Yesterday we posted the first tip of how to use predictive analytics to make your CRM system even more valuable. Today we share several more tips … Retain focus on business objectives The excitement of implementing a tool that solves basic operational problems is understandable. The front-end responsibility of reliability, inter-operability and security is clearly with IT. These challenges are significant. But it is important to go beyond the technology’s bells and whistles. By establishing a vision for analytics – metrics, measurement methods, forward-looking indicators and performance management – and incorporating these in the design, the rationale for the CRM system and its ROI can be validated. Through predictive analytics, business processes can be mapped and modeled, and benchmarks created for delivering quantifiable goals to the enterprise via the CRM system. For example, is the primary objective of your CRM to support lead generation, product penetration or customer retention?  Based on your needs, predictive analytics can help develop appropriate forward-looking indicators, expected results and diagnostics of the results at all levels of activity – customer, sales people, products and operational areas. This will allow ongoing correction and calibration of your activity within the CRM system that maintains the focus on the business outcomes, not …Read More

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are the currency of customer-sales interactions. Effective, simple CRM software helps sales reps to focus on content of conversations rather than the mechanics of conversations, resulting in sales empowerment and productivity gains. A CRM system can be a boon to sales people. CRM helps overcome the technology hurdle of accessing information over disparate systems. CRM systems help improve collaboration within, above and across the entire organization, allowing the company to speak with one voice. And from a governance perspective, these systems help elevate the customer relationship from individual dependencies to an enterprise-wide strategic asset. When you add the potency of predictive analytics, a CRM system can be even more valuable. Leaders in analytics, sales operations and technology can fulfill their obligation towards sales empowerment by creating a cohesive approach that brings these disciplines together. How well we achieve this determines if a CRM system just gains basic acceptance, or whether it is fully adopted and even embraced by sales people who realize its benefits for themselves as well as for their customers. Here are guidelines to help make that happen: Consider a multi-stage deployment In the first stage of CRM implementation, deliver base functionality to the users so that their immediate, tactical pain points are addressed. This often …Read More