Unlike employing an SEO consultant, the decision to implement a CRM is not one to be taken lightly and even a small implementation of Microsoft Dynamics can be a considerable chunk of your annual IT budget.
Which is why it is important to be using it to the fullest extent. A CRM that is used as a glorified customer database is an extremely expensive white elephant but a CRM deployed across the whole company could increase productivity, decrease errors and improve customer satisfaction.
But how do you go about getting the most from Microsoft?
Get Up to Speed
Microsoft Dynamics is immensely powerful but that means you can’t expect to learn it by trial and error. It is essential that everyone in the sales process using the system is provided with sales training, both on the actual mechanics of “How do I do that?” and on the underlying methodology of “Why are we doing that?”
Tailor it to your needs
The only right way to run a business is the one that keeps the business alive. Whilst there are reams and reams of books and blogs telling you how to run your company you will no doubt have settled on a combination of techniques that you and your staff are happy with.
Which is why Microsoft Dynamics allows you to expand its capabilities by adding on apps. Do you use SCOTSMAN commitment measuring techniques? There’s an app for that . Do you use Social Media? Get the app to manage your social marketing. Need to monitor MailChimp? Guess what – there’s an app for that too.
Just like you’d be wasting your money buying an iPhone and only using it for phone calls you get the most out of Microsoft Dynamics when you add on apps to extend what it can offer.
Automate your sales pipeline
Microsoft Dynamics, naturally, integrates with Office so you can automate the creation of documents without needing to leave the CRM. This has two major benefits: firstly, you can keep all your interactions with a particular client together so you can see at a glance what stage of the sales cycle you’ve reached; and secondly, you minimise errors caused by transferring data from one system to another. This reduces the amount of time your sales people are spending on admin tasks whist improving the customer experience by speeding up responses and reducing errors.
Use mobile apps
Microsoft Dynamics has a mobile interface meaning your employees can access the CRM data wherever they are. Site visits – both sales and aftersales – can be logged immediately before the rep has a chance to forget what occurred and without the possibility of errors caused during transcription of paper records. It also allows them to be familiar with all interactions between the customer and your company – even if the customer rang in with an issue after your rep left the office. Attention to detail on this scale improves the customer experience which leads to greater customer satisfaction and better customer retention.
