crm solution

5 pitfalls to CRM success and how to overcome them

Posted on by admin

Lack of Guidance

When implementing a CRM, there needs to be a mutually agreed upon goals in place. A CRM initiative without goals will collapse.

The business owner must start by crafting a valid business case for CRM before looking into CRM solutions. One can also assemble multiple teams to determine specific, measurable goals for the initiative. Areas to consider can include automating processes that will improve user productivity and boost customer satisfaction, streamlining marketing and sales processes, giving customer-facing employees access to a 360-degree view of customer details, etc.

Integration Concerns

There are no applications which can solve all integration problems. Most customers expect integration to happen like plugging a light fixture into a socket and flipping a switch, when in fact it is an evolutionary process. With an integrated system there are always inconsistencies between the separate applications. It is always advisable to consider what is important or the need of the hour than planning to merge and include everything that can possibly fit in.

No Long-Term Strategy

CRM is a business process change, often supported by technology. Many business leaders don’t align their business processes to meet specific goals. Factors like job roles and responsibilities, accountability, and incentives are required for CRM to succeed.

For a long-term business process change to be effective, have members of the CRM implementation team spend time in the field to determine how the CRM Software will help employees.

Dirty Data

An often-overlooked factor is dirty data, or inaccurate and old information. Data is the lifeblood of a CRM system, and incorrect numbers, spelling mistakes, and outdated contact information can infect the system if it is left unchecked. It has become uncommon to have 25 to 40 percent data duplication rates. There are two main reasons for this, either the Customer touch points have multiplied, or the speed at which people enter the data has increased. Dirty data can not only cost a lot to companies, but it can severely hinder CRM adoption rates.

Lack of Employee Acceptance

It is quite natural to resist change. Many of the sales people may ask, for example, Why should we be forced to change our working habits, when those very habits helped us become so successful? On the other hand, poorer performers may fear the outcome of their managers having a closer window into their bad habits. Failure to convince these and other employees of the benefits of CRM often results in passive resistance and low employee-adoption rates.

Effectively communicating the benefits of CRM to users should strengthen their confidence in and comfort levels with the new system.

Smart & Flexible is the key to the Future CRM!

Posted on by maplespeaker

“One size fits all“. Does this phrase hold good when it comes to business and software applications?

Many CRM systems are built to fit varied industries and business sectors. In the early days, having any CRM would mean that you have multiple options that you can use as your CRM would comprise of everything to anything and that’s why you had to pay a hefty price for the same. Hence, the one size fits all approach was acceptable.

Over the years, CRM solutions have evolved to offer many features that can work on a customized approach to fit into any business. The focus has changed to a flexible mode that that can be opted as needed. It comes down to the features and functions that any business wants to priortize and the costing varies based on what has been chosen rather than everything.

The current demand is that CRM has to respond in a different way to every individual in the organization. That would mean virtually every individual interacting with an organization’s CRM system needs a view of that system that is uniquely personal. So in fact, it becomes contrary of the one-size-fits-all system. Instead of being a huge system offering everything to everyone, it should be a system that simply returns whatever information, in whatever form, to whatever interface, an individual needs – whenever it’s asked to.

The future CRM demands to have a personal view which should present the information I need, remind me in the way how I want it to be reminded and the CRM should definitely be smart enough to deliver my personalized experience in a device – appropriate manner.

And ‘Smart” is the real key here. Moving forward, market is looking for the CRM systems that can truly deliver value to users and customers, CRM systems that are smarter, dynamically personalized for each individual’s needs, and capable of helping us handle the more complex challenges.

Saying that, there are a lot of CRM software choices today in the market, but consider the importance of using a system that was designed with you in mind. One that fits your business.

Having a project plan ready for CRM Implementation

Posted on by maplespeaker

CRM Implementation

The success of a CRM project greatly depends on the planning and strategy that has been done for the CRM implementation. The CRM Implementation project plan is like a road map connected to various activities of each department which must be clearly defined and understood to make it work.

