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“CRM is your GPS to a better route on your Business Development journey.”
- Bobby Darnell
Very few statements will perhaps be able to capture the true essence of what CRM is, and what it can do for your company, better than this quote. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, but its functionalities extend far and wide. It can be described as an all-in-one package for businesses, which takes care of their every requirement. It boosts all operations, and it can make any business, whether large or small, a powerhouse of efficiency!
How CRM Helps Large Enterprises
Of late, entrepreneurs are gaining more knowledge about the ways in which CRM can benefit them. Technology has taken over almost every other aspect of the world today, including businesses. The popularity associated with CRM has increased so much, that up to 65% of businesses adopt CRM within the first 5 years of their launch.
Large enterprises, as the name indicates, have their business operations on a very large scale. They have countless users as their customers, have years’ worth of valuable data gathered, and innumerable aspects of their business functioning simultaneously. Without technological intervention, managing all this is an impossible feat! That is where CRM comes in. Brands such as Apple and Nokia are among the most successful global companies in terms of sales and market value. Let us understand how they leveraged the power of CRM technology to scale their businesses:
1.Apple:
Apple is a fine example of how CRM can not only improve your existing operations, but can also open up avenues for you to offer new and advanced services for your customers.
The brand has a wide and expansive network that includes several types of gadgets (mobiles, laptops, headphones etc.) as well as several software applications (for music, podcasts, books etc.) The factor that binds all these together, and makes the Apple network seamless for its users, is the customer data that Apple collects and stores in the form of your ‘Apple ID’. CRM is used by the company to efficiently manage this data, as well as analyze it. It is the accurate management of this data that enables Apple consumers to access their Apple IDs from any device. CRM technology also gives data-driven insights about the likes and preferences of customers, which can be synced across all Apple devices and software.
Without CRM in place, this customer data generated by Apple would have become a hassle to manage, and the valuable insights that it can generate would have never been explored.
2.Nokia:
Nokia is a renowned telecommunications company, that has been able to transform its marketing efforts with the help of accurate CRM adoption and implementation.
The business of Nokia operates on a global basis, and its consumers are spread over a wide range of nationalities, age groups, language preferences etc. Let us imagine a scenario where Nokia was working without CRM. How would it have been able to segregate the big data pertaining to its large customer base? How would it have been able to specifically target its product and marketing strategies to cater to various customer segments? The simple answer is that Nokia would not have been able to do so!
CRM enabled Nokia to utilize their data in the best way possible and made it their best asset. The brand could give personalized and customized offerings for various segments of its consumer base, thereby fostering better relations with them.
Case studies such as these are a highly convincing testament to the power of CRM software. Seeing how these big brands have been able to improve their operations and scale their revenue, it surely makes CRM a very appealing addition to one’s business arsenal. But is the effectiveness of CRM reserved for large enterprises, or can it be equally beneficial for small businesses too?
How CRM Helps Small Businesses
It is not merely beneficial, but sales CRM is perhaps the best thing for the growth of small businesses. The technology does not exclusively work for large businesses, but rather extends its benefits for all businesses- irrespective of their size, revenue and industry. Statistics also show that up to 79% of businesses presently use CRM. If we look deeper into this large number, it is obvious that a lot of small businesses must be also included in this 79%, since it cannot be exclusively comprised of only large enterprises. Why would so many growing businesses divert their precious budgets towards a tool that does not help them?
CRM software has the capacity to completely transform the operations of a small business. It plays an even more important role for small businesses as compared to larger ones, since the former do not have the luxury of losing out on clients or sales due to manual errors and efficiency problems. If we had to isolate some of the main aspects of Apple’s and Nokia’s operations that CRM improved, they can be said to be:
- Creation of a centralized database
- Analysis of data to give valuable insights and strategies
- Nurturing customer relations
- Creating targeted communication and marketing strategies
- Enhancing the quality of the product/service
If a small business owner was given a chance to streamline these aspects of his business, he would surely grab the opportunity! All the benefits that CRM has for large enterprises apply equally, if not more, to growing businesses. In its starting stages, a business encounters certain challenges. It has to establish a good reputation for its brand, make a place for itself in the competitive market, and also build a customer base. CRM can serve as an efficient partner for a business in tackling and overcoming all these challenges.
A good CRM solution for small businesses, such as Kylas, will target the pain points of small businesses, and offer features that can resolve these:
- Lead Management- It will help you capture leads from various sources and create a convenient and unified platform where all your leads data can be collated. Your business will never have to lose potential customers due to a lack of effective management
- Workflow Automation- One of the biggest challenges for small businesses is having a lot to do and not having enough resources to do it. With workflow automation, the precious time of your sales teams will be spent closing deals instead of on manual and time-consuming tasks
- Mobile Access- A CRM does not keep your teams tied down to their desktop, but instead helps in the efficient management of the business on the go! Most CRMs are compatible with mobile technology, and hence even your field sales teams can benefit from it.
- Automated Lead Distribution- Once you capture leads, it is essential that they are allocated at the right time to the right person. By automatically distributing incoming leads, a CRM enables speedy and efficient collaboration among your teams.
- Integration with other platforms- Your data is your most valuable asset, and it is essential that your data is always efficiently accessible to you. CRM integrations help to create a seamless network of data across platforms.
These are just some of the features of CRM that can optimize your business. If CRM is used well, and to its full potential, it has the capability to enhance your productivity multifold!
