Welcome back to the Cut-Down Costs with CRM blog series. In this series, we have covered the various aspects of reducing business costs by using a CRM. This blog presents to you what we have discussed till now in a nutshell so that you do not miss a single point while implementing CRM solutions for your business.

Does your business still follow the same old method of recording customer data in piles of paper? Do you make errors while recording information about your customers? Do you visit people door to door to sell your products?

If your answer is yes to the above questions, then this blog is definitely for you.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is undoubtedly one of the desirable solutions to organize, manage, and record business activities. It allows you to track communications and nurture customer relationships on a digital platform. As per Deloitte, a contemporary customer is

• Well-informed/self-educated
• Self-directed
• Fast-paced
• Picky
• Contradictory
• Always connected
• Volatile
• Tech innate

So, to address the needs, demands, pain points, etc., of contemporary customers, you need to integrate a CRM with modern functionalities that allow you to engage with them effectively. And, it also minimizes costs for your business.

Now, there are various dimensions to cost reduction besides just spending a dime from your pocket. Using a CRM you can save time, become efficient, increase productivity, minimize errors, etc., which can scale up your business in a short time period.

Let us understand that in detail below:

Top 8 ways a CRM can help you reduce costs for your business

As mentioned above, there are distinct ways that prove adopting a CRM to be cost-effective. These are as follows:

CRM can help you in eliminating paper costs and reducing departmental silos

You can centralize customer records onto a single platform in a CRM. You can reduce the risk of data compromise by printing important data and storing it in a physical location. Data on paper also makes it difficult for teams to get information quickly at the time of need. Also, if you are storing customer records digitally, you can give access to all the teams, thus reducing departmental silos.

CRM can help you in reducing travel expenses

Be it with your team members to discuss important matters or with the customers to impart comprehensive knowledge about your business, effective collaboration can level up your game in business. And, if that is done remotely, you can save a lot of time traveling and reaching the location on time for important meetings.

With various collaborative tools available in a CRM, you can plan your events ahead of time, get reminders, share important documents, etc., and engage in meaningful conversations without being present in person.

CRM integration can help you in reducing data duplication

By integrating third-party applications into your CRM, you can have a seamless data flow; to, from, and within the CRM. You can integrate email service providers like Gmail, conversational tools like WhatsApp, accounting applications like Sage, etc., with a CRM. This allows you to carry out activities from single platforms and eliminates the need to toggle between different applications.

It helps you minimize data duplication and there will be fewer errors while storing customer data. Also, you can make a one-time investment with third-party CRM integrations rather than spending on different applications separately.

CRM can help you improve business communication

Phones and other communication mediums have already made it easier to communicate seamlessly. By integrating different communication apps

to make calls, send SMSes, emails, etc., from a CRM, you can reach out to your customers directly without having to switch between different apps or devices. For example, you can integrate a telephony service provider like Plivo or Twilio, to make calls directly from the CRM screen, or by integrating your Gmail account, you can send emails without logging in to your email account.

Not just that, integrations with external applications allow you to have real-time conversations with your customers and also track and record these conversations. This enables you to understand customer requirements and also quickly resolve queries. These records help your sales and support teams to enhance their communication with customers by bringing transparency and clarity to conversations with customers.

CRM can help you identify target audience and increase brand awareness

Tools available in a CRM can be a boon to marketing activities. You can identify leads and create targeted campaigns. You can generate useful metrics to see the success of your campaigns.

You can increase the presence of your brand with social media integration . You can build a social media strategy to attract more visitors, understand your target audience, identify the needs of your audience, and so on. You can also post content on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, etc., from a single platform rather than visiting different accounts.

This is again a time-saving and cost-effective process as opposed to investing in big hoardings to advertise your products or services.

CRM can help you in automating repetitive activities

With CRM automation, you can automate your daily activities like sending emails, scheduling client meetings, etc., by setting up workflows. Automation helps reduce your effort on time-consuming tasks and focus on other priority activities. You can automate activities like lead generation, pipeline management, assigning of leads, etc. It allows your team to be efficient, thus increasing productivity.

CRM can help you standardize your business content with in-built templates

You can run various email campaigns or print documents by adding your content to different CRM templates. These pre-formatted templates come with various themes, graphics, designs, etc., which allows you in bringing uniformity to your business content.

CRM templates allow you to be more efficient and generate more content in less time.

CRM can help you generate reports and gain valuable insights.

Using various analytical tools in a CRM, you will be able to generate accurate reports of team performances, sales revenue, understand the number of queries raised, etc., and make informed decisions for your business.

When you have access to real-time reports, you can improve your marketing campaigns, forecast sales, and provide enhanced customer service by understanding their problems, preferences, feedback, etc. All this will help you in taking intelligent decisions effectively.

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Try our forever-free pilot edition if you are a novice in the world of business.

Sign up for a 15-day free trial to know more about Vtiger CRM.