Leveraging CRM for Mid-Size Company Growth

Successful Growth Requirement

There comes a time when a business has to move beyond the multiple spreadsheet and Microsoft Outlook tools of a business environment into an integrated CRM system.  To obtain mid-size company growth a integrated customer relationship management system is required.  There are operational process such as lead acquisition, lead qualification, lead conversion, digital marketing, quote to order, sales opportunity tracking/management and forecasting along with customer service capabilities to be reviewed in order to take the business to the next level.

A growing business can be defined as being in one of these three phases:

1. Experiencing growth,
2. See growth approaching on the horizon or
3. Attempting to orchestrate growth within your organization.

In a growth stage life cycle a growing business needs to formalize their information technology systems and leverage CRM. But how to start…

So my firm is asked “What must be considered when enabling and accelerating our growth through CRM strategies and technology? How do we need to apply systems and systematic thinking when dealing with those issues?”

It starts with fully understanding and identifying customer needs and experiences.

• Manage customer information better internally.
• Drive more profits by unleashing the current business system constraints
• Mobilize the sales and support team with tools to interact quickly and effectively
• Systemize and simplifying how you execute your sales, marketing and/or customer service activities.

Change is the center of what you are beginning to embark on. These changes will affect customers (hopefully for the better).

• Change in the way your work.
• Change in the way you manage information.
• Change in the way you communicate, both internally and externally.

Gaining a clearer understanding of the answers to these questions allows you to:

• Increase your capacity to relate with your customers better.
• Be more nimble in responding to their needs.
• Have shorter feedback loops.

Since you have been in business for some time, some of your assumptions or knowledge maybe outdated, incomplete or perhaps not quite right at all.  It is helpful to take a step back from the daily operations of the business and gain a more holistic business perspective and view the business from the customer’s perspective. Talk with your strategic partners and involve a CRM success partner to help guide on your CRM Journey.

While preparing for this change internally, consider involving your customers in this process. Ask questions like:

• Do you know what your customers need to get done?
• Do you understand how your customers find you?
• Do you understand what your customers like most about your products and services?
• Where is the customers information stored?
• What are your customers expecting of you?
• Is what we know about our customers and prospects easily found and shared with others?

Subsequently you can institutionalize this knowledge with CRM and include customer feedback into your ongoing initiatives.  This will be critical to your successful growth.  Reach out to your customers and involve their input before, during and after your initiative(s).

Before you begin your initiative, keep in mind the far reaching implications of the project your about to embark on.  When introducing new kinds of structured organizational procedures, the resulting cultural change is substantial!