Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Is it the case that the customer is frequently the most ignored aspect of your business when it comes to computerized management systems?

All to often it is, but this needn’t, and certainly shouldn’t, be so.

Here are a few points to consider…

1. Without customers you have no business.
2. Every business, from the very smallest one man operation to multinational global corporations, relies on customers.
3. Your business will stand or fall on you maintaining good relationships with your customers.
4. It is important to understand why customers buy your products or services.
5. Your business is competing with others to attract new customers in order to expand as well as retaining the customers you already have - just to survive.

Have you ever doubted the need for a CRM solution for your company? Do you feel unsure of which CRM package is right for you?

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 leads the field in providing everything you should be looking for in a state of the art CRM system, and also has the versatility and flexibility to fit in with the way your company operates. If you need to do it, this system can do it.

Microsoft CRM Software Provider

There are a number of key points that should be borne in mind about CRM. They will help you understand better what the technology is all about and how to implement it:

1. A good CRM system will rapidly analyze every lead and quickly and automatically route it to the right person to handle it.
2. By automatically passing new leads rapidly to the correct individual, CRM ensures that the customersв€™ needs are met rapidly.
3. The portability and accessibility of data is another area in which Microsoft Dynamics CRM excels.
4. Customer Relationship Management systems, therefore, enable you to retain customers for life by promotion of loyalty, not only of the customer to your company, but of your employees, allowing long-term bonding to cement relationships between customers and their contacts within your company.
5. CRM, properly utilized, will help you to understand why customers buy your products or services, and will enable you to identify your most profitable customers, and to forecast what to give them when they want it. This is a powerful feature.
6. CRM can automate and analyze such functions as sales forecasting, sales cycle analysis, time management, sales force optimization, account management, and all the reports and analyses required.

There is so much more that CRM can do for any company that tracks customers and sales. If you are not using CRM today, you should start now!

Microsoft CRM Software Provider

In order to turn leads into customers, you need to understand exactly what the customers want and rapidly set the wheels turning to provide what is wanted in the minimum of time. This, of course, is a simplistic view, so letв€™s have a look at more detail and how CRM can help achieve the desired end.

A good CRM system will rapidly analyze every lead and quickly and automatically route it to the right person to handle it. The fully customizable rules in Microsoft Analytics CRM 3.0 allows you to so on the basis of area, product, cash volume or any other rule that you want to apply. You can also apply different rules to different products or customers so that every variable is optimized. The familiar Microsoft architecture enables this to be achieved easily and integrated with other Microsoft applications.

By automatically passing new leads rapidly to the correct individual, CRM ensures that the customersв€™ needs are met rapidly, which is one of the main requirements necessary to turn leads into customers. However, there are many other aspects of CRM systems which are important in making it simpler for you to turn leads into customers.

Microsoft CRM provides a complete range of communications applications which can be customized and automated, and their acquisition of Colloquis, the CRM communications company. should reinforce this. Entire email topic threads can be captured automatically: remember when you had to в€˜cut and pasteв€™ to keep tabs on specific threads? No more! And your sales reps can take their customers with them, all customer data being available in portable computers or PDAs.

Integration between sales teams is automatic, and your companyв€™s complete sales force can be combined to provide the potential customer with every one of your products that meets his needs. Gone are the days when one customer would have to communicate with several salespersons or offices within your organization for his carious requirements. This provision alone can turn leads in customers in a very short time.

Due to the atomization of all of these functions в€˜shortв€™ is the word. The whole sales cycle is speeded up, and Microsoft CRM can meet the growing need for the rapid conversion of a lead to a customer which is a necessity in todayв€™s cut-throat competitive business environment. If you donв€™t work fast you lose out. CRM provides this speed of reaction which is why its ROI is so quick. This is just one feature of the many in which Microsoft Dynamics CRM outperforms alternatives such as GoldMine and ACT.

The portability and accessibility of data is another area in which Microsoft Dynamics CRM excels. It does not matter where in the world the lead originated, or in what remote office the sales force is based, the full power of Microsoft CRM is available. All product data is available at the press of a button. All health and safety data, where applicable, and all information available on the lead or prospect can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

This can be done either through a company network or to remote hand held devices such as PDAs, wireless laptops, palm computers or even mobile phones. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing and whenever equipment you have to hand, product information, quotations, terms and accurate product stock and delivery dates can supplied directly to the potential customer immediately upon request. No в€œIв€™ll get back to you on thatв€?, or в€œHead office will send you detailsв€?. All requested information can be supplied on the spot, immediately, from an integrated system available to any authorized employee, anywhere in the world.

