This is a continuation of the 5 post guest series by Kevin Gao. Check out the other posts under the marketing category.

With the appropriate deployment of the first two weapons, you’ve probably started to gain customers. The next thing you need now is a well organized treasure trove to store all the customer information, figures and data so that your sales team will be able to make the most of each piece in the future. And this is where a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system comes into stage.

CRM is a tool with which you’ll be able to do more for, as well as get more from, your customers. The core concept of this technology is about merging sales and marketing efforts with business processes to be able to identify, pursue and manage valuable customer relationships. You may have heard several benefits of a CRM system, here’s a full list to help you make it clearer:

• Focused sales & marketing efforts. Your Sales staff deals more effectively with customers because they have instant access to a complete view of all customer interactions.
• Improved customer experience. More customers return for repeat business because your staff deals with their queries quickly and efficiently.
• Automated analysis and reports. As part of the ‘automation effects’, your sales staff saves time from daily data sorting and report creating.
• Better coordination. Your sales management improves as the CRM system makes it quick and easy to produce accurate key reports.
• More Profit. The combination of more effective sales & marketing efforts and more efficient customer service translates to a more profitable business.

With all these benefits of a CRM system listed, have you feel the urge to join the crowd? Hold on for a second, before setting up your own CRM system, answer these questions below:

• What is your business strategy and key goals you’d like to achieve? How can a CRM system help in this?
• What Is your targeted customers like? What can a CRM system provide for managing their information?
• How’s your current relationship with customers? Will a CRM system help you improve?
• What your staff (especially your sales and marketing teams) need to boost relationships with customers? What role will a CRM system play in this?

These questions will help you figure out whether you need a CRM system right at this moment, and what type of CRM you need to build.

A sword has two blades, so does any other weapon. When taking advantage of those equipment, be careful not to get hurt with the side-effects that may occur. We have now finished all the three weapons, hope you find them helpful. And don’t leave too quickly, still some extra bonus for you in the next article.

About the Author:

Kevin Gao is the founder and CEO of Comm100 Live Chat, a leading provider of live chat software for business. As a software developer as well as a small business expert, he’s always ambitious to revolutionize the way of online customer service and communication. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn to find out more about him.