What is a business without its customers? Keeping communication lines open with your customers can greatly improve customer satisfaction. This can result in returning customers and referrals.
While interacting with your customers may seem straightforward enough, being organized with their data is crucial. Having a dedicated system that supports all of your customer-related data is imperative if you want to stay organized and forward-moving.
What is CRM?
Customer Relationship Management or CRM are the strategies, tools, techniques, and various technologies businesses use to develop, gain, and sustain customers. CRM is also closely linked to sales and marketing.
CRM software is a system that helps businesses easily organize all their communications with leads and existing customers. This then makes it easier to convert leads into actual customers and nurture relationships.
Having CRM software for your business replaces the multiple databases, spreadsheets, and apps you use to track client data. What you get is a unified and time-efficient system that organizes and manages your customer data all in one place.
Do You Need a CRM Software?
You may think that you’re doing just fine with your current setup. Your team has a list of customers in a spreadsheet and your leads in an email marketing tool. For a while, that may work.
However, as your business grows, so will that list. And soon, it will get overwhelming and you and your team will have a hard time keeping track of everything.
Having data stored in different platforms can form discrepancies across databases, especially if your files aren’t updated in real-time. You may also end up losing leads or disappointing current customers.
While your business may be getting by without a CRM system now, it would still be best to integrate one sooner than later.
Adopting a CRM system doesn’t have to be expensive either. There are plenty of free systems, like HubSpot, that provide powerful tools that can elevate your relationship with your customers.
8 Advantages of HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM is a cloud-based platform. It provides users with tools that better support business growth. With the help of HubSpot CRM, businesses can now focus and strategize on providing quality marketing, sales, content management, and customer service.
1. User-Friendly Centralized Database
HubSpot is relatively simple and easy to use. The tools available to you are presented on an intuitive interface that makes it a less daunting experience when making the transition from your previous system.
The database allows you to create contracts, deals, log tasks, edit reports, and any other customer-related tasks all in one platform. Cross-team access is also quicker and more seamless. All the data in a shared location makes it easy to manage all the information as well.
2. Getting Started for Free
HubSpot CRM is 100% free to use. Free features include email tracking, email templates and scheduling, contract management, document sharing, Gmail and Outlook integration, and live chat.
These are solid and robust tools. Perfect for upgrading your current marketing, sales, and customer service. All without having to make a dent in your company’s budget.
3. Automated and Organized Data Entry
You and your team no longer have to spend time logging interactions with customers and making sure it’s updated in other databases and spreadsheets too.
Because everything is in one system, all the emails, calls, meetings, and interactions are automatically collected and aggregated. The team can easily keep track of every contact on your list, regardless of their buyer’s journey stage.
4. Better Understanding of Your Customers
Getting a better understanding of your customers allows you to be more deliberate with your positioning. Your strategies are more effective because it is targeting the right audience.
If you have specific sales or marketing strategies that require lists of contacts that fit certain criteria, having a CRM is perfect.
The CRM makes it easier to sort through your list, filter customers, and contact those specific customers. You can segment your customers based on location, stage in their buyer’s journey, age, and any other relevant data you’ve collected from them prior.
5. Providing Better Customer Service
Data in the CRM is always searchable. The software also tracks any prospect’s activity and helps remind the team to follow up with certain prospects.
This makes it extremely helpful when you need other team members to jump in for someone who isn’t available.
Picture this: someone in sales calls in sick and a lead reaches out to close a deal. Instead of waiting for that salesperson to come back to finish the job, someone else can step in to help.
It would be possible because they were able to access previous correspondence and other relevant data through the CRM. This makes it easier to pick up where the previous person left off without inconveniencing the customer.
6. Team Communication is Facilitated
All internal and external communication can be managed on the CRM software, improving employee engagement programs. Cross-team and cross-organization communication are more effective because everything is in this centralized system. This will also help you prioritize employee experience.
Your team members no longer have to go back and forth between files, nor worry about databases that haven’t been updated.
7. Create Analysis, Reports, and Forecasts within the System
Having an effective sales team means laying down the groundwork. Planning strategically and making informed decisions requires a deep understanding of the team’s performance as well as the foreseeable trends.
HubSpot CRM makes it easier by collecting all the necessary data for sales reports. It also automates sales performance forecasts for you.
8. Flexible and Scalable System
Because your data is so accessible and easy to analyze, you can strategize on a larger scale. Your sales team can easily review and identify sales processes that work best and scale them up as your business grows.
You don’t need to worry about outgrowing your CRM system, especially when you experience a boost in small business growth. HubSpot CRM grows and moves with you to better improve your sales team’s performance.
As your company grows, you learn that engaging with your customers is more than just replying to their emails and messages. It’s following up on leads and providing after-sales support. You create reports, analyses, and forecasts. It is through these effective systems and strategies that you create growth for your business.