Beyond tracking customer’s behavior and creating sales dashboards, CRM software is becoming a tool that is capable of providing support for other functions as well, which is far removed from the sales department. The convenience and efficiency that CRM software offers in many cases have nowadays made it more of an operating system for several big and small businesses, rather than using it as a platform for single use.
Therefore, if you are looking for ways and means to fetch more ROI out of your CRM investment, here are 7 ways that Customer Relationship Management software can be used, even beyond the realm of sales.
1. Marketing
It is not altogether a surprise that CRM can also be an excellent asset for your marketing team. Beyond the ability to track customer-related communications and data, CRM is also helpful for the marketers in showing the effectiveness of their efforts. For example, CRM can easily show you how a specific marketing campaign is performing among your targeted audiences and help you to drill down to see who exactly became your new lead or customer, and which method can help you to convert these leads in the shortest possible time.
2. Customer Support
CRM is a platform, which stores customer information that can be shared with any member of the organization, which is especially important when a non-sales member of an organization is interacting with the customers. Hence, the members of the customer support team can use CRM tool, because they can have access to the customer’s personal information and purchase history, which can aid in providing a quality customer experience and help in sustained nurturing of the relationship.
3. Team Performance
CRM software is an excellent tool that can provide a real-time look at the performance of your team. Using a CRM your managers can view any agents’ activity, break it down by specific timeline, and also track the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the agent related to your company goals. This can allow the management to find out the gaps in productivity and make adjustments right away instead of waiting for monthly or quarterly performance reviews.
4. Recruiting and Onboarding
You may be surprised to know that you can even use a CRM much like a project management tool. It can help you to develop programmed workflows for establishing the application process when your talent acquisition team is recruiting and employing new people for your organization. In fact, CRM when combined with contact management features, makes it a perfect hiring tool.
CRM software can also set up a process for complete onboarding of your new employees, where you can use the task management and file sharing functionalities of the CRM. Although this is a less than common use of this software, however, if you are trying to save funds by running different areas of your business from a multi-tasking platform, then it is worth trying it.
5. Direct Mailing
Over the years, we have become so dependent on technology that our preferred modes of communication have changed as we have forgotten the use of paper and ‘snail mail’. In fact, receiving something by mail has nowadays become something special. CRM system can become your personal relationship manager and help you to decide when it is time to reach out to customers in a more attractive and engaging way, like sending an old-fashioned letter. With third-party integration, you can also automate a part of this process and trigger letters to be sent based on buying stages and appropriate lead scores of your customers.
6. Content Management
By now, everyone in online business understands the use and importance of content marketing in this digital world. However, it is not only important to create contents, but it is equally necessary to develop a plan for your target audience and create an editorial calendar based on the requirement. In many cases you can use your CRM as a tool for scheduling, managing and tracking your content marketing plans to make sure that your content calendar is full and ready to release the contents online, well in advance, and that you have the ability to track all your content assets through the CRM platform.
7. Product Development
There are several strategies you can use to even implement CRM software into product management; however, the system used depends on the requirement of the company. Managing feedback and communications from the customers allows Product Managers to find a better idea of what is working in the market and what can be further improved for development of the brand. Moreover, notes from user researchers can be logged next to a contact using a CRM, and if this information is pertinent to other team members, attention can be brought to redress the situation. Product Managers can also identify which customers can contribute to validate certain features in the products and then develop a roadmap that reflects the user’s voice while manufacturing new products for your brand.
Conclusion
To end this discussion, your CRM is your best tool for you to manage your data quickly and efficiently. Hence, rather than viewing your CRM software as a sales management tool, start looking at your CRM as a customer intelligence and performance management software, which provides better customer support opportunities, increase team performance, aid in hiring your employees and help you managing your content marketing plans that ultimately cumulates in bring better revenue for your company.
