People can get passionate about which tool they use to mange sales and relationships with customers. Lotus 1-2-3 paved the way in data management and manipulation when it introduced the world to the spreadsheet. Excel stole the march on Lotus with Excel and since the 80's has dominated the market. Excel is a powerful tool and is absolutely the right tool for analysing data is certain circumstances. The problem is it is not dynamic and really only looks at history and is not much use at being used to manage your interactions, past, present and future with your clients. Here are some comparisons between the two. Breeze writes Quote While Excel spreadsheets are a good enough tool for some tasks, when it comes to customer relationship management it lags way behind. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is a much more efficient tool for managing your business’ most important asset – your customer base. We are living in the Age of the Customer, and businesses that don’t shift their focus on customer satisfaction will pay the price. That’s why it’s very important to use the best tools available to manage your customer relationships, and Excel just doesn’t quite cut it. Why is using a CRM better than Excel for customer relationship management?Data is centralized A CRM system keeps all of your data centralized so you can access any information you need easily. There is no need to waste time searching through different spreadsheets to find what you are looking for so you can spend your time on more important tasks. Plus, you don’t need to cross reference with other team members’ spreadsheets to make sure you have the most updated information. Email Integration As opposed to Excel, you can integrate your email and calendar in the CRM to send and receive email within the app. View your correspondence history with each customer so you can get a better picture of their needs and take a more personal approach to customer service. Relating Data In Excel, you cannot relate data. This can make it very frustrating to see which contacts are related to which deals and difficult to get important tasks done. In a CRM, you can relate your deals to an account and/or contact as well as create tasks related to specific records. Team collaboration A good CRM is designed for efficient teamwork. Unlike an Excel spreadsheet, a CRM lets share data and tasks as well as notify other users of important details. By collaborating in the CRM, team members can work better and sell more together. Analysing data By analysing your data, the CRM will give you important insights into business activity. You can get a clear view of your sales funnel, your leads by stage, team productivity and so much more. Analysing your data gives you the knowledge you need to make smarter selling decisions. While you can colour code your data and create charts, the functionality is very limited and doesn’t come close to what you’ll get in a CRM. Customization Each business is different, and so it is important to use a customer management system that is flexible and customizable. An Excel spreadsheet doesn’t go very far when it comes to customization. With a CRM, you can fine tune the platform to fit your business’ specific needs. Regardless of industry or size, you can flex a CRM to work perfectly for your customer management efforts. Access your data easily With a CRM system that’s web-based, you can access your data from any computer or mobile device with an internet connection. Whether you’re on a business trip, working from home, or simply not in the office, a CRM is the more effective tool for accessing your data on the go. It’s pretty clear that a CRM is much more efficient than Excel for customer management. If you are still using spreadsheets to manage your business, it would be highly advisable to make the switch to a CRM system. Not only are many systems easy to use, but affordable and flexible enough for any business. Unquote The beauty of CRM's is that the data collection happens as a result of your activities and interactions with clients. You do not have to spend time manually trawling through records to report these in a spreadsheet. Future interactions with clients can be programmed in the CRM along with auto emails and phone calls. The CRM is a holistic live tool the spreadsheet is not. One should not underestimate the task of getting staff to use the CRM. Many staff are stuck in their ways and reluctant to adapt. Sales staff like to keep their client relationships to themselves and are usually not the best process driven people. This criticism can also be levied at a spreadsheet, however, it is up to management to ensure the use of any system is adopted. If you would like to learn more about how to automate your business and make it more efficient book a free consultation here
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