This article can help you plan on the successful CRM implementation, so lets get started.

1. Detailed Analysis

Ensure to review your internal process. What are the steps involved from the initial contact of the customer to winning the deal? How does the contact get allocated and assigned? What are the most time consuming steps? What steps in the process can be automated? etc.

2. Current System

How are the quotations and invoices being generated? How does the team manage the documents? How are all the details recorded and where is it stored? If you were already using a different system, then what went wrong with it? This can help you have clear idea on what you can expect from your CRM system and how to implement the missing points.

3. Get the team involved

Talk to your team and understand the pain points of their work process and what can help them to improve their productivity. Understand which people are involved in what process and how this can be set in place when you have a CRM system.

4. The data migration

Understand the possibility of migrating your existing data into the system and also ensure to move away the junk data which is no longer needed so that once your CRM system is ready, your team can focus on the things that are needed to. The unnecessary administrative work need not be pushed again into the CRM.

Once you have the above points ready, chalk out a plan on the kick off dates. Each of the stage can have a time line associated based on the priorities for your process.

The CRM configuration is the base to get your CRM process into the execution. So it is important that you have the configuration plan ready based on the above points discussed. Altering the configuration after the system being rolled out can bring chaos to the entire plan and also to the team.

Remember not everything can happen in one day. Configuration is one side of the story. But the other side is when your team has to get involved, start understanding the system and get the CRM system rooted into their everyday process and only after certain period of time things would change and the process becomes much easier.

If you would like me to help you on the above plan or answer any questions on what is involved in a CRM implementation, then contact me at +91 95389 25641 . You can also send your email to info@maplecrm.com

How to maximize the value of a lead?

Posted on by maplespeaker
Lead Management

Maximize the value of leads

Well, before talking about how we can maximize lets first understand whether we do consider the following in the business process:

  • Have you done a measure on the sales performance?
  • Do you have a tracking mechanism to find out the lead stages?
  • Any analytics on how is the business process going?

If you have most of the answers as NO, then it is more likely that you are managing inefficiently when it comes to your sales process. If YES, then lets have a quick review on whether or not you are able to produce better results.

Often business owners don’t or do not know how to track leads effectively. May be it is easy to know how many leads are coming in but may not be easy to find out what is happening with the lead and where it stands today. So here are few ideas on tracking on the lead status.

Tap the source of each lead:
It is important to identify from where you are getting the leads. This vital information can be used to derive the effective source from where most of the leads come through. The analytics can further help you to make decisions whether or not to invest on some of the sourcing methods.

Analyse the stages of leads:
With many of your executives actively working on various leads simultaneously, it is more than a necessity for the manager to keep a note of where each of the leads stand today. Your sales staff must ensure to mark the lead stage as and when it is pushed forward in the sales process so that the manager can easily pull out stage wise reports on every lead.

Segmenting your lists:
Identifying the leads at the right time makes a lot of difference for your sales staff or the manager. This is why segmentation is very important for lead nurturing process. Segmentation can be done using various ways of classification which can be defined based on your business process.

Get an instant response system:
A lead is hot when it is contacted on time. Make sure that your lead is contacted back immediately as soon as it arrives. To accomplish this, you need to have a system in place which notifies you on whom to call when.

There are few programs called CRM systems (Customer Relationship Management solutions) that can be used to track and follow up on the leads. A CRM system can definitely make a difference in business tracking and decision making.

Would you like to try out a CRM first? Sign up here now!

Cloud Computing and its impact on Small Business

Posted on by maplespeaker

The most important advantage of the cloud computing is the cost. With the cloud technology, there is no initial investment for infrastructure. Additionally, you no need to pay for the maintenance cost, cost of infrastructure, software up-grade, in-house IT professionals or license issues.

Cloud computing service provider offers the cloud infrastructure in different package. You can choose the package based on your business requirements. Cloud computing offers the universal access of the data, application and other resources. These services are available anytime and anywhere there is internet. Further, you no need to worry about the settings and the customization. You can directly login to your CRM host and start accessing the data and resources stored on the cloud server.

