For any organisation, CRM means so much more than just technology. It’s the pipeline that connects the entire company. The customers move across the company on it too.

And as new-age professionals, we should always be hungry to do things better. No matter how smooth or perfect it seems, there’s always a step ahead.

Research shows that as CRM users, if you’re not asking questions about your strategy, people & process… you still have got a long way to go. Only then you can take your CRM maturity to the next level.

Here’re a few questions you should be asking yourself, in such cases:

What CRM Means to You

A CRM doesn’t hold the same place in everyone’s mind across an organization. People have their own point of views & preferences when it comes to a CRM’s utility. However, there should be a shared vision solely focusing on improving customer satisfaction.

That’s where, you should come in & define the company’s vision for improving customer satisfaction and why it’s important to the organization. That’s when everyone will realize what part they are playing in the bigger picture.

If everyone’s on the same page, believing that better customer satisfaction ultimately leads to success… your CRM is running good.

What’s CRM Success Like?

In a basketball match, every player has his own role to play but as a collective unit the team plays towards the same goal: to score points. Similarly, the success of a CRM is also all about common goals.

However, success should always be measured at different points of a cycle to make it meaningful to everyone in your team. Otherwise, it’ll be tough to point out improvements & ROI.

You don’t want your CRM investment to look like a bad one. Do you? Parameters like commercial, customer satisfaction etc are good ones to start the assessment with.

Are you Customer Centric? or Self-Centric?

If you’re going to a grocery store, the main reason behind it is not that you need to buy something. It is that, you need raw materials & ingredients to cook a meal at home.

As customer-centric companies, your main aim should always be to help the customers in meeting their needs. The key lies in providing the same standard of service across departments. If the strategy & goals are not clear to everyone in a company, every team will take different directions & ultimately customer satisfaction will be affected.

Remember, what your customers want is the most important thing. And your duty is to help them get it. Anything less, is just not good enough.

Do You Think Everyone in Your Team will Just Get It?

It’s the biggest mistake leaders & managers make across the world. You should always communicate the CRM strategy, & the changes that come with it. If people aren’t communicated well, they will just resist adapting to the change.

Always make your employees feel connected with their roles in your CRM cycle. That’s the only way towards a CRM success.

What’s Your Customer Buying Process?

It’s very essential for everyone in your organization to understand what the buying process is like. What happens when someone buys a product? What next?

Unless you define the entire process to everyone, the teams will only care about their own parts. And you’ll end up providing a disturbed or fragmented customer experience to your prospects. Who would want that?

Do your Employees Really Use the CRM?

This is probably the most practical question. A CRM can be many things, from a game changer to a mere data entry platform. But if your team doesn’t understand the usefulness of a CRM, it will have no motivation using it actively.

A well-maintained CRM can really add so much value to your customers at every stage.

Take away…

In short, a CRM should drive the right behavior across departments of an organization, to provide top-notch customer satisfaction. That’s all that matters.

And in order to do so, make your people use a CRM because they want to, not because they have to. The forceful approach just doesn’t work anymore.

How important is a CRM in your business? Let me know about your thoughts below.