In today’s competitive sales environment, CRM (customer relationship management) is no longer a “nice-to-have” option, it is a critical business tool.
In fact, nine out of ten businesses with more than 11 employees use one (DemandSage).
That means to gain an edge, you don’t just need a CRM — you need to know how to use it.
Your CRM needs to be more than a cloud-based customer index. It needs to be a process-optimizing, efficiency-driving machine.
With CRM automation, it can be.
In this article, we will take a closer look at CRM automation and explore how you can use it to manage your customer engagement processes.
For more on how to use CRM automation to improve your entire sales process, check out our article, How to Use CRM Automation to Crush Your Sales Goals.
What is CRM automation?
CRM automation is a broad term that encapsulates a wide range of functionalities and features that automate repetitive and redundant tasks. Some examples of common CRM automation features include:
- Automated data management- A CRM can automatically collect, distribute, and store data from various sources, such as:
- Emails
- Web forms
- Social media
- Integrated software tools
- Automated communication management- A CRM enables businesses to automate communications through various channels like email and SMS.
Communications can be sent based on predefined triggers or actions, and you can personalize the messaging and channel according to the needs and preferences of the recipient.
- Automated reporting and analytics- A CRM allows businesses to measure and analyze performance in real-time.
Dashboards can be automatically updated to reflect every win, stage change, and milestone.
Reports can be automatically generated based on up-to-date data and metrics.
Your pipeline can be automatically updated with every new opportunity.
- Automated Notifications and Reminders- Automated alerts can be set up to keep employees informed about deal/stage changes, upcoming tasks, handoffs, and deadlines.
The benefits of CRM automation
CRM automation provides many different benefits across many different roles and departments. Some broadly applicable examples include:
- Enhanced productivity- CRM automation all but eliminates manual data entry and other repetitive tasks. This helps your teams focus on high-value activities that drive results.
- Streamlined operations- CRM automation can help ensure that all your best practices are followed and that nothing falls through the cracks. This leads to better experiences for your customers and better results for your business.
- Data-driven decision-making- CRM automation provides you with data-driven insights that can inform business strategy and process refinement.
While these examples can give you a general idea of how CRM automation can help your business, we need to examine specific work processes to fully understand the impact these powerful CRM tools can have.
Let’s take a deep dive into the ways CRM automation tools can improve your sales processes.
Customer engagement
Successful customer engagement begins with a prompt response and continues with personalized, consistent, and relevant communication.
CRM automation provides the tools needed to effectively manage this engagement and can serve as the foundation for your customer engagement cadences through:
- Communication capture and centralization- Automatically capturing and storing all of your communications with a prospect or customer in a centralized location can be a big help when preparing for sales meetings.
It can also help you quickly recall previous interactions, which can go a long way toward building trust and demonstrating care.
- Automated messages- CRM automation allows businesses to create communication cadences based on predefined triggers and workflows.
This enables timely and relevant communication with customers at different stages of their journey and ensures all your best practices are being followed.
For example, businesses can automate:
- First response messages
- Hand-off messages
- Feedback requests
- Follow-up queries
- Quotes
There is a fine line between good customer engagement and great customer engagement. A swift response time coupled with clear and consistent communication across all stages of a deal can be a big difference-maker.
- Personalized outreach- With CRM automation, businesses can segment customers based on various criteria, such as:
- Role
- Location
- Messaging channel preference
This allows sales teams to create specific outreach strategies that resonate with the target audience and increases the chances of engagement.
FreeAgent CRM automation can help you crush your sales goals
FreeAgent CRM is designed for today’s world of work and our robust toolset is ideally suited to supporting the varied work processes of modern businesses. FreeAgent is:
- Easy to use: FreeAgent works like you expect modern apps to work, providing a user experience that feels fresh and familiar. Teams love working in FreeAgent, leading to high adoption and greater ROI.
- User-configurable: FreeAgent can be configured by you to work the way you do. This means you don’t need outside support to add a form field, adjust a CRM automated workflow, or try out a new process.
- Customizable: With FreeAgent, apps, forms, and configurations are all completely customizable, allowing you to capture and connect your data in any way you like.
To see FreeAgent in action, get a demo, and discover for yourself how FreeAgent can help you have workdays full of impact.
