The relationship between your organization and your customers may be the most important aspect in the sustainability of your business. In order to facilitate stronger relationships, most businesses implement the use of customer relationship management (CRM) systems. In order to grow and foster the business, CRM platforms help put the focus on your customers.
Your customers have more options than ever to switch to. As competition grows rapidly, you’ll need to find more reasons to keep your customers from considering other alternatives. Part of the process is to imagine what it’s like to be in your customer’s shoes, and how to make their experience as frictionless as you can make it. Picking the right CRM can help get you started.
Here are 6 expectations your customers have that will give you an upper hand if met properly.
1. Your Customers Expect Accuracy
From the initial point of contact to finalizing the deal, you never want to miss a detail. Every aspect of their business – whether it be names, requirements, or details – needs to be properly cataloged. Otherwise, your business may appear disorganized and untrustworthy.
When choosing your CRM platform, make sure that contact and company records include notes that can catalogue every aspect of the deal. Keeping this visible to all members of your team will help ensure nothing gets lost in translation.
2. Your Customers Expect Personalization
Whether it’s your customers, or your customer’s customers, nobody likes to be treated like a number. Personalization is essential to grow a relationship; it allows your customer to feel like their opinions and suggestions matter. Allowing your customers the opportunity to modify their deals, or providing more than one option to pick from, helps your customers engage with your business in a way that puts the focus on them.
When collecting data from your potential customers off your website, your CRM should allow you to add custom fields into your web forms. This allows your salespeople to qualify leads easier and with more relevant information. Let your leads tell you what they need, and personalize your solutions for them.
3. Your Customers Expect Fast Responses
In the current state of communications, everyone wants answers fast. And just like your customers, it’s important for your team members to communicate quickly as well. In order to keep the flow of information speedy, everyone needs to be talking.
Your CRM should allow your team members to efficiently communicate with each other so that your customer inquiries don’t go unheard.
4. Your Customers Expect Options
If it’s one thing that customers want – it’s options. Every business works differently; and the ability to modify your product or service offerings to fit their needs is necessary in building strong relationships. Flexibility can go a long way when building those bridges.
When building quotes and proposals inside your CRM, remember that it should allow you to not only make multiple variations for expanded alternatives, but it should also allow them to be modified at a later date in order to accommodate your customer’s changing needs. If you’re able to modify your products or services, so should your proposal software.
5. Your customers expect consistent communications
Imagine your customer calls up and talks to your customer support rep John. A few days later, they make a second call and continue their conversation with another customer support rep Rachel. Your customer will fully expect both reps to know their problem and a consistent amount of effort in solving it. No matter who they’re talking to, they’ll want a consistent experience.
The best CRM tool will ensure that any note made for a lead or contact can be shared across departments and the organization. This allows each team member to write notes about conversations into the contact record, which helps the next team member get up to speed faster and more reliably. The goal? To build a synchronous experience that your customer could never possibly leave.
6. Your Customers Expect Empathy and Care
Whether it’s your sales team following up on a deal, or customer service monitoring an inquiry, your CRM should be the glue between your business and your customer. Scheduling reminders, assigning tasks between team members, and sending birthday wishes should be a standard – not only by your CRM platform, but your business as a whole.
The concept is simple: your customer is looking for empathy, attention and a frictionless experience. Take the extra step to remind them they’re just as important to you as you are to them.
If you need a CRM that can help you exceed these expectations, try TeamGram, and let us know if we’ve met your expectations.