Defining CRM Value Series – 2 of 4 – Help Protect Company Assets With Zoho and Act! CRM Systems

Written on 11/20/2014

Asset Protection through CRMOther Topics In This Blog SeriesReduce Costs | Target The Right Market | The CRM Plateau

Your company assets aren’t just physical objects that you can see and touch. Your people are your assets. And so is your customer database. In fact, your customer database may be your most valuable asset. Without it, you will be left starting every encounter from scratch, leaving current clients up in the air and missing potential sales from leads.

Take Stock In Securing Your Company Assets

I’m sure you have tight security on your inventory.  It’s also probably safe to assume that you keep your proprietary trade secrets secure.  And your accounting and ERP systems are locked down.  But what steps have you taken to secure and grow your biggest asset, your customer database?  If you are like many companies that don’t have a CRM system, then you have no security on this asset and you have no way to manage its growth.  Using spreadsheets and Outlook contacts isn’t protecting your assets.

Your corporate memory is a tangible, valuable thing.  It includes not just basic contact information, but also:

  • The needs of your customers
  • Detailed sales cycle information
  • Product and service offerings
  • The timelines of customer contact
  • Confidential telephone numbers and email addresses
  • Competitive intelligence
  • Marketing segmentation

And much more…

By employing a CRM system to capture and secure your customer information you are taking a major step forward to grow this asset.  Secure CRM systems with such as Act! and Zoho allow your organization to store its data in a centralized location that is easily accessible by everyone from almost anywhere by computer, smart phone, or tablet pc.  As an example, your personnel will be more productive because all relevant data is in one location and you’ve eliminated data loss or breaches.

Data Issue Alert – Seamless Onboarding of Personnel

In addition to protecting your customer asset, a CRM will actually help you grow that asset. Let’s imagine that your business is expanding and you need to bring on a new sales professional that will require sales territories to be re-assigned.  Without proper planning, implementation, and access to the right information this type of change can appear to be a complete disaster in front of your customers.  They don’t want to worry about someone new not understanding their account, needs, and past conversations.  In addition, you don’t want to have your personnel come across as less than knowledgeable in front of the customer.  Having access to a central customer database through a CRM system allows new personnel to pick up the conversation with your customers mid-sentence with minimal drop off in engagement.

With Act! and Zoho CRM systems, that detailed, client-centered information is available to whoever needs it within your organization.  In the example above, the new sales person in your company would be able to access client data to familiarize himself or herself with the sales history of each client assigned to them.  In the future, new sales professionals would be able to access data on recent targeted emails to customers and contacts with each opened email and each answered call being collated and tracked in your CRM system.

Data Issue Alert – If Employees Leave Your Company

What happens when an employee parts ways with your company?

Can you guarantee that your company will obtain all of the information they possess in an exit interview without having a CRM system like Act! or Zoho? Everyone knows of a situation where a sales person left a company and wiped their Outlook clean on the way out.  Without a CRM system, what do you imagine would happen to sales revenue in that territory in the next six months?

With Zoho CRM and Act!, your organization has all of the customer information available with a few keystrokes.  Personnel replacing departed employees have instant access both on site and in the field to the most important customer and contact information.  Most importantly, your organization has peace-of-mind with a secure database that captures and keeps important customer information.

It is important to support the reputation of trust and confidence you have earned with your customers.  At the top of that list is the ability to have important information about your customers organized and accessible and protected.  They shouldn’t be caught in the middle of personnel changes or a restructuring of your sales team.  With Act! and Zoho CRM systems designed by AspenTech Consulting Group they won’t be.  Contact AspenTech today, and we’ll help you make sure that change doesn’t disrupt business.

Other Topics In The “Defining CRM Value Blog Series”

Break Through The CRM Plateau

Reduce Costs With Act and Zoho CRM Systems

Targeting The Right Market with Act and Zoho CRM

Get CRM Help from AspenTech