As we come to the end of 2018, many of us are planning for a better 2019. Hopefully I need not explain the power of setting goals and objectives! Therefore I’m going to get straight to the point.
One of the best goals and objectives you can establish for the coming year is to make greater and better usage of your CRM software. CRM is an invaluable tool for sales, marketing and customer service. It provides an organization powerful ways to work effectively as a team. Features for sharing information, delegating actions, accessing details across the organization are essential to a well run and managed operation.
Don’t be fooled: Which CRM product you have is likely not the key to success with CRM. There are many products to choose from and most of them can do the job very well. An organization can succeed or fail, regardless of the CRM application they are running. Starting from scratch is NO guarantee of better results!
Having NO CRM is almost always a problem. But, too often people in an organization use their existing CRM as the scapegoat for their own refusal to take responsibility for their own failures. Below is a list of the keys to success that apply to each and every system.
- Establishing usage requirements – identify what information that users must make every effort to capture and enter into the database.
- Configuring the system – creating the fields, layouts, templates, reports and other customization that will enable the workflow.
- Managing to the data – creating and utilizing reports from the system to manage performance of people, operations, etc. Making it clear to the users how their usage of the system provides important feedback through reporting and other means.
- Continuous improvement – a CRM system is “never done.” There is the need for perpetual improvement in you system and the abilities of your users. Continuous improvement increases the return on your CRM investment. Here are some areas to focus on:
- Creating new and better reports
- End-user and management training on the system
- Better protocols and clear exceptions for the all the users
- Smarter administration of the system in areas such as security, database scrubbing, system performance, etc.
- Enhancements through add-on products and customization which extend the capabilities of your system
- Implementing best practices and other fundamental methods for a better outcome.
If your organization wants to develop smart goals and objectives for your CRM system, First Direct Corp can help you. If you are using GoldMine CRM, we can audit your system and usage and show you ways your organization can achieve greater results and a higher return from it.
Contact me and and First Direct and let’s get started – let’s make 2019 a better year for us all.