So is it easier to turn leads into customers with CRM? You bet your life it is.

Microsoft CRM Software Provider

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is a comprehensive customer relationship management software package that helps business to improve all aspects of customer service and improve marketing and sales performance.

Integrating with Microsoft Office and Business Solutions as well as third party applications, Microsoft CRM is available through the web and from Outlook.

Sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is effective and easily achieved with the modules provided, and duplication of data entry is avoided through the use of a single centralized database which can be accessed and edited by all relevant departments. The database can be maintained in real time so that all information is current and up to date.

An important feature of sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the provision of a comprehensive view of customer data, ensuring efficient sales service and immediate access to updated information. Your service personnel can track enquiries from initial request to fulfillment, and the customizable rules of all major processes allow the creation and automation of most sales activities, which significantly improves the acquisition of new customers.

Due to rapid response to customer enquiries, they are never allowed to fall through the cracks, and every stage is followed through and supported to ensure satisfactory conclusion and completion of the request. The whole sales cycle is shortened, closure rates are increased and customer retention is improved.

An important aspect of sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is its comprehensive communications system including e-mail, fax and telephone with auto response and synchronization with Outlook. Access to all reports and customer information is instantly available offline and online and sales personnel are provided with the ability to answer any customer enquiry instantly through the use of a laptop or PDA system. This remote access to all relevant customer data is a prime feature of sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM which not only promotes a high degree of customer service and satisfaction, but also job satisfaction to sales personnel.

This is of extreme importance in situations where customers tend to be loyal to their regular sales contact rather then to the product or company. Such situations are common and customer retention is generally improved in companies with a low sales personnel turnover.

Another important feature of sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the automated identification of trends and opportunities according to customized rules. Reports can be designed to forecast sales and other trends, which allow accurate budgeting and planning of future sales campaigns and expenditure.

Sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is easily installed with expert help on set-up and initial training. Training costs are minimal since the user interface and work tools are similar to those used in Microsoft Office and Outlook applications. Online tutorials and web-based support are available for all modules of Microsoft Dynamic CRM.

Your business will be able to increase capacity without increasing staffing levels due to the degree of automation available, taking over many of the repetitive tasks of sales and marketing staff. For small to medium businesses, sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an essential option, with a rapid return on investment, which can give you a positive advantage over companies without it.

Microsoft CRM Software Provider

While you are working hard to attract new customers in order to maintain growth, your existing customers expect the same personal communication they had when you first attracted them.

If you want to retain your existing customers for life, you will have to develop a means of utilising time efficiently so that communication with your original loyal customers can be maintained, while your sales force is concentrating on attracting new ones. The answer is Customer Relationship Management (CRM). It is not a coincidence that CRM can also stand for Customer Retention Marketing!

Using modern CRM software you can hold all of your information on each customer in a central location so that it is easily and quickly accessed by all relevant authorized employees. All of the information required to maintain the good and effective communication that makes your customer feel valuable is available immediately in a single location to whoever in your company needs it.

A rapid response with instant answers to an enquiry shows the customer that he is important to you, a vital factor in retaining loyalty. Studies have proved that product satisfaction, while important in initially attracting customers, is not so important in retaining them. Customers like personal contact, which shows them that they are important to you.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is able to send personalised e-mails to customers to achieve this personal contact. The Small Business edition (SBE) is a powerful tool that allows small to medium businesses keep in touch with existing customers, while managing marketing campaigns designed to attract fresh ones and expand the business.

It is well known that many customers are more loyal to their contacts within your organization than to the company itself, and prefer contact only with their regular sales representative or account manager. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 enables these individuals to have all customer data at their fingertips through mobile or portable communications devices. Retention of customers for life is promoted through CRM enabling personal communication with their contacts who have all the information immediately to hand required to deal with their query, irrespective of its nature.

