More than ever, and it is not the latest crises (yellow vests, covid) that will contradict this, the digital transformation of the company is back at the heart of the debate. For what ? Because your customers have profoundly changed the way they buy and I assure you (or not) this will continue to evolve. To keep up with this frenetic pace, while changing the model of your offers and your organization, you will have to rely on a responsible business vision, shared objectives, with one or more method(s) to achieve them, but also effective tools and processes. And to do this, it is unlikely that you will escape the establishment of a CRM (customer relationship management in VO or GRC for customer relationship management in VF) which will support the company's strategy in its development.
What is a CRM or GRC?
It is a tool and should be considered as such. A CRM
(Customer Relationship Management in VO or GRC for Customer Relationship
Management in VF) allows, among other things, to optimize the quality of the
customer relationship, to build loyalty and to maximize turnover by relying in
particular on:
- purchase recency (last purchase)
- purchase frequency
- the amount (average basket)
- the possibilities of upsell (upmarket)
- cross-sell possibilities
- all other customer/prospect marketing data
Behind this acronym, we therefore find “a set of
systems to optimize the relationship that the brand maintains with its
customers, in order to build their loyalty and increase its turnover per
customer”.
It also allows "to coordinate a multi-channel
customer journey (point of sale, mobile, Internet) in order to offer a unified
customer experience" and "brings together the analysis of customer
data and marketing actions (the word in French never used) put in place ".
Companies that have customer relationship management
software are not legion (27% in France), including here locally. Yet companies,
whatever their size, would do well not to miss the opportunity.
Customer data: a major challenge
The challenge is to digitize its operation to control
its customer data. This does not mean abandoning “physical” customers and data,
quite the contrary. Any good digital strategy is integrated into the overall
vision of the company: it is therefore necessary to merge the "physical"
and the digital: the "phygital" which, if it was still timid in
business strategies, will finally be brought to develop with new key services.
For what ? Because now, customers are looking for a
global, coherent and homogeneous customer experience with your company whether
online or offline: welcome to the era of omnichannel (evolution of
multichannel).
It has indeed become common (80% according to IFOP) to
first look at a store's products online before coming to buy them in store.
Conversely, you can try a product in store, compare, give yourself time to
think, then buy it online (from a competitor if you don't have an e-commerce
site), on mobile and watch the order confirmation on his tablet. And complain
about customer service or after-sales service on social networks. And in B2B,
the buying process also begins with an online search.
A powerful and adapted CRM software guarantees this
omnichannel service. It allows to improve the customer experience but also to
follow his journey and to collect and analyze customer data to know him better.
This results in the improvement of the effectiveness of campaigns, customer
service, the development of customer commitment, and better loyalty, the real
engine of your growth.
When we know that, in an increasingly competitive
market (6 competitors on average per company in 2014 compared to 18 in 2019
according to Hubspot Research), prospecting remains more expensive than
building loyalty, we easily understand the key role of such a tool to integrate
it into the business strategy.
CRM is an essential tool for your business
Everything can be recorded in your tool which allows
you to qualify your customers and your audience (connected to your website), to
capture and then follow prospects and customers in their buying journey (“buyer
journey” in VO).
Either from pre-sales (search for information, answers
to problems) to after-sales (advice for use, loyalty).
Also discover this article: What is a CRM
for?
This customer relationship management tool is also
used to record and store in the same place, all the information collected by
your sales representatives, send targeted emailings automatically, but also to
manage:
- Marketing (ideally coupled with automation software): automations defined according to scenariopreviously defined ios, based on personalized criteria
- Sales management: improves the efficiency of salespeople
- After-sales service management (after-sales service, ticketing), through:
- the establishment of a knowledge base on the website
ideally linked to the CRM
- programming and deployment of a chatbot
- the integration of social networks in the
after-sales process
- to a call center responsible for remote customer
assistance
or a mix of all four!
To align sales and marketing departments
Your sales and marketing teams have objectives to
achieve (weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, annually).
· For
marketing, this can be measured in the effectiveness of campaigns (content,
emailing, SMS, etc.) such as the number of qualified prospects or opportunities
generated, for example.
· For
the sales team, the number of new customers billed, customers visited,
commercial proposals sent, or turnover achieved at the end of the month in such
area, such product or such segment.
Your CRM solution will simplify day-to-day work with, for example:
- assigning tasks to different team members
- lead scoring
- the creation of contact lists by offer/area/salesperson
- appointment visit reports, notes from sellers or after-sales service, and emails exchanged
Beyond setting up reporting tables to measure (see
below), one of the keys to successful alignment remains the ability to organize
coordinated work between the two teams. The tool comes will help you unify
"enemy brothers" around common goals.
To measure your sales and marketing efforts
What cannot be measured does not exist. Niels Bohr
(Danish physicist and Nobel laureate).
A powerful CRM allows you, among other things, to
precisely measure:
- Sales productivity (visits, quotes, appointments, pipeline, etc.)
- The main classic business indicators (KPI Sales, CA etc)
- The effectiveness of marketing campaigns (SEM, SEO, social networks, etc.)
- The loyalty of your customers
- How and how much do you attract new customers by recommendation (with the Net Promoter Score NPS)
- The size and quality of your customer file that gives value to your business (in the event of resale in particular)
Companies that have successfully deployed it do better
You should know that 49% of CRM projects fail
(Forester Research), for the reasons we mentioned here. I admit, this can
dampen enthusiasm.
But for those who succeed, we note among other things
that:
- a company engages one of its customers through its CRM, this same customer will spend between 20 and 40% more on the next order. (Source: Hubspot)
- a CRM allows each salesperson to increase their sales by 41%. (Source: Hubspot)
- salespeople using CRM exceed the sales target set annually by more than 24% (Source: Aberdeen Group)
- salespeople increase their productivity by 26.4% when they connect their social networks to the CRM and use it via the mobile application: (Source: Nucleus Research)
- 75% of sales managers say using a CRM helps them manage and increase sales (Source: Hubspot)
- sales teams record 15% more productivity when they use their CRM from their smartphone. (Source: Hubspot)
And especially....
- a CRM allows an increase of more than 300% of the rate of transformation of prospects into customers. (Source: Hubspot)
And of course the cracks of the world trade are all
equipped with it. A coincidence in your opinion?
To fix objectives
You now know that your CRM represents a long-term
investment that accompanies you in your growth. For your strategy to perform,
it is therefore essential to establish SMART objectives (specific measurable
achievable realistic and defined in time). Here are three types of goals you
can set for yourself:
- notoriety objective: to make yourself known and be visible,
- turnover objective: increase your sales and convert your visitors into customers
- loyalty objective: you care about your CUSTOMERS and make them feel privileged.
We give you more details in our dedicated article.
A CRM at the heart of business strategy has many
advantages: simplifying access to information, keeping control of customer
relations and increasing sales.
But make no mistake: the goal of any business will
always be to anticipate needs, satisfy and retain customers. The CRM, although
commercial capital (your customer file) which values your company, remains a
tool.
To go further, I also invite you to download the guide
below for free or to make an appointment to talk about your project.