What Is Easy CRM ?
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible,” Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everyday Things
When a product is tailored to users’ needs and is intuitive to use, it blends naturally with the way they want to do things.
Think of how the iPod changed the way people listened to music because it gave them what they wanted. It provided instant access to their entire music collection on the go without having to carry CDs with them. Apple revolutionized the industry by creating a more convenient way for people to listen to their favorite music.
Or consider how Amazon transformed the way consumers shop by simplifying the shopping experience: looking for products, comparing them, checking prices and more…all without the hassle of driving to the mall, finding a parking space and traipsing from store to store.
Your customer relationship management system should do the same for you. It should make it simple to manage customer relationships, fitting into the way your sales team works so smoothly that they cannot imagine how they lived without it.
Because of the demand for “easy CRM,” it’s not surprising that many software vendors claim to offer it. But what defines it?
It’s Predictable
Think about software that aggravates you with error messages, inconsistencies and obtuse ways of doing things. How likely are you to incorporate it into your daily routine? You’ll probably look for workarounds.
The best way to ensure there are no surprises is to get a software system that’s designed by sales professionals, not by IT coders. IT coders may excel in technical skills and attention to detail, however, it’s hard for them to appreciate the big picture. Salespeople, on the other hand, know what it’s like to have your success dependent on your ability to interact with prospects and customers at all times and in all situations without missing a beat.
When salespeople design a system for managing customer relationships, they organize it around everyday sales tasks and ensure it follows the standard sales process. Such a design means your team doesn’t have to drill down deep through superfluous options to work on their most important projects. They can’t afford to waste valuable sales time getting lost in the software interface.
It’s Efficient
The bottom line is that you want your customer relationship management system to empower your team to do their jobs better. Sadly, many companies implement software because it seems to have all the right features, but using it is so cumbersome that users often resort to their old ways of doing things.
They don’t do this to rebel. They do it because it’s easier. In fact, if you see salespeople using their old work procedures, take note. It’s a red flag that you have the wrong system.
Buying the right software is not as easy as having a checklist of “must-have” features and ensuring each one is included. You need to look deeper into the ease of working with the software. So, what should you expect from easy CRM?
Quick Automation of Tedious Tasks
A good CRM software package will give you the ability to automate tedious tasks, such as gathering and analyzing data. It will, for example, enable you to build and automate reports in ten minutes or less. The same task, however, will take two minutes or less with an easy solution.
Fast, Professional Email Communications
Your team should have access to professional email templates that enable them to send high quality, personal emails to multiple people in less than 60 seconds.
Increased Productivity
A solution that’s easy to learn, cuts down on the time it takes to do tasks and is predictable and user-friendly, will quickly gain user adoption and increase productivity.
Administrative EaseIt should also make it easier than ever before to perform administrative functions, such as reassigning accounts and contacts among salespeople.
It should also make it easier than ever before to perform administrative functions, such as reassigning accounts and contacts among salespeople.
Comprehensive Abilities
You ought to be able to use your CRM system for many projects rather than being forced to jump from one tool to the next. It should be more than just a contact management system. And when you do have to use another tool, such as Outlook or QuickBooks, the integration should be seamless.
Keeps Team Members on TrackYour software should make it effortless for salespeople to focus on the most important tasks and ensure they never drop the ball.
Your software should make it effortless for salespeople to focus on the most important tasks and ensure they never drop the ball.
It’s Convenient
Convenience means being able to access prospect and customer information anywhere at any time. For most, that means mobile CRM. According to Innoppl Technologies, 65% of sales reps who adopted mobile CRM achieved their sales quotas versus only 22% of reps without mobile access.
Why? Information access is power.
A saying that clearly applies is “strike while the iron is hot.” Now, imagine empowering your salespeople to create custom price quotes on site when they’re face to face with clients. Are they more likely to be successful than their competitors who have to call inside sales people or scurry back to their offices to prepare a formal quote?
It’s Consistent
You want a system with an interface, templates and reports that are consistent across all platforms, from desktop to mobile. That does not, however, mean you cannot customize them. You should be able to tailor fields, products, pricing and more to your needs. When you do, they will look the same to your entire sales team, whatever device they are using to view it.
It’s Elegant
If a CRM system is useful but not usable, it will fail. It needs to be designed to empower users to achieve their objectives quickly and efficiently. That means placing the buttons in the right places and minimizing the number of clicks required to complete a function. Less
searching around and clicking equals more selling. And isn’t that what you’re looking for?
