by Joe Taylor Jr.

Introduction

While marketing automation modules have started to attract a new wave of companies to CRM software, the long-term benefits of CRM systems can help businesses make the most effective use of their advertising and sales resources. According to leading industry experts, companies can leverage CRM applications in five specific ways:

CRM Software Manages Lead Qualification Efficiently and Transparently

Introductions to new customers form the foundation of any successful business. Unfortunately, for many companies, Web sites and other lead generation tactics often supply marketers with far more prospective buyers than they can reasonably handle. In some situations, prospects receive only generic attention in the form of stock e-mails or direct mail pieces. For organizations that attempt direct sales, unqualified prospects can eat up valuable time from sales agents and call centers.

Advanced CRM systems can help busy sales teams sift through lists of leads to find the most productive opportunities. For instance, agents can focus on contacting customers that express an interest in making an immediate purchase instead of spending a lot of time with customers who plan on buying a product or service within three to six months. Queuing leads effectively can reduce waste while increasing short-term conversion rates. CRM systems that manage longer sales pipelines can interface with other marketing tools that more effectively prime new customers for eventual contact from sales agents or other company representatives.

CRM Systems Identify Where to Place Ad Dollars

Early CRM systems tracked customers using simple demographic information, such as zip code, age, and income level. The latest CRM applications can go deeper, by gathering detailed information from customer surveys and from private databases. Deep knowledge about customers can include a full transaction history, combined with details such as:

• Relationship status
• Occupation
• Employer
• Financial history
• Websites visited
• Magazines read
• Television shows watched

Building detailed profiles about a company's most valuable purchasers can help focus external marketing budgets on the kinds of methods and messages that generated those customers in the first place. For example, consumer product manufacturers can discover the right mass media mix on which to spend their advertising dollars. Likewise, B2B vendors can learn which direct mail pieces, conferences, or personal meetings generated the most return on investment through higher sales. More effective marketing translates directly to higher sales with even higher profits.

CRM Applications Build Relationships Instead of Transactions

Veteran marketers often bemoan a trend that spells the end of many traditional points and miles customer loyalty programs. According to customer surveys in a variety of industries, many of today's buyers get more satisfaction from building deep relationships with quality companies than from achieving arbitrary reward levels. Instead of making repeat purchases that help tally Green Stamps or Gold Points, today's savvy customers prefer to do business with companies that exceed their expectations with every interaction.

Some of the most popular new CRM applications blend traditional sales tracking tools with customer satisfaction measurements. Systems that allow marketers to appeal to a company's most satisfied customers help extend awareness of products and services by mobilizing legions of raving fans. Meanwhile, the same systems can highlight potential trouble spots and offer early opportunities for service recovery. Reinforcing positive experiences and turning problems around help companies retain existing customers while creating new streams of referrals.

CRM Software Helps the Solution Become the Message

Marketers accustomed to cookie-cutter follow-up approaches have discovered that leveraging customer data can shrink the purchasing cycle significantly. Many companies rely on generic modes of reaching out to warm leads that wait for a personal conversation before focusing on customized needs and solutions. Organizations that want to accomplish more with fewer resources have discovered that CRM profiling tools can more effectively automate the front end of the traditional sales pipeline by focusing on the right solution for the customer.

For example, a relocating professional interested in purchasing a downtown condo might complete online forms with a few different real estate agencies. Using a traditional marketing approach, agents might respond with automated listings that may or may not include the kind of property requested. Today, with the help of sophisticated CRM systems, the same agent can send a highly personalized message with targeted recommendations for their prospect. When the agent follows up with a phone call, he or she can view the exact suggestions made while building a relationship focused on the customer's needs.

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