With These 8 CRM Tasks, You Make Customer Work Easier

1. What is the difference between CRM tasks and CRM measures?
2. 8 CRM tasks that a tool can take over for you
3. To implement the CRM project as efficiently as possible, the Bitzer team took it step by step with the implementation. First, they sought feedback from selected key users in the headquarters and in the subsidiaries, so that all sites and subsidiaries could contribute to the project to the extent they wanted.
4. You might now also be wondering if CRM is only for large companies.... No, a CRM system is not just for the "big ones". It can be useful for

A CRM system brings many advantages and ultimately increases revenue. But what is CRM? CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, it represents a system used for managing customer contacts. The primary goal: to keep customers happy and thus bind them to the company. Therefore, a CRM system is supposed to help simplify all tasks related to customer contact care. This task can be quite extensive due to the often long customer journey and therefore can be subdivided into smaller CRM tasks. To carry out these tasks, there are specific CRM measures, which are implemented.

The following article by our guest author Tim Holm aims to provide an overview of the tasks a CRM system can take over for you.

What is the difference between CRM tasks and CRM measures?

CRM tasks are functions that can be implemented with a CRM system, while CRM measures are the specific steps taken to achieve the objectives. These measures can fulfill different goals such as acquiring new customers, binding existing customers, and reactivating former customers. Examples of specific CRM measures include sending newsletters, automated mailings, loyalty programs, proactive customer service, or creating personalized offers.

8 CRM tasks that a tool can take over for you

A CRM system can take over a multitude of tasks that simplify customer relationship management and boost the effectiveness of marketing and sales strategies. I have summarized eight tasks that a CRM system can take over for you:

1. Campaign management

Do you want to launch a marketing campaign, but don't know how to keep track? A CRM system helps you with the planning, execution, and analysis of all operational marketing campaigns. By using information from the system, it is possible to convey a personalized service and performance offer in the right communication style via the right communication channel and at the right time to the right recipients. This strengthens customer loyalty and also allows contacts that were generated through a marketing campaign to automatically record in the CRM system and store all relevant information for further marketing and sales activities. Some larger CRM providers such as SAP Sales CloudSalesforce Sales Cloud, Oracle Eloqua

or

have also integrated their own marketing automation solutions, which can be linked to the existing CRM system. 2. Lead generation and qualification

A CRM system also supports you in lead generation and qualification. It can help you identify potential customers, save their contact information and qualify leads. Because with a CRM system, you have a central place to collect and manage all important information about potential customers. You can estimate the interests of your potential customers using

lead scoring-

models and thus decide which leads are most valuable for your business. In addition, you can automate and personalize your communication with your leads using the CRM system to arouse their interest in your company and turn them into customers. The monitoring and analysis of the lead generation process can also be taken over by a CRM system. It can also support the automatic routing of leads to sales staff and the capture of leads from websites and other sources.

3. Opportunity management

Another task a CRM relieves you of is the management and tracking of sales opportunities or opportunities. Your CRM supports you in analyzing sales data to make better decisions regarding the management of sales opportunities. By tracking the sales status and recording customer activities, the CRM ensures that all sales opportunities are effectively pursued. Simultaneously, the different activities per opportunity can be recorded to get a historical overview and ensure cross-team collaboration. Thus, it helps to coordinate and organize your sales activities.

Another advantage: With guided selling, a CRM helps you improve sales processing through intelligent and structured sales processes. Here you have an overview of all opportunities and can filter them and, for example, focus on particularly critical accounts. The CRM also gives you an overview of the most relevant information, the last activities, and other details, allowing you to save time and create transparency. Besides the current status of your opportunity, the CRM even recommends which activities are best to continue.

The guided selling can often also be used in a mobile version, which helps teamwork. With a cloud-based database, every salesperson can access customer data, past activities, and scheduled appointments from anywhere, at any time, and use them.

4. Quotation and order management

With the quotation and order management, a CRM supports you in creating targeted offers for potential customers so that you can adapt them to the specific needs of the customers. It also simplifies offer tracking to ensure that they are processed and signed in a timely manner and helps with easy creation and tracking of orders once an offer has been accepted.

A CRM system also gives you an overview of all your customers' contracts and can assist you in approving contract terms. Some CRM programs also have a direct integration into signature tools, such as DocuSign. So with a CRM, you have all contracts in view.

5. Customer service & After-sales support

An additional task that a CRM system takes over for you is the management of inquiries and complaints by facilitating the tracking of service requests and simplifying activity recording. With omnichannel CRM, requests can also come from mail, telephone, chatbot, or a contact form on your website and are all centrally stored in the CRM at the customer. This enables your company to provide a consistent customer experience across all channels by providing a unified view of customer history and interactions. Thus, you can ensure that each request is processed quickly and effectively and every customer has a positive experience.

