So you have heard about CRM software and all the wonderful things it can do. Maybe it was on the internet, or a work colleague mentioned it. Either way, you are looking to get yourself and your business on board as quickly as possible to reap the benefits. In that case, you have come to the right place.
Here we provide five tips that help you quickly maximize knowledge and ease of use of your CRM software. These tips cover the selection and implementation of CRM software, along with some key hacks that let you get up to speed in the shortest amount of time possible.
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Choose a well-designed CRM software with friendly UX.
The best way to learn CRM software quickly is to go for an offering that is easy to pick up and play with. A well-designed CRM can drastically lower the learning curve needed to be productive with the software. By “good design” we mean effortless implementation, smooth migration of data, and an intuitive UI. A well-designed software interface provides all the relevant information in a single glance and is easy to navigate around. How well your CRM does these things will determine the end-user experience.
All the features in the world cannot make up for a lackluster UX. It is in your interest to prioritize design and accessibility at the selection stage itself. How much you can customize a CRM software to fit your business needs will determine how easy it will be to learn and use. Features like a mobile app—while not a must—can drastically improve adoption rate and ease of use. You will end up with a CRM software that is easy to use and can be deployed with minimum downtime within your organization.
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Use CRM software that integrates all key functionality in one package
Day-to-day operations need a host of digital tools. Spreadsheet, contacts, notes and reminders, email, chat, telephony, etc. It is helpful to procure a CRM software that meets all these needs through native features. Or, at least it should painlessly integrate with the software you already use for your business needs. Otherwise, you are just wasting time relearning how to do things or stuck trying to recreate existing functionality. Having your essential tools are easily available in your CRM software, makes it centralized, and consequently, easier to use.
There are many benefits to having all core functionality is present in one platform under a single workflow, it eliminates a lot of redundancy. You no longer have to juggle between multiple software (each with its own design language, workflow, quirks, etc.) to get things done. You can focus your time and energy on familiarizing yourself with one consistent, unified platform. Additionally, your teams can carry over your experience and expertise from existing tools and eliminate pointlessly relearning business processes. These measures allow stakeholders to learn the software more efficiently and hit the ground running.
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Utilize your vendor’s support and knowledge base.
When you acquire a CRM software, not only are you investing in a software solution, but you are also benefiting from the industry knowledge and the expertise of your vendor. If you have great vendor support then you can get to grips with your CRM deployment much more efficiently. Top vendors in the market have various support channels where you can reach them. You can solicit their help in getting your CRM software up and running. They also carry a comprehensive knowledge base that covers the ins and outs of the CRM setup, so that you can learn and implement best practices with minimum downtime.
Proactively seeking out expertise makes sure that you are making the best use of the software in the most productive manner possible. Having easily accessible resources allows you and your teams to learn with minimum hands-on supervision. It introduces self-sufficiency to the learning process, which can accelerate the learning period quite a lot. Make sure your CRM vendor can provide you with the resources and support you need to succeed.
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Subscribe to courses that walk you through your CRM software.
CRM software is becoming a norm in the customer relationship management industry. As such, expertise in the use of CRM software is becoming a valuable skill. To capitalize on that value it might be a good idea to seek out professional training material that can help you quickly upskill. Top vendors and independent websites offer bespoke courses which can help you learn how to get your CRM set up quickly and assist in onboarding your team smoothly.
These courses offer you the unique benefit of an involved, visual learning experience that can quickly enhance your comprehension. Such a resource will significantly speed up the time taken to get familiar with the software. It will also be a valuable tool in any training program you wish to conduct in your organization for a new CRM deployment.
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Understand and implement automation features of your CRM.
Automation is a powerful strength of the new crop of next-generation CRM systems. It can drastically reduce the effort and difficulty required to operate a CRM software by smartly understanding workflow context and taking over the repetitive aspects of it. There are a lot of mundane activities such as following up on leads, sending emails, raising invoices, updating fields, and much, much more. These tasks can bog down users and are usually the culprits behind any errors they commit, especially if they are new to the software. A very quick fix to a majority of these UX issues will be to locate the automation features in your CRM software and set them up to automatically take over such workflows thus eliminating a lot of difficulty in day-to-day operations.
Implementing automation features can streamline workflow quite efficiently. It reduces the operating complexity and minimizes manual dependency. With automation enabled, the CRM software becomes much more plug-and-play which makes it more accessible to newcomers. Beyond just simplifying users’ day-to-day life, it can expand their professional capabilities by taking over complex business processes. This means they are wasting less time trying to figure out how to do something in the software and spending more time actually making an impact.
In Conclusion:
The process of learning how to use CRM software should not discourage you from exploring all the benefits it can offer to your business. Provided you make some smart decisions during the procurement and deployment of your CRM software solution, you have nothing to worry about. Industry-leading CRM systems are quite user-friendly and well-supported. In fact, once you get on board, you will most likely wonder what took you so long in the first place! You can create invoice easily with these amazing templates and tools, such as WeInvoice.