We at Maple CRM offers the services and resources based on the users demand.User friendly interfaces is our primary focus and our systems are simple yet visual and highly intuitive.

You can You can read more about Maple CRM and test our software by using Our Free Trial or you can mail us at info@maplecrm.com

The Business Benefits of Cloud CRM

Posted on by maplespeaker

Cloud computing has transformed seemingly every aspect of modern business.Research indicates cloud applications and platforms will be at the forefront of IT spending by 2016, with half of all enterprises implementing cloud solutions by 2017. One of the quickest markets to connect with the cloud is customer relationship management (CRM) software.

The advantages of traditional CRM software are well known: tracking sales interactions and identifying patterns can increase profits, and lead to a better, more personalized experience for the customer. But combine it with the advantages of cloud computing and the business benefits are substantial.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways this duo is making a positive impact on business technology.

Lowered Costs- One of the most widely touted benefits of cloud computing is lowered upfront costs. SaaS solutions are subscription-based,. This eliminates the need to purchase licenses and hardware, and can decrease maintenance costs. The vendor takes care of software updates. Additionally, a cloud-based CRM requires no local installation, so it can typically be up and running in a matter of hours.

Improved Productivity- In addition to reducing costs, cloud CRM can lead to increased employee productivity, specifically among sales teams working remotely. Since the software and data are hosted in the cloud, workers can access the CRM outside the office. Meaning sales and marketing teams can work anywhere, anytime. Cloud mobility also facilitates virtual workforces and multinational teams, providing a scalable solution for growing businesses.

Advanced Data and Analytics- Many businesses are turning to cloud CRM for business intelligence. On-premise solutions generally require manual uploading, syncing, and backup, whereas cloud solutions sync in real time. Cloud CRM provides an up-to-date picture of customer data, sales pipelines, invoices, and email. Having access to unified company information allows businesses to organize data and gain accurate insights about inventory, customer leads, and profitability.

Usability- Cloud CRM’s offer numerous benefits. Companies of all sizes can use them to forecast trends, improve efficiency, and increase the bottom line. Cloud computing offers a scalable and affordable CRM solution that enables mobility, real time insights, and native integrations.

The business benefits of a cloud-based CRM could be just the competitive advantage your company needs.

 

Tips to identify the right time to execute CRM Solution to your Business

Posted on by maple-crm

Started losing sales due to no proper follow-up?
No proper communication happening between your support team and sales team?
No communication history of your customer?
 
Yes! This is the right time where the management must think of having a CRM Software in the company. But you are still confused, why I should use a CRM System.
 
Here are some indicators which points you to understand the need of having a CRM Solution

  • When number of contacts  or leads increase exorbitantly

  • When it is difficult to pick out hot /warm leads out of the bucket
  • Use of spreadsheet makes customer data heavy to manage
  • When there is duplication of data and you could not find it out.

  • When you want your contacts /leads classified by industry / product / service

  • When you want to communicate with your whole database

  • When you want to check the sales pipeline of your employees

  • When you want to check the communication history with your customer

  • When your employee incentives is associated to the leads generation and conversion

  • When you want to run a marketing campaign and you have no idea about the results

The use of a CRM Software in your business is the wise investment you can ever make as it will help setting up of sales processes, manage customer relationships and satisfaction, and helps in time management.  If you want to succeed, cherish your ambitions. Focus on the few important things that will make your sellers do better. Miraculously, CRM will become the game-changer.

Scope of CRM Software for Small Business

Posted on by maplespeaker

With the growth of plenty of businesses in India, most business and organization owners are looking forward for different strategies for success in their organizations. More and more businesses are increasingly realizing the importance of customers for their businesses and therefore trying to find out the right way of managing a good relationship with customers.

CRM, when implemented into a business process can smoothly help in handling information and data related to customers by means of which the needs and feedbacks of the customers can be easily tracked and monitored. It can also help the business in maintaining a smooth relationship with the customers, while at the same time the customers can also be satisfied.

