For any growth-oriented business, reducing expenses and maximizing revenue is a top priority. The higher the profit margins, the more available capital to invest in innovation and growth.
This, however, is easier said than done. Businesses continue to grapple with escalating costs, stiff competition and a challenging economic landscape. Recent figures show that the profitability of companies dropped to a record ten-year low in 2020.
One of the smartest ways to cut down on costs and enhance profit margins is to use the right Customer Relationship Management or CRM software. Advanced CRM software not only helps enrich customer experience but helps optimize costs, money and efforts to deliver tangible business value.
Make a note of the multiple ways the right CRM software helps reduce costs for your business:
As per a Capterra report, only 31 per cent of UK businesses have implemented CRM platform. Among businesses that have CRM software, 35 percent lack clear processes and plans when working with the system.
Most businesses that do not use a CRM platform use pen and paper or spreadsheets to keep track of their customers. According to a survey, these businesses report that the biggest issues they face include
- incorrect customer data
- difficulty in tracking interactions with customers
- difficulty in scheduling follow-ups with leads and customers
- feeling marketing processes such as sending communication in time are too time consuming
As a result, businesses lose £15,000 every month in sales due to data inaccuracies. While 26 per cent of businesses manage the sales pipeline using pen and paper, failure to follow up with their leads resulted in lost sales for one out of four businesses.
Problems with data accuracy translate to missed opportunities in providing differentiated customer service apart from operational inefficiency. The best-ranking companies that use a modern CRM software focus on key performance indicators that drive revenue. These include customer lifetime value, churn rate (the rate at which customers stop doing business with a brand) and ROI (return on investment).
The right CRM system also cuts paper costs and the need to store the data in print. For instance, Sugar Sell, the CRM tool from SugarCRM, collates accurate data in one cloud storage platform.
The mobile CRM system enables planning of in-person meetings with customers competently to save on commute time. When customers submit service requests on easy-to-use forms, they are automatically routed to the right sales rep/employee that helps reduce service resolution time, streamlines resolution processes while cutting operational costs. With an efficient omni-channel communication system, sales reps can minimize manual errors, save time and deliver best customer service.
Deriving a high ROI from marketing investment entails tracking the performance of your campaigns, conversion rates, churn rates and other key metrics. Tracking data helps you decide the best way to allocate resources and cut down on unnecessary or unproductive expenses. One of the most prominent features of Sugar Sell CRM is Advanced Analytics that uses AI to deliver rich insights.
Responsive dashboards present data in engaging ways that help your sales teams quickly grasp how campaigns are performing. This helps them find new opportunities and make informed decisions on budget allocation.
Another way sales automation software helps you cut down costs is with the quote management software. This tool allows you to quickly draw up Estimates for your client based on all the information you have gathered on them. Since the software is directly integrated with your CRM, you save time preparing and transferring the data over to another app for quote generation.
The tool also comes with billing software to automatically generate an Invoice to complete the transaction.
Inefficient sales processes can translate into millions of pounds of loss to businesses. According to a study, anywhere from 20 to 30 percent of a business’s total revenue is lost due to inefficient processes.
Studies also show that 26 percent of a workday is wasted on unnecessary tasks, preventable administrative chores, and outdated working methods. The biggest time wasters are:
- needless administration tasks
- unproductive work conversations
- unnecessary meetings
- outdated technology tasks
- Manual processing of payments and invoices
- Managing email inboxes
Forty percent of employees said they could not complete their core tasks because of administrative chores. This made them feel regularly unhappy with the quantity and quality of their work output.
The focus of every business that relies on sales is to maximize the time sales teams spend interacting with customers and selling. Freeing up their time involves finding and eliminating tasks and processes that make them less efficient. From delays in generating quotes, getting them approved to following up on leads, missed deadlines and opportunities can all add up to your business costs.
Sugar Sell CRM enables streamlining of common business processes. The advanced CRM platform helps manage sales processes, approvals, call triages and sales workflows seamlessly. The CRM software allows businesses to increase the efficiency and productivity of their sales teams by automating key marketing and sales processes.
The right CRM platform will empower your marketing and sales teams to attract, convert and nurture leads with minimal effort and waste. Consequently, efficient sales processes translate into reduced costs and improved business results.
Sugar Sell is a sales automation system that helps businesses spend less time on manual data-entry tasks and invest more time in building lasting customer relationships.
