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As more people retire out of the workforce or swing into a new job after a couple of years, the more corporate memory leaks from your business. How do you plug that drain and leverage that data instead?
You keep track of it in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software tool so the company keeps it, even if your best salesperson moves on. That’s just one reason why centralizing and sharing your client information makes perfect sense for any sales-driven business, including agriculture.
With a CRM, companies categorize and retain all interactions with potential and current customers. These tools help manage the sales process by:
- Keeping track of customers and what they order
- Identifying new markets and sales leads
- Streamlining the sales process and eliminate repetition
- Offering better support for current customers
That’s what it does, but here is why agriculture companies should invest in one:
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Clear communication with customers
When all team members have the same information, they deliver consistent messages to all customers. That way, a colleague can easily pick up where another person left off without any confusion over pricing or branding.
In other words, even if someone cleans out their desk and tosses out all their client business cards, you don’t lose the phone numbers and conversations with sales leads that were in progress.
CRMs manage customer relationships — including contact information, quotes and order status — to offer better customer experiences. With one, you can respond more effectively to customer inquiries about current orders, as all customer and job information would be easily accessible through the CRM.
When customers feel they are supported and nurtured, they feel satisfied and reward that behavior with higher loyalty and a willingness to offer referrals and testimonials. A CRM also feeds you insights into what your customers think about your products, giving you data to improve quality and consistency.
2. Better sales performance, thanks to higher closed sales
Once you organize all your information in one place, your sales team can manage all accounts, leads, opportunities and communications within one system. They have no excuse for missed deals or opportunities because a sales sheet got lost on a paper-strewn desk.
With a better managed pipeline, they can focus more on building relationships, trust, and respect with clients, which increases the chances of closing a deal with a new client, or renewing or upselling to an existing one.
3. Better overall operations
Looking at your pipeline through a CRM helps your sales team forecast future sales growth via potential deals. This helps you plan what contracts may be coming your way.
With built-in real-time sales forecasting, the CRM tells your other managers how to plan, schedule and allocate resources in the coming months. As a result, they aren’t caught off guard when a customer places a large order that leaves them scrambling.
These insights also give you better production planning and supply chain visibility and management. This empowers staff to set more realistic production schedules and inventory levels, while stocking up wisely.
Better production planning leads to a smoother pace of production, more deals delivered on time and a less chaotic workplace. That, in turn, pays off with stronger customer relationships, more accurate sales forecasts for the next round of growth. That’s the overall power of a CRM as an efficient and effective way to manage their customer relationships and your business.
Want more information? Here’s a ranking of the top 15 CRMs on the market.
