Having the right resources at your disposal can help implement your plans for business growth effectively.
This is why even small business owners are turning towards tools like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions and marketing automation to ensure seamless operations across their organisation.
While there are winning numbers associated with CRM adoption—with 47% of employees claiming that it enhances their productivity—it’s also necessary that you don’t choose the first solution you come across when in the market for a CRM solution.
That said, many business owners find choosing the right CRM system overwhelming, as it’s more than just listing the best features.
But, the secret formula to choosing a perfect CRM solution that works isn’t that secret after all. If you’re about to take that step for a tech transformation within your organisation, it’s all a matter of understanding what your automation needs are and readying your organisation for that change.
Keep reading as we explore the five main steps to incorporating CRM and marketing automation solutions in your business.
1. Identify your business needs
To find the right CRM solution for your business, you need to first identify what you want to achieve with automation. This demands a thorough review of your current operations, sales pipelines, daily activities, and the current and potential problems.
Through your review, you may identify the following as the most important needs in your sales and marketing operations:
- Tracking leads
- Managing customer relationships
- Managing the customer database
- Tracking opportunities and closing rates
- Maintaining collaboration between marketing and sales teams
By identifying these needs, you will have a clear understanding of what to look for when researching various CRM solutions.
After you’ve identified your needs and determined your marketing budget, it’s then a matter of figuring out which solution offers the most value for your investment—particularly when considering the features that support the functions you want to prioritise.
Just keep in mind to check the price of different solutions, as the configuration you choose may exceed the base price.
2. Prepare your team for CRM and marketing automation
As a budding entrepreneur, you may have started with minimal resources, but as you grow your business, the tools that support your operations also need expansion and sometimes even a complete overhaul.
That said, not everyone in your team will be comfortable with a sudden shift from manual operations into a tech-driven process.
Naturally, some employees may feel threatened by a new system, as they could assume that all the manual tasks will be delegated to your CRM system and their role may be rendered obsolete.
On the other hand, not all employees will be tech-savvy and may struggle to understand your brand new system.
In such a situation, the key is to:
- Prepare your team for change
Acknowledge that while the CRM and marketing automation solutions will take the burden of handling customer data off your teams’ shoulders, you still require human resources to make vital decisions during daily operations.
- Train your team on the new tools
Automation training and coaching will come in handy when switching to a novel way of operating. An automation expert can help train your team to operate alongside tech-driven processes and to leverage the best of your new resources.
3. Review product compatibility and mobility
Do you already have a system in place that takes care of most of your marketing and sales processes? If so, you need to consider how your new CRM solution will fit in with your existing tools.
While compatibility with multiple systems may not be a significant issue today as more and more applications are connected through APIs, it’s necessary to ensure the CRM system of your choice can seamlessly integrate with other systems you already have in place—the easier your CRM solution integrates or replaces your current tools, the more cost-effective and efficient it will be.
In case you need help with integrating your CRM solution with your existing systems, you can invest in a third-party platform that can integrate your systems and streamline data management.
It’s also necessary to check for the mobility of the new solution.
Mobility is key in today’s world, as your team will most likely be mobile and will use more than one device—from phones to tablets to laptops—to access the new system. Look for a solution that can be accessed using a variety of web-powered devices that allows easy access.
4. Explore various CRM and marketing automation solutions
Pre-purchase trials are your chance to test the resources you’re investing in and to see where their strengths and weaknesses lie.
Here are some of the features you should look for:
- Sales analytics
- Chat integration
- Email integration
- Sales forecasting
- Sales automation
- Lead management
- Mobile-friendliness
- Sales and customer opportunity management
- Contact management
- Marketing automation
- Social media integration
- Web analytics integration
- Customisable reports and dashboards
A common mistake that many business owners make, however, is requesting a free trial, only taking a glance, and commencing work with new software.
Instead, make sure that you get to access a product demonstration and use it to see how well it meets your needs.
If you have any questions about the solution, speak to the automation solution provider team, communicate your reservations, and clarify your doubts about the product.
This step will also help you determine key characteristics like navigability of the interface, user-friendliness, and easy integration.
5. Check for any additional features
When you’re investing in a new CRM system, it’s also necessary to determine what additional features you want inbuilt into your configuration.
For instance, you may want to integrate a CRM solution with email marketing and leverage the combined capacity to enhance the lead nurturing process or maybe you want a tool that allows landing page and contact form creation—two of the best lead generation tools that small businesses can use.
While some CRM tools have integrated features for this, not all do. So, pay attention to the offered features and their compatibility with your business goals.
The best CRM and marketing automation solution for small businesses can take you to new heights
Today, 92% of businesses consider CRM automation as a tool for achieving their business goals.
If you’re on the market for a new CRM solution to take customer lifecycle management to the next level and deliver an exceptional customer experience to your audience, make sure you don’t miss the above steps—get the best of your new system and get on par with the rest of the fast-evolving market.
If you’re interested in finding more about how CRM automation can help your business grow, don’t hesitate to schedule a free consultation with us.