How to implement CRM in your business? Step-by-step instructions for migrating from Excel

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How can implementing CRM help increase sales? Small businesses often lose a significant portion of potential customers due to poorly organized business processes. When accounting is mainly done in Excel, over time the number of tables only increases, and the amount of manual work increases. Sooner or later, every company comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to implement CRM. In this article, we will tell you how to implement CRM in your business to get the maximum benefit.

Business audit is the most important step for CRM implementation
No matter how cool a CRM system is, it doesn’t do wonders on its own. CRM functionality should meet the needs of the company. That’s why the main scope of work in the CRM implementation process is a thorough audit of your business. What does it include?

First of all, determine the goals and objectives of implementing a CRM system . Secondly, analyze each stage of interaction with the client, from A to Z: each source of leads, stages of the deal, which employees interact with the client and when. It is important to consider not only the process of interaction with the client, but also the internal processes in the company: how tasks are assigned, what is the structure of the company, and so on.

Then you need to create a detailed sales funnel and write down business processes. At this stage, it is worth considering which processes can be automated.

Another step that should not be neglected is determining key indicators to evaluate CRM effectiveness after its implementation.

Choosing a CRM system for business
If the business audit was conducted thoroughly enough, its result is actually a TOR (technical specification) for CRM implementation.

Several important factors to consider when choosing a CRM system for your business:

1. Flexibility of settings . You should not choose a CRM with excessive functionality “for the future”. This will complicate the development of the program and lead to unnecessary financial costs. Developing companies are better off choosing a CRM that has fairly flexible settings. If business processes change, the CRM can be reconfigured to suit them.

2. Ease of use . It is important for a CRM to have a fairly simple and intuitive interface. Then the company will not have to spend additional resources on training and motivating employees.

3. Easy CRM installation and configuration . belize phone number list The more complex the functionality of a CRM system, the more difficult it is to implement. Large multifunctional programs often require the involvement of specialists and training of personnel. Of course, the price of installing such CRMs is appropriate. The optimal solution for small businesses is a CRM that can be installed and configured independently. NetHunt is one of such programs. Installing this CRM system takes only a few steps, and the support service will promptly help with the setup.

4. Convenient data import and/or migration from a previous CRM . We talked in more detail about what other parameters are important when choosing a CRM in the previous article .

Preparing for CRM system implementation
Even when the CRM system for business is chosen correctly, this does not guarantee its successful implementation. There is another important factor - the employees who will work in the program. The implementation of the CRM system on the example of many companies shows that the staff has to restructure the usual ways of working. The team may not understand the meaning of installing CRM, perceive the changes as a restriction of freedom and creativity. Some employees may have difficulty mastering the new program.

Before implementing CRM, it is highly advisable to prepare colleagues:

— Explain the benefits of implementing CRM for each specific department.

— Focus on the personal benefits of each employee: for example, saving time, a transparent evaluation system, a convenient task manager, and so on.

— To introduce the basic principles of work in the future CRM.

Implementing CRM in an enterprise will be effective if you think through a system of motivating staff for using the program. It also makes sense to switch to CRM in stages: first master working with the client base, and then mass mailings.

Implementation of a CRM system
So, before implementing CRM, a company must have written and established business processes, well-thought-out sales funnels, and an idea of ​​the goals and objectives of the CRM transition. Based on this, a CRM configuration map is formed - in other words, a diagram of what and how to configure in the program.

If you are implementing a CRM system on your own and for the first time, it makes sense to start by setting up a sales funnel. After that, you can move on to more complex CRM settings.

The CRM implementation process consists of several stages:

CRM system installation .
Preparing information for import or migration to CRM. Different CRM systems use different import methods. To upload a database to NetHunt, an Excel or Google Sheets file is enough.
Importing a customer database and other data. In NetHunt CRM, you can import data in just a few clicks, after which the program will start searching for duplicates and create customer cards, pulling all the information from Gmail.
Integration with used services. Yes, NetHunt independently integrates with G Suite services.
Setting up sales funnel stages.
Adding users and setting access hierarchy.
Training employees to work in CRM.