Chirag Rai Arora Contact management is an integral part of any organization, and doing it well helps you form strong relationships with people and businesses alike. Proper contact management within a CRM can assist your company in the following ways:
- It keeps your sales and customer service teams aligned by keeping track of ongoing conversations that are latched to the history of each contact in your database.
- It builds and maintains company reputation by allowing you to respond to customer complaints in a timely manner, drawing a positive brand image.
- It keeps your contact records updated and widely shared across the organization.
Collection and maintenance of contacts can be tricky, complicated and time consuming without a CRM. If the process takes longer than expected, it can lead to decreased productivity, frustration and loss of valuable customer information. Three aspects of a CRM which will help improve contact management that we want to draw your attention to are:
- Address Book
- Mobile Accessibility
- Automated data entry
In this article, we’ll explore how these three aspects of a CRM can help you build stronger relationships with your customers and boost your business productivity.
Address book
An address book allows you to access, recall and share information effortlessly by storing key details within the CRM database. Key information like contact addresses, date last contacted, and emails received can be tracked with this feature. This keeps your team well connected and provides insights into where your leads are in the lifecycle stage of the sales process.
All this centralized data helps you better understand your contacts and build deeper relationships with them. Your team will be well prepared for client calls, as they can scan through contacts interaction history and see what was discussed in previous communications. This allows your team to connect with them right where they left off and at the right time.
With an online address book, your team will be more prepared, better informed and equipped to connect and create lifelong relationships with your contacts.
Mobile Accessibility
Technology has evolved and improved much more in the last 5 years, with cutting edge and progressive innovations, which includes improved mobile accessibility. With a steady rise in the availability of mobile apps on the apple store and google play store, we have become much more attached to our portable devices.
Mobile CRM also helps you pull specifics about contacts right into the palm of your hands. Whether youre travelling between meetings, or simply busy with multiple tasks, you have access to your CRM from your mobile device. Wherever you are in the world, you can access information such as notes, calendars, and future events even when out of the office.
Mobile CRM also helps you stay on task and be well-prepared. Employees can schedule appointments or see whos available for discussion about important topics from their cell phone. In addition, if you receive important information or discover new opportunities, this can be shared quickly with your team. This in turn keeps your sales team well connected and ensures youre not missing out on the next opportunity.
The mobile CRM market is expecting a growth of 11% this year, rising from US$13.5 billion in 2018 to in excess of US$15 billion by the end of this year. The desire for people to connect with their contacts through their mobile devices is increasing. Long gone are the days where employees are required to sit at their desk in order to process and analyze contact information. Thanks to convenient, user friendly mobile CRM, your sales team can stay connected in real time throughout the workday.
Automated Data Entry
Manual data entry can be time consuming and has the potential of human errors, resulting in inaccuracies and confusion amongst your team. By reducing the time for data entry with CRM and pre-built integrations, teams can focus on high-value tasks instead of typing information into the database.
Not only is data entry time consuming, but it can also cost money. With so many automated processes, you dont need as many employees to assist you. This means less money spent on salaries, which allows you to spend it on other areas of your company.
Hiring employees specifically to keep your data organized can waste time and be expensive. Instead, that time could be better spent in closing deals, generating revenue and satisfying customers. With CRM, data is automatically organized depending on your preferences, freeing up time for you and your team to prioritize high value tasks.
Conclusion
Managing contact information is critical for business growth and success. Using a CRM will help keep this information updated, organized and accessible across your entire organization. You can improve efficiencies across departments, prevent the daily hassle of updating contact records and much more, all with our one-stop CRM solution.
Adrian Carmichael 
