Every year we get a chance to start anew. Whether in our personal lives or in business, a New Year brings new opportunity to improve upon the year before. As time continues to spiral forward (faster than I ever could have imagined as a child), we set goals for ourselves – resolutions. We set them for all parts of our lives – losing weight, learning to rock climb, becoming a vegan. But too often, we forget about the little things that matter most (in our business):CRM.
CRM (customer relationship management) is nothing new to most, at least in terms of knowing what it is and what it does. However, successful implementations are far and few between. Not because of the lack of tech, but rather, failure to stick to the goal and follow the vision. Those of you who have successfully implemented a CRM understand the planning, persistence, and consistency that it takes to do so. Others may be pulling out their hair, wondering where it all went awry. However, there is nothing to fear but fear itself. If you are struggling with choosing the right CRM, implementation, or managing your CRM, let’s make 2018 your best year yet…for CRM that is! And, hopefully for other parts of your life, but for the sake of this article and to avoid any trouble, let’s stick to CRM. 🙂
Before going into 2018, setup a list of resolutions for your CRM. What are your goals and objectives? Establishing goals and a great Small Business CRM strategy, will help you save on your total cost of ownership as well as ensure your future success.
We’ve put some goals together to give you a head start.
Resolution #1. Make CRM a priority
This is definitely at the top of the list because in order for you to reach your goals, you need to make them a priority. Setting your business up for success with a solid CRM strategy is a great way to build in 2018. If you make CRM a priority, the rest follows. Instead of looking at all departments and strategies with tunnel vision, look at how CRM can act as the foundation for all of your strategies in 2018.
Resolution #2: Focus on data
Becoming a data-driven organization means making decisions based on the data you collect from your leads, customers, marketing efforts, sales, efforts, customer service, etc. With all of the available technology these days, collecting this data is now easier than ever. The challenge lies in properly utilizing this data to become a more effective organization as a whole. Make it a point this year to get your entire team involved in analysing and using the data you collect. Find out which data each team needs to do their job better and determine how best to use that data in their day-to-day.
Resolution #3: Increase team collaboration
One of the biggest mistakes we see people make is dividing their teams into little tunnel vision silos. How is a business supposed to remain consistent in their messaging or process if everyone is working in their own bubble? It just doesn’t work. So instead, in 2018, mix it up. Get sales talking to marketing, marketing to customer service and visa versa. Schedule monthly team meetings. The more teams can share, the better able they are to bounce ideas off one another, define goals, and become more engaged and involved. As they saying goes, “two minds are better than one”.
Resolution #4: Think, don’t throw
What I mean is, think about what you are doing. Don’t just throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks. Think about the kind of customer experience that you want to deliver. Think about the content you need to help drive people down your funnel. To do this, you need to focus on Resolution #2 and #3. Each department possess a lot of insight into your customers. The more you can collaborate and come together to build your personas, and analyze successful/unsuccessful processes, the tighter and more effective you can make them moving forward.
Resolution #5: Keep calm and invest in training
Don’t leave it to your team to get up to speed with using CRM. Invest in solid training that includes the entire team. CRM is a TEAM technology, not just for sales, so make sure that your TEAM is using it correctly and that everyone has access to the data they need. Again, the only way to focus on data is to have access to that data, and the only way to increase team collaboration is by getting them all on the same page. Training will make your team feel more confident about how they are working on their day-to-day efforts. When your team feels more confident, they are more productive (and happy).
Those are my top 5 CRM resolutions for businesses in 2018. Whether you are just getting started with CRM or trying to get your CRM strategy back on track, these tidbits help. As someone who has worked with hundreds of clients to help get them onboard with CRM, we understand the secret sauce to success. It isn’t always easy, but by taking each step and by making success with CRM a priority, every business can achieve their end goal – growth.