5 Tips to Maximize Your CRM Software and Boost Revenue

A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is a fundamental part of any business, enabling a company to organize and analyze their client data in an easily accessible way. 

Every interaction with a customer is stored in a centralized place, enabling a full view of their experience to date. Multiple stakeholders have access to this data which encourages the sharing of information, breaking down silos and communication between departments. 

Purchasing the software is all well and good. Knowing how to utilize and maximize its potential (or adopt it) poses a variety of challenges. 

Here we will share some top tips for getting the most out of your CRM software to help boost your sales success. 

Organize data clearly

Businesses collect data on their clients daily, and if this is not organized clearly and concisely, it could end up being confusing to whoever is trying to understand the information. 

If you look at it another way, the data you have on your clients is a key part of a sales cycle. Misinformation could lead to a breakdown in communication or the loss of a sale.

However, if your CRM is well organized, it could give you a competitive advantage. According to Salesforce, 39% of businesses that use an integrated platform agree with this and cite their data as a strategic asset. 

That’s because companies live and die by their clients and the revenues they can pull in. 

To maximize this potential, keep your data clean and well managed. Organize using custom fields, tabs, and record types. You can also set up an audit trail to keep a record of edits made to the data. Finally, perform regular checks on the data to ensure details are correct and up to date. 

Invest in proper onboarding and training

Ensuring that your team understands the software and can use it effectively is a critical part of ensuring they engage with your CRM software. 

This requires a full and effective onboarding process showing them all of the functions and features which are relevant to them and how they will benefit their day-to-day.

Try and mitigate against some of the challenges new starters will face getting to grips with an entirely new CRM software by learning from previous mistakes. This will help ensure a smooth onboarding process where employees get the most out of their training.  

Training is not a one-time thing. Your CRM software will regularly have new features added to it or upgrades made. Training, therefore, needs to be a constant on-going process. 

To ensure this doesn’t interfere with your team’s daily activities, integrate your software with a Digital Adoption Platform (DAP). These provide training when the individual needs it, delivering in-app pointers and tips to help guide them through the software. Training this way doesn’t interrupt the flow of work, but enhances it as employees are able to continue with their tasks. 

Delivering proper onboarding and training will mean your team use the software effectively and remain up-to-date on any upgrades that take place. 

Usage data helps your people analytics

CRM is not just a way to centrally house your data. It delivers much more in terms of analytics and trends into your customers’ behaviors and buying patterns. 

If a particular product more popular at a certain time of year, or if an email receives a better response than others, this will be picked up by the CRM and highlighted. Try and isolate what precisely helped attribute to this success and try and replicate it. 

Analyzing the data will also help identify where mistakes have been made and offer insights into how best to correct them, as well as what your employee experience might be lacking. 

A DAP will also be able to analyze trends on how your employees are interacting with the software. It will highlight which features are underused or causing friction to your team. 

Using these trends, you will be able to target your sales operations and marketing campaigns better and understand which areas of your CRM could benefit from optimization. 

Automate processes

Boosting your business means making more sales. The fastest way to do this is to automate their sales processes. This will remove as many time consuming and repetitive administrative tasks from their day-to-day, letting them focus on the job in hand. 

A CRM software platform can automate many of these tasks, such as sending a welcome or reminder email to new and existing clients. Automation will help ensure communication lines are kept open, and no leads are missed. 

Your CRM will use AI to personalize communications with your clients, delivering tailored offers based on their previous search, and purchasing history. In the future, we can expect a CRM software to suggest the next best actions based on individual customer needs and where they are in the sales cycle. 

Utilize mobile

A lot of the work we do is performed on-the-go via our mobile phones. Therefore, a solution that offers a user-friendly mobile version will be highly advantageous. 

A mobile-friendly CRM will allow for more sales.

As many of your sales teams will be out and about visiting clients, you want them to be able to access the CRM for vital customer information. Keeping this information in the office means your salespeople are glued to their desks or they don’t have access to all the information when they are in the field.

Salespeople will also be able to update the CRM as they go meaning there won’t be a huge backlog of administration waiting for them when they return to the office. 

To boost your business, enabling access to your CRM on-the-go will ensure your sales team has the most up-to-date information at their fingertips. 

Make the most of your CRM

Your CRM software is one of the best tools available to ensure sales success. That being said, it needs to be organized in a clear and easily understandable format. 

Make sure you devote enough time to fully onboarding new starters, so they are able to fully engage with the software and get the most out of its features. Finally, making it accessible on-the-go via mobile will ensure your team never miss a beat when it comes to their customers, taking every opportunity to boost your business.