How can you adapt your CRM to your industry?

But if CRM were as simple as its definition, why is the range of products on the market so extensive? Are all CRMs the same?

Of course not. Is the difference in functional coverage or software ergonomics? Perhaps... Beyond the benefits of integrating a CRM into your information system, it's important to understand the need to adapt the tool to your business sector.

Business processes differ from one company to the next, and it's not possible to shoehorn all companies into the same software... To be effective, a CRM must first and foremost correspond to your business. A CRM must be adapted to your current organization, but also to your future one.

Our partner, CRM solution provider SOLUTION PROVIDER KOBAN this week details the right questions to ask when choosing the right CRM for your business.

Why use a CRM?

CRM is first and foremost a tool, not a magic wand. If the effectiveness of such a tool has yet to be demonstrated, this has more to do with a failure to adopt it thanwith the choice of the right tool for the organization. According to the latest study by Nomination*, specific, internally-developed CRM comes third in the list of equipment used by SMEs. And yet, the level of user dissatisfaction is high... Proof that, however well adapted a CRM may be to an organization, it remains poorly perceived and consequently poorly used.

Most often the result of an initiative by general management, CRM equipment is part of a global corporate strategy. In this case, standard CRM functionalities are designed to improve sales management.

The objective is clear: to structure the business. But not all CRMs are created equal. From the simplest to the most comprehensive, functionalities range from business portfolio management to customer/prospect relationship management, covering all billing, sales and marketing processes. For all levels of user, from marketing department to sales force to manager, CRM boosts growth through greater efficiency in prospecting and acquiring new customers.

Insofar as CRM is primarily used to manage sales activitythe corresponding functionalities are standard: sales process, sales pipeline, collaborative diary, messaging, geolocation... all means to improve the daily efficiency of the sales force.

In practice, sales processes may differ from one business sector to another. For example, a real estate developer will not apply the same sales actions as an industrial company. This is because neither the clientele nor the products sold are identical, just as prospecting methods will also differ. A CRM brings together all the techniques used by the sales force to track and manage customers, and will use a variety of channels to interact with contacts. The notion of CRM has therefore gradually broadened, to meet the more current needs of existing customers, integrating multi-channel, data collection and analysis.

Choosing the right type of CRM

As we've seen, whether simple or complex, a CRM tool is above all about functionality. When it comes to choosing CRM equipment, it's easy to list the functionalities required by an organization. With such a wide range on offer, it's best to choose the type of CRM before choosing the CRM itself.

Changing usage patterns mean that customer relations must be managed in multi-channel mode. However, CRM functionalities extended to digital channels, by collecting and analyzing data for scoring or profiling purposes, are not offered in standard CRMs but in so-called analytical CRMs. Analytical CRM is used to uncover patterns of customer behavior, determine targets, potential for additional sales, customer lifetime value, and so on. Similarly, by definition, CRM is used to manage the customer relationship, not the prospect relationship. Prospect relationship management consists in defining a relational prospect management process inspired by customer relationship management practices, based on the PRM (prospect relationship management) model. The actions are different because of the obvious difference between customer and prospect status.

So many functionalities for so many different uses and types of CRM. It has to be said that the SAAS model has largely contributed to the democratization of CRM, making it technically and financially more accessible to companies in all sectors. The other side of the coin is this quest for the most complete tool possible at the lowest possible cost. But each business sector has its own specific functional requirements...

Why are some CRMs suited to certain sectors and not others?

Let's take two industries: hospitality and transportation. On the face of it, they're worlds apart, and if they were to equip themselves with a CRM, the choice would be different for each. But what are the differences between them? The customer base? The sales process? The product? Hotels involve booking, staff management, inventory management... Transport involves managing time, expenses, deliveries... Specific functionalities for each activity, but... in the end, doesn't this have more to do with a "language" specific to the sector than with CRM functionalities?

For the record, in the strict sense of the term, CRM is used to manage customer relations. In a more extended version, i.e. to add marketing functionalities, for example, we would then speak of a "Suite". If you want to add reservation management or a cash register, we'd call it "integration". Having a CRM adapted to 100% of your organization is either "specific" or "customized". When a CRM is only adapted to a single organizational model designed for a particular business sector, we speak of a "vertical". Can a standard CRM be adapted to several sectors or several organizations? Fortunately, yes. Because it's not so much customer relationship management that differs from one sector to another, but sales management.

Choosing the right CRM means above all choosing the right CRM for your sales processestaking into account the type of customers (or contacts) to be managed. Doing business in a BtoB context doesn't involve the same organization as in a BtoC context. In a BtoB context, customer relationship management software can be used to centralize and improve customer knowledge, and propose offers and products tailored to their expectations. Sales management and channels are different for private customers. Private customers tend to use digital, mobile and, more generally, Internet channels for their purchases. The purchasing path may be direct, indirect or both. Most CRM software is not adapted to BtoC, due to the difference in management between a marketing department and its prospect base (mainly loyalty), and a sales department that is more customer-oriented.

A scalable and customizable CRM, really?

You've got the right CRM "type" for your industry, now you need to find the right CRM for your organization. The mistake would be to go looking for the tool that fits 100%. Because that tool doesn't exist, or you'll have to have it custom-developed, which is expensive. The right tool is the one that you can customize and that will grow with your business.

Most customer relationship management software can be customized: fields, sales process, sales pipeline... so that it's perfectly adapted to your company's specific needs.

But personalization doesn't stop at simply being able to add or modify fields. Personalization must go further, offering relevant settings that take into account the company's overall "business" dimension. A virtually "made-to-measure" setting that "makes your data speak". Not every company or industry uses the same data. From one company to another, the need is different. If we take the example of the hotel industry versus the transport sector, both use different indicators: the occupancy rate for the hotel industry and the tonnage transported per kilometer for the transport sector... All these specific indicators do not require the same CRM settings.

Similarly, CRM customization implies the ability to integrate into a complete information system. Because a CRM enables you to manage customer relations with its own specific functionalities, by linking it to your production tool or your accounting software, you'll be able to cover all your business processes without any loss of data. For a CRM to be functional and effective, it needs to be constantly fed with fresh, high-quality data from your system or third-party applications, thus becoming a genuine decision-making tool.

When defining a CRM project, it's essential to assess the functional scope by means of specifications. to choose the right CRM, it's essential to look beyond this. An understanding of the company's business is essential if we are to be able to list all the needs to be met by a CRM solution. This step ensures that the software is perfectly adapted to the company's processes and organization.

A CRM is more than just a receptacle for data; it is above all a tool for analyzing your business and managing it more effectively. A CRM is a tool that must be able to adapt to a company's current needs and future developments. Choosing a scalable solution is therefore essential to support development in a new market or the redesign of a business process, for example. The stakes can be considerable on an organizational scale if the company's strategy is not taken into account at the outset of the project.

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