In cases where smaller businesses do not have the resource to allow this degree of service, Microsoft CRM provides data and reports which enable the company to use Pareto principles to identify the more profitable customers. The 80/20 rule states that 80% of profits come from 20% of the customers. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 SBE allows small businesses to identify these 20% and work to preferentially retain these customers for life. Although the other 80% of customers are important, and should also be made to feel important, it makes sense to focus restricted resources to ensuring loyalty from the most profitable customers rather than spreading them thinly and satisfying none.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is a powerful set of tools which integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft Office software and is therefore not only easy for employees to use, but can be customized to fit in with their existing working practices. This allows thin resources to be spread more widely by increasing their effectiveness by automating many repetitive tasks.

The loyalty of customers to their personal contacts can be so strong that it is not unusual for customers to move with their contacts. It is important to develop loyalty of your own employees to your company to avoid customers moving to your competitors when your sales personnel do. Microsoft Dynamic CRM 3.0 helps build this loyalty through the provision of powerful tools enabling your employees to provide customer satisfaction quickly and easily without having to learn too many new skills. This promotes job satisfaction, and hence loyalty.

Customer Relationship Management systems, therefore, enable you to retain customers for life by promotion of loyalty, not only of the customer to your company, but of your employees, allowing long-term bonding to cement relationships between customers and their contacts within your company.

Microsoft CRM Software Provider

What priority would you put on the need for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) in your company? If you understood what CRM was that would be an easy question to answer. After all, what is the most important part of every business ∓ even your business? What’s that aspect of your whole operation, without which the whole kit and caboodle would fall down like a house of cards?

The answer is, as you are probably aware by now, your customers. Without customers you have no business. Every business has the need for CRM. Every business, from the very smallest one man operation to multinational global corporations, relies on customers. Not only rely on them, but are competing with others to attract new customers in order to expand and to retain the ones they have in order to survive.

So why is it that the customer is frequently the most ignored aspect of your business when it comes to computerized management systems? The need for CRM seems to come second to every other system such as Sales Analysis and Management systems, Production Management, Inventory and Purchasing systems, etc, etc, etc. In fact, many companies have not even heard of CRM.

Your business will stand or fall on you maintaining good relationships with your customers, especially in this increasingly competitive era. CRM is not just about keeping customers happy from a personal point of view, and once you find out what a good package can provide, you will understand the need for CRM.

It is important to understand why customers buy your products or services. To be able to identify your most profitable customers, and to forecast what to give them when they want it. Here is the need for CRM, which can set your company apart from the others and provide all the tools required to give you the edge over your competitors that can get you ahead of the pack, and stay there.

There are several software packages than provide adequate tools to enable you to meet the need for CRM within your business, but is в€˜adequateв€™ enough? Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 leads the field in providing everything you should be looking for in a state of the art CRM system, and also has the versatility and flexibility to fit in with the way your company operates. Sure, it can make extremely valuable suggestions for improvement, but can also work exactly as your company works. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 meets the need for CRM without requiring you to change your processes and procedures to fit in with software requirements.

There is nothing more annoying than have to retrain employees in your own internal procedures as well as in the use of the CRM software. It is important to you business to balance the need for CRM software with its acceptance by your employees.

Do not underestimate the need for CRM within your company. It can automate and analyze such functions as sales forecasting, sales cycle analysis, time management, sales force optimization, account management, and all the reports and analyses required. Your sales force can have essential information at their fingertips through palm computers or PDAs at the point of contact with customer. No more having to в€œsend the information laterв€? or в€œwe will get back to you on thatв€?. All information available on the network is visible to your sales force when they require it. You can secure that order before your customer has time to change his mind, or be tempted by a competitor.

This is just one simple example which indicates the benefits that CRM can bring to your company. The need for CRM does not require much thought, and can not only get you ahead of the pack but will also keep you there.

Microsoft CRM Software Provider

In todayв€™s competitive marketplace, customers have come to expect excellence in service and immediate provision of information. Personal contact at the customerв€™s site has become of extreme importance, and the provision of immediate communication with head office has become essential for the modern sales representative. Mobile CRM solutions can provide this.

Your company must be perceived as being customer friendly, customer orientated and able to provide whatever your customer requires when your customer requires it. Customer service can create or lose sales. Create or lose profits. Orders can be won or lost through the time delay between an enquiry and a quotation; between an order and its execution. This requires an efficient communications system that far exceeds anything a sophisticated telephone system could provide.

