Technology can help companies create phenomenal customer experiences

“Done right, technology can help companies create phenomenal customer experiences and reap the resulting benefits. 

82% of the top-performing companies report paying close attention to the human experience around digital and tech.”

Customer Experience (CX), PWC, the future of CX

A great CRM system can be a powerful ally in winning sales, engaging customers and increasing brand loyalty. By tracking the sales journey in acute detail, you can gather valuable insights into your customer’s behaviour and preferences enabling you to adapt and deliver products and services to match, resulting in increased sales and growth.

According to a recent article by SuperOffice

“Those who have embraced these technologies have seen a huge improvement in both the adoption of CRM software by their employees and the meeting of sales quotas – And according to Buyer Zone (now acquired by Business.com), 91% of companies with more than 11 employees now use CRM software.”

 And yet, many companies still struggle to generate the gains promised by their CRM system, so why is that?

In short, your CRM system, or any tech for that matter, should never replace human interaction but balanced strategically, the return on investment can be significant!

You must always remember the purpose of your CRM – what is it there to do? What can it help you to achieve?

The Bigger Picture.

The pandemic has accelerated significant shifts in consumer behaviours. From baby boomers to Millennials, our work, life and shopping habits have changed for good.

Amongst the numerous shifts in behaviour and demands, two trends appear dominant.

1. Tech and the digital world.

According to a recent PWC global consumers survey,

“More than 50% of the global consumers we surveyed say they’ve become more digital since the first Pulse survey was conducted.”

As a result, business leaders have responded by accelerating their digital capabilities and leapt into the future. The trend has been emerging for a long time but has been super boosted into our everyday lives out of sheer necessity dues to the pandemic; we’ve been happy to adopt it quickly and with ease.

When preparation & opportunity collide.

Businesses that have thrived during the pandemic are those that were prepared for this shift to digital. Companies that have built their capabilities to scale-up quickly around tech have taken advantage of the situation and expanded their service and product offerings with relative ease.

Companies that already use an effective CRM system were privy to the dramatic shift in their customer behaviour and could adapt quicker than those without. None more so than the business leaders that quickly recognised that mobile CRM solutions were needed and fast.

Statistics from Forester have shown that

“50% of teams improved their productivity by using a mobile CRM.”

By utilising mobile CRM solutions as a direct, real-time window into their customer’s habits, companies gained a birds-eye view into the rapidly changing customer journey from beginning to end.

Businesses were able to re-focus and identify the highs and identifying the lows – especially where problems appear; customers drop out of the journey and at which point they make buying decisions or what prevents them from deciding buy.

Using this new data, business leaders were able to gain new insights and recognise recent trends emerging faster than their competition. Thus enabling them to create new strategies to address and improve issues while enhancing the Customer Experience.

The result?

“A Nucleus Research report finds that for companies using a mobile CRM, 65% are achieving their sales quotas. While only 22% of reps using non-mobile CRM have reached the same targets.”

Now, I mentioned two dominant trends. The second of which, when balanced with the shift to digital, can create an unbeatable business strategy for winning big in business. It can accelerate the sales and growth results delivered by tech to an even greater height.

2. Human Interaction.

Despite the demand for faster, more efficient online services, a recent PWC survey shows that

“ 78% of people want to interact with a real person more as technology improves.”

We’ve all been there: “Press 1 for service, 2 for billing, 3 for endless holding!”

It’s infuriating, especially when all you want to do is ask a human a quick question, get the issue resolved and move on with your day. Surely there must be a better way?

Successful digital solutions MUST be partnered with human interactions: people want human connections, especially when tech stops working. Your customers want to talk to a person when things go wrong!

It’s quite the dichotomy: The pandemic has given rise to the increased NEED for tech solutions, but consumers WANT human connections. So how do we begin to balance the two to deliver a seamless and efficient journey while creating an exceptional Customer Experience?

Enter the CRM solution.  

The purpose of a great CRM is to win business and keep customers coming back for more. So, how can you optimise the potential of your CRM?

The best tool in your Armoury for understanding how to engage, communicate and help your customers: The CRM system will help you know when and where human interactions are needed to close the deal, overcome obstacles and ensure you’re delivering a seamless and exceptional CX. It will also allow you to consider alternative service delivery options that enrich the experience without human interaction: Think chatbots, Digital manuals, FAQs, Real-time chat.

Most importantly, the CRMs inherent value lies in the ability to predict what your customers are likely to want and need in the future. This is your competitive edge.

People connect with people during the sales journey, not tech. Creating human interactions at strategic points along the customer journey is crucial for sales conversions and mitigating the risks of losing them along the way.

Remember: Your CRM is only a tool; it’s simply the enabler to sales success. It can help you understand where the problems are, but it won’t solve them. For that, you’ll need people to read, understand and interpret the data it provides.

Bridging the disconnect between human interactions and digital solutions.

PwC’s recent survey on the Future of Customer Experience revealed that

“59% of all consumers feel companies have lost touch with the human element of customer experience.”

It suggests that ‘Automated solutions should “learn” from human interactions, so those experiences also improve. A focus on innovation and equipping employees with technology and the information they need to best serve consumers could help close this gap.’

• We must never lose sight of the fact that our CRM represents real people.
• We must never lose sight that our CRM does not replace human connections.
• We must always remember the purpose of our CRM: what can it help us to achieve?

A powerful and vital as it is, your CRM system is simply your enabler to deliver better service, convert customers to sales, and increase business growth to ensure a remarkable CX.  It should never replace the human experience. 

For more information visit the Philip Budd – ActionCoach website