What is a CRM?
Definition
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a system for managing the relationship with your customers. Think of this system as a huge database containing all the relevant information about businesses, their teams, and their members. Today, many businesses see their customers as a gold mine. If you dig deeper, it could be a real diamond deposit.
In a manufacturing company, a database can take many forms: an Excel spreadsheet, pieces of paper full of information, or disparate systems with no connection between them. Are these systems effective? Many businesses face challenges such as too many customers, poor communication between departments, or rapid growth requiring geographic expansion.
As the business evolves, centralization and consistency of data becomes critical. This is where a CRM comes in. This tool allows you to manage and centralize the data of all your contacts and prospects in real time, in one place, and to follow their buying journey. Developing a relationship with each customer requires time and effort, but with a CRM, this task becomes less arduous. It also facilitates smooth and sustained communication between all departments and teams in a company.
Once everyone has consistent, relevant, and rich data, the team can quickly contribute to providing the best possible customer experience.
With digital transformation and the arrival of the Cloud, the industry has experienced phenomenal growth, allowing CRMs to take an important place in many businesses. More than just a database, a modern CRM can be integrated into operational processes and combined with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, ERPs, or integrated sales tools to improve its efficiency. These integrated systems have had a significant impact on the approaches and solutions proposed in the manufacturing sector.
The role of a CRM in a business
A CRM is a tool that manages a large volume of data on prospects and customers, thus enriching the knowledge of sales and marketing teams. By centralizing information, the sales process becomes more efficient. Each department can then put in place adapted strategies to better target certain prospects or customers. Lead nurturing, for example, is an effective strategy for leading the prospect to the qualified lead stage in the sales process.
Thanks to marketing automation, it is possible to create unique scenarios to encourage a contact to adopt the desired product. Automatic emails can be sent according to specific deadlines and socio-demographic criteria to encourage specific actions by contacts.
Imagine being able to identify the times when your customer is less receptive in the sales process. You could then adjust your approach to influence their satisfaction and shopping experience. Some indicators, such as the time spent with the customer at each stage of the sales cycle, make it possible to identify these moments and improve the profitability of each sale, the ROI, customer satisfaction, and to generate more leads.
The 5 main functions of a CRM
- Company sheet: Access to all business accounts, phone numbers, industries, and stages in the sales cycle. Information should be updated on a regular basis.
- Contact sheet: Directly linked to the business file, it contains the data of prospects and customers (name, address, telephone number, etc.).
- Key accounts: Brings together the key players in the purchasing process.
- Opportunities: Defined through a pipeline with several steps to lead key accounts to a potential purchase.
- Actions: Means used to create opportunities (calls, follow-up emails, SMS).
Why are we partnering with HubSpot?
We choose HubSpot as a partner for the immense potential of its platform, much more than just a CRM. HubSpot integrates three fundamental pillars: marketing, sales, and customer service. This interconnectivity makes it possible to offer adapted and personalized solutions to each customer, taking into account their stage in the purchasing process. HubSpot includes marketing automation tools and involves a variety of actors in the process to improve the customer experience. For Lakhos Group, HubSpot is much more than a partner, it is a facilitating tool essential to growth with a unique and methodical approach.
Visit Why HubSpot?
Some questions to ask yourself before implementing a CRM:
- Does my company currently use a system that can be combined with CRM (e.g. ERP)?
- How do we manage our databases of prospects and customers currently? Is this method optimal?
- Can I create a list of key accounts and opportunities in my business?
- What are our medium or long term goals with the implementation of a CRM?
- How will this system integrate effectively with our sales and marketing departments?
- Have success indicators (KPIs) been established?
- Do we need to maintain a central list of information about our prospects and customers?
It is essential to have a well-defined strategy and a clear process before implementing a CRM.
By integrating HubSpot CRM, organizations can structure their prospecting, develop their business, organize customer information, improve the customer experience, and increase operational efficiency. A well-implemented CRM is a powerful tool for achieving these goals.