A good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can provide this, and many provide the mobile CRM solutions required.

Customer service takes up a large slice of your companyв€™s budget, which is why the management of your mobile sales team should be regarded as a priority and the tools required for a professional job be provided.

There are many mobile CRM software systems available, but it is difficult to escape the fact that most companies use Microsoft applications in their business, from Microsoft Word and Outlook, to Access for their database management requirements. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 interfaces seamlessly with these applications to provide a peerless customer relationship management solution that is not only simple to integrate with your existing IT system, but provides the mobile CRM sales team management answer you are looking for.

Your sales team can use palm computers or laptops to provide quotations instantly on-site, together with product availability and delivery dates. No more need for endless phone calls or emails flying back and forth. Your field staff will have full PC access from mobile equipment using a system that supports most PDA, laptop and palm devices to give screen displays providing any information necessary for instant communication to the customer at his site. Modern mobile CRM systems even come with mobile printers and scanning devices can provide instant hard copy to the customer without the need to use HIS fax or HIS printer ∓ and how important and impressive is that!

Nothing is more important to a company that a customer. Without customers companies would not exist. The way to provide customers with the best possible service is to ensure that they have instant answers to any question or query they have, whether from the person in the office, or the rep in the field.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 will provide this capability: you look after your mobile sales team management, and mobile CRM will look after the information they require to respond efficiently and effectively to all customer needs.

Microsoft CRM Software Provider

A key factor in increasing sales is the speeding up of the total sales cycle and more rapidly and efficiently converting leads into sales. This is where a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system can demonstrate its full potential. The benefits provided by a CRM system such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 in speeding up the whole sales cycle from the initial lead to order and improved close rates render the system totally affordable to companies of any size.

Customization is the key: with customization you can increase sales with CRM very rapidly by the use of rules which allow automation of lead management and routing and sales process management which, when combined with fully targeted competitor tracking, enables you to keep ahead of the pack until the order is closed.

All of this is completed automatically and extremely rapidly, thus minimizing the possibility of counter bids and competition reaction. This speeding up of the sales cycle not only improves customer satisfaction but increases staff productivity and your profitability.

The automated systems allow analysis of specific leads and their allocation to the relevant product or account managers. Flexibly customizable rules allow automated tracking of these leads throughout the sales cycle, analyzing and tracking opportunities, constructing quotations or tenders from given rules, converting them to orders and closing the sales.

When operated with the assistance of the associated comprehensive reporting systems covering every aspect of the complete sales cycle, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 allows your sales force to achieve a lot more in a lot less time, increase overall sales and hence generate revenue at a faster rate. You can increase sales with CRM at a considerably faster rate if your CRM software integrates seamlessly with the office software used by your company.

The benefit of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is that it is accessible from Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft company intranets allowing staff to work interactively in accessing all relevant customer data either directly or remotely, so that sales staff can respond immediately to urgent requirements and emergencies. This saves valuable time in the accessing of existing quotes and orders and the execution of any modifications required prior to closure. All information can be shared between departments throughout the organization: we have all experienced the frustration of delays due to breakdowns in the transfer of pieces of paper between departments, and misunderstood phone conversations.

All transactions and communications can be carried out electronically and hence instantly. Not only this, but communication can be made remotely to wireless systems such as hand held palm computers, laptops and mobile phones, thus providing information rapidly at the point of contact with the customer. You not only impress the potential customer with your ability to react instantly to enquiries, but demonstrate your investment in, and command of, the modern technology required to stay ahead of the game in an increasingly technological environment.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 gives a very high return on investment, and is very easy and rapid to set up. The customization available allows it to be tailored precisely to your requirements, and you will very rapidly be able to increase sales with CRM.Microsoft CRM Software Provider

Imagine yourself wanting to run an airline company ∓ a budding Freddy Laker. What do you need? Well, planes of course, but let∙s say you have a bundle of these. What do you really need to make them work?

That∙s right ∓ pilots! So how are you going to train them? Will you introduce them to an airliner? Take them up the steps and show them the insides ∓ the aisles, the seats, the toilets? Why not take them into the cabin and show them the instruments, the dials, the communications system, the . . . Or how about showing them how it works. That∙s right, get a pilot and get him to take off, fly about a bit while they watch, then land.

