Still not sold? Take a look at a few additional reasons why a cloud-based POS system far surpasses the capabilities of its predecessor:

Read more: 5 Retail POS Systems with CRM Features

1. Access Your Data from Any Location

You’re on vacation, and you want to see how store sales are doing in your absence. With a legacy cash register, this isn’t possible. But with a cloud-based POS system, as long as you have a WiFi connection, you can log in to your account and access your data any time. This is an essential capability that should be expected from any quality POS system. You can stay connected with your business 24/7 without feeling tied to the actual store. 

2. Built-in Sales Reporting

“Tuesday seemed busy, Wednesday was a little slower, then there was that big rush on Friday afternoon. Do the shelves look empty to you?”

When you adopt a cloud-based POS system, you’ll have the ability to track all of your sales data, as well as review sales history, in real time. You can see which items are consistently popular with your customers and when sales peak during the year or specific times of day. Anticipating how many of each product you sell will make inventory planning significantly easier.

Read more: Best Cash Registers for Small Businesses

3. Access to Customer History

Customer Jane walks into your store. She’s come in twice a month for the past five years. You appreciate her business and know her name, but with your revolving door of regulars, it can be hard to remember past purchases. This is another way cloud-based POS outranks the traditional cash register.

Next time Jane strolls into your store, you don’t have to rack your brain to remember her purchase history. Instead, simply pull up her account on your iPad. If you know what Jane likes and has purchased repeatedly, you can offer suggestions for new items to try and make her experience more positive. Improving your upselling efforts through customer history can improve your overall profitability as a business. 

4. Streamlined Inventory

You’ve hopefully already moved beyond keeping track of your inventory on pen and paper, but your old school register certainly isn’t helping when it comes to inventory management. If being understocked or overstocked on specific items in your store is a recurring theme, it may be time to kick your register to the curb.

Managing inventory can be incredibly time-consuming, especially if you haven’t automated your store’s processes and are still working from Excel spreadsheets. Adopting a POS system, however, can significantly decrease the time it takes to complete your inventory management. Instead of conducting counts manually, you can use a portable scanner to streamline the process, and items will automatically update with each purchase. Once you automate this process, you’ll never have to second guess what stock you have on hand. Simply log into your system, view your items, and decide what to reorder. You can also set up triggers to alert you when inventory for specific items runs low.

Read more: Best Restaurant POS Systems

5. Increased Customer Engagement

All small businesses know that if you want to be successful against the big box stores and online retailers, you need to take customer engagement seriously. How is a legacy system cash register going to help you do that? It won’t. It’s just another area where traditional cash registers fall short, stacked up against cloud systems. The lifeblood of your small business is understanding what your customers want and figuring out how to deliver. It’s also about staying in touch long after the initial sale. Email marketing is one of the best and most efficient ways to do this.

Most modern POS systems let you not only track customer history, but also collect emails at the moment of purchase. Capturing this data and integrating your system with an email marketing program, means you can send engaging campaigns to past customers and stay in touch long after your initial touch point. Use this email marketing capability to send out weekly emails with updates, promotions, and discounts. When was the last time a cash register could help you do all of that?

The benefits of migrating to a cloud-based POS system are numerous and far-reaching. These are just a few. Do your research, talk to your neighbors, then choose a system that makes the most sense for your small business.

As Managing Editor at ShopKeep, a top-rated iPad POS System, Sara Sugar uses her distinguished journalism background to boil down small business and point-of-sale topics.

The post 5 Ways Cloud-Based POS Systems Beat Cash Registers by a Mile appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

“Many business professionals today understand that they need to be doing this. They just don’t know what it means, because … it is a somewhat esoteric or abstract notion: storytelling.”

Storytelling in business is often regarded as a buzzword, but it’s far from it. Storytelling in business is just like storytelling in film, theatre, literature, and communication — it’s an integral part of our lives. Stories have meaning beside simple entertainment value. Stories connect people with other people, businesses, brands, products, and their dreams. And businesses cannot succeed without this connection.

From pitching to product development to marketing to culture and talent, storytelling takes place everywhere. To pitch an idea you need to tell a story of the problem you’re solving. To develop a product you need more than a solution to a problem, but to create a world where this product exists. Few are converted by simple facts and figures. To create a successful marketing campaign and branding you need a cohesive story of the brand with a company vision that spans all channels and campaigns. To attract and keep the best talent, and to manage those employees to success, you need to create a culture to motivate them and make sure everyone is on the same page. And what is the answer to it all? Storytelling.

Why storytelling?

