Who cares about the data in your CRM system?
Customer relationship management systems are used to enable organisations to manage a large number of customers and prospects by sharing information on interactions such as phone calls, emails, appointments, sales opportunities and so on. This way staff will be able to see previous and future planned interactions, have knowledge of the customers’ business needs and not have to ask the same questions again and again. Well that’s the idea. But to be able to achieve this data in the system needs to be correct and up to date.
Does marketing care?
Well they should if they want to send targeted communications to prospect and customers. How can you send a prospect an electronic direct marketing (EDM) piece if you don’t capture and maintain their email address?
If the profile information is not correct, how can you send clients and prospects targeted dynamic content in EDMs? What is the cost of not updating return to sender physical mail pieces? You keep sending a $5 pack only for it to be sent back.
How can you run nurture marketing campaigns if your data is not correct? For example, a prospect registers from your website to download a white paper, you send them the white paper as requested. Once you track that they downloaded the white paper you then nurture them on to the next step automatically. If the profile data is not correct against the prospect, how can you send them the correct nurturing information?
What about if your account managers don’t keep your customer data up to date? You are still sending mail pieces to people that left the company. How can you be seen as a trusted advisor if you don’t even know the staff changes at your customer? How close are you to this client?
Does sales care?
If the profile information in the CRM is not correct, how can marketing help attract leads and nurture leads until they are hot for sales people?
How does a sales person manage their sales pipeline? How do they manage where their sales are going to come from for this quarter and next quarter?
How does your sales team work together on deals if they are not sharing the right information?
Does customer service care?
What happens if the customer rings up and you don’t have their account details and need to ask them again, even though they are a customer?
Does this increase the average handle time of the call?
Does this reduce customer satisfaction?
Does management care?
Where does management go to compile their sales forecast for the board that, in turn, needs to present to the market and shareholders?
Can they just click a button to see the live pipeline data?
What if someone wants to buy your organisation? What are they buying, your customer base and your pipeline? What if you don’t have that recorded. Do you think that will reduce your sale price?
Hopefully these examples highlight why CRM data matters and who should care about it.
Great Post!
Nice on eBrad, I’ll think about this blog every time I receive an expensive piece of junk mail for the people that lived in my house 5 years ago!!!