The sales team is an indispensable asset for every entrepreneur because these are the professionals who deal and manage relationships with end customers and prospects. This is why every business empowers their sales teams with all the necessary tools and systems they want to streamline complex processes to retain and connect with more customers.
One of the most important weapons in the arsenal of sales professionals is the Customer Relationship Management System (CRM). These solutions allow sellers to gather, manage, and use customer information in a better manner so that to take necessary measures and increase sales.
There are several CRM systems available in the market and the majority of entrepreneurs are embracing them to know their customers better, predict what they need, and keep a precise track of all their activities.
It’s not a good idea to get carried away with overwhelming options and pick any one of these blindly because your wrong choice can be dangerous for your business in the long-run. Rather, you should take your own time and research in order to identify the best CRM solution. But before that let’s understand how you can choose the right one that has the potential to impact leads and deals while keeping sales constantly high.
What All Areas Does An Ideal CRM System Should Cover?
It’s in the hands of the sellers and programmers to determine what all they want to integrate into the CRM solution. Every individual system is different from the other. Some might pay attention only to increase sales by making the buying journey hassle-free. Others may work with the intention to boost customer interaction by deploying multiple communication channels.
Availability of numerous alternatives has made the task of choosing the best CRM much more daunting for sellers. On one hand, you can find various free online CRM systems offering different features and on the other, there are several paid ones. To solve the confusion of picking the best, let’s take a look at ten crucial features that you should look for before finalizing to pick a particular CRM solution.
1. Level Of Customization
First and foremost feature that you should demand in your CRM software is flexibility. Basically, it’s the level of customization the system allows or its capacity to get tailored in accordance with your specific business needs.
The type of CRM you would require depends upon the industry in which you are functioning. Some sectors might have their own complex processes which aren’t similar to any other industry. To cope up with such situations your CRM must be able to adjust itself so that to fit your specific requirements and function seamlessly.
It’s equally important for you to carefully evaluate to what extent you want to customize your CRM? In order to sort this out, you can take help of an expert developer who knows how to work with that particular CRM. Or, you can also rely on an efficient CRM application development company. But in both cases, you need to be on your toes to ensure that the end product is in compliance with your specific needs.
2. Sheer Simplicity
In addition to being flexible, an ideal CRM should have a simplistic design with an intuitive interface. Also, it should have powerful features that can be easily used by professionals from every department, not just the sales team.
Every member of your staff must feel comfortable when using and communicating with the CRM system. This simplicity will not only help you in increasing sales but also makes it easier to predict what customer wants and fill your sales funnel with such products.
3. Seamless Integration With A Pinch Of Innovation
It’s obvious that your company has multiple solutions already available on the platter that helps you to streamline the workflow. This is what makes it even more significant for your CRM system to have the ability to seamlessly integrate with other apps in order to enhance its functionality.
This process may sound easy but in reality, it can be a nightmare because you have to determine how your CRM software will sync with other existing systems. Also, you have to make sure that the solution is capable to evolve with other systems and it’s easy to modify it by adding new features as per requirements.
4. Make Sure To Keep Everybody On The Same Page
Most of the enterprises have remote teams working on the same project. But in order to execute the project properly, it’s inevitable for all these teams to be on the same page. Your CRM system can be the answer to all your collaboration needs by letting every member track and follow progress quickly irrespective of their location.
5. Facilitates Hassle-Free Search
It’s crucial for your CRM system to have a comprehensive in-built search engine which allows you to find the files and information you want promptly. This will keep all your customer data organized and save a lot of time by letting you search and locate the detail you need in a hassle-free manner.
6. Scheduling & Tracking Made Easy
Sales professionals are humans after all and it’s normal for them to forget some important tasks. But this won’t happen with an exclusive sales CRM solution as it makes sure that nothing is getting missed. Also, you can efficiently schedule and track all your campaigns and maintain healthy relationships with customers without missing a single opportunity to generate leads and improve conversions.
7. Easy Accessibility
Earlier, you have to store customer related information at different places which made it difficult to access. But a CRM system can act as a central repository where all the data can get stored and professionals from different departments such as sales, marketing, accounts, and strategy can easily access it as and when required.
8. Efficient Customer Analytics For Staying One Step Ahead Always
Your CRM solution will track each and every move of your customer and anticipate what will be their possible actions in the future. This analysis will help you in formulating marketing campaigns and boosting relationships with current customers as well as prospects. Also, by predicting their needs in advance you can always have an upper hand.
You should use your CRM system as a tool that gives you the power to be in charge of customer relationships by analyzing their behavior and anticipating their demands. Basically, CRM software puts you in the driving seat to control when, why, and how you interact with your prospects.
9. Allows Formation Of Communities Where Customers Can Connect & Coordinate
CRM systems also have their own communities where customers can connect with each other and solve the problems they face. Also, your staff can step in where the community members failed to resolve an issue collectively. Discord and Whelp are the two examples of such communities for customers.
10. Handy & Easy To Carry Along
Your CRM system should not be rigid but it should be handy and portable so that it’s convenient for you to access it from the device of your choice. When attending a conference you should be able to use the CRM solution from your phone app and access the customer details which you want without referring to the laptop or desktop.
CRM systems can be a boon for sellers but it’s advisable to carefully determine what exactly you t in your upcoming CRM system. It’s better to invest a little bit of extra time rather than messing up and switching directions later.
Anubhuti Shrivastava is a content crafter at Arkenea and Benchpoint. She is passionate about writing articles on topics related to design and the software development industry.