Storytelling has always been an integral part of our lives. But stories are more than just entertainment. Starting back in the ancient times, people have used stories to communicate, learn, and connect with each other. Stories allow people to share knowledge and emotions, identify truths, find themselves and their place in communities, and make sense of the world they live in. And thus people are conditioned to look for stories in order to make decisions — in order to find value.

For example, when you contemplate buying a smartphone, you look at reviews, because reviews are stories. They are not just facts about features. They are stories about the experience of people who’ve used that smartphone.

And when it comes to businesses, it is the same story. When people think of a business, they are trying to identify reasons why they should interact with this business, regardless of the form this interactions takes place in. Thus to identify these reasons, people look for stories. Stories that will answer the most important question — why should they care.

And thus the challenge of each business is to use storytelling in order to answer the most basic question for any product: why should people care — why should their customers, employees, or investors care. Too often businesses focus on the product, the idea, or the business, but the focus should be on the people instead. And stories do exactly that.

Business Development

When there’s an idea there’s a story. Thus when developing a new product or growing your business to the next level, executives must use storytelling to be as effective as possible. This can come as a surprise to many — what does storytelling have to do with product development?

When thinking about developing a new product, entering a new market, scaling, building relationships with investors, or deciding on a new course for the company, many would make a mistake of thinking of these things in black and white. Simplicity is good, but business development requires more than problem-answer approach. And since “Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships,” businesses need to show the value that they will create for customers, markets, and all stakeholders in exchange.

That exact value is created through storytelling. The story of value places around the relevant parties in the world, where your business or product/service will revolutionize their world and their lives. If you are thinking of entering a new market, think how the product will change specific aspects of the customer’s life. If you are developing a new product, think beyond just having features that solve an issue to how it adds value to people’s lives. If you are building relationships, whether with investors or partners, think how you will positively affect them beyond earning them money. Your strategy — your story — needs to pack a punch and make people go ‘WOW’.

Marketing and Advertising

Your story needs to carry over to your marketing strategy. Storytelling in marketing is discussed by many more often than in other parts of business. After all, marketing is storytelling, or at least it should be.

Yet, a lot of businesses, especially small businesses, fail to integrate storytelling in their marketing campaigns. People want to connect with businesses, with brands. Thus advertising needs to be more than just cheap tactics such as flashy pictures, humour, sex appeal, and a lot of graphics. People choose simple story-based ads over expensive action-driven ads over and over again because those exact ads, or rather, those exact stories, make people feel, make people relate, make people care. And it goes beyond advertising.

To drive conversions you need a good branding campaign, and a good branding campaign needs transparency. Tell people what your business’s struggle was. And then, tell them how you pulled through. That is a story right in front of you: protagonist (you, your business) is on the journey only to face a challenge that needs overcoming. Create this story, and people will start caring about you and, in turn, about your product or service.

But it doesn’t stop at just creating a story. You need to keep it consistent across all channels: ads, social media, content, vision, website, design, PR, product, and most importantly, your employees. This story with its unique vision needs to be everywhere.

Corporate Efficiency

Employees are the brain and the heart of the business. The success of the business is dependent on the quality of its talent. And storytelling helps you nurture that talent.

In fact, stories are needed for a successful corporate culture because if done right, corporate storytelling will increase employee performance. But what exactly does it mean to use storytelling for engaging employees?

Employees are people too. Like anybody else, employees need motivation. What’s better motivation than believing in something — believing in the company you are working for. The story, the company story with its mission and vision, needs to resonate with employees. Top talent is not attracted by just high salary, perks, and free snacks in cafeteria.

Talent is attracted to the company as an entity — with its history, values, and mission. And what better way to share that than through stories: the ultimate medium for communication.
And it goes beyond simply having a successful vision. The success of storytelling cultures in the companies Southwest Airlines, KPMG, and Apple shows that making your employees a part of the company’s broader story and training your stuff through storytelling increases productivity and the quality of their work.

Go and share stories with your employees and, most importantly, let your employees share stories. Let them be an integral part of your company.

Stories are everywhere, even if we don’t notice it. To succeed in the business world in the age where everyone can be an entrepreneur, it’s not enough to simply have a product or a service that solves an issue. It’s never been as important to be creative as it is now. Fortunately, there are a variety of automation solutions — such as amoCRM, automated sales solution — that let your imagination loose and create the story your business deserves. And don’t be afraid. After all, “We are all storytellers” – Jimmy Neil Smith.

David Beriev is a marketing specialist at amoCRM. amoCRM is an easy-to-use, yet powerful CRM solution for teams who make data-driven decisions and love their customers. David is passionate about helping businesses gain competitive advantage through innovation and creativity.

