Championing CRM

What is Zoho? set scoring rules to prioritise leads that can generate Zoho is one of the world’s most prolific software the most revenue. companies. Our online platform is capable of l Configure automatic actions like sending email running an entire business, with over 45 apps in notifications, assigning tasks to employees, and nearly every major business category, including updating fields to take place immediately or at a sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and scheduled time once the defined criteria are met. back office operations, and an array of productivity l Keep contacts updated regularly on what matters and collaboration tools. using schedules, for example on new products or upcoming events. How can sales teams use CRM to help them sell more effectively? How can sales teams ensure they Depending on the vendor and whether it “Sales teams used to operate comply with GDPR? uses an integrated platform, CRM can be in silos. Sometimes this led to GDPR compliance can be achieved used to help understand customers better and customer needs not being met through using the right tools to ensure guide the way you engage with them using from the outset. Today’s customer data is not compromised and not the metrics from the tools to enable customer expectations are higher” shared with people that shouldn’t have success. It can also record data to provide access to it. GDPR-compliant tools should insights into how a prospect initially engaged, be used right across sales, marketing and as well as what they were most interested in during support. This way compliance is automated and the engagement. If the CRM system supports in-built in a way that all data meets compliance omnichannel communication, it can be used to guidelines, no matter what the activity. engage with the customer across any means of communication, such as LinkedIn, Twitter or other What are today’s chief challenges in channels. This enables you to truly personalise your achieving sales targets? approach, giving more likelihood of sales success. Today’s landscape is quite different from 10 or 20 years ago. Sales teams used to operate in silos, What can automation in sales achieve? simply handing over the lead to the implementation Automation can help sales teams and aid sales team once a deal was closed. Sometimes this led to processes in many ways. It can help easily tackle the customer needs not being met from the outset, as inefficiencies of your team or business processes what sales had promised was not delivered. Today’s and ensure you still have sufficient time to focus on expectations are higher. A prospect expects a other priorities to enhance your company’s salesperson to listen to and understand their needs productivity and growth. It can also improve the and wants to ensure the onboarding process and prospect experience and keep them engaged. If you ongoing relationship with a company is seamless. are using the right CRM system you should exploit In a solely sales-driven culture there is a danger its full capabilities to improve your performance. of creating a dissatisfied customer base. To avoid this, an organisation must consider a strategy and What are your top tips? culture based on the customer. The customer l Consider workflow management features to help journey should be plotted out from initial perform a variety of actions, either instantly or at a engagement onwards and all teams should work scheduled time. This helps your company both together to deliver an excellent customer experience improve efficiency and manage its business better. that encourages repeat business. It can also create l Ensure the right assignment rules are set. For customer advocacy. example, you can have leads automatically assigned For everyone across an organisation to work to selected sales reps in a round robin pattern, SRIDHAR IYENGAR is head of together most effectively in this way requires assigning tasks for each lead. l Ensure you are delivering a great service. Set case European operations for Zoho Corporation. He has spent over 20 years building B2B software and integrated software. This often means it has to be on the same platform so that data can be shared escalation rules to ensure that every case or ticket in has played leadership roles in easily between departments and merged to create a your organisation is answered before its due date. product management, business development, marketing and single customer view, to give any user the full l Not every lead is of equal importance. You can engineering. picture during any customer interaction.

CRM, AN INDISPENSABLE UPGRADE AKILAN SELVANADESAN explains why businesses need to get over old-fashioned tools and move onto modern software solutions

Business software is one of the largest growing markets, as it provides solutions with the power, speed, accuracy and sophistication necessary to run a company well. Every niche need and use-case is increasingly being addressed as powerful new tools continue to emerge.

But many businesses today still rely on Word documents and spreadsheets to store their contact information, manage their sales activities, keep track of their inventory, create invoices, file their reports and so on. For a new company, these tools might suffice for a while, but they weren ’t built to run a business effectively in the long term. That’ s where customer relationship management (CRM) comes in. Storing documents on a computer is an inefficient, laborious and disorganised way to run a business. With CRM, this is no longer an issue.

Today’s CRM software exists on the cloud, using the software as a service (SaaS) model. This allows businesses to manage their relationship with customers seamlessly and collaboratively on any computer or device. With a centralised platform for sales, marketing and support, you can streamline your data, communicate with customers across any channel, schedule your work and automate your tasks from anywhere in the world. WHAT DOES CRM DO BETTER? Break silos and unify data When you keep your contacts and deal information in separate, local documents, its usefulness is limited, and it’s prone to loss. It’ s more difficult to collaborate, a chore to maintain, and a pain to keep tabs on your individual customers. This is a barrier that CRM helps you overcome – you can break down silos, bringing data together and enabling collaboration. By establishing a framework for convenient and flexible access to crucial data, you can make quick decisions, and generate useful charts and reports, while making it easy for staff to share insights. With CRM, your data will remain accurate, up-to-date and useful. Multichannel communication Communication is crucial to any successful business (or relationship). From despatching welcome emails and making sales calls, to sending a group text to set up a meeting, you need to use all

AKILAN SELVANADESAN is a salestech evangelist at Zoho. Email: akilan.s@zohocorp.com the tools at your disposal to keep things running smoothly. A CRM system is more than just a database – it’s a hub for engagement. You can send emails, make calls, monitor website activity and post on social media, all from within your personal CRM interface. You can map each point of contact with an important customer, log every call, keep notes, and update fields automatically for everyone in the business – something a simple spreadsheet cannot do. Create tasks, events and reminders A CRM system is a productivity suite – you can assign leads to people, create events to attend, and set reminders to get things done, none of which is possible in a basic calendar app. There ’s a timeline for everything and a system in place to handle each event and task with the complete context provided by your sales and marketing data. Automate your work and save time Every salesperson wishes they had more time to talk to prospects instead of entering data into a computer, which is a real productivity and enthusiasm killer. That’ s why a CRM system actively assists in minimising the time salespeople spend on admin by automating routine tasks and actions like data entry. You can auto-assign leads, set up workflows and macros, and best of all, utilise an AI-based sales assistant to aid you with your day-to-day activities. The simple fact is that automation is a game-changer for sales. Create mobile accessibility A major selling point of a CRM system is its mobile device capabilities. Your desktop CRM and your mobile CRM share the same data and functionality, so you don’t have to be at your desk to do your selling, allowing you greater freedom and flexibility to do your work to the best of your ability, wherever you need to be. MAKE THE SWITCH In addition to these powerful features, CRM offers cutting-edge security measures, data backup, privacy compliance (especially with the GDPR), cloud storage, and more. The adoption rate for CRM solutions is climbing fast each year, as more companies are finding it indispensable to thrive in a competitive market. Have you made the switch?