The world is online and the way we do everything, from having a personal life, finding a job, or running a business has changed. Meeting our customers’ expectations doesn’t boil down to being more conveniently located than a competitor anymore.

These days, consumers know they can hop on Google and find just about anything they want. With so much competition at the click of a button, how do businesses stay in the game?

The acronym CRM has likely come up in your own business searches if you’re looking for ways to improve sales and grow your company. CRM stands for “customer relationship management.” It’s in coming full circle with how you make your current customers feel as loyal supporters of what your company has to offer which makes all the difference in thriving.

What does a CRM system actually do?

The way Google Contacts maintains information about the people with whom you speak, their personal details, important notes about them, a collection of their correspondence with you, and so on, is similar to how a CRM system helps a business keep all their information organized.

A CRM system, however, does so much more than keep customer information consolidated and in one easy-to-access location.

Online CRM software helps companies manage their relationship with a growing customer base with several tracking, monitoring, and database tools.

A CRM will not only track your interactions with any given customer – the system will maintain information about every task completed, every product purchased, and every communication company-wide with this customer. This information is vital when it comes to protecting how your customer feels when interacting with your service.

When the last conversation and the history of a work log is available to business managers with the same speed and ease as a Google search for places to eat, less time is wasted trying to figure out where the company as a whole left off with the conversation. A manager will know exactly what to say on a follow-up call and what issues the customer wants to address. This kind of attention to detail is what makes customers want to stay loyal and make future purchases.

One can think of CRM as an exclusive social media platform, a closed group, for your company and your clients where managers have oversight of all the critical, personal data worth collecting to nurture the “R” of CRM.

CRM field management software does much more than log conversations with clients; it helps guide the company towards offering optimal customer service without losing time or resources.

If your business involves sending employees to homes or other work sites to provide a service or install a product, you’re up against a potential middle-man scenario.

To find out what has occurred on a job without CRM, a manager is faced with the task of calling the employee, the customer, or shadowing the employee to know what has happened. This is a loss of company time and it may come off to the customer as an indicator the company doesn’t know how to communicate properly internally – a sure way to lose trust.

If, instead, business managers have the hawk-eye view of everything happening in the field with the click of a button, they avoid repetitive conversations and human error in communication. Everything which is said to a customer company-wide is logged for a business manager to quickly scan at the touch of a screen. Additionally, a CRM will automate or streamline administrative tasks to avoid losing time to typing reports and to gain hours for completing more revenue generating work whether it’s employees in the field able to provide service to more customers or managers spending less time performing data entry and more time working on business development tasks.

Increase the efficiency of your team to your customers’ satisfaction: CRM for employee management

If you have employees working at job sites, keep all essential personnel in the loop with the scheduling, chatting, and GPS features of an easy-to-use online CRM system.

A CRM system keeps every employee in-the-know with where he or she is expected to be and at what time. Notes on desks can be lost, voicemails are not always heard or received, and texts can get lost in the mix of other messages. With an online CRM system, the company has one place to access all essential information leaving less room for error or questions.

A chatting function will allow for real-time discussions in the event an employee is unavailable to work or a customer has a question needing to be answered ASAP. Business managers have the instantaneous ability to reschedule and find a replacement for employees who are ill or have an emergency preventing them from working. This further promotes the accurate, easy communication with the customer as to what he or she should expect from the company’s service on any given day.

Know where your staff is if questioned by a customer with a GPS tracking feature. Business managers are able to offer an accurate ETA to allow for easy communication and smooth service.

How does this translate into using CRM for increasing sales?

It costs a significant amount of time, money, and resources to acquire new clients. The majority of reliable, sustainable revenue derives from maintaining a loyal client base to whom a business can “upsell” and promote membership renewals. Promoting a positive relationship with customers using the full features of online CRM software is what makes this kind of financial longevity possible.

None the less, CRM software is a valuable asset when it comes to knowing important information about leads. Information regarding a customer’s personal position as well as most recent conversations are all recorded in the CRM database. This makes it possible to view data and focus on the most promising leads for sales in a timely manner. Even more significant, this data helps you build a standardized company sales process with precision for the kind of customers who are in need of your services and products.

Try out the features of CRM Runner for a 30-day free trial to see the difference in your company’s efficiencies and how your customers respond to your efforts.

CRM Runner offers communication functions between staff, management, and customers, permissions settings, inventory reports and tracking, GPS employee status monitoring, leads reports, scheduler, work progress reports and work orders, contractor information, QuickBooks integration, and much more in one all-inclusive app for mobile and/or desktop. Have the information you need at your fingertips on the go or at the office right when you need it.

Sign up for the 30-day free trial here or call a sales representative to learn how CRM Runner can help your company grow using a CRM database management system at (877) 590-0040.