The post The Importance of Storytelling in Growing Your Business appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

• What pay is fair for new employees
• What communication strategies you can establish to ensure everyone is on the same page
• How to terminate employees who might not be working out

HR & Payroll Experts

Best Payroll Software for Startups

• Gusto
• QuickBooks
• Patriot

A Recruitment Strategy

Best Recruiting Software for Startups

• Workable
• BambooHR
• Breezy HR

An Employee Handbook

• How much notice do employees need to give before asking for time off?
• How is overtime calculated and allocated?
• Is there a dress code?
• How will the company handle issues of harassment and discrimination?

Track Time and Duties Assigned

Best Time Tracking Software for Startups

• Mitrefinch
• Buddy Punch
• When I Work

Create a Strategy for Learning and Development

Best Learning Management Systems for Startups

• TalentLMS
• ProProfs
• Bridge

Protocol for Performance Reviews

• How often should they occur?
• What should managers be on the lookout for?
• Should it be 360, pulse surveys, quarterly reviews, or does another format work for the team?

Best Performance Management Software for Startups

• Cornerstone
• Engagedly
• ClearCompany

Do Startups Need HR?

Top Human Resources Software Recommendations

The post Bare Bones HR: What Every Startup Needs appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

1. Make Transparency Company Policy

2. More “Talking Up,” Less Talking Down

3. Unlock Employee Devices with a BYOD Policy

4. Walk the Talk, HP-style

“People there felt their work and opinions were valued, and they took pride in that. We all want to feel genuinely a part of something larger than ourselves, and when we do, we are loyal and eager to go the extra mile. Unlike many C-level people who insulate themselves from low-level workers, Dave and Bill weren’t absent from their employees’ daily lives.”

* * *

Top Human Resources Software Recommendations

The post 4 Brilliant Ways HR Managers Can Solve Internal Communication Problems appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

The customer relationship management (CRM) market continues to boom and is projected to be worth $44.9 billion this year (measured by revenue). CRM technology has been around for nearly 40 years in some form, but CRM trends continue to evolve. 

As my company was one of the first CRM, sales and marketing automation solutions on the scene back in 2001, I’ve seen a lot of changes, but one thing is the same: the value of any CRM is in how you use it to communicate in new ways with customers. 

Despite the fact that CRM and automation technology has been in the market for decades, many businesses at every size struggle with getting the most value out of their CRM investment. In 2022, we launched a survey of small businesses and learned that only a third are using automation, and most struggle to consistently market to their customers.

In the years ahead, I expect CRM to continue to be the main center of business operations, but expectations for the visibility of CRM data and sophisticated uses of it will increase. Here are five CRM technology trends I expect to see moving forward.

1. Unification of operations

For a while now, business leaders have been talking about busting through silos and creating more unified teams. While working to achieve internal alignment is often a goal, it’s hard to achieve without visibility into a unified single source of truth that is accessible to all teams.

For example, a CRM solution that also offers sales and marketing features can be a great deal if you’d previously been paying for three separate tools to handle the same tasks.

This trend will continue, as many managers and IT buyers have reached software (and budget) fatigue and want to pare down to what’s actually needed. Along the same lines, CRMs will be used by more departments, rather than just by customer success teams. Marketers, salespeople and managers can gain valuable insights from their systems.

2. Heavy reliance on automation

CRM systems might imply automation, but many only offer baseline automation options.

Teams will seek out software that can also handle things like advanced nurture sequences, personalization response triggers, and more. As they do, they’ll save time and be able to focus on more complex areas of the business—and the business will become more profitable in the process. 

3. Incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI)

AI technology is becoming prevalent in every industry. When it comes to the future of CRM, AI may play a more significant role than you’d expect.

Much of AI’s potential lies in its ability to continually refine itself. Think about how software solutions require talent and labor to remain precise and up-to-date. But when AI is integrated with a CRM, for instance, much of that burden is removed from the human workforce. AI transforms software into auto-correcting, self-updating systems that increase efficiency and accuracy, keeping businesses on top of their relationship management game.

4. Emphasis on self-service options

According to the Keap survey, more than 70% of small business owners try two to three software solutions before selecting one.

This is hardly surprising, given the way people have become accustomed to instant gratification and doing things on their own terms. It makes sense, then, that CRM solutions are going to be making more self-serve options available to users. 

Instead of having to wait to speak with sales to learn how to assemble a product, a customer can play with an interactive version online. Rather than going back and forth over email to schedule an appointment, customers can self-serve thanks to a company’s CRM system, choosing a mutually agreeable date and saving time in the process. You can expect to see a rise in such options, both in CRM systems and elsewhere.

