.jpg)
Customer relationship management (CRM) is software for managing all your company’s relationships and interactions with existing and potential customers to improve business relationships to grow your business. This encompasses all tools, skillsets, and tricks you use to keep customers.
Good customer relationship management encourages brands to keep linked to their existing and latent customers, builds faithfulness, crafts customer relationships, and maintains joint customer service, increasing sales and productivity.
CRM supports small and medium enterprises in very many ways, for example, managing operational challenges. Some case studies have shown that SMEs that use CRM have seen an increment in their sales by 29%.(convergeHub). Small businesses should grow to start investing in areas that give back quick and significant returns; using CRM brings back your investment return so fast that this is a good deal for any small business owner.
What Is A CRM Audit?
A CRM audit is a chance to review how you use the CRM system for automation and managing clients. A CRM audit helps get the best out of the CRM by reducing gaps in data and eliminating processes that waste time.
The CRM audit team usually considers the CRM system, flaws in the CRM system usage and issues in the CRM sales process when auditing. A CRM audit is intended to boost client satisfaction and sales.
A CRM audit gives a clear understanding of the variables in your CRM model. In addition, CRM audit evidence provides crystal clear evidence of the business processes. This helps business owners to make informed decisions regarding investment and the sales process.
Key performance indicators Of A CRM Audit
Frequency of client information updates
Market share, by portfolio
Average years of Relationship with customers
Clients in the CRM program
The average lead closure rate
Client satisfaction
Sales achieved due to CRM
Clients by portfolio
A CRM audit has models it follows through the sales process, such as; the Bow-Tie model developed as a cause and effect model for sales and marketing.
CRM Audit must-have techniques
Interviewing
Yourself as a client
Shadowing
Quality monitoring
Document review
Customer satisfaction assessment
An efficient CRM audit is essential for the growth of the business. Because a CRM audit is a valuable process that helps companies understand the performance of marketing and sales departments. A CRM audit enables you to review and understand the efficiency of your CRM system. CRM audits vary in scope and depth.
Areas A CRM Audit Should Address
1. Effectiveness audit
Effectiveness audit concludes the overall performance of CRM. Effectiveness audit includes reviewing reasons for implementing CRM.
2. Data audit
This majorly concentrates on data accuracy. The Data audit assesses data quality, depth and accuracy. The data audit also considers data accuracy over time, bearing in mind the rate of data decay.
3. Fit for purpose audit
Fit for purpose looks at how the CRM configuration meets business needs
4. Usage audit
The usage audit looks at how regularly sales teams use CRM.
Processes to consider during a CRM audit
Reporting - looks at how the reporting system gives valuable data.
Project management - looks at happening improvements or quality of periodic reviews.
Governance - ensures that the CRM full fills GDPR regulatory obligations.
Gaps - handles valuable additions to the system that CRM doesn't regulate.
Business metrics - this reviews metrics that relate to usage
Utility - checks vital data in the CRM to be highlighted and its importance reiterated.
Employee satisfaction - looks at how happy workers are with the CRM system and the rate of utilization.
Data assessment - looks at data processing and data quality.
Review plans - look at original reasons for the implementation of CRM and critical metrics data vital for evaluating the efficiency of the CRM.
Results - looks at the impact of CRM on the top-line business results such as sales and customer churn.
Eight-Step Guide On How To Perform A CRM Audit
1. Implementation documentation
This step includes maintaining the required documents for your CRM. The document usually outlines what the CRM has to help the business achieve, including details on features. The benefits of the CRM are given much appreciation and value as compared to features.
Checking out CRM implementation documents helps you know if the CRM is achieving its purpose.
2. Data assessment
Data assessment considers two key benefits that are; data quality and regulatory requirements. The regulatory aspect aids the business meet local regulatory standards. The data quality aspect checks to ensure that data is of high quality and value to the business.
3. Usage review
The usage review checks how well employees, primarily sales representatives, are utilizing the CRMs. The usage review tackles more about people using CRM, its consistency, and its usage quality. Usage review helps to boost engagement with the system and the rate of usage.
4. Observations
The observation step involves watching people use the system and discussing with them to assess their user experience. First, observation includes processes like interviewing, that is, asking several follow-up questions. Next, there is shadowing, where people are watched go about their jobs and then monitor how the CRM system supports their day-to-day activities. And lastly, there is a survey that includes getting many responses from several interviews. Finally, a comprehensive data set helps cut through a few employees with powerful suggestions to get a company’s comprehensive view.
5. Integrations
Given that most CRM software systems integrate with other tools and applications, testing integrations is necessary and has to be part of the audit. CRM Integrations are tested to prove whether they are working or not. This helps to figure out where there is a need for improvement.
6. Reporting
The reporting process covers internal dashboards for users and long reports that managers review. The reporting audit considers if reports are working at a technical level and if driving decisions and activities that are of great importance to organizations at a business level. The reports are used to make informed decisions in a manner that helps the business meet its intended objectives.
7. Regulatory requirements
General Data Protection Regulation is very important for all businesses, especially those collecting client information. Therefore the regulatory requirements monitor to see if data supports compliance with the regulations. In addition, the Anti-money laundering regulations and sanction requirements expect companies to secure client data and any other information safely. The audit also monitors if the processes set up in CRM support the business to meet its compliance requirements.
8. Recommendations
Recommendations are made at the end of the auditing process by the auditing team. The auditing team assesses the CRM and recommends ways through which CRM can be improved. Recommendations are usually different; some offers could be about upgrading the integration system, decreasing the number of reporting models and many others. The other requests could be about making long-term suggestions with long-term plans.