In today’s social and mobile world, businesses need to move faster and share knowledge more broadly than ever before. Information and engagement are so instantaneous that you need to move fast to keep up. Businesses also need to connect to customers on their terms, which increasingly means getting on social media platforms.
Social and mobile have transformed customers’ service expectations. Customers expect quality, personalised service; and they expect it on their terms across the web, social media platforms, mobile technology and smart phones.
With the correct customer relationship management (CRM) systems, you can earn customers for life by providing relevant, personalised service – at any time and via any channel. Empower your agents with everything they need at their fingertips to deliver amazing customer service.
The problem comes when all the different departments have differing views on what is important and where CRM should focus its attention. It becomes clear that CRM should be a coordinated, concerted effort to manage customers as a whole instead of splitting the resources of the company and hence falling short on all levels.
Let’s look at some tips on how to maximise CRM to its full effect.
Know your company
You need to have a thorough institutional knowledge of your company and your service or product offering before you even consider engaging with the customer. Have an extensive system detailing all the services and products on offer as well as a detailed list of all employees/personnel and their functionality. This should be a safe document that can be made available to anyone who might need it in the execution of their duties, yet at the same time enjoy limited open-file access.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables your marketing team to seamlessly go from planning to execution, leveraging the power of Excel and Power BI to measure campaigns across channels from start to finish so you can bring your marketing vision to life. You can engage customers one-to-one across channels, build your sales pipeline and demonstrate the impact of your marketing investments in real-time.
Mobile device support
If your company is not taking advantage of the mobility offered by modern mobile technology, you are not running a smart company. Tablets and smartphones offer a myriad of benefits that all contribute to vast opportunities for improvement in customer service and subsequently in customer relationship management. Mobile technology should empower you to deal with any client regardless of where you are, as the required information should be concise, at the ready and at your fingertips.
Data integration
Ensure that you have data management tool that fully integrates data into one, complete, extensive system. Email integration is especially important, as this is where your main written interaction with the client will be. You need seamless integration in your email system that uses the most cutting-edge, advanced and effective technology. The system should automatically link each email communication to the relevant customer’s profile. This should not mean more work for employees – it should make life easier.
Interdepartmental cooperation
You need to have the buy-in of your entire organisation. Sales and marketing teams are only as effective as the information made available to them, and they will need all the other departments to be open and offer full disclosure if the business as a whole is to make it. Information must be captured with 100% accuracy. If a customer calls with a pain point, the employee on the receiving end needs to know exactly who the relevant person is to sort out the problem, as well as where in the production chain this lies in case that person is not available. All employees also need to work on the same system to ensure that every person dealing with a customer is working from the same information and doesn’t contradict each other or frustrate the customer.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables your marketing team to seamlessly go from planning to execution, leveraging the power of Excel and Power BI to measure campaigns across channels from start to finish so you can bring your marketing vision to life. You can engage customers one-to-one across channels, build your sales pipeline and demonstrate the impact of your marketing investments in real-time.
Follow-up
Having an effective CRM system is of no use if you do not use it. You need to use the system as a failsafe that ensures thorough follow-up service that makes the most out of every potential lead and turns every existing customer in to a loyal and a lasting one. Use the CRM system to organise leads and ensure that you not only follow up at the right time, but also with the right message or offer.
Key information
Make sure that, above all else, you have the key information crucial to keep the customer happy and serviced: What is their pain, why do they need it solved and how will they determine the level of success of a solution. This is almost the whole situation resolved. If you can capture this information in your CRM solution and have it geared toward solving these quickly and efficiently, the game is half won.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables your sales, service, and marketing teams to deliver amazing customer experiences by empowering them with social tools built right into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
