The acronym CRM, customer relationship management, implies a certain level of sophistication in working with your clients. It’s no longer enough to simply develop a product or service, and expect the world to come knocking at your door. In a previous article, we discussed why inbound lead nurturing is so very important from a standpoint of sales conversions.
At the end of the day, lead nurturing is a vital component of CRM. Without adequate follow up on leads, customer relationship management is incomplete at best, and a waste of time, at worst. After all, why do you want to engage in CRM? The short answer is to convert an initial sale. More importantly, though, excellent lead nurturing helps you understand the needs of a potential customer or client, and gives you the opportunity, through the CRM process, to retain that customer beyond the initial sale.
Repeat customers are the holy grail of almost every business. If a customer is satisfied with your product or service, your company will reap the benefit of a long term relationship if you have good follow through and appropriate CRM strategies. It all starts with understanding the initial contact, the customer’s motivation, and the lead nurturing that you engage in to close that first sale.
CRM is initial contact, hand-holding, and service after the sale in order to demonstrate the ongoing commitment of your company to customer service. It starts with developing that relationship, collecting customer intelligence, and the level of service that you provide after the initial contact.
Getting to "yes" after that initial contact will always be the most difficult aspect of CRM - but once you've made the conversion, establishing an ongoing relationship based on customer trust of your space in the market becomes a a whole lot easier.
Previous posts in this comprehensive online marketing strategy series: Content Management System (CMS)