6 CRM functions that will prove crucial to your business

An enterprise without tools to support the work loses efficiency and quality relative to the competition. This is also the reason for reduced productivity of employees, who after a while will start looking for another job. A versatile, yet significantly streamlining tool is a CRM system that will work for any company. The following 7 features will help you attract new customers and maintain good relationships with current contractors.

Function 1: Aggregate and handle sales leads.

Every new inquiry, every message, is a chance to win a customer. However, well-developed, network-active companies create a distributed network of communication channels. From the website to Google ads to the brand’s social media profiles, it’s everywhere a potential contractor can go. What can you do so you don’t have to browse through all the available chat rooms and email inboxes every now and then? Use a CRM system, under which we hook up the communication channels. Such aggregation is the convenience and transparency of operation, which allows the customer to respond quickly. If this one expresses interest, we can take a sales lead and then reprocess it and break it down into tasks.

Function 2: Manage and account for tasks

A team will not be efficient if its members do not know who is responsible for what. You should require specific actions from each employee in a specific area and set a deadline for each task. Without this, the quality of work can be compromised – from information noise to failure to meet deadlines to deliberate obstructionist actions. CRM will easily allow you to create tasks, prioritize them on a kanban board, assign them to individual employees and set deadlines. Constant viewing allows you to monitor progress in real time, and intervene in case of delays. At the end, each employee, as well as entire teams, can be held accountable for the quality and timeliness of tasks completed.

Function 3: Automation of contact processes

How many times have you had customers write to you with a question that is answered in the terms and conditions or on your website? On the one hand, there is a desire to write back “just check on the website,” but then you will certainly lose the customer. On the other hand, not responding – motivated by the desire to spend time on useful things – also means losing a customer. With the help of contact automation, using artificial intelligence, the CRM will answer the questions asked by the customer. If the system determines that there is no answer to a question or a potential counterparty is recognized, it will redirect the contactee to the appropriate consultant.

Feature 4: Ability to create online quotes

Is there anything more convenient than receiving an offer as agreed upon over the phone immediately after the call? This is a comfort for both parties: the seller immediately shows initiative and readiness for the transaction, thus increasing the chance of a successful finalization. The buyer, in turn, receives confirmation of the agreed terms and can conveniently accept the offer. The standardized text and the identical records contained therein avoid dissonance and discrepancies within the company. It’s also convenience – a universal, unified document template in the CRM system saves the time that would be needed to write down the findings manually in a word processor.

Feature 5: Store with warehouse functionality

Although this functionality can be found in ERP-type programs, including it in a CRM system is proving to be very helpful. Many companies are forced to purchase both of these programs to handle orders, while making inventory changes in parallel. Combining an online store with a CRM not only saves money, but is also convenient. With product descriptions and visualizations, the contractor will be able to make an informed decision, which minimizes the risk of complaints. After the customer accepts the terms of the offer, the employee can immediately proceed with the order and make changes to the stock. Product loss is visible immediately, in real time.

Function 6: Planning activities in the future tense

Any prudent entrepreneur knows that business management is not just about operating in the “here and now.” It’s also a necessity to take certain actions with adequate advance planning and foresight. This is because it turns out that with proper diligence, many customers have the potential for recurring service rather than a one-time transaction. There are also situations in which the contractor entrusts the company with a comprehensive service or several stages of order processing. Each individual step can be described and planned in the CRM system, as well as letting employees know in advance who will be responsible for what. This is an excellent way to minimize failure and improve the quality of communication in the organization.