5 Industries That Benefit the Most from Using CRM
Imagine meeting someone who you know everything about. How easy would it be to impress such a person? How easy would it be to persuade them or just make a good impression on them?
While this scenario sounds amazing, the biggest downside lies in the fact that gathering data is not as easy. How do you find out about people? Well, in your private life, probably through conversations, inquiries, and research. In the business world, the research is more elaborate, but there are more signs that you’re looking for. In order to pick up these signs, you need specialized tools – tools like crm migration strategy.
CRM (customer relationship management) is a tool that helps businesses track all the available customer data and keep it in one spot. Here are the top five industries that benefit the most from using CRM.
- Financial services
Financial institutions like banks and investment firms depend on their ability to keep a client. This is far harder than you think since their competitors are always on the prowl with competitive offers.
In the modern world, it really doesn’t take that much effort just to transfer your money to another bank and start there. The bank that you’re going to may even offer to handle all the paperwork regarding the transfer, which means that all you have to do is agree.
This is why CRM can help banks figure out how to strengthen client relationships. This way, they will be able to keep their clients satisfied. Most of the time, clients are very open about what they want from you, what they need, and what they expect.
CRM will collect all these subtle hints and keep them in one place. We’re talking about communications, their browsing history, interactions with your banking app, and more.
Not only are these tools amazing for client relations, but they can even provide assistance when it comes to financial planning. Managing financial plans for clients is never easy, but it can get a lot easier with enough information about their financial history, their history with your institution, and their financial goals. You can figure out all of this with the help of CRM.
- Hospitality industry
In the hospitality industry, it’s always about quality over quantity. Picking one from the list of the best CRM software on the market will give you (as a hotel or a restaurant owner) an advantage in getting better guest profiles. In other words, you’ll get better at remembering guest preferences, analyzing their past stays, and special requests they’ve made in the past.
All of this gives you a chance to provide them with personalized guest experiences. For instance, they may have a special room that they like the most (the one they stayed in a few times before) or a favorite table. Sure, you don’t have to go out of your way to ensure that they get it, but if they’re reaching out and it’s available, why not?
Streamlining the reservations and booking process is so important and so simple, providing that you actually have all the information you need. Well, with the help of a reservation system connected to the CRM profile, you’ll automate a part of the process and make any suggestions on your part far more accurately and agreeably.
Some hotels and restaurants have loyalty programs. After all, rewarding your most loyal of guests is never a bad idea. With a CRM, you’ll have an easier time tracking their rewards and offering them special deals.
- Retail and e-commerce
When it comes to e-commerce and online retail, in general, you’re usually working with larger customer bases than in most industries. For instance, while we’ll have a hospitality industry further down the list, you can’t compare the number of customers on an e-commerce site (monthly) with the number of hotel guests. Even the number of website visitors will be greatly in favor of e-commerce.
CRM is amazing when it comes to centralizing these massive databases.
Another massive advantage of CRM is that it allows for a more efficient marketing approach. For instance, it will be easier to segment your audience, which will make PPC (already effective in this field) even more effective.
Another thing that distinguishes e-commerce from some other fields is the fact that it almost always has multi-channel sales. Centralizing data from all the interactions across all of these channels is really a challenge unless you get this kind of help.
CRM is not there just to gather data regarding your customers. It can also provide a lot of help when it comes to managing your inventory. Tracking customer activity and interest can easily help you optimize your stock levels, thus preventing overstocking and understocking. It’s a massive boost to your logistics.
- Manufacturing
Customer relationship management can really help the manufacturing process in a number of ways. The first and the obvious method is something that we’ve already covered in the first section. The very point of manufacturing is to produce goods that will be sold at a later date.
The thing is that via CRM, you’re tracking the relationship between customers and the product. This allows the manufacturers (even if it’s just their R&D department) to understand the product better. This way, they can change the product or even completely alter the manufacturing process.
While CRM is primarily made for customers, it also helps with distributor and dealer relationships. CRM can help with the coordination of their activities, provide support, and ensure much better relationships in the future.
It’s easy to have a good relationship with customers when you’re charging them what they see as fair and providing them with a product that they actually want to buy. By combining CRM and manufacturing development, this will become relatively easy to accomplish.
- Nonprofits
While C in CRM stands for customers, the truth is that you can effectively use this type of software even as a nonprofit organization.
First of all, as a nonprofit, you rely mostly on donors. While these people are doing it for the cause and out of altruism, they still expect some level of respect (that they’ve definitely earned) on your part. It’s a lot easier to acknowledge their effort and contribution when you track all these relationships, their donation history, and any communication that your team has had with them.
Sooner or later, you’ll have to conduct a fundraising campaign. At that point, you’ll have to manage donor lists, segment donors for targeted appeals, and even track campaign performance. Sure, you’re not doing it for the profit, but it’s still in your best interest to raise as much money as you can.
You can also use the CRM to improve your volunteer coordination efforts. Not only is CRM good at recruiting, but it also assists in management and communication with these volunteers, as well as ensures smoother coordination and more reliable engagement. Since most of your efficiency will rely on these volunteers, this is an opportunity you just can’t afford to miss out on.
This list is far from complete
While these industries may benefit the most, they’re just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, it would be a lot harder to find a field that wouldn’t benefit from a tool that tracks all their customer interactions and data, as well as delivers them on demand. In other words, regardless if you’re in a service or product industry, using CRM is a must.
