{"id":45583,"date":"2021-12-13T06:04:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-12T23:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/act.com\/crm-helps-businesses-during-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2023-03-21T10:49:38","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T17:49:38","slug":"crm-helps-businesses-during-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/products.act.com\/en-gb\/crm-helps-businesses-during-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"How CRM keeps your business engine running during another COVID-19 winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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In the early stages of the pandemic, many small businesses had to shut their doors. But others found creative ways to keep serving customers and driving revenue without in-person contact. They learned how to thrive by using technologies and software, including CRM and marketing automation, in innovative ways to enable contactless sales and customer support \u2014 lessons we should all take into 2022 and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So, how can small businesses manage this constant change without losing customers or employees? Patience and flexibility are key, but so is having the right technology to keep your business moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The good news is, we\u2019ve been here before, so we don\u2019t have to reinvent the wheel.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

CRM: The hero we didn\u2019t know we needed<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems have been a big part of that success. Before the pandemic, many small business owners either didn\u2019t have a CRM platform or they didn\u2019t know how to use the functionality to its full potential. When COVID-19 hit, many spun up quickly on CRM in order to support fully remote and hybrid workspaces<\/a>. It turns out that this effort to maximise CRM investments has been the difference between surviving and thriving<\/a> during the pandemic.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at how CRM can help your company adapt and thrive as these uncertain times continue.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Fast forward to the end of 2021. What has CRM taught us?<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Throughout the pandemic, many small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) discovered how to use CRM software to create a silver lining in the midst of a crisis. They unified workflows and automated many business processes in ways they hadn\u2019t before. So, even though the pandemic will likely continue well into 2022, small businesses don\u2019t have to scramble to figure things out as they did in early 2020. Here are some important ways CRM can help you meet your business goals through the rest of 2021 and beyond.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Start simple: Integrate calendar, email, and office software through CRM.<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Too many companies still use a separate system for CRM, one for email, and still another for their calendar. They might also use Microsoft Office 365 and\/or Google Workspace for additional tasks. Since unconnected apps and platforms can\u2019t talk to each other, employees spend way too much time trying to keep track of daily communications and data across all of these platforms.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If your business is still operating this way, it\u2019s time to look for a CRM system that can stitch all of these separate products together for you. That way you can keep your whole team on the same page by making sure your customer data is accessible from one place with a complete 360-degree view. This simple step makes running your company so much easier.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here\u2019s one way integrated CRM, calendar, email, and office software can streamline everyday operations:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Imagine if a salesperson is out sick or on PTO, and a prospect they\u2019ve been nurturing calls and wants to sign a service contract. In some companies, that prospect\u2019s history and conversations may exist only on the salesperson\u2019s desktop, email account, or even on notepads in a drawer. In other words, that valuable data is inaccessible to the rest of the team. On the flip side, when your CRM is integrated with email and other productivity suites, every client\u2019s information is stored in one easily accessible place, so any team member can seamlessly continue the client engagement without any prior knowledge of the account.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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INEX uses Act! for seamless collaboration and business continuity.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Grow your business: Connect your CRM to your website.<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

CRM automation is every business owner\u2019s best friend. Unfortunately, not enough SMBs know how automation can help them capture new leads directly from their website.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Integrating your CRM with your website contact forms is one of the easiest and most impactful ways to import data from prospective customers. (Most CRM software should be able to handle this automatically for you.)\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here\u2019s how it works: Any time a new website visitor enters their contact information in a web form, that data is automatically imported into your CRM. No manual data entry is required. You can pre-customise your CRM to make sure the lead is routed to the right salesperson, who is then sent reminders and alerts to follow up through email or a phone call.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This simple web integration also ensures that new leads don\u2019t fall through the cracks. When a prospect signs up for your newsletter or asks a question on your social media page, that information can be funnelled directly into your CRM so anyone on your sales team can follow up in real time.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In many cases, that quick reaction time can be the spark that leads to a lifelong customer relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Responsiveness not only improves the customer experience, but it can also set your company apart from the competition. In a pandemic era, where so many interactions are faceless and contactless, your customer service team<\/a> can and should play a vital role in personalising customer relationships, improving customer retention, and building momentum for more sales. Your job is to give them the right tools to build and nurture those relationships.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Do more in less time: Use CRM marketing automation to connect with customers.<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Marketing automation helps people connect.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Do you have a new product or service to announce? Have you launched a mobile app to facilitate contactless transactions? Have you recently changed any of your coronavirus protocols?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Whatever you need to communicate, marketing automation can help you do it faster and more effectively.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

CRM marketing automation makes it so much easier to execute marketing campaigns from start to finish. You can choose from easy-to-customise email templates to personalise your messages to select groups of prospects and customers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But marketing automation can do much more than send emails \u2014 it can gather all kinds of data points and distil them into valuable insights to help you improve communication, sales forecasting, and profitability. Better yet, some of today\u2019s CRM platforms are starting to put Big Data analytics<\/a> in the hands of smaller businesses so they can:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n