How Technology Can Help You Improve Your Customer Relationship Management

Technology is seeping into every aspect of self-storage operation these days, from rentals, to payments and site access. One element of operation that we haven’t covered in relation to technology is Customer Relationship Management, especially in lead management. Not only can it help you more easily organise your leads together, but can also allow you to provide better customer service overall. Here, we’ll cover how to implement CRM software into your daily workflow, as well as some best practices in using this service efficiently.

What’s Important in CRM

Before we can figure out how technology can help in this respect, we should clarify what’s vital in your CRM.

Speed

This shouldn’t be a surprise, but the speed at which you respond to inquiries or keep up with your leads can make or break your customer relationship. Replying quickly can show them that they are top of mind, and that your company will provide great customer service. However, you can’t go too far in the other direction either. If you bombard them with messages constantly, they’ll likely feel overwhelmed. Both scenarios have them going somewhere else for their storage needs, so finding the right balance is key.

Clarity

This element requires you and your staff to know the business inside out, and be able to effectively and efficiently answer customer inquiries. A well-trained staff should also be able to anticipate what a customer might be thinking or what they might want to ask, and be able to provide that information clearly. Confidence, clarity, and informative answers will be sure to close any deals.

Personalised

Not only do customer’s need clear answers as fast as you can give them, but they also want to feel like they’re valued within the larger set of customers that you cater to. They want to feel as if your business cares more about them than just the money they’re putting in. Knowing them well and reminding them of certain personal events will help them feel welcomed. Furthermore, there needs to be continuity in the communication, so that they don’t have to explain what they need everytime they speak to a different member of staff.

What To Look For in CRM Software

As with any technology solution, you want it to be able to do the heavy lifting for you, as opposed to having you continually figure it out. First and foremost, you need software that can organise your customers and leads efficiently. Having them in one place reduces the chance for human error, and helps hit the key points raised above in providing a good customer experience. The program should let you write down all the key information of each lead, leading to a more personalised response, as well as eliminating confusion and busywork by knowing where every customer is in the sales cycle. It should ideally also let you log calls or times of contact, and either set automatic follow up dates, or let you fill that in yourself so it can remind you when the time comes.

Secondly, it should let you track performance and sales. Like we mentioned when tracking your marketing, you should always be keeping an eye on what’s working and what’s not, and only then will you be able to determine whether your efforts are worth it or you should change something up. This is no different when handling customers and leads. Knowing which leads are being converted, and analysing the sales performance according to different methods should give you a better idea of what works.

Finally, as we mentioned before, your software should primarily be there to assist you, and do all the heavy lifting or busywork that no one wants to do. A good technology solution will allow you and your staff to provide a better customer service experience, as you can focus your efforts towards actually helping customers as opposed to trying to remember as much as you can about them in your head. Having a flexible and easily applicable software will remove as much human error from the process as possible.

Best Practices

Now with the help of an effective software, we return to those three important points, and how your CRM program can help.

Speed

As we mentioned, a good program should let you log calls or any other point of contact. It should also let you schedule when to follow up, or automatically generate a time for you to follow up. This clears up the entire process of doing this manually, and this way it will also be much harder to forget. As a result, customers and leads will never be left behind and their problems will be dealt with quickly.

Clarity

Not only will service be faster, but you can also ensure your customers get a consistent experience. Your CRM software might be able to load up sales scripts for your staff, and having different ones for different customers in the sales cycle will ensure that your service is consistent and rarely misses the mark.

Personalised

Arguably the biggest upside, having a software to keep all your customers and lead information in one place really lets you provide better customer service, where you can actually focus on their needs as opposed to trying to remember what they needed. Furthermore, continuity in sales will be much improved, with staff knowing exactly where the customer is in the sales cycle. A good program will help you provide better, and more efficient, service,

All in all, technology can always be a helping hand in your self-storage business, and not just in where you might think. Getting and using a good CRM software will not only make you and your staff’s lives easier, but also allow you to provide much more cohesive customer service more efficiently.

How Storeganise Can Help

Storeganise allows you to integrate with CRM systems, through services like Zapier and Segment. If you are looking to build custom integrations or do something different, Storeganise’s REST API is available for both admin app and user app allowing a tonne of flexibility. Super simple to use and fully documented.

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