How to remember to call an important (and not so) customer? Never

As the autopilot from the animated series Simpsons used to say: “In Soviet Russia, the road will turn you off!” And we say that we know such a thing, or rather several pieces, using which your phone will call your customers. If you never remember anything yourself.

The beginning of time

On Habrhabr, they wrote a lot about CRM systems and you probably know enough about them. For those who are not up to date - this is software that includes many functions, the overall goal of which is to make the company's database unified, automated and containing tools for working with this data, reflecting the state of affairs and tasks in real time.
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Such a system consists of different modules. It depends on the type of CRM and its version. There are generally free versions available, there are paid ones. The last differ in expanded functionality and opportunities.
From the user's point of view, the center of the system is information. Everything that should happen to the company - the appearance of leads, converting them into customers, conducting transactions, reminders about promotions and so on, is reflected in the system.
CRM thing you need. And those who value their time introduce it. The network is full of stories and calculations that prove not only the order that the system brings to the company, but also financial gain. The objectives pursued by CRM: optimization, control, analytics.
But we, of course, would like to talk about telephony, which integrates with CRM.
Integration of telephony with CRM allows you to get a visual display of all calls to the company. And those that were made, and those that need to be done.

In this case, the system differs from the virtual PBX in that it contains not only telephony management - call forwarding, voice menu, call recording, etc., but also a list of contacts, all information about them. About when, how and by whom the call was made, what the client answered at the end of the conversation, when he needed to call back, where the client came from (through what channels he decided to contact your company) who in your company is responsible for negotiating and calling to this man.
Why is all this necessary? It’s pretty easy for us to imagine how the entire office, the employees, are looking for the phone number of the sick employee’s client (for example, a sales manager). When the patient, with a temperature, he calls the office and of the last forces of the Snuffle into the phone: “Call my client, Mikhail N, he must sign an agreement to lift the treasure from the sunken ship, my phone is recorded on a sticker and glued to the monitor, well, red such a piece of paper ... How not? Maybe fell off ?! Look under the table? And the cleaning lady has already been cleaned today? .. ”And then all the staff understand that if they don’t find the coveted red sticker with Michael N’s number, then some of the treasures will no longer shine with them ... You probably know people who have certain aspects of the work process So. How can this be characterized? If capacious, the "mess". There are companies where they can afford it, and there are those in which it is unacceptable.
There can be infinitely many reasons: a business is a system consisting of elements, and sales are built from transactions with customers, like from bricks. No deal, no brick. The more you lose customers, the harder it is to build a business.



Compare?

Without CRM with integrated telephony.

What could be the moments if the manager records the client’s phone manually? We will assume that they write to a certain database, and duplicate it in their notebook or diary.

1. He may be wrong in the figure. All write: "gone."
2. He can write it down “for himself”, “for himself”. And the boss won't even know that there was such a client.
3. Each employee over time develops their own system of relationships with the client. Someone thinks that you need to call back in a day, and someone that in a week. All work differently. Therefore, when see next item
4. The manager may get sick or go on maternity leave. There will be confusion. What happens while he is ill? He is replaced by other employees. Usually you have to parse someone else's records.
5. The manager may resign. There is generally a very acute case. After all, the clients that he has accumulated during his work in the company, their contacts in a good way are the property of the company. But what if the manager led them on his laptop, which he would take with him, just like a notebook, etc.?
6. Any resource has a limit. How many numbers can the manager bring to the database per day?

With telephony integrated with CRM:

1. The system will not be mistaken when fixing the number.
2. No customer who calls the company, will not hide from the eyes of the chief.
3. Large companies can develop a standard of work with the client and implement it. Those. optimal time to work with the client, the deadline for execution of the application, etc.
4. If the manager fell ill, disappeared, went on maternity leave, went to the North Pole, went to the monks of Shaolin, it does not matter. His clients with clear tasks can simply get another artist in the company.
5. If the manager left the employer with his laptop and database on it, then you should have thought earlier! But, let's say, there was nothing secret about it, the light version: the company was selling photographs of hares and squirrels. If he left, that’s what he needed, but he didn’t take with him a piece of the clients he served. They remained in the system, but for a careless employee, access to it can be quickly and covered
6. In the competition on the speed of data entry between man and machine, we believe, it is not necessary to announce a driver. There are companies where everything is put on stream and automated, there is no way to cope without machines and programs.

How does telephony integrate with CRM?
Of course API. It is a tool that allows you to integrate programs and services. For example, to receive conversion statistics from the site, to be able to send e-mail notifications, to systematize information from databases, the CRM system will need to be integrated with the site, mail, SMS sending services, IP telephony, etc.
Telephony integrated with the system can initiate calls itself. The call can be made either from the browser, mainly with the help of services and applications.

You can also call from the virtual PBX, which the company uses. CRM are those that need to be installed on a computer and those that can be used online, gaining access to the service.

In fact, when deciding to implement CRM integrated with telephony into the work of a firm, office, or enterprise, you will receive a virtual secretary for everyone, who will always be in the know.



For some, this material will seem obvious and your telephony is already connected with the CRM system, but our experience in communicating with our potential clients shows that this article will be useful to many;)