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Improving Your Business Part 3 of 3: Insight Leads to Vision in Your CRM
We’ve been covering the three key areas that drive business improvement: Process, People, and Insight. This article reviews the insight you are gaining (or not!) from your current CRM. Click to read the previous Process and People articles.
The core of “insight” is data. Typically a CRM can produce a myriad of data, but even more typically, business owners and managers are not sure what to do with all of it. Another issue is accessing the data– you know the information is in the system somewhere, but no one seems to know how to pull it out.
Answer these key questions about your business data:
Insight:
- What kind of data do you receive today about your business? Include customer statistics, financials, marketing analytics, and any other data you currently receive on a regular basis.
- How do you receive this data? Is it easy to gain insight from this data quickly, or does it take a lot of time? Does it need to be re-organized (typed into a spreadsheet, for example) in order to make sense of it?
- Do you have any “lost data” – perhaps data that existed prior to your current CRM implementation? Or do you have inexplicable instances of incorrect customer or financial data?
- What information does your marketing team use to drive leads? If you have outside sales staff, are they able to access information via mobile devices when they are on the road?
- What information does your sales team use to follow up with those leads? To reach out and re-sell past customers?
- Do you have team members who need to see customer list views? If so what data do they need to see?
- How do your customer service representatives look up customer information? Is what they need easily available?
- What do your management reports look like and who needs to be able to access them?
Step back and take a look at the information you and your team are receiving today. Is it comprehensive? Is it accurate? Is each functional area of your business well-supported with the data they need?
Now think about key decisions you’ve recently made about your business. Were you able to rely on hard data to inform your decision-making? Or did you have to “go with your gut” because the information you needed simply wasn’t available?
As you look to the future, what is the number one insight you would like to have about your business? What reliable data do you need to move your business to the next stage of growth? How would you like to access that data?
A well-functioning CRM can give you the insight you need to create a compelling vision to improve and grow your business. AspenTech CRM has helped thousands of organizations analyze their current operations and implement new procedures that improve sales, customer satisfaction, and profitability. To have a free conversation with us about the results of your business process review call 866-880-4228.
