How to Choose a CRM That Works for Your Team (Part I)
A customer relationship management (CRM) platform is a tool that benefits businesses, from small to large. CRMs allow your teams to manage and document customer interactions, track and manage tasks, and act as a main repository for customer information. In many organizations, CRMs are the center of workflows leading the way with sales efforts and customer management. From Pipedrive and Salesforce to HubSpot and Nutshell, there are a wide variety of CRMs available – and bonus: many are compatible with Glances so you can get the most out of your customer data.
In this two-part series, we’ll first give you some important topics to ponder as you consider the best CRM tool for your company, then cover how to successfully implement your CRM of choice.
Why does your company need a CRM?
Better interactions with customers
CRMs provide a central place to store and track customer data and interactions. Being able to document customer preferences, purchases, feedback, product and service interest, personal notes, and opportunities your team can better personalize customer-facing interactions and save time.
More accurate sales management and forecasting
CRMs allow you to more accurately manage your marketing and sales strategies. Most CRMs provide easy to view dashboards to track individual and team performance, including win/loss rates and opportunity volume. This allows your business to more easily take corrective action when needed.
Simplify task completion
As the saying goes, “Time is money.” As you integrate your CRM and connect with platforms like Glances, you can more easily complete tasks across apps with less work. Using Glances Actions alongside your CRM helps you send invoices and estimates, complete web forms, create new customers, start calls, and more!
When does your company need a CRM?
There’s never a bad time to implement a CRM in your business. CRMs keep your information organized and secure in a simple, usable way. However, there does come a point in many businesses where a spreadsheet and emails just aren’t sufficient anymore. Many business owners say they implemented a CRM later than they should have and would have benefited from a formal CRM far sooner. Here are some signs you’re ready to formally make the move to a CRM:
✔️ Your customers have a long sales cycle
✔️ Your team has grown and employees are working across departments, but information is siloed
✔️ You have different types of customers and lead types and need to track who is who
✔️ You’re ready for data and deeper analytics
✔️ Employees are spending too much time on tasks that could be automated
What are the challenges of implementing?
Once you see the need for a CRM, you may instantly start thinking of all the barriers. Some challenges include cost, resistance from your team, technology barriers, and the time to put it into place. Implementing a CRM will absolutely take a little time and patience, but once in place, the rewards will be worth it. Before diving in head first, do a little research to ensure you’re setting up the right CRM for your needs. It should be able to handle your team’s workflows, accommodate various departments and allow them to work together, and prepare your business for the long run.
Along with finding the right CRM, you’ll want to make sure it integrates with other apps and platforms your team uses. Using a product like Glances ensures that data from your CRM can be seen by all teams and facilitates workflows without too much navigating around. Glances can complete tasks across apps so your team can stay in the CRM and reduce multi-tasking burnout.
Stay tuned for part II, where we will cover 5 steps for successfully launching your CRM.
Integrate your CRM and all your favorite apps, using Glances
Start your free trial to connect your CRM and favorite business apps and access your data in one easy click, from any app or webpage. You can find and connect your apps when you are logged in to your Glances account.
More helpful steps
Schedule a demo to see the time-saving benefits of Glances in action or ask our team questions.
If you need to connect a specific app or platform with Glances that is not currently available on glances.com, please send your requests to hello@glances.com.
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