To understand optimization systems, stop thinking of them as something otherworldly, make a choice, and not be afraid to implement it - that's our very small article.
If the idea of introducing a CRM system has occurred to you, consider that you have already accomplished half the task. Now, in order to stop drowning in leads, you will have to avoid drowning in the great variety of systems, and then integrate this matter into your business in general and into the minds of each employee individually.
In a broad sense, a CRM system can be understood as a complex of IT products. All their work should be aimed at ensuring the quality control of customer interactions, regulating the work of all departments, and thereby building a certain CRM infrastructure. Explained in numbers: the willingness to lose up to 40% of customers in normal mode and up to 90% in the case when you have fired an employee or he/she has fallen ill - this is a story about the absence of a CRM system. Its presence is much more interesting.
Before you begin, let us say one thing: it doesn't matter how small or large you are in the scale of the planet, how specific and unique, how qualitative and productive - everyone needs a system. Just remember hospitals and the system for storing your health data. Did you shudder? And do you love your customers as much as Larisa Stepanovna behind the glass of the registration desk, who remembers Stalin?
A few associations. Imagine that your company is a locomotive. Here's the cabin (hopefully, it's you), here's the wagon with goods, here's the wagon with documentation, here's the coupler in the form of managers between all of you, and there - the platform with customers. Amazingly, but a fact: remove one link, and the locomotive won't reach its destination. It's important for you (and us) that this locomotive not only arrives, but also sells, unloads, and doesn't forget about the customer afterwards.
Petya and tables
Suppose you're a successful entrepreneur. Your company is at such a borderline moment when there are already a lot of you, but still a little bit. However, it's an impossible task for any manager to monitor each of them individually, stand with a pointer, and call Petya to an improvised board every time he calls to talk about the product, rather than rudely sitting in some social network. In addition, it's desirable to encourage Petya to enter data into a certain table so that the information doesn't get lost and doesn't disappear in flight.
The conclusion is that you need a system that can easily monitor, compile, and analyze all actions, as well as be simple and understandable for any average Petya. In addition, it should be adapted to the number of your employees.
What to pay attention to when choosing
If you open the CRM systems rating (we love it when a smart guy makes a top, and we just buy the "best"), you will understand that the functionality and cost of some of them are designed for fairly large teams. And here it's all about turnovers: such ratings are compiled based on several indicators, the main one being the cost of the CRM system itself, its integration, and further use. Therefore, it is not always correct to rely on the top 5 or top 10 when choosing.
When your plans only involve optimizing sales, the choice is easier: systems tailored to work specifically with such departments will do. These include Pipedrive, amoCRM. Nevertheless, we believe that the more ambitious you approach the systematization of all business processes, the more control and quality there will be in your entire company in principle.
Unlike in the West, where they tend to use systems designed for specific business tasks, in Russia, CRM is more considered as a comprehensive tool.
Using one system, representatives of small businesses, for example, want to manage not only sales but also finances, projects, and tasks. Fortunately, demand generates supply, and there are many such complex systems available today.
In large companies, where an entire small agency staff can work in one department, it is clear that it is better to choose specialized systems tailored to each business task. After all, a large amount of processed information requires serious automation and systematization.
For small businesses, there is an opportunity to use a comprehensive and simple system that combines several solutions. This will allow you to avoid implementing and integrating multiple different applications, and with the appearance of new business tasks, you won't have to move from one place to another. Such systems include, for example, Flowlu, Freshoffice, and others.
Pay attention to a clear interface, the ability to customize and customize without the help of third-party specialists, fast page loading, instant access to the necessary data, and the ability to create new entities in 1-2 clicks. Implementation of such systems will not take much time - 1-3 days, and your employees, and you become one big system that moves towards incredible sales and quality customer service.
When choosing, it is useful to look not only at complexity but also at the ability to disable unnecessary tools and, moreover, not to overpay for them.
Here, for example, we can mention Bitrix24. Among the specific features of this system is the purchase of it only as part of a complex with all the other tools. On the one hand, this is quite interesting (you get more than you planned), on the other hand, it is difficult to use and has unnecessary functions. However, such interesting things as the ability to communicate in different ways (voice and video) and much more during use may unexpectedly come in handy.
If we try, it's for free
There is a direct correlation between your business and a CRM system: neglecting a customer leads to losing money, while ignoring them after a deal is made is a double loss. The main task after choosing a system is implementation. Even if the system is chosen correctly, who said it will work the way it should?
There is a tendency to implement business management systems with the help of third-party organizations. In short, you need some amount of money (far from three pennies), which will allow you to invite a team of professionals and implement the software. Usually, after finding out that it's really not cheap, you'll probably refuse the system. Hoping to solve all the problems associated with the shortcomings of managers, executives, or production may not be realized at all.
They don't charge for demand, so why not. Note that almost all manufacturers today offer free testing of their products, or even use them for free with limited functionality. If something doesn't suit you - go for another. In an extreme case, Excel is installed on almost all computers.
Weak points when transitioning from primitive tools to a full-fledged system
A stick and a shovel are good things, but they're not reliable. A business management system, though it may seem very complex at first glance, is just a stick that's even easier to use. So let Excel not be sad that we called it that: the role of the progenitor is always important, and any tradition needs to be improved and adapted to the times.
In the pursuit of business optimization, there are undoubtedly weak points. Perhaps your ideal is a piece of tracing paper and colored gouache. Or maybe you like stickers and visualization right now, so you'll choose "Megaplan," but tomorrow you'll have so many customers that it will be simply "antifunctional." There are many systems, but yours is likely to be one. Analyze and compare.
Just don't forget that CRM is just a tool. The situation with control as such is a fiction: if the team is not ready to win, there will be no effect from using the system.