A CRM system also contributes to improving post-sales support by facilitating the tracking of service contracts and recording activities.

6. Revitalization and recovery management

A CRM system also takes tasks off your hands for recovery. It assists you in maintaining contact with your customers and addressing their needs and concerns. By providing information on which customers or customer groups are economically worthwhile for recovery, the CRM system enables targeted selection and individualized approach to the relevant contacts. With segmentation of your customers, you see which customers you have lost and why. On this basis, targeted recovery measures can be taken. For example, using automated campaigns, you can then initiate measures to restore customer contact. For example, with automated e-mails or phone calls to remind them of your brand.

In addition, by analyzing customer interactions, you can gain insights into customer behavior. This allows predictions to be made about which customers are likely to be lost and which measures are most effective at holding them.

7. Forecast & Predictions

With analysis of customer data and sales figures, a CRM system can identify trends and make predictions from them. Although a CRM system will not predict the exact future for you, it helps produce forecasts of sales, revenues, and customer feedback. Creating forecasts for customer feedback helps identify potential problems early, solve them, and thus strengthen customer loyalty. These analyses or reports provide the basis for the management's strategic decisions. This can help your company better align business strategies and processes with the future needs of your customers, thus increasing your profitability.

8. Process automation

Lastly, process automation is a task that can save you a lot of time and effort. Because a CRM system can automate processes, like sending email marketing campaigns, creating offers, or managing service requests, to increase efficiency and time-saving. In addition to saving time, automations reduce manual errors and thus enhance work efficiency and ultimately cut costs. By automating your processes, you can focus on the most important tasks and increase your customer satisfaction.

A concrete example: Bitzer SE

Bitzer is a globally active manufacturer of refrigeration and air conditioning technology with over 65 locations and 3,500 employees. The company has experienced rapid growth, but for a long time, the various locations did not use a uniform system. There was also no common data pool, but each branch was basically a silo, a challenge that of course grew with every additional site. The multitude of different partners also complicated collaboration due to a lack of transparency. Therefore, they wanted a tool that offers them transparency, user friendliness, and uniformity. Bitzer has therefore decided to digitize its sales tasks with a CRM system.

Through the central digital collection of all data and a system Providing a 360-degree view of customers, the company can handle their tasks easily and simultaneously and as a team from any of their locations. In the future, different areas of the company can collaborate through the system - completely independent of where in the world they are. This has led to a standardization of the way of working and communicating with customers. With the CRM system, the company now has a tool that allows the employees to access all information from anywhere and at any time. All processes run faster and are more flexible than before, as the system can also be used on mobile devices. With the introduction of a cloud-based CRM system, the previous silo thinking could be abolished.

To implement the CRM project as efficiently as possible, the Bitzer team took it step by step with the implementation. First, they sought feedback from selected key users in the headquarters and in the subsidiaries, so that all sites and subsidiaries could contribute to the project to the extent they wanted.

This interdisciplinary approach accelerated and simplified the introduction of the CRM system very much. Employees who still found it difficult were demonstrated by the team using known pattern customers how practical the new solution is. The project's duration was only 6 months.

"Our sales teams appreciate that this sales application make their jobs easier and gives additional value, as the technology delivers instant transparency. This is tangible digitization in action - creating a true Intelligent Enterprise." - Michael Eichberger, Director of Digitalization, BitzerCan every system take over these CRM tasks?Each CRM system has its own functions and capabilities. However, there are many CRM systems that can cover the tasks mentioned above. These functions may vary from provider to provider and from system to system. A CRM system is the central and internal collection point for all customer data. It is a standalone system that offers the opportunity to interact with other systems such as commerce, marketing, etc., thus fulfilling all tasks. Before choosing a CRM system, it is crucial to be clear about the available functions and the company's requirements to ensure that the chosen system can perform the required tasks. Compare different CRM systems, to find the best one for you. When introducing a CRM

, also consider certain things and definitely think about an appropriate

SAP Sales Cloud

Salesforce Sales Cloud

BSI Customer Suite

HubSpot Sales Hub

CentralStationCRM

CRM strategy. Based on user feedback and experience reports on OMR Reviews, I have compiled the most well-known CRM systems:

You might now also be wondering if CRM is only for large companies.... No, a CRM system is not just for the "big ones". It can be useful for

companies of all sizes

, whether it's a small start-up, a medium-sized enterprise, or indeed a large corporation. A CRM supports your company in managing your customer relationships, organizing your sales processes, and monitoring sales performance, no matter how many customers or staff you have.