Then would you give them their wings, fill the plane full of passengers and ask them to do just what the pilot did? No, of course you wouldnв€™t.

Then why is it that this is precisely the way that many companies train their employees in how to use newly installed Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software? Failure to train staff properly is the path to failure. Your business will crash just as effectively as that plane would ∓ and just as quickly, without effective CRM training.

The major reason for the failure in implementation of CRM systems is the failure of a planned and structured training and implementation procedure. That is the Number One reason. CRM training is essential for success.

Customer Relationship Management is a science ∓ it is not the art that the old-style reps would have you believe. It absolutely true that the personal touch is with the customer is critical to success, but the day-to-day management of a CRM system requires the application of science and the provision of adequate tools to manage all of the stages of an integrated customer relationship management system.

There are many companies that provide computer CRM training classes, though the corporations that develop the software frequently develop the software with the customerв€™s training requirements in mind. Microsoft, for example, integrate training resources right into the software systems they develop, and this is as true for their CRM software as it is for Office applications.

Applications such as Marketing Analysis, Event Managing, Sales Forecasting and Incentive Compensation and Bonuses are but a few of those which computer based CRM training cover, though the Microsoft CRM 3.0 training course is more easy to understand than most due to the seamless integration with Microsoft Office applications and Outlook. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 software sits nicely alongside other Microsoft suites and integrates perfectly to provide a CRM solution for small to corporate size businesses which is simple for employees acquainted with Microsoft Windows applications to learn.

CRM training is essential for success, and it is essential that it is carried out effectively. How much simpler to do so if it is already programmed to be an integral part of an accepted suite of business programs! CRM training will not only be easier, but accepted by employees as an extension of their existing knowledge, rather than an addition burden placed upon them.

Microsoft CRM Software Provider

Sales and marketing personnel are best employed in sales and marketing rather than carrying out repetitive administrative tasks. This is particularly true of small and medium sized businesses with limited personnel resources and the need to focus on customer contact in order to maintain and expand the customer base. Automation with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) can be invaluable in such cases and provide very rapid return on investment. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 in particular is eminently suited to a high degree of automation and allows employees to more easily and more effectively use existing customer and account data to integrate marketing and sales efforts. The automation tools provided by Microsoft CRM automate routine tasks such as direct e-mails, communication management and the management of a variety of sales processes. Such processes include account and contact management, qualification of leads and opportunity management and the maintenance of a database of customer and account information. This is available to sales personnel online or offline either in the office, at the customer premises or in transit through portable communications devices such as PDAs, palms, computers, mobile phones and laptops. Automation with CRM achieves this and brings the benefits of instant communication and information retrieval, which promote customer satisfaction and loyalty. Automation with CRM can analyze factors such as the proportion of time spent by a sales force between administrative task and direct sales-related work and hence the effectiveness of the sales force and any remedial actions required to improve this. The performance of individual employees against targets is also analyzed and reports prepared. In this way not only is efficiency measured, but resources can be deployed to their greatest effectiveness with an overall reduction in costs and improvement in customer service. The marketing automation in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 enables analysis of the efficiency of the marketing department and provides integration of all aspects of marketing, sales and service so that a single company image is presented to the customer. This allows a more professional image to be projected, increasing customer confidence and loyalty. Automation with CRM allows the generation of lists of contacts, accounts and leads which can be used by sales personnel for the generation of campaigns for execution at a later date, with automatic analysis of responses and outstanding actions required. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 uses the sales and customer data you already have and makes it easier for employees to use that information to improve service to customers, integrate more effectively between departments, and improve efficiency with resultant overall cost reductions. Automation with CRM promotes productivity improvements and better use of personnel resources, the overall result being a more profitable company with more satisfied and loyal customers and a marketing and sales force that is being used at maximum effectiveness. Automation with CRM is the way forward for any progressive company that is seeking maximum employee involvement in directly promoting sales and marketing with automation of the daily repetitive tasks that can be so labor intensive. The adoption of Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows sales and marketing personnel to be fully effective in the main objective of the company, which is to make money. Microsoft CRM Software Provider