What is CRM Software?

CRM software (customer relationship management software) is a tool that helps your business build & improves customer relationships by gathering, organizing, and analyzing your customers' data strategically.

Why your business needs CRM software?

A comprehensive CRM system can be used by your sales, marketing, and support teams. It gives everyone a holistic view of the customer and enables them to craft incredible customer experiences.

Customer-facing teams use CRM solutions and related tools to communicate with customers, schedule appointments, nurture leads, win deals, manage customer complaints, send quotes, store customer information, etc.

As a result of this, the CRM software becomes the single source of truth for customer insights and how your sales, marketing, and customer support teams are performing.

Designing a CRM strategy

Organizations need to chalk out a CRM strategy to survive in the current competitive business landscape. Without specialized CRM software, it becomes very challenging for businesses to manage customer information, and they may find it hard to monitor all touchpoints or interactions.

Excellent relations are not built overnight; rather, they require a consistent and personalized approach. A CRM strategy is a blueprint that helps companies manage customer interactions, collect contact data, and track behavioral patterns to provide better service ultimately. Top leadership should communicate the CRM strategy to team members to implement clear standards and use the right technological tools to increase sales and business revenues.

Benefits of CRM software

increase revenue

Increase revenue through better deal nurturing and follow-ups

hand shake

Improve customer relations

sales meter

Accelerate Sales Cycles

chat icon

Better internal communication & collaboration

productivity

Boost Sales and Support team productivity

settings

Enforce best practices through process templates

task automation

Automate repetitive tasks

graph

Get better insights on customers

retain customers

Increase customer retention

deals

Lessen risks to deals

When it is time to use CRM software?

Companies invest in CRM platform at different stages of their life cycle depending on the challenges they are facing, functionalities they want, goals they are looking to achieve, budget, size of the company, business model, and other factors.

However, you need a CRM solution if you are facing these issues and limitations in your business -

  • Spending a lot of time trying to find data on a customer or deal.
  • Deals slipping through the cracks.
  • Stagnant growth.
  • Increase in customer churn.
  • Decrease in customer satisfaction.
  • Decrease in sales representative or customer support productivity.
  • Limited visibility on how your team's activities.
  • Constant account and territory clashes among your sales team members.
  • Limited collaboration between customer-facing teams.

Key features to expect in an ideal CRM Software

contact management

Contact & Lead Management

Know you contacts better

opportunity management

Opportunity Management

Win deals faster

pipeline management

Pipeline Management

Keep track of the deals in the pipeline

email marketing

Email Marketing with auto-responders

Engage customers effortlessly

communication

Customer Chat

Respond to leads and customers faster

automation

Sales Automation

Automate repetitive tasks

reports & analytics

Reporting and Analytics

Build reports from CRM data

customize

Customization

Configure the system to meet specific needs

workflow

Advanced Workflow configuration

Automate repetitive tasks

routing

Lead Routing

Distribute the leads to right agent faster

webform

Webform integration

Capture leads from website

appointments

Appointment scheduling

Schedule appointments faster

document sharing

Document sharing and analytics

Breathe new life into marketing & sales documents

approvals

Billing, quotes, and discount approvals

Streamline discount approvals

Integration

Integration with your email, phone, accounting and other applications

Integrate with over 500 business applications

notification

Reminders/ Smart Notifications

Get notified of a mention, upcoming activity, email activity

How to choose the right CRM software?

Unlike traditional customer management tools, most modern CRM software comes integrated with robust functionality. Choosing the right CRM system is not an easy task. Organizations need to assess their business requirements, scan the market, and then decide the best fit. Here are some key factors to consider while choosing a CRM software for your business:

  • CRM Deployment (On-cloud or Premise)
  • Features and Functionality
  • Third-party Integrations
  • Customer Support
  • Security
  • Scalability
  • Cost-Effectiveness
  • Customization
  • User-Friendliness

CRM software plays an essential role in the current competitive business landscape. Investing in the right CRM solution will give your business a competitive edge and help you capture a loyal customer base. Ensure research well, review all market variants, and choose the most suitable CRM system for your business requirements.

Choosing the right CRM that's best suited to your business is challenging. This is why we created a comprehensive document, download our free eBook CRM buyer's guide.

Things to Consider When Implementing a CRM

A customer relationship management (CRM) software is more than just a tool and the backbone of effective customer relationships and business operations. It can empower organizations to drive long-term growth and maximize ROI. However, you should be careful when doing CRM implementation as it requires strategic planning to align with user objectives. Let’s explore 5 essential things to consider before implementing a CRM:

Usability

CRM software should have intuitive interfaces and easy navigation to minimize training time and reduce errors. Prioritizing usability can effectively manage customer relationships without any major challenges. 

