Essential Items For Your CRM Buying Checklist
You’ve decided to invest in customer relationship management (CRM) software. You likely have a sense of which CRM vendors you’re interested in, your budget, and your desired software appearance. However, before finalizing any agreements, it’s essential to delve deeper into the specific features you require, rather than just focusing on the brand.
For instance, when discussing options with vendors, inquire about key features such as automation capabilities, dashboard customization, availability of dedicated mobile apps for Apple iOS and Google Android, and the range and functionality of third-party integrations. These aspects are crucial, and lacking any of them could lead to regrets after your purchase. To assist you, we’ve outlined five essential feature sets, explaining how they work and why they are critical to consider in your CRM purchasing decision.
Tailored Dashboards
While it might seem minor, especially for those new to CRM, the ability to organize your lists and data in a way that aligns with your company’s sales process becomes crucial over time. Imagine starting your day with your software and having to sift through irrelevant lists—this can be a frustrating and time-consuming distraction. Top CRM tools offer extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor almost every aspect of your dashboard to fit your specific needs.
For instance, Salesforce allows you to not only customize what you see on your dashboard upon logging in but also to modify and manage data dynamically. You can click on user files, associate them with new opportunities, view records, access contact information, and track sales activities. Additionally, you can review a customer’s history, related emails, and any attached files. The Status Update box enables you to add notes about your subject. The flexibility of this feature means you can easily remove, add, or modify fields as needed to suit your preferences.
The challenge lies in the amount of initial customization required to fully utilize such a dynamic environment. For Salesforce, you may need additional apps from the Salesforce Sales Cloud and either in-house or consulting technical expertise, which adds both cost and implementation time.
Each vendor approaches customization in its own way. Some allow you to make changes independently, while others require you to collaborate with their developers for adjustments. It’s important to discuss these aspects with potential partners, understand their capabilities, and select a company that aligns with your workflows. Once you’ve made a choice, test an evaluation version with your sales managers to ensure it meets their needs effectively.
In-Depth Analytics
Over the past five years, analytics has seen the most significant improvement in CRM software. Beyond managing interactions between sales leads and customers, CRM systems now track deals, pipelines, and sometimes even inventory, making them crucial data repositories for everything from revenue collection to marketing. While transferring this data to other tools is important, it’s equally vital to have the capability to analyze and interpret that data within the CRM itself, allowing for deeper insights and better decision-making.
Vendors are aware of this, leading to significant enhancements in CRM analytics capabilities. Today’s CRM tools not only track interactions but also monitor customer behavior across various touchpoints, including your sales team, online presence, and physical stores. The CRM should convert this data into actionable insights for identifying new opportunities and prioritizing your pipeline. Ideally, it should present this information through visual, customizable dashboards rather than relying solely on extensive spreadsheet data.
Major CRM providers, such as Salesforce, offer highly advanced analytics features, though these often come at an additional cost. Salesforce includes some analytics tools within its Sales Cloud, but it also offers a separate analytics platform that incorporates artificial intelligence through Einstein technology and Tableau. Microsoft Dynamics CRM, on the other hand, utilizes Power BI, its well-known business intelligence tool, but this also involves extra expenses.
The additional investment can be highly beneficial. Advanced CRM vendors offer the ability to aggregate customer and sales data from numerous sources, including touchpoints, satisfaction surveys, and service desk interactions. This comprehensive data allows for a more nuanced analysis of sales performance and better organization of leads and opportunities. With a well-evaluated and customized CRM solution, decisions that once took weeks can now be made in minutes.
Important Third-Party Integrations
A competitive CRM should offer a comprehensive range of third-party integrations, as the core function of a CRM is to collect customer data and distribute it to other business units. One key integration is with customer-facing help desks. By accessing detailed CRM data directly within the help desk application, technicians can engage more personally with customers, consider their previous purchase history and satisfaction, and even identify potential upsell opportunities.
Vendors with extensive software portfolios often prioritize integrating their own products. This works well if you’re fully committed to that vendor’s ecosystem. However, if you’re using tools from different vendors across various categories, it’s important that your CRM can communicate effectively with those external applications.
