The 7 Stages Of Customer Relationship Management
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a must have for your business’ marketing strategy. CRM increases profitability, productivity, loyalty and satisfaction. There are many options for CRM software, some even specialized to industries. While software is always changing, it’s important to keep up with your CRM strategy. Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor Simon Severino shares a great read on Entrepreneur.com based on his company’s experience, the 7 stages of customer relationship management. These steps can help in keeping your CRM software up to date and your customers regularly informed and invovled.
7 Stages Of Customer Relationship Management
- Awareness. “Generally, when someone is entered in your CRM, they will be at awareness. If you don’t have templates for outreach, build them from the emails you’re about to send.”
- Nurturing. “The beauty of a robust CRM lies within their tagging systems that follow the client’s actions. You can automate what is sent to them next based on that action.”
- Sales Opportunity. “When a warm lead becomes a hot one, we enter a potential new business opportunity because they have scheduled a sales call. This means you enter the client into the Sales Tracker. Have templates ready in your CRM for all those possible outcomes after someone schedules a call with you.”
- Closing. “Once the lead moves all the way to the end of your Sales Tracker and says, “yes”, they are now a new customer. Track this in your CRM by sending them the agreement and invoice. Have automated messages to send welcome emails and friendly reminders if they don’t complete the sale in a timely manner.”
- Delivery. “For a single product, such as a subscription to software, this might trigger a sequence of emails that ensure the customer is benefitting from the tools and nurture throughout the subscription to make them aware of new improvements and upgrades, as well as client wins to keep the patron inspired engaged. You might automate weekly updates for the client to keep them abreast of your progress, reminders to give feedback and follow-ups for any meetings.”
- Upsell. “One of the fastest ways to increase numbers in your Sales Tracker is to move people from your Main Offer to your Upsell. When you tag an Upsell lead, you may offer a sales call and move the lead into a sequence for selling this additional offer.”
- Follow-Up. “It’s important to keep a personal touch in your follow-up communication. Stop selling and start serving.”
