Five Ways to Utilize CRM
Management and Analysis of Prospects and Existing Customers
CRM allows you to manage and analyze not only your existing customers but also prospective ones. With CRM, you can manage and analyze basic customer information, such as capital, number of employees, and industry type. By uploading your own customer data, you can also extract information on specific companies by filtering criteria such as usage amount, retention rate, capital, and number of employees.
Furthermore, because CRM tools allow you to check communication history with customers as well as the progress of projects and negotiations, they can help facilitate project advancement and improve customer satisfaction by reducing missed responses.
Creating Lists of High-Probability Prospects and Potential Customers
CRM is equipped with features to import and analyze external data in addition to existing customer data. By integrating prospect data based on the management and analysis results of existing customers, you can identify and create lists of high-probability prospects and potential customers that your company should target.
For example, if you identify that your services are utilized by companies in the service or construction industries with 10 or fewer employees, you can create a high-probability sales list by targeting companies that meet the same criteria.
This allows you to share high-quality leads with your sales department, enabling efficient sales activities that focus exclusively on prospective customers.
Streamlining Administrative Tasks
Because a CRM allows for the centralized management and analysis of customer information and project progress, it leads to the streamlining of administrative tasks.
Many companies that manage customer data across Excel, legacy systems, or multiple disparate platforms not only suffer from fragmented information but also struggle with inconsistent data formats, preventing them from fully leveraging customer data as a corporate asset.
By using a CRM, you can not only consolidate cross-functional data (from Excel, Word, and other systems) into a single location, but also streamline administrative tasks through simple data entry and addition processes.
Accelerating the Sales PDCA Cycle
Since a CRM visualizes interactions and progress for each customer, it enables the acceleration of the sales PDCA cycle.
By visualizing customer interactions and progress, you not only clarify the next steps but also enable the provision of specific instructions for each stage, such as, "This lead has been stagnant for several days since the initial meeting; please follow up."
This eliminates reliance on individual sales representatives and the practice of offloading tasks entirely to them. By visualizing customer data management and deal progress, you clarify the next actions and accelerate the PDCA cycle of your sales activities.
Strengthening the Sales Department
Utilizing a CRM also leads to the strengthening of your sales department. A CRM allows you to assign sales representatives to each deal and monitor interactions and progress at any time. This enables you to visualize deals that are not progressing well and provide timely follow-up.
Furthermore, by documenting "successful approaches that led to orders" and "top sales talk" as knowledge within the CRM, even new sales representatives can achieve a high level of performance.
By leveraging a CRM to provide "real-time feedback" and "share knowledge from top sales performers," you can elevate the overall sales capabilities of your department.
Three Key Points for Utilizing a CRM
Prioritize Selecting a Tool That Is Easy for Field Staff to Use
Many CRM tools with various features are available from numerous companies, but when selecting a tool, choose one that your field sales and administrative staff find easy to use.
A common failure is when management or the corporate IT department selects a tool unilaterally. While administrators who manage and analyze data are important, the primary users of a CRM are the field employees who update daily figures and deal progress.
Therefore, when selecting a CRM tool, have your field staff test the demo to ensure you choose a solution that is user-friendly for them.
Perform Data Consolidation and Data Cleansing
When utilizing a CRM, perform data consolidation (removing duplicate entries and standardizing company names) and data cleansing (removing inaccurate or irrelevant data) for the information you intend to manage and analyze.
If data is not maintained through consolidation and cleansing, the same company might be registered under both its formal and abbreviated names, leading to data inconsistencies and potentially reducing the accuracy of your analysis results.
While consolidation and cleansing can be done in Excel, it is common to use specialized tools to process data more quickly and with higher precision.
However, some CRM tools come with built-in consolidation and cleansing features. If your company lacks an environment for these tasks, choose a CRM that includes data maintenance functionality from the start.
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Start by Managing and Analyzing Your Own Customers
To maximize the results of your CRM, you should begin by deepening your understanding of your existing customers. If you can grasp the timing of orders, customer status, and company scale, you will discover the optimal approach for acquiring new customers.
For example, if analysis reveals that "other company products or services are utilized within three months of an order," you can implement effective upselling and cross-selling strategies for new customers.
A CRM is particularly well-suited for strengthening relationships with existing customers and identifying prospects—whether active or latent—based on existing customer trends. Therefore, after introducing a CRM tool, postpone its use for new customer acquisition and start by analyzing your existing customer base.
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