Even small building materials firms need help tracking their customers and potential customers. And if your marketing campaigns are even a bit complex, a spreadsheet won’t do. Successful materials firms use CRM systems to help them organize and personalize their marketing and sales processes.
So, let’s take a look at what a CRM is, what it can do, and how building material suppliers can use a CRM to grow their business.
What is a CRM?
CRM stands for customer relationship management and generally refers to software or technology for managing the relationships and interactions with your customers and potential customers. Its goal is to improve your business relations to help you grow your business.
Traditionally, CRMs have been seen as just a contact database. But today’s software stores not only your customer’s contact information but communication records, marketing campaigns, purchasing activities, and customer service inquiries.
Having a centralized location for your customer relations information allows everyone to have the information they need when working with prospects and existing customers. It breaks down the information silos that can be created with more traditional methods.
Modern CRMs, like HubSpot and Salesforce, are focused on managing all stages of the customer relationship.
What can a CRM do?
CRM software helps sales teams identify and win potential customers. It does this by storing contact information and customer preferences, tracking purchases, and logging customer service issues.
Here are a few examples of the customer information that CRM software can help you manage:
- List of active jobs
- Log of communications, including formats (emails, text messages, phone calls)
- Open proposals or bids
- Outreach information, like important dates or hobbies
- Notes (preferred method of communication, pet peeves, the best time to contact, how soon to follow up)
CRMs integrate with other apps and software that your business is already using to make them more productive. This includes accounting systems and proposal or bidding software.
Today’s software also leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to automate administrative tasks, saving companies time and money.
The benefits of using a CRM system include increased incoming leads and higher closing rates. Salesforce customers report a 30% increase in lead conversion and a 36% increase in marketing campaign effectiveness. And according to HubSpot, firms that use a CRM are 2.1 times as likely to have high growth.
How can a building materials firm use a CRM?
CRMs can be used by building materials firms to help build relationships with their potential clients.
Starting when a new prospect visits your website and completes a form, you can begin to gather information on the prospect. This information is used to follow up with targeted emails, sales contacts, phone calls, text messages, etc. Personalizing your marketing can lead to added sales. A McKinsey study found that 78% of consumers said that personalized content made them more likely to repurchase a brand. A CRM system organizes and tracks all communications and can automatically remind you when you need to reach out to a prospect based on the date of their last communication.
Because the information is stored in a centralized system, it can easily be shared with other people at your firm. So, if a salesperson quits or is out of the office for an extended period of time, other members of the team can pick up their contacts and continue the flow of information. This helps prevent data silos and ensures that prospects aren’t dropped. In a Forrester study, 56% of business leaders admitted that organizational silos negatively impacted the quality of their customers’ and prospects’ experiences. Don’t let this happen to you.
The system removes the need to guess about how many prospects you have or what stage of the sales cycle they’re in. With one look, you can know exactly how many architects or contractors you’re working with, what stage their projects are in, and when you last communicated with them.
Client satisfaction is improved because you’re communicating with prospects in the way they prefer, and you aren’t dropping the ball when someone is busy or leaves the company.
Start improving your sales today
A CRM system improves sales and customer service. Your customers and potential customers feel seen and heard – and you greatly mitigate the risk that something will get missed if an employee leaves or is out of the office. It’s a powerful system that will save your company time and money by automating processes, allowing you to make more sales while strengthening relationships with existing customers.
