The Secret to CRM Success: Having a CRM Guru on Staff

Simply having access to a CRM system does not allow you to instantly reap the benefits of that customer database. With a simple CRM like AddressTwo, there isn’t much of a learning curve when it comes to understanding, but there are some important habits to form in order to hit the ground running.

Therefore, the key to receiving CRM benefits is the CRM Guru. This is your go-to CRM girl or guy who will drive your business to success through customer knowledge. You won’t want to leave home without them, but who are they and how can they help you succeed?

Your CRM guru is the owner, front desk person, sales manager, or head of IT (you get the idea). There are no limits to who the guru can be. As long as your chosen one is a hard working individual who is dedicated to learning the ins and outs of your CRM software, you can’t go wrong.

These Gurus play three key roles in your organization.

#1: They are your CRM user

One sole person can learn everything there is to know about using the CRM and pass on their wealth of knowledge to everyone who will be using the software. Forming habits in one person to pass on to many is easier than trying to form the habits in everyone from the beginning. As mentioned in our previous blog, it can be a pain in the butt to get started in your CRM. There is a lot of data entry, data management, and organization that goes into getting started in a CRM system. Having your CRM guru get you started will make the transition so much easier. They can also be in charge of data maintenance as your business grows.

This allows one person to be in charge of the start-up. This means your sales team won’t have to slow down their selling process in order to learn the new software on their own without help. Selling is already a process and it’s hard to break those habits. Having a CRM guru can help the sales people learn how to use the CRM system more quickly and efficiently and will help them to add it in to their already developed sales process.

#2: They are your CRM support

When employees have trouble figuring out how to do something specific in the software, they know exactly who to turn to. Your CRM guru will most likely know how to solve their problem. If not, they will know where to turn for the information you need, whether it be to the software support staff or to the posted tutorial videos on the website. Having one person deal with all of the support issues can streamline the efficiency of getting help in your CRM and may help the support staff work through any deeper problems much faster.

#3: They are your CRM advocate

These gurus know the ins and outs of your CRM. They are the people who will push to gain the benefits from the system. They can hold everyone else accountable for using the CRM software to its fullest potential. Your CRM guru will go to the end of the line defending the benefits you gain by knowing everything there is to know about each customer. When they defend your CRM, they defend your bottom line.

Your CRM guru will be a key to your success. Do not take this go-getter for granted. They play some very important roles in your CRM adaptation. Make them known, and they will make you proud.

ARE YOU THAT GURU?

If you are your company’s CRM guru and are looking for support help in your role, we have posted tutorial videos on our website and are always available to help through email at support@addresstwo.com. Feel free to reach out to us any time. We also offer free weekly training on our CRM software, which would be a great online event for you to attend, Guru. You will be the all-knowing power of your company’s CRM in no time. 

Why Moving to a CRM Can Be a Pain in the Butt

CRM’s promise to make your business life so much easier. Having all of your customer information in one place can really improve your sales and business efficiency, but that information won’t just appear. Whether your information is manually entered or uploaded from a comma separated value (CSV) file, it’s not always easy to get started in your CRM. Here are some cons (and pros) to really starting to use your CRM.

Contact Manager and Data Entry

To start in your CRM, you have to have the patience to enter all of your contacts.  

As mentioned before, there are multiple options for uploading information into your CRM. You may choose to manually enter all of your contacts from your paper and pencil customer management method, or you can upload your information from Excel using a CSV file.

If you have been using the pencil and paper method to keep track of all of your contacts, this can be a very timely process. Opening a business now a days, it is very important that you see the benefits of starting in a simple CRM system early because using technology like this will be beneficial from the start. This will avoid having to manually transfer data. But since there is no going back in time to the beginning of your business without your DeLorean handy, it is important to take the time to transfer this data**. As a note, when adding contacts into your system one must simply add all of the information they know about each contact. Getting yourself into this habit will keep you from having to use your very full memory banks to recall information about these customers later.

CSV files must be properly cleaned and organized before they can be uploaded into a CRM like AddressTwo. This method is riskier due to the nature of transferring data. Before you upload your CSV, you have to clean the file, this is called data cleaning or data scrubbing. Column headers, filled in values, and other important features of this file will affect how well it uploads into the CRM system.

For more on how to add comma separated customer information, click the link to view the AddressTwo tutorial video on uploading CSV data.