5. Increasing hyper-personalization

Personalizing communications has become necessary, and it’s built on rich data, which a good CRM system should have.

Over time, you can deliver more tailored messages, relevant recommendations and enticing offers to your customer base as you learn to harness the data you have.

CRM technology may have been one of the first types of sales and marketing technologies on the market, but it’s progressed rapidly and richly to meet the needs of customers with high expectations. As the years progress, I expect that companies who most effectively harness and use that data in their CRMs will gain even stronger competitive advantage. 

Is there more you can do to deliver a great customer experience with your CRM? If so, 2023 is a great year to get started.

FAQs

What are the trends of Customer relationship Management software in 2023?

In 2023, CRM software trends include the integration of voice interfaces, advanced AI, IoT connectivity, mobile and social CRM, personalized customer experiences, self-service options, industry-specific solutions, and an increased focus on data, usability, and service-based models (XaaS)​​.

What new technology is being implemented in CRM in 2023?

CRM technologies are integrating new features such as artificial intelligence, social media channels, voice and conversational UI, automated processes, and IoT technologies, while also becoming more accessible to first-time users, offering a more comprehensive view of customers, and allowing businesses to consolidate their tech stacks​.

About the author

Clate Mask is the co-founder and CEO of Keap (formerly Infusionsoft), a sales and marketing automation software for small businesses. He is a national speaker on entrepreneurship and small business success, and co-author of the New York Times bestseller Conquer the Chaos: How to Grow a Successful Small Business Without Going Crazy.  Mask has a BA in Economics from Arizona State University, as well as an MBA and a JD from Brigham Young University.

The post The Future of CRM – Key Trends & Technology for 2024 appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

• Job boards
• Your current HR software
• Social media platforms
• Email and communication apps
• Your website

1. Job boards

2. HR software

3. Social media platforms

4. Email and other communication apps

5. Your website

Choosing the right integrations for your ATS

Top Applicant Tracking Software Recommendations

The post 5 Must-Have Integrations for Your ATS appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

That is why good project management strategies are so important for the success of any company. This is especially true at bigger organizations where keeping track of hundreds of people and projects is challenging. When companies are still using outdated tools and methods, it becomes even more difficult to control the chaos. When execution is slow and inefficient, it isn’t long before a competitor comes in to overtake you.

So how does your company get more done?

In this post, we’ll explore three strategies that innovative companies are using to streamline project management and stay ahead of the competition.

1. All things Agile

Agile methodologies have longed dominated software development teams. The sprint structure of Agile allows software development teams to be more adaptable and responsive to customer needs. Adaptability is critical in this rapidly changing market.

In this volatility, Agile methodologies, which emphasize flexibility and responsiveness, are more effective than traditional software development methods. And as company leaders saw the benefits, Agile has steadily moved into industries other than software development. That is exactly what happened at Navigating Cancer.

The marketing team at Navigating Cancer was struggling to manage priorities in their current system. Then they saw the how Agile was helping their development team. They starting implementing two-week sprints and saw a complete 180 in their ability to execute on strategic priorities.

So if you’re constantly running into changes in priorities, tasks, goals, and other areas, implement Agile in a way that fits your business and helps your team work more efficiently.

Read more: Trello vs. Jira: Top Agile Project Management Tool (2023)

2. Modern communication tools

With an increasingly global and remote workforce, it takes work to get everyone on the same page. That’s where the newest collaboration tools come in.

With a friendly interface and flexible structure, employees are rapidly adopting social collaboration tools, like Slack. These tools provide an easy way to directly communicate with colleagues or teams. Even better, they can reduce the need for complicated email chains and endless conference calls with efficient asynchronous collaboration.

However, the right tools are only one element to good communication strategy. You have to agree on basic standards for how you communicate, like uses of certain hashtags and @mentions to flag important items. Otherwise, it will quickly become hard to manage or understand.

Read more: SharePoint vs. OneDrive for Business—What’s the Difference?

3. Intraprenuership

Now more than ever, companies have been empowering employees to take ownership of their part of the business. Although not a formal project management strategy, it actually has a huge impact on how things get done in your organization.

If an employee sees an opportunity, at many companies, they can start their own team and pursue it with a great deal of autonomy. This allows companies to innovate quickly, increase employee satisfaction, and give employees an opportunity to have a real impact. It also makes the company more flexible and innovative by expanding the pool of thought leaders.

When they aren’t subject to so much bureaucracy, employees can more efficