Every small to mid-sized business owner would love to know how to effectively keep a pulse on their marketing and customer service efforts. The common barrier that all companies run into is how to cost effectively measure and control this process. How will you keep track of
marketing and sales efforts of every department so you don’t create redundant work for everyone? From inception of a marketing campaign to lead; from lead to opportunity; from opportunity to support issues, how are you monitoring this process universally at your company today?
Think of it: you could pin down how many times you talked to a potential customer; how many times you shook their hand; how many deals you’ve won or lost. After all, if you cannot measure your marketing campaigns and support issues, you will not be able to effectively improve or control your business processes, making it difficult to drive your business to next level.
The answer to this business process challenge for most companies has been to use CRM software (Customer Relationship Management). Using a CRM enables you to manage relationships with people you meet and service.
But before you run off to look into CRM solution for your company, you must consider five following most common pitfalls associated with this methodology in order to plan accordingly so you can effectively build relationships that drive sales.
Culture Change: Upper management must believe in why this initiative is taking place. They must express to rest of company how important process is so that everyone in company takes an active role in making CRM solution a success
