Many companies that try to implement changes in their CRM procedures find themselves unsuccessful. They end up following leads which lead nowhere or losing money on their new procedures instead of making more money. What are some of the pitfalls that can account for poor CRM results?

The number one reason that CRM plans fail is that the company forgets to keep its focus on its goals. It is easy to get caught up with strategies to enhance your business and actually forget about your bottom line. Is what you’re doing actually leading to higher profits? Or are you spending so much money attempting to re-design your customer service that you’re actually making your business less profitable? Are you focusing too hard on increasing your numbers – new impressions, visitor length on your websites, etc. – and not enough on the number which counts most, your profits?

What you do with your CRM needs to save you money and it needs to make you money.

The second biggest reason for CRM failure is not giving your employees time and means to adjust to the changes in how you’re doing business. Your plan is only as good as its implementation and even the best plan can fall short of its goal if your employees don’t have a clear understanding of how to carry it out. Spend some time on training and your results will improve.

What are some areas you can focus on to improve your CRM?

Ensure that your customers can reach you through multiple channels with ease. This can have an enormous impact on your bottom line. Focus on bringing your CRM procedures into full force in front office interactions. Remember that in the modern era, the front office no longer just refers to a physical space, but also your presence on the World Wide Web. Social networking is a particularly significant method of reaching customers; it’s a great place to find leads and also to keep in touch with your old customers. Again though, it’s important to iterate that following leads can be distracting and lead to a lack of focus – don’t give in to this temptation. If your lead-following tactics are generating a higher bottom line, stick with them. If they aren’t, it’s time to revise your plans. Retaining current customers should always remain a priority; it costs your company less and they are more likely to buy again than any single individual elsewhere is to purchase for the first time. Utilize the web to streamline customer experience by offering customers the ability to engage in eCommerce with you. The software you use, even though it’s automated, should be considered part of your CRM plan. It should simplify the customer’s experience and offer transparency. Online shops cost almost nothing to maintain and can bring in incredible revenue. Make it easy for customers to provide you with feedback; welcome their suggestions and questions and always respond in a timely manner to their requests.

CRM is a critical component of any business plan. Most CRM failures are due to poor focus. So long as you keep your goals in clear view and ensure that your customer service tactics are directly impacting your net profits, you will succeed in Customer Relationship Management in 2011.

After spending time at firms specializing in both traditional and interactive marketing, Spencer recently started his own company, Lumin Internet Marketing. Lumin provides an array of online marketing services including search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online public relations

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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Best Practices for 2011 originally appeared on: Crenk
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A good CRM system should be capable of being customised without having to spend a lot of your valuable time doing so, should have excellent levels of security to keep your data safe, and be capable of growing with your business.

An integrated CRM system will save you time and effort, help you to maximise sales leads, monitor marketing success, and maintain efficient customer service records. A good example of web-based CRM system which fulfils all these needs is Workbooks, which offers a choice of editions to suit your business needs and, being web-based, there is no extra hardware or software required.

Setting up Workbooks.com is simple and customisable, and the easy-to-use interface means you do not have to spend hours on training to be able to use it. With 100% security and a guaranteed service level agreement, it is reliable as well as being feature-rich. You are able to access  all aspects of your business  via dashboards and simple menus in your web browser, which is no more complex than using your own computer file system.

A good CRM system such as Workbooks will help you generate leads and close sales, monitor conversion ratios, as well as integrate with your advertising campaigns and create targeted marketing mailings. You will be able to create forecasts, track performance, and analyse your sales data to find out which campaigns do or do not work for your business. Monitoring meetings and activities, and exporting that data to iCal calendars and vCard contacts lets you share it with other business software your staff use.

Streamlining your ordering processes with a CRM system makes good financial sense – both in terms of the direct cost of a one-stop solution, and in levels of staffing needed. In Workbooks, for example, both incoming and outgoing orders are manageable effectively. Invoices and supplier documentation should be cross-referenced and track-able, to give you an immediate overview of your order fulfilment processes at every level.

Ensuring your customer services are efficient will help to both retain customers and bring in new ones who are attracted by your reputation. A good CRM system lets you manage support questions, allocate responders and set action priorities, and be capable of identifying issues which may affect your relationship with your customers.

It should also allow you to see a complete overview of your business with each customer, covering all aspects of your relationship with them – from sales and orders, to support and promotions. By allowing you to analyse your activities history you can fully understand which factors have an effect on your ability to retain existing, and win new, business and optimise your revenue and market share.

This article was written by Workbooks, leading supplier of web-based CRM software.

