This means your CRM in B2B can help you improve your customer relationships with the existing clients and attract new ones since it allows you to simultaneously complete tasks in several sales activity areas, namely sales activities like customer service, sales, inventory management, and marketing.
How does it work?
In a nutshell, B2B CRM is all about these aspects:
- Data Collection. The CRM system gathers data from multiple sources, including emails, social media, and customer interactions.
- Data Storage. All collected data is securely stored in a centralized database, ensuring easy access for authorized personnel.
- Data Analysis. Advanced reporting tools within the CRM analyze the data to provide actionable insights.
- Team Collaboration. Sales and customer service teams can access this data in real-time to understand customer behavior and needs.
- Customer Journey Mapping. The CRM helps plot the customer’s journey by identifying potential touchpoints for upselling or cross-selling.
- Automated Responses. The CRM can automate responses for routine queries or follow-ups, freeing up staff for more complex tasks.
Hence, your team collaboration, your staff, and your sales hub can use the data anytime to understand where the client is on the customer journey and what they need to reach the next stage. This is how you can guide your client through the customer journey to a sale.
Top six B2B CRM features
Every CRM system, especially those tailored to a particular customer’s needs, will provide different capabilities. Some will have more complex features, while others will have fewer or simpler ones. Overall, all B2B CRM systems share a list of similar elements for the business.
With this being said, the basic features you can find in a CRM system for a B2B company consist of the following.
1. 360 customer view
The system allows you to store all your contacts and customer information in one place. In such a way, you can track your interactions with each lead across all channels and throughout each stage of the customer journey. You eventually get a 360-degree view of every customer.
2. Customer journeys
The software contains easy and effective customer journey mapping and sales cycle management tools. A well-crafted customer lifecycle journey lets you plan your sales process step by step, including how and when you interact with prospective customers. You can make a visual sales pipeline and then track every step of your potential customer becoming a client or adjust the journey to reach your goal.
3. Multichannel outreach
To keep track of your marketing strategies with minimal effort, a CRM system provides you with tools for omnichannel marketing. This means you can set up all your marketing campaigns in one place and run, pause, and monitor their performance without leaving the system.
4. Analytics
Your CRM will be equipped with a report section where you and your sales and marketing plan and teams can compile reports based on the data stored in the system. This includes tracking various metrics and turning them into evaluative analytics in marketing, sales, and customer service. In such a way, you and the sales department can see how satisfactory your metrics are in each area and adjust them if needed to reach the desired outcomes.
5. Workflow automation
Automating your workflows is simple with a CRM system and results in more production with less effort. You get to automate the repetitive tasks in marketing and sales and automate repetitive tasks elsewhere, such as bulk email campaigns and follow-up reminders, so that they can be completed in the background while your team is handling more demanding jobs.
6. Opportunity scores
Based on the existing sales data, AI-driven marketing tools can predict the potential success of closing a deal with a particular contact or sales pipeline. This allows your team to effectively distribute the nurturing efforts and sales opportunities across various leads by focusing on prospective leads to maximize your sales rate.
A well-equipped CRM system should offer a blend of these features to cater to the diverse needs of a B2B business.
Why implement B2B CRM in the first place?
Integrating a CRM system gives your business many opportunities for efficiency, improvement, and growth. Let’s discuss the benefits a complete CRM platform brings to your business in the B2B market.
1. Data-driven decision-making for sales reps
When using a B2B CRM, you don’t have to make any predictions on what steps to take and actions to make as you work on increasing sales rates. You will have lots of data to get a complete image of a client’s journey and look for ways to meet their needs with your business. Based on the information you have stored in the system, you will be able to give precisely what they need to the clients, hence making wise use of your resources to get the desired outcome.
2. Improved visibility among sales teams
Your CRM will allow your sales reps and teams to access all data at once, staying up-to-date with each other on sales performance for every client. There won’t be any missed sales and marketing opportunities caused by poor synchronization because the information is updated in real-time for each sales team and the member involved. In addition, all can see and analyze the success of your employees’ performance to figure out how it can be improved.
3. Great customer service
Lead nurturing is huge in moving your contacts through the customer journey. You can manage leads and provide outstanding customer service with a CRM system. Since you have data on all clients, you can personalize their experience with you and make it engaging for them. This is especially important when attracting new clients to your business.
4. Effective data management
Of course, when you start your business, you can use off-the-shelf solutions like spreadsheets to manage the data on your clients and your interactions with them. But as your company grows, monitoring everything at once becomes unbearable. This is when a CRM system is essential, as it helps you keep everything on track with no extra effort, such as by setting up helpful notifications when your sales leads need to be followed up.
5. Timely & accurate communication with clients
When using a CRM system, you won’t face situations when your client receives wrong information in the quotes you send them. Your CRM will keep track of everything, including inventory and prices, so you can have everything up-to-date and pull up accurate information when you need to share it.
6. Simple marketing campaign setup and launch
With data on clients’ needs and preferences, you can create personalized ad campaigns that will reach the target audience, increasing your marketing strategy’s potential success. Your team and sales manager will also be able to mine contact data to spot prospective clients easily and work on converting them to leads with no extra effort.
7. Detailed analytics and reporting
Besides collecting data from email marketing platforms and storing it, your CRM will allow you to analyze it. You can track the performance of your ad campaigns with customer success software and get statistics on your clients and sales. Based on these, you can decide what areas need improvement and what changes you can make to increase sales.
The advantages of implementing a CRM system in a B2B setting are manifold. From data-driven decision-making to seamless team collaboration and exceptional customer service, a CRM system is the linchpin for business success. As your business scales, the CRM adapts, ensuring you’re always at the forefront of operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
B2B CRM software development
You can go different ways about your B2B CRM solution. Namely, you can either build a custom one or use off-the-shelf software. There are differences in what advantages you get with each, so it’s good to investigate your options in advance. Here are some details about each of the two.
Custom software solutions
Our team has extensive experience developing tailored CRM systems for clients in various industries and sectors, including business and business. We see the value of a custom solution over ready-to-use ones and believe these are the best CRM tools for B2B and provide significant opportunities to our clients.