Who needs CRM?

Picture this scenario :-

Adam Baxter has setup a bakery shop. He is the only guy manning it.
He specializes in making bread.

He has started getting customers in his neighbourhood who come regularly and buy from his shop. Adam knows them all by face, after all it is a small neighbourhood.

News of Adam's Special Bread spreads and enquiries start pouring in. Adam diligently starts taking notes in his small paper-notebook. He has attended a few seminars and has taken notes too. He has also met some potential investors who would like to fund him to so that he can expand his business. He was asked to make some business plans and come and discuss with them sometime in the coming month.

Suddenly one day, his notebook is missing and he does not know what to do. In the midst of the panic, a  potential customer - now what was his name - is on the phone enquiring about the delivery that he had commited to for the coming day. And that is not all, there is also some big expansion plans that he had noted down in the notebook to discuss with the potential investors- now what were their names, they were 6 of them. All are lost. Where is the damn notebook???!!!

Also he has been invited to speak at a function to share his knowledge. Hell, this is a good platform to reach out to more potential customers! Oh God! Where is the notebook now!!!

Adam needs CRM.

The above is probably an oversimplification but typically CRM is needed where one needs to have a proper control on business. CRM is a value add.
CRM cannot replace your business, it boosts your business effectivity. You get more thing done with much less effort, thereby directing your effort in what needs your attention.
This does not mean they are a record-keeping replacement. CRM systems help you add intelligence into the system by providing workflows and certain system-generated rules which provide a sense of direction and purpose to your business.
These help streamline business and improve overall efficiency.
CRM systems can generate reports and show where your business stands as on a particular instant visually through Dashboards and Charts.
A 360' view of the market is always readily available putting the businessman in a better position to do business.

Let us build on this example. I welcome you all to add your own variation of example and answers to this.

Many small businesses still use a spreadsheet, a generic database, or a general-purpose application such as Microsoft Outlook to keep track of contacts and prospective customers. But over a period of time, this becomes too difficult to handle. It becomes a repository of information and nothing more. The power lies in being able to mine this data and make it into something useful.

Here is where a CRM tool adds value. Zoho CRM is one such tool. Zoho CRM helps you keep track of your contacts, any follow up contacts with them, the activities associated with them like followup calls, meetings, statuses of the same, related documents and collaterals, invoices, purchase orders, etc. One can remotely login and work too!

For those who have data in spreadsheets, they too can import their data into ZohoCRM.

When you log in to Zoho CRM, the Home Page displays the list of recent activity assigned to you so you know exactly what your Action Items for the day are.
It also lists the summary view of the system. You can even define what particular view of the system you would like to see in the Home Page when you login. These are called as Widgets in the ZohoCRM terminology.

Zoho CRM also provides an Outlook Plugin. So those who use Outlook Mail client, simply need to download the Plugin and signup to the server.

Using the Outlook Plugin, while residing in your Outlook Mail Client, one can do the following :-

• bidirectional contact sync - You can add your Outlook contacts to Zoho CRM and vice-versa
• task sync - You can add your Outlook tasks to Zoho CRM and vice-versa
• activities sync - You can add your Outlook activities/meetings to Zoho CRM and vice-versa

Also, you can add emails related to a contact in ZohoCRM from the  Outlook Mail Client to Zoho CRM.

The idea is to ensure that all data is centrally located and is easily accessible remotely. This greatly increases efficiency of an organization as data is centrally shared.

Zoho CRM also has a quick create option for Leads, Contacts, Accounts, etc. This reduces the time the Sales guy spends using the system. The idea is to make it easy to use for the Sales guy so that he enters/obtains the relevant info that he wants and gets to the field asap.

For the Upper Management, since the data is centrally organized, it helps in getting a 360' view of the business in any instant in time. Here is where the Dashboard feature comes to the fore. This is a great value add and performance multiplier. A one-shot view of the entire business at the press of a button!

Go ahead and register. It is free for 3 Users!

This is not going to be a one off blog. This is something that I would welcome your inputs too so that we can come up with a good practice list of a kind. Loose, conversational.

Try and avoid using the CRM system as an information hoarder. Anyone can do that.
The intent of using a CRM system is to store Quality Data in it. So focus on getting the right data in by validating firstly, the entry point of the data to the system - Leads/Contacts/Prospects whichever you like to use as the starting point.

Focus more on customer engagement. It is not sufficient to have a world-class CRM system backing you. Remember, the CRM system is only as good as the data you give. So Trash In results in Trash Out and no one is the more wiser.
These are tough times so focus on the data that you have that you have garnered by engaging with the customer. The customer needs a human touch 99% of the times. I am not giving you stories - I have done this in real life. There is nothing more that will help win/lose the deal in less time than you blink.

Engaging the customer is about talking to him about his needs AFTER he makes his needs clear. Tell him honestly if you can or cannot give what he needs. Also mention to him what needs to be done to get the desired results and where does your product/service stand wrt that need. He will help you to get the deal from him and this will result in getting a long time, loyal customer.

Store these info that you have gleaned from him. Yes, this may require investing a couple of more days with him but is worth it since you have invested time in him and he in you. So the chances that he would prefer to remember and deal with you next time is much more higher. An already existing customer is the best reference you can have and also the best to do business with since your hunting-cost is 0.

Once a month or whatever scale you use, generate reports. Spend time on what kind of reports you need. These needs will evolve so be forgiving in that sense.
But at the same time, be very specific on what you need to see. Make the report and schedule it.  Do not just fire and forget. Analyze the report. Go back to the drawing board aka Board Room/Sales Strategy/ Marketing Execution/etc, see where things ought to improve and improve it. Repeat it.....


PS : If the report cannot be done or is not supported, please do escalate to support at zohocrm dot com. We will look into it immediately. Yes, I am not committing anything since unless we have a look at the need, we will not be able to give an assessment of what/when we can actually give you the result. But I promise, we will hear the case without any pre-conceived notions. We too are human and can make mistakes, remember?

Archie