More than that, usability in a CRM can increase adoption rates among businesses. When the system matches well with your daily workflows, they are more likely to drive team efficiency and productivity.

Scalability

As your business grows, your CRM should accommodate an expanding customer base and evolving processes. When your CRM is scalable, you can add new features and ensure long-term performance. 

A scalable CRM can drive growth and revenue and adapt to your company's changing needs and preferences. It can also integrate with existing tools and applications so that all business processes remain synchronized. 

Security

As CRM software stores in-depth customer information, it becomes important to protect sensitive information. Adopting robust security measures such as data encryption and access controls can safeguard against breaches and build customer trust. 

Besides implementing security measures, regular audits are important to ensure compliance with data protection guidelines. So, when choosing a CRM, ensure that it aligns with the security protocols. 

Customization

Every business has unique requirements, and a customizable CRM can allow you to tailor your CRM software according to specific workflows. It ensures that your CRM aligns with your existing business processes, enhancing efficiency and user satisfaction. Customization options can range from modifying data fields to integrating third-party tools. 

Having a CRM customization option can allow businesses to quickly adapt to changing customer demands. This way, you can gain a competitive advantage and stay aligned with your business preferences.

Mobility

In today’s work environment, a mobile-friendly CRM is a must-have as we are always on the move. This is where mobile CRM comes into play. It helps you manage your team from anywhere using your smartphones or tablets. Using a mobile CRM, you can ensure that no opportunities or customer interactions are missed.

Further, mobile CRMs are equipped with features to enhance productivity and engagement. This not only streamlines your internal process but also enables you to be more responsive, leading to a better customer experience.

What makes Vtiger the best CRM Software?

Your organization can gain a clear competitive advantage and achieve a 360-degree unified customer view by investing in Vtiger CRM. Here are the top reasons to get Vtiger CRM software for your business instantly:

A premier cloud-based CRM solution, Vtiger has enabled over 300,000 businesses to deliver excellent customer-centric experiences.

Innovative features and top-notch functionality makes Vtiger a must-have product for small businesses. It saves time and automates repetitive functions to increase operational efficiency exponentially.

One-stop solution for businesses to manage sales, marketing, and help desk operations from one platform seamlessly.

Round-the-clock customer support teams help companies choose the right features and customize the package based on their business needs.

It has a user-friendly interface and is scalable; hence, it can match your growing business requirements.

Sales team members have access to complete customer information like interactions, contact details, and purchase history in a single repository.

Security is a prime concern for any software. Vtiger has many security features like GDPR compliant and ISO 27001 certified that ensure sensitive contact data remains safe from unauthorized access.

You may also find these topics interesting

What is CRM What is Collaborative CRM
What is all in one CRM How to successfully implement a CRM system
What is operational CRM Why you need a CRM
What is AI-powered CRM What is lead management system
What is analytical CRM What is an opportunity management system

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

A CRM database is a central repository designed to store and manage customer-related information such as contact details, engagement history, purchase records and preferences. It assists businesses in boosting customer relationships and enhancing sales, marketing and customer operations.

CRM stands out from other software by focusing on centralizing customer data, storing important conversations, and improving customer engagement. It integrates with sales, marketing and customer support activities and offers a wide range of features such as automation and AI-driven insights for better decision-making.

Integrating a CRM with third-party tools allows you to carry out specific activities, such as running targeted campaigns, managing business finances, etc. These tools allow for seamless data flow between the CRM and applications and reduce manual errors.

You should invest in a CRM when managing customer relationships becomes challenging, and customer data is scattered across spreadsheets. This is the ideal time to invest in a CRM as it can help you drive business growth quickly.

breezway

Increases sales productivity by 25%

"With Vtiger our sales manager, sales representatives, customers service and CEO have accurate and up to date information regardless of their location."

mowgreen

Boosts sales by 20%

"We now have a better handle on the business and are poised for easier continued growth through further exploitation of the rich feature set. I can always trust that when we need it there's great support on hand."

pactia

Contracting part of the sales process reduced from 2-3 months to less than 30 days

"We are using Workflows to handle a lot of our post-sales activities. This saves reps valuable time, allowing them to focus on the more important tasks."

popup house

Simplified the entire sales process from lead capture to the close of the sale

"Pop-Up House used Vtiger One View to summarize touchpoints. Pop-Up House had meaningful interactions with the leads using unified customer data."

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