What’s Wrong with Current CRM?

Businesses are still using antiquated CRM system to keep track of customers, and most of these old systems were built for B2B use, not B2C. The old systems just don’t manage the new consumer very well, and here’s why:

Both Marketing and CRM Must Think of Customers as Friends

When you communicate with a friend, you know what devices and social media s/he usesYou know your friends’ backgrounds, their likes and dislikes, what time they are up to receive your communications, etc.You know their values and needsWhen they come over, you know what to talk about and what their favorite snack is.

Marketing technology does a lot of these things through analytics. And it tracks consumers as they engage with content. Once they get into the “funnel,” however, CRM becomes critical, whether they are new leads, returning “lookers,” or ready to buy. And once they do buy, how do CRM and marketing work together to maintain loyalty from that customer? Now translate that to CRM and the new systems that are available to you.

How a State-of-the-Art CRM System Can Support Marketing

All current CRM systems keep track of current leads and customers – names, emails, phone numbers, purchasing history, and all communications between the company and those customers, and most of this is done so in the cloud. This allows a single source that can be accessed by any interested and involved company staff member, especially successful marketing pros as they continue to develop strategies to convert and keep. But here are the other things that a really great CRM system can do:

The Takeaway

No business is too small for a CRM system. There are products out there that serve new companies and expand as those companies do; there are products for medium- and large-sized enterprises. And with fickle consumers, a CRM system will allow you to: Marketing and CRM have never been more intimately tied than they are in today’s consumer-driven market. To not bring these two functions together means real loss of customers and business growth. Image credit: Pexels.com