Old Habits Die Hard

It’s easy to write up a sticky note to remind yourself to call Frank back, but that isn’t how you’re going to get used to using your CRM. Your CRM will remind you to call Frank next month, but a sticky note can end up in the trashcan before then. Getting yourself into the habit of entering everything you do or need to do into your CRM will help you immensely; these features are called history and tasks in AddressTwo. After a week of forcing yourself to use these features, it will start to come as second nature. Additionally, with AddressTwo as shortcut on your phone's home screen, you can have all of your business reminders and upcoming dates in one place- your CRM.

The Facts

Starting to use a CRM can most certainly be a tedious task, but there are so many benefits to forcing new user repetition. CRM software helps to:

• Increase sales
• Increase leads and quantity of customers
• Monitor and maintain business success
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Improve quality of staff to customer interactions

It is important to get into the habit of using your CRM before you allow yourself to miss another customer opportunity. With small businesses, one opportunity can be all you need to get your business off the ground.

For more on launching into your CRM software, watch this tutorial video with 3 Simple Steps to Just Getting Started with AddressTwo.

4 Email Marketing Tips to Creating an Open-Worthy Email

AddressTwo email marketing tools help you keep in touch with your database of customers and prospects. Using our email template builder and list feature, you can blast your emails to help increase sales or provide your customers with beneficial information. Email marketing can be tricky, so here are four tips and tricks to building and blasting content your customers will care about.

1: DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE

As with any marketing content, it is important to determine your audience. You can identify contacts by zip code radius, prospective product purchasers, current customers of your business, etc. Remember, however, that email is an opt-in marketing process. Your customers must choose to receive your emails.

Whoever you choose to target your email campaign towards, know that they all have different content desires. Understanding your audience and building a list of recipients is an important first step in AddressTwo. This list will allow you to determine what you are going to say, and how you are going to get that email opened.

2: WHAT SAY YOU?

Once you know who you are talking to, you will be able to determine what to say. Are they current customers? They might want to know about a new product/service offering or an upcoming event.
 
Are they prospective customers? Offer them a little incentive to get them on board.

Additionally, personalize the email to help deepen relationships with your customers. Using our mail merge fields in AddressTwo will allow you to pull the recipient’s name into the email and help them to feel a deeper connection to your message.

3: ENGAGE YOUR READERS

An engaging subject line, email body, and a call-to-action (CTA) and/or hyperlink can make or break your email success.

Subject Lines

The subject line is the most important part of your email. Without an exciting subject line, your message may not even get viewed. It is important to note that:

• Using all CAPITAL LETTERS in the subject line can get your message booted into the junk mail folder before your audience ever sees it. Make sure you are careful to make the subject engaging, but not junk-box worthy.
• *Asterisks* are commonly used to grab attention in the subject instead of capitals, but don’t go overboard.
• Using [brackets] around offers in your subject line will help intrigue your audience to open the message.

Email Body
You want to make the body of your email easy to read through bulleted lists and small paragraphs. Brief and to-the-point emails with a little bit of humor will help keep your audience engaged, but make sure it’s appropriate. Think about how you would want to receive and read an email.

CTA’s and Hyperlinks
These will help you track the success of your email campaign. AddressTwo allows you to see how many of your recipients clicked on links in your email. These clicks will allow you to determine the success of your campaign. Be prepared to send them to a blog where you can track page views or to your website so you can determine if they are actually reading your message and taking the action you want them to.

4: TEST IT. THEN TEST IT AGAIN.

AddressTwo offers a “send test email” field in the full email editor to allow you to shoot the template over to yourself (or maybe even a coworker) for review. In any content marketing, it is important to test and retest your content. Though our email template builder is easy to use and visualize your final message, it is important for you to view the email as your recipients would. Plus, testing an email will allow you to click through your hyperlinks or embedded videos to make sure they work properly.

IN CONCLUSION

Defining your audience, deciding your content, engaging your readers, and testing your email will certainly help you to be a better email marketer. Don’t take email for granted, it is one of the most powerful marketing tools we have in this technological age.

If you can’t get enough about email marketing, HERE are some previous blog posts with email tips and tricks.

If you need help with specific AddressTwo email features, head on over to our tutorial videos to learn about how to create sender profiles, add email signatures, and insert images into your email campaigns. 

GO FORTH and send those emails with confidence!