Zoho offers more than 30 software products tailored for small to mid-sized businesses. Naturally, the company excels at integrating its CRM with its suite of tools, such as Zoho Docs for productivity, Zoho Analytics for business intelligence, Zoho Desk for customer service, and many others.
Zoho goes beyond integrating its own products by also focusing on third-party connections. The system integrates with a range of external applications, including Google’s apps, Evernote, ClickDesk, Microsoft 365, and Intuit QuickBooks, among others. This flexibility allows Zoho customers to either standardize on Zoho products or continue using their existing tools.
That kind of flexibility is crucial. However, the quality of integrations also depends on how they are implemented. Most cloud software vendors use REST APIs for data exchange, allowing developers to transfer data between applications from different vendors. This approach enables the creation of deep, customized integrations.
Some vendors also use tools like Zapier for information exchange and to create automated workflow-style integrations. While Zapier is a reliable tool and user-friendly for those without programming skills, its integrations might not be as extensive or customizable as those enabled by REST APIs. Therefore, it’s important to ask your CRM sales representative for detailed information and thoroughly evaluate your CRM options before making a purchase.
The Importance of Social Networking
Nearly every product or service vendor can leverage social media as a key customer touchpoint, and this should be integrated into your CRM. A Bizrate Insights study from 2019 revealed that over 34% of surveyed consumers were making purchases directly through social media platforms.
Fortunately, leading CRM vendors have effectively addressed the integration of social media. Companies like Salesforce, Apptivo, and HubSpot offer built-in social media tracking and engagement tools within their platforms. These features allow teams to collaborate on projects through a Facebook-like interface, sharing content, updating project and pipeline statuses, and passing along lead and prospect information. More importantly, these tools enable direct interaction with customers across various social media networks.
Similarly, Zoho CRM offers a feature that allows clients to monitor the social activity of leads and prospects, helping to identify new opportunities. While Zoho CRM excels in social listening, akin to tools like HootSuite, it also enables team members to access real-time social information from platforms like Facebook and Twitter without leaving the CRM.
Social media interactions are now essential, not optional. It’s a major channel for digital marketing, and modern tools offer advanced methods for identifying and segmenting your social media audience. Therefore, this data must be integrated into your CRM, which should also facilitate the transfer of this information back to your marketing efforts.
The Necessity of Mobility
One of the most common pitfalls in CRM implementation is when salespeople fail to use the system effectively. If the CRM becomes just another place to input data for the sake of management, then the investment has been squandered. Effective CRM customization involves understanding how your sales team operates and integrating the CRM in a way that genuinely supports their workflow and enhances their productivity.
A crucial consideration is that salespeople often move around within businesses, and if the CRM cannot adapt to their changing needs, it’s at a disadvantage. This is especially relevant in today’s hybrid work environment. When working remotely, employees frequently rely on personal devices, including mobile phones and tablets. Although cloud CRMs are accessible via a browser, using a browser on a mobile device can be cumbersome. To maximize the utility of your CRM, look for solutions that offer dedicated mobile apps for both Android and iOS.
These apps must offer all the essential CRM features your sales team needs, plus additional functionalities that facilitate communication and collaboration. While this is manageable when everyone is in the office, it becomes more challenging with remote or on-the-go staff. Recognizing the growing importance of remote work, vendors are increasingly focusing on this aspect in their latest updates. Some have integrated with third-party unified communication platforms, such as RingCentral, while others, like Salesforce, have brought these capabilities in-house, exemplified by their recent $28 billion acquisition of Slack.
Once you’ve identified some mobile apps that seem promising, it’s crucial to thoroughly test them. Assess not only their functionality but also how well they integrate into your sales process. Assemble a pilot team of sales users to trial the app in real-world conditions and provide actionable feedback. Many CRM vendors offer some degree of customization for their mobile apps. By gathering detailed input from your sales team, you can tailor the mobile experience to better meet their needs, creating a tool they’ll be eager to use on the road.
IT teams must also assess the CRM’s mobile capabilities, particularly regarding the handling of personal customer data. For instance, if a real estate agent is submitting electronic leasing documents to a central repository without encryption, it poses a significant security risk and could potentially breach privacy regulations. It’s essential for your IT team to evaluate how the mobile app manages data transfer, user authentication, and data protection to ensure that sensitive information remains secure throughout its journey from the salesperson’s device to the cloud.