Customers are important for any business, and therefore every organization should make use of the best strategy in order to maintain a long lasting relationship with the customers. With the help of CRM Solutions, it becomes easier for a business to track information about the existing customers as well as new clients.

CRM is a great way through which customer capacity of a business can be enhanced to generate maximum sales and profit. As a result, the growth opportunities of the business, as a whole can also be enhanced.

CRM Software Solution helps a growing small business to gain the maximum benefit from their customer data as well as effectively integrate sales, marketing and customer service data into one secure easily accessible database. This helps to streamline business processes and enables the users to successfully manage all aspects of customer interaction, from customer acquisition to sales to post-sales customer service and retain long term customer satisfaction and relationship.

 

How to make use of a CRM Software?

Posted on by maplespeaker

There are multiple ways how CRM can be beneficial to your business. It is for you to identify the loop hopes and let CRM do the work there. Here are few ideas that you can implement in your business process.

Integrate it with your Accounting and Billing department:
Your accounting team can easily have access to the customers financial data & invoice history and can easily generate invoices for customers without spending much time.

Internal Collaboration:
CRM can help your teams to work together more effectively on customers, projects and opportunities.

Review your support process:
Taking time to analyse and review the support process to see whether there is any quicker way of doing things can have a big impact on productivity.

Track customer history:
Analyse which of your products or services are your customers using Understanding the customer buying preference can help in improving customer support and increase the potential to cross-sell other products and services.

Use of Marketing Automation tools:
This tool can help in monitoring the leads interactions and set up automated campaigns and identify the sales-ready leads and target them. This will help in focusing on the most promising opportunities.

Issue Tracking:
CRM enables you to keep track and manage customer complaints. Tracking and managing customer complaints within the CRM application can increase the visibility of issues to the staff and lets to take proactive actions to address the root causes of problems.

Capture Feedback:
How well is your organization running and what could be improved? Often these are ignored. It is ideal for an organization to identify the potential changes and address it.

Integrate Lead creation:
You can integrate your CRM system to your website enabling the automatic creation of lead by reducing the need to re-key data & increase the speed of lead response.

Do you have any queries? Contact Us.

Implementing CRM solution in a simplified way

Posted on by maplespeaker

You may have implemented a CRM solution for your company, but everyone in your organization may not have properly used the new system. This could cause many companies to feel that the CRM is not worth and may stop using it. Employees think that using a CRM solution is too much of a time consuming to learn how to use the system and to make use of the data collected.

Every new solution takes sometime to really understand and use it. But the time invested really pays off later. Here are few ways how you can simplify your way of using a CRM solution thus ensuring a good way to use the solution and get benefits from it.

1. Establish Best Practices

Chalk out the best practices to use the system. Engage actively with the end users and figure out the best process for activities. This will help all the users to follow one process and to collaborate together to provide fruitful output.

2. Use what is needed

Your CRM may offer many features with the package, but that does not force you to use what is not required and end up in wasting time and energy. Not every feature is going to be relevant to your organization. If you already have certain process that is defined, follow the same. If something new is available that is going to help you out, then make use of it. (You can try www.maplecrm.com, which offers features that is tailored based on your requirement)

3. Automate certain tasks

Don’t unnecessarily waste your employees time on tedious, repetitive tasks. Set up automated systems to do the work for you. Develop templates to avoid time on drafting the information everytime. Email templates, Invoice/Quotation profiles, Report templates can save much time. The easier your system is to use, the more people will actually use it.

4. Keep data segregated and clean

Your CRM software is only as good as the data you have stored in it. Every employee should ensure of keeping up-to-date information in the system. If the system is not updated regularly, then slowly this can add up to a database filled with obsolete information. Keep the data categorized so that you know where to search for it when it is needed. By classifying them in different ways, it is easier for you to differentiate your customers and focus only on those which is worth spending time.

Adoption of a new CRM system can be difficult to deal with for any organization, but with a strong commitment and a simplified process, your company can be on it’s way to CRM success.