We have extensively covered the top CRM implementation mistakes adopters make that negatively impacts their ROI. It’s good to have a neatly chalked out strategy and some idea of what goals you want to achieve by implementing a CRM. However, this is not all you need to be on the lookout for. Even if you have got your CRM up and running perfectly, it may not always be smooth sailing from here onwards. There might be some areas where your CRM is being underutilized or some bad decisions or exercises getting in the way of all your efforts. With this in mind, we present the top 5 CRM best practices that will help you get the most out of your CRM implementation.
1. Automate Repetitive Tasks
The primary reason you adopted a CRM in the first place was to save time and make your life a little easier. However, having to spend countless hours manually entering data into the CRM, preparing reports, prioritizing leads and writing emails goes totally against that. Tedious, repetitive tasks are a common feature of most jobs and separating these from challenges that really deserve your attention is essential for taking your productivity to the next level. This is where CRM workflow automation comes in to play. It allows you to easily set up business rules, alerts, and follow-up triggers, allowing you to streamline common business processes such as managing approvals, lead generations and other sales processes. Moreover, you can set up personalized email templates and send them out automatically in response to a predefined trigger.
2. Make data-driven decisions with CRM analytics
Your CRM collects and stores petabytes of valuable customer data. Moreover, most modern day CRMs come equipped with predictive analytics out-of-the-box. Consequently, making data-driven decisions has become both convenient and essential. If you are not using your CRM for analytics and ignoring precious data, you may as well not use the business CRM at all. Thus, instead of letting your data gather dust, make use of the tools at your disposal and track the right metrics to gain deeper insights into your customers, make better decisions and boost overall performance. With CRM customization, you can even make sure everything you see is relevant to your context too!
3. Cleanse your CRM data of the clutter
More data doesn’t always equate to more power. Bad or unnecessary data can bog down your ability to make informed decisions by distracting you from intel that really matters. From inaccurate forecasting to wasting resources to chasing dead prospects, the consequences can be dire. Moreover, storing and maintaining this data can be cumbersome and expensive. Thus, it is a good idea to schedule regular data cleansing and deduplication. Ensuring your CRM data is free from obsolete, duplicate or incorrect data entries and your CRM speed is up to the mark helps your data represent your current state of affairs more accurately and the actionable insights you derive from this are more in line with reality.
4. Invest in a scalable CRM
Your business might be small right now, but it’s not going to stay that way for long. At least we hope not. Your team size will multiply, your business processes would diversify and become more complex and the rules of the game would change. Not only should your CRM be able to stay on top of these aspects but also grow along with your company. Switching over to a new CRM at a later stage is likely to disrupt all business activities and employee productivity. You can avoid the hassle of data migration and adopting a new CRM altogether by opting for a CRM that is scalable and capable of preemptively accommodating business growth from the very first day.
5. Leverage CRM Customizations and Integrations
You probably knew this one was coming. However, it can’t be stressed enough that it is difficult for a common CRM to fully cater to the needs of a unique business such as yours. Moreover, the business landscape is evolving all the time and your vanilla CRM is probably going to have a hard time keeping up with it. Thus, it makes perfect sense to employ CRM Integration with the right third-party apps and appropriately customize it according to your needs. These will tailor your CRM to your exact business processes and equip it to virtually handle any challenge thrown at it. Our team of Certified CRM Experts can help you understand your exact needs and provide you optimal solutions based on best practices. Get in touch for your FREE Consultation Session. We will be happy to help!
