Some Of The Benefits Of A Microsoft Customer Relationship Management System

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems provide a formalized system gathering, organizing, maintaining and manipulating customer and contact information. With an effective Microsoft Dynamics CRM in place, business owners are provided with a powerful tool to successfully manage and develop their business.

Why a business should adopt and implement a Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be readily appreciated by considering some of the benefits provided. An effective Dynamics CRM, properly implemented and adopted will greatly help to maximize sales and reduce costs and time while management who have a better view of what is actually going on a lot faster than without a Dynamics CRM, are far better placed to manage the risk to their business.

Managing the sales cycle is expensive and time-consuming, so knowing where you are with a contact or set of customers is important if you intend to maximize the results of your business generation activities. A Microsoft Dynamics CRM will provide accessible information at your fingertips which means that a business owner can look at the ?Big Picture? or macroscopic view while at the same time break business performance down to see what activities and customers are contributing to the bottom line. This allows business owners and managers to see where to concentrate their efforts to maximize sales and minimize costs.

Generating new business is the most expensive part of the sales cycle, and because a Microsoft Dynamics CRM system provides the ability to categorize contacts and identify which are suitable prospects for a particular sales and marketing campaign, a business can most effectively deploy resources. Knowing which prospects are likely to buy, when they are likely to do so and where the prospects are geographically will help your sales team to maximize their efforts, reduce wasted time and money, and provide a greater return on the investment of time and money in acquiring that customer base.

Existing customers are most likely to buy from you again, and because a Microsoft Dynamics CRM system will provide a business manager with the ability to manage, maintain and develop the client relationship this means that a business is likely to generate greater revenues from understanding a customers requirements better and produce overall cost savings as a result of improved customer retention rather than chasing new ones.

As a Microsoft Dynamics CRM software solution provides a repository for all your client information, including sales history, seasonal variations in sales, and improved ability to forecast turnover from repeat sales, business planning and goal setting is simplified and there is an additional benefit in saving staff and management time searching for information which is readily available. Reducing the time required planning your business activity and development allows more time to be spent on generating business and managing activity where the sales revenue is actually created - with your customers.

A Microsoft Dynamics CRM will provide a business owner with the ability to see at a glance what is happening with their sales and customers. We live and operate in a fast changing world where trends and tastes change, sometimes overnight, and the ability to see how these variations affect our overall business performance allows management to quickly adapt to changes in trading conditions which under more traditional reporting methods may not be observed for some time. With a Microsoft Dynamics CRM providing accurate and up-to-date business information on results and activity, business management is better placed to take advantage of trading opportunities while also minimizing business risk by alerting management of adverse trading conditions.

Finally, an often overlooked benefit of all Customer Relationship Software is found when looking at implementing such a solution to begin with.

Implementation of a Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution invariably forces business owners and management to reconsider their business and how they are managing it, not to mention the benefit that is derived from a thorough review of the overall business goals and objectives. Often this has not been done for some time, if at all, and considering how a solution will be tailored to fit the business frequently breeds the realization that things could be managed better.

This doesn?t derive from the customer relationship software itself, but from planning how to implement and adopt such a solution; owners and management are compelled to confront their current business practices and perhaps revise them. This is probably the greatest insidious benefit to be derived from a Customer Relationship Management solution for a business.

Syed Ali, is the lead CRM consultant for a Toronto based company. His company offers, Microsoft CRM 3.0 Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email: asyed@cqsolutions.com