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Best Practices for 2011 – April 8, 2011
• How can CRM help your SME – March 31, 2011
• Crenk Interviews… Zentact – January 7, 2009

How to Choose the Best CRM System for Your Company originally appeared on: Crenk
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The ethos of a CRM is to hold all information relevant to each customer in a centralised database which may be accessed by any part of your business. This data will make available, to anyone within your business who needs it, all the details for each of your customers, so regardless of whether they want to know about orders, service, updates, marketing or anything else, the database will share that information with those who need to know.

Information is vital for an SME to be able to provide a personalised service to each customer and to make the customer feel valued by your business, yet as SMEs grow it is one of the things which suffers if not handled carefully. If customers have to contact different departments within your business for separate services, it is easy to lose track of who they are and how their business benefits yours. Once that happens your customers can feel under-valued and become dissatisfied with their relationship with you.

Having centralised data stored in and accessed via a CRM means that any member of your staff can handle any question raised by any customer. It means that any of your salesmen can make the most appropriate offer to your customer. It means that any of your support team can offer guidance and advice about any problem which your customer may raise with you. It also means that you as management can make judgements based on your knowledge of your customers’ dealings with your business. How much is each customer worth to you in real income terms? How prompt are they in paying their invoices? How many hours support do they cost you each year? How many new customers have you gained through recommendations from each of your existing customers?

Having centrally accessed data means a more efficient service for your customers – they can speak to one person who can access everything they want to know. No need for them to be put on hold and transferred to another department, or have their email forwarded to the right person. No delays because the person who deals with that customer account is on holiday or off sick. Using a CRM also means it is possible for all contacts to be handled by a call centre or single point of contact rather than having each call routed through to each department to be dealt with, so this can result in cost savings to your business, as well as increased efficiency and maintaining those all-important excellent relationships with your customers.

This article was written by Workbooks, leading supplier of web-based CRM software.

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Best Practices for 2011 – April 8, 2011
• How to Choose the Best CRM System for Your Company – April 1, 2011
• Crenk Interviews… Zentact – January 7, 2009

How can CRM help your SME originally appeared on: Crenk
Join our Community: Twitter, Facebook

What is the Zentact philosophy?
(Jared) We are creating a product that integrates into already existing work flows, helping our users build better relationships. We do this without any BS. (Eric would say the our product will make the baby jesus cry…)

Sharing information with your contacts is something that Mr. Marcoullier seems to be a fan of! What makes Zentact different to other content sharing websites?

(Jared) Social networks are a lot of work for traditionally very little payoff. CRM tools are worse.

(Eric) Zentact aims to flip that on its ear and provide loads of tangible results for little ongoing effort.

(Jared) Typical content sharing websites and apps have focused on the user always remembering whom to share with. We are trying, in effect, to whisper in the user’s ear and suggest whom they can share this with in a meaningful way – we make sure you share what matters. We will be adding more social aspects in the near future as well.

How has the web 2.0 landscape changed since the coneption and subsequent selling of MyBlogLog to now and the work you’re doing with Zentact?

(John) MyBlogLog allowed users to create profiles that traveled with them where they surfed, adding value to both the mybloglog member and website owner. More Web 2.0 apps today are leveraging this concept, be it scripts, widgets, and even in browsers. The value that is created by individual apps and even apps created mashing APIs together is significant.

Some commentators have said that they’d like Facebook integration, in particular to help when tagging – is this something you and the team are looking into?

(Jared) We will be integrating in with Facebook to help with both tagging, tracking last connection and posting to the wall.

Will you be looking to include integration with other social networking services – if so what is the liklihood of this happening before Zentact comes out of Beta?

(Jared) We are in a private beta now and working on launching our public beta. We will likely integrate with other social networking services and other communication platforms before leaving beta. We are also listening to our users – feedback will help lead the way.

What is really exciting you on the web (Zentact aside)?
(Jared) Gnip
(John) Apple app store

I would argue that 2008 has been the year of Twitter and that it will become more mainstream in 2009 – what do you think will be the big social media development in the next 12 months?

(Jared) We think that there will be a big movement towards information – instead of just data. More products will become contextual.

What has been the main challenge for Zentact since you founded the company?

(Jared) Our number one challenge has been to prioritize features since, as a team, we have many features we want to do quickly.

And what has been the achievement that has made you most happy?

(Jared) We have gotten feedback from users ranging for “wow” to “Zentact helped me close a deal”. This feedback is what makes us tick!

What are the next key milestones you’ll be looking to meet?

( Jared) Public beta and our IE version.

What can we expect from Zentact in 2009?

(Jared) A killer product that will seamlessly improve your life.

To try Zentact for yourself, we have a few private invites to test the private beta, which you lucky boys and girls can get here.

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Crenk Interviews… Zentact originally appeared on: Crenk
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