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How to Keep your Customers Happy in the Cloud

For most businesses, winning customers is a hard slog, but all that effort is clearly in vain if those customers don’t stay with you. That’s why a good CRM solution is invaluable.

Every small business knows that loyalty doesn’t come easy.

Naturally, customers like to feel as though their needs are well understood and being met, but the more customers you get, the harder it can be to keep everyone happy.

 
 

The key is timely, relevant information.

Using a cloud-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system gives you unprecedented power to collect, store and analyse all the data that relates to your customers.

From every lead, query, order, sale and complaint to every email, web site impression, phone call and face-to-face conversation, CRM software makes it easy for you keep every record of interaction between you and your customers - from their very first point of contact right throughout the history of the relationship.

And because the best CRMs integrate with social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, it's easy to connect with and follow your customers, as well as quickly and widely disseminate information on things like new products, sales and promotions, for free.

 



 
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CRM in the cloud

Not all CRM solutions are created equally - and only some are cloud based. One of the most compelling benefits of a cloud-based CRM like salesforce.com is that it relieves you of the responsibility for buying and maintaining the software and servers typically needed for traditional technology deployments. All you need is the internet and computers or other mobile devices to connect to it.

Another huge benefit of running a CRM from the cloud is the flexibility it brings. Using a smartphone or tablet, you can access your customer data from just about anywhere there's mobile phone or internet access. This means your field-based team can update customer records and sales data immediately, and you can access the latest information without waiting until you return to the office.  Also, if two people are working on the same customer, you can use the cloud to make sure both are across the same data - for instance if one has just met a customer, they can instantly update the other so the customer can see that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing.

 

Easy to use

Most businesses have had the experience of deploying a new software suite only to find down the track that staff didn't warm to it, preferring to stay with the old ways of doing things. Sure, software companies will generally offer some sort of training for their products but they matter little if the system isn't inherently user-friendly to begin with.

Solutions from the likes of salesforce.com are designed to be used by technology novices, a fact underscored by the high rates of user adoption.

 

Made to fit

As a business owner, cloud solutions allow you to set the rules that govern how things are done. From deciding how you want salespeople to route orders, to exactly what information staff should have onscreen when your customers call, and even how to validate customer entitlements, workflow processes are not defined by the technology installed, but by you.

The only things you don't have immediate control over are system upgrades and patches. With the best CRMs, thankfully, all of this is happening in the cloud in real-time, so that companies know they are on the latest version of the software.

When it's all said and done, the best way to look at a CRM is like this: it's an essential tool for serving your customers. And as any good business owner knows, happy customers are the key to success. A cloud-based CRM solution such as salesforce.com breaks down the complexity and costs associated with traditional CRM deployment, and brings the flexibility to access your data and collaborate with team members from nearly anywhere. And with the right CRM solution in place, it will give you more time to focus on the really important things, like growing your business