If your customers are the lifeblood of your business, then a customer relationship management (CRM) system is the vascular system bringing all the customer data to the right places. With a CRM, your business can easily collect, analyze, and improve on the data you have on file. When utilized correctly, this data can improve relationships with your customers by allowing you to target the right audiences and cater to customer needs, ultimately driving sales growth.

CRM systems, like CRM for SYSPRO, collect multiple streams of customer information from conversations, communications, and interactions. That’s a lot of data! If not carefully cultivated, that data could actually be a hindrance and not a help. Check out these common data problems and how practicing CRM best practices can alleviate your data woes

Common CRM Data Problems … And How to Fix Them

Missing Key Information

You open the data file and find that important pieces of customer information are missing. Records are incomplete. Customers cannot be contacted because you don’t have an accurate email address or telephone number to reach them.

Solution: Check with your customer service, sales, and marketing staff to make sure they are asking for all the data when they are in contact with customers. You can also integrate other systems with your CRM system so purchasing information, orders, and invoices are automatically uploaded into the CRM to complete each customer profile. You’ll then want to ensure your CRM is set up correctly so it is able to capture all available information.

Outdated Records

You send out a company newsletter to the email addresses in your CRM system only to have a large number of emails bounce back as undeliverable. Or, perhaps there are old records in your system dating back several years featuring companies you know have gone out of business, been sold, changed names, or experienced other major updates. Your database is working off a great deal of stale information.

Solution: Databases can become stale and fatigued if they aren’t used frequently. If your CRM has not been actively managed, data can become outdated. To easily maintain records with the most updated data, always confirm customer information when you are in direct contact with customers. For example, if your call center receives an inbound call from a client, ask the client to quickly confirm their address, phone number, and email address.

There are also services available to scrub and clean databases. These services match records from your database to reputable sources of data, such as the U.S. Postal Service’s forwarding database, which tracks all notifications to forward mail based on relocation. Using such a service from a list broker or list company can get your mailing list into shape quickly.

New Prospects Needed

Your sales can remain stagnant if you are always reaching out to the same customer base and you don’t have enough new prospects coming in.

Solution: Your CRM system is great for contacting your current customers and for keeping in touch with them. What it can’t do for you is prospect to find new customers. You’ll need to ramp up your sales and marketing efforts to get new customers back into your sales pipeline. Once you connect with those new customers, make sure they’re entered correctly into your CRM!

Keep Your Customers First

Managing your CRM data is the first step to building trust between you and your customers. Up-to-date CRM systems also give your company an extra measure of confidence, knowing they have access to the most current and preferred methods of contact for each customer. It’s important to always take time to make sure your CRM database is updated and ready for business.

Ready to connect that CRM and set your business up for customer success? Contact PositiveVision today and let us work with you and your data.