Advantages and disadvantages of CRM

CRM-system - a software product for managing the company's work processes and
regulating relationships
with customers. The
introduction of CRM
allows you to optimize
the sales department
and is a necessary step
in scaling your business.
In this article, we will
analyze in detail all the
advantages and
disadvantages of CRM,
as well as determine at
what stage of
development it is
necessary to introduce the product.

The advantages of CRM-system

The introduction of CRM increases customer loyalty to the company, increases
conversion rates, and leads to an increase in repeat sales. The advantages of CRM-
system:

 Full history of work with the client

The main advantage of the system is considered to be the registration of all the
information about the interaction of clients with the company services. Each client in
the CRM starts a personal card, which is fixed:
1. All known contacts: phone numbers, delivery addresses, and e-mail.
2. Records of dialogs: email, telephone conversations, messages from chatbots,
and messengers.
3. Full purchase and payment history as well as a list of pending products or
preferences.
4. Client files and documents, as well as other information.

The system unloads all of the client's data from email, the company's website,
messengers, or telephony, and stores it chronologically in a CRM card. The unified
database greatly simplifies the work of the sales department and reduces the
number of manager errors or missed deals. A company manager at any time can
review client data and adjust his actions.

 Detailed statistics in real-time

Among the advantages of CRM is also worth noting is the possibility of obtaining
complex reports online. The product's toolkit allows you to:

1. Track the work of each employee or department of the company as a whole.
2. Analyze and correct stages of the sales funnel.
3. Allocate workload, plan vacations, and work schedule of employees.

The head of the company via CRM can control the course of working processes or
current actions of the company's employees. Thanks to the end-to-end analytics
module it is possible to track the path of the client from the stage of entering the site
till the completion of the purchase and then adjust the sales funnel or remove
ineffective advertising channels.

 Workflow automation

Another advantage of CRM is the ability to optimize and automate the internal
processes of the company. The system notifies the company's managers when they
need to make an important call or remind them of the end of an active task - all
actions are recorded in the CRM database and the employees' calendar.

In addition, the program tools allow you to automate internal processes:

1. Simplify the company's document management - the use of templates and
scripts allows you to facilitate accounting, automatically calculate the cost of
order delivery, etc. Thanks to CRM, documents are formed using a ready-made
template and are automatically filled in with customer data as the transaction
progresses.
2. Transfers transactions by stages of the sales funnel - the system generates
new tasks for managers when a transaction moves to a new stage,
automatically closes completed transactions, and is responsible for reminders
and mailing notifications.
3. Run newsletters based on ready-made scenarios and stimulate additional
sales. For example, announce seasonal sales or offer a discount on items on a
customer's preference list.

This reduces the load on managers and eliminates the appearance of errors due to
the overload or inattention of employees. Automation of routine processes allows
you to focus the attention of employees on current transactions and increase the
effectiveness of the sales department.

Disadvantages of CRM

Despite all the advantages of CRM, this product also has several disadvantages. CRM
- is a complex feature-rich product, and most of the disadvantages of the product are
at the stage of implementation. Consider in detail all the disadvantages.

 The high cost at the time of implementation

Integrating the system is quite a costly procedure. To connect the CRM you need to
determine the appropriate tariff plan, pay for the integrator's work, and adjust the
internal processes of the company. The implementation of non-trivial tasks, such as
creating complex reports or working with multiple funnels of sales, requires the
involvement of specialists in the implementation.

 The need for employee training

The disadvantages of CRM can also include difficulty in the development of the
product. Because the extensive functionality requires prior training, which may not
be welcomed by employees. This may be facilitated by two factors:

1. Moral unpreparedness - implementation of the system involves transferring
work processes to a new software environment with its interface and tools.
This requires the employees to get used to and retrain, which may take a
decent amount of time.

2. Probability of sabotage - the introduction of CRM involves the possibility of
total control of all employees. In this case, there may be attempts to sabotage
the product from lazy employees - for example, entering the wrong data in the
system, or ignoring tasks or program reminders.

Here it is important to show employees that the system simplifies the company's
work and reduces the overall burden on the staff. Otherwise, the only rational
solution would be to fire problem employees.

Conclusion

All the benefits of implementing CRM systems are disclosed only when the product
features are used correctly. The fact of implementing the system does not guarantee
a solution to the
company's internal
problems related to the
inefficiency of the sales
department, incomplete
database, etc. It is
important to understand
for what purposes is
planned to introduce
CRM and what results
should be achieved.

The introduction of a CRM system is reasonable if:

 Communication with customers is carried out via messengers, IP telephony, or
email - sales generator and robot configuration allows you to speed up the
processing of incoming data and prevent the loss of leads.

 Employees do not cope with the work processes due to high workload or
absence of job descriptions - workflow automation and the development of
regulations for each activity will help to coordinate the company's employees
and reduce the number of mistakes made.

 The sales department works inefficiently, there is a low conversion rate and a
high percentage of dissatisfied customers - the system allows you to evaluate
the effectiveness of advertising channels used, determine the sources of
traffic and causes of lost leads, to adjust the sales funnel.

 The head of the company cannot get reliable or detailed statistics - CRM
provides complex reports on the work of the company and is used by the
marketing campaign.

In turn, the implementation of a full-size CRM will not be appropriate for
microbusinesses or young companies. With a small staff, a small number of used
advertising channels, or small volume of sales per day it makes sense to use free
CRM solutions until the next phase of business scaling.