It is fitting that I am writing this blog during the football season, because I enjoy playing fantasy football. In fact, I enjoy it so much I am in three different leagues on two different fantasy football websites (NFL.com and ESPN.com). While both websites have their good and bad points, they both have one thing in common: multiple ways to access my team! For both they have a full-blown website, a mobile version of the website, and an app for my Android phone and iPad.
Why is this important? Because, my fantasy football needs change based on the day, time, and my location. For example, I set my team lineup during the week, and almost 100% from my computer (which has dual monitors most of the time). This is key. Making trades, substitutions, and picking up players off the waiver wire, all while reading stats and research are much more easily done on a computer.
However, come Sunday morning, while I’m drinking coffee with my wife, I may need to make a change to my lineup based on last minute player news. That’s when I pull out my iPad and make a few tweaks to my team (I know, I shouldn’t tinker with my lineup, but everyone does).
If you were to ever ask me, which I prefer for delivery method for fantasy football, desktop web, mobile web, or a native app, I respond with a resounding “YES!” I want them all!
The same is true for your CRM user. You can’t just give your users one, and expect it to be the perfect fit all of the time. Let’s look at the following:
•Laptop: If you only give your users access to the CRM system via their laptop, they are stuck using it only when they are in front of their laptop. They can’t whip out their phone while at a customer and look-up a certain piece of information, or tweak an opportunity on their iPad while watching football on a Sunday morning.
•Tablet: While much more accessible and portable than a laptop, entering any amount of data on a tablet is arduous! I cannot imagine the frustration sales people feel when asked to enter quotations or mass update data through a tablet device. Tablets are great for consuming data with some data manipulation.
•Phone: While you may probably never see your salesperson without a phone, phones are not designed for data entry outside of a few words. However, if I want an answer quickly, or want to set a quick reminder, I go to my phone. It’s always available.
So to answer the question, the best delivery method for CRM? All of them. A CRM system is useless if it doesn’t interact with us at the right time.
