CRM, Customer Relationship Management, has been around for years. "Closing the loop" i think it was probably called at one point. As business grows this becomes valuable with a capital "V" and many of us don't think about it until it's too late.
When I started VerticalResponse everyone had their own prospect and customer data in their own programs. I thought that was ok the first year, but as our customers and our business grew it was painfully obvious we needed a solution where all of our data was in one place.
Did you ever call on a customer to ask for a testimonial only to find out they just got done screaming at one of your reps? Ouch! (Not that that ever happens here ;-) Did you email a customer that just bought something from you offering them the same product at a different price? Double ouch!
Those are just two things I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are hundreds of stories like this.
Here's the immediate value we saw when we implemented our CRM Solution:
1. History - Track a customer's history from prospect to purchase, and all of the touchpoints that were made.
2. Email - Send an email from within the CRM solution so that everyone can see the communication.
3. Customer Tracking - Track that a customer or prospect clicked on a link in an email so that they can be followed up with.
4. Marketing ROI - Track an email or direct mail campaign's ROI
5. Reports - Run reports to see where sales are coming from by salesperson or marketing program.
6. Customer Support - Track cases and history of a customer
Our CRM solution is salesforce.com, but there are many out there that are affordable and will fit your budget.
In the end we save time and money - Troy, our PR Specialist doesn't have to run around to Sales and Customer Support asking them what happened the last time they talked to Ms. X before he calls for a testimonial. Dana, our VP of Sales can easily see that Alex has just closed a deal. Sonya, our Account Manger, can see that a customer proactively needs a call. All with a simple query.
We chose an ASP, because we believe in the On Demand "stuff". But if software works for you there are plenty of those to choose from too. Oh and the Kool Aid was refreshin'!
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