status of the projects that are being worked on, you can constantly give your clients updates which portray you as efficient.
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ii. Improve sales
As a start-up working on shoestring and strict budgets, the last thing you want to do is mess up sales by targeting the wrong segment. That’s when certain CRM tactics like feedback and client administration programs come to your rescue and provide you valuable feedback which compels you to rethink and re-strategise. CRM also helps you streamline the sales process and reduced chances of losing leads.
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iii. Supplement to your marketing efforts
Apart from sales, CRM plays an important role in adding value to your marketing efforts as well. CRM techniques and tools help you attribute where the leads came from which means your marketing team needs to either focus more on that area for re-sales or start paying attention to the neglected areas.
If you are aspiring to build a campaign through e-mails, a CRM database allows you to segregate and target groups of leads differently. Thus, by focusing and laying emphasis on CRM, you can strategise better for various channels.
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iv. Tracking your profits
CRM is a beautiful concept which helps your account team to track profits with minimal ease. Certain CRM softwares let you use more advanced techniques of profitability tracking through bookkeeping systems and accurate reporting of finances. While focusing on the value chain, you can access various tools which help you increase sales and calculate positive/negative monetary results at the end of the financial year.
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