It is common for a company to purchase CRM software to replace their manual contact tracking notes. These manual notes can be both notebooks or personal agendas, folders or computer files with tracking information, Excel spreadsheets, etc. When all this information overflows them, then some solution is thought to dump all this information.
Normally an email is sent to a possible contact and that information is stored in a neatly classified Outlook tray.
Then we send some budget and save the Word or pdf file in an equally verbose way in some other folder. If the lead or prospect calls us by phone, we write down their call in a folder or notebook. Maybe we have a spreadsheet to record these events… The days are passing and we surely want to know what happened to this possible contact.
Finding the information is simply chaotic, a lot of time is wasted, or it may not even be found… Or worse: we forgot about this leaflet and therefore decided on another provider. You will no longer be a customer of ours…
At this point, the company decides that it cannot lose any more opportunities: it urgently needs a CRM.
There is something important to keep in mind: We have lost a client before he becomes a client. That is, when he was a lead, prospect or possible contact.
It should be taken into account if the software to be acquired gives us this possibility, how it handles the information of a possible contact, how it works with its history and what happens when the prospect becomes a customer. Some tips to keep in mind:
- If the company tries to recruit new clients, it may make a list, probably in Excel of the candidates. It is important that the CRM software to be acquired has the facility to import leads or prospects through Excel spreadsheets. The company will surely have a fluid contact with this prospect, sending information, emails, or making phone calls. It is essential to keep an automated history where every time you carry out one of the actions described, a history of calls, emails, newsletters, etc. is generated, easily accessible. If you want to send newsletters or information via email to a group of mails, it is essential that the software allows grouping leads to carry out this task. Allow statistics on the tracking of leads in particular.Allow the exchange of information between users of the system, that is, that different users can track this prospect, so as not to allow initial enthusiasm to expand and the possibility of losing it to grow. Of course: If the prospect becomes a contact, in the software it should be possible to carry out this action, without losing the previous information but knowing that you are now a contact and not a prospect.
In summary, when thinking about a CRM software, it is necessary to take into account how important it is to follow up prospects within the company and consult the provider about the facilities provided by the software to more easily achieve our objective of attracting new contacts.
