ERP Consultant Reviews: Gain New Clients and Keep Old Ones w/ Sage CRM

As ERP consultants and CRM consultants, we understand that customer loyalty is important to the success of your business. Companies who struggle with retaining their current customers (and gaining new ones) risk losing longevity in the business market. Retaining customers, however, is more challenging than it has ever been in the past. Today’s customers expect more from companies, and if their expectations are not met, they will willingly leave your company for a better deal or service. For this reason, improving your customer loyalty program and offering incentive to keep customers coming back for more should be your top priority. Explore ways to keep your customers for the long term and implement new strategies to meet customer satisfaction goals.  

While these efforts can certainly help improve your overall customer retention rates, many businesses already have the tools they need to create repeat customers: customer relationship management (CRM) software. We all know that it takes more time and money to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing customer, so why not try to create more repeat customers? CRM software, such as Sage CRM, provides businesses with a wide variety of tools designed to not only win over new clients but to also keep existing customers. By leveraging the tools and data within Sage CRM to create valuable and lasting customer experiences, you can further improve your customer relationship management efforts.

ERP Consultant and CRM Consultant Reviews 3 Ways to Leverage CRM: 

1. Start marketing after the initial sale. In order to retain your customers, you need to know how to market to them. Traditionally, customer relationships are considered to be more profitable after the initial sale has been made. At this point, the relationship has been established and you can cross-sell complementary products or relevant add-on services that could benefit your customer.  The marketing features within Sage CRM can help you plan, execute, and evaluate your marketing campaigns. Users can also segregate campaigns for existing customers and track the performance of those campaigns from the point of initial contact to the closed sale. Sage CRM users can also build a detailed profile of their customers to ensure that all marketing communications are relevant. By keeping track of your current customer relationships, you will find that you can initiate – and close – more sales. 
2. Communicate with your customers often.  Your customers are more likely to stay loyal to your company if they know who you are. Customer relationships are strengthened through a consistent presence and ongoing communication. If you are contacting your customers only when they place an order, you’re not doing enough. Ongoing dialogue (such as email offers with new product offerings, discount reminders, product check-ins, etc.) is needed to create repeat customers. Without it, you risk losing your customers to a company who values them. Sage CRM can help increase your communication with your customers so they don’t forget who you are. With Sage CRM, you can schedule reminders, phone calls, meetings, and send holiday emails to make your customer relationships more personal and less “stuffy”. Believe us, your customers will thank you for the personal touches and be compelled to buy your products and use your services in the future.
3. Use your customer data. Your data is useless if you don’t have a way to access and use it. In order for it to be effective, it needs to be easily accessible to everyone in your company, especially your sales personnel and customer service reps. With Sage CRM, your staff will have all the information they need to answer customer inquiries, solve service issues, and place orders more efficiently. The software also shares data with your Sage 100 ERP system so your staff can remain in the know on all customer matters.

Leveraging technology to strengthen existing customer relationships and create repeat customers is crucial to the success of your business. After all, if you don’t have customers, you don’t have a future as a business. Contact Mindover Software to learn more about Sage CRM and its capabilities.

By Lloyd Smith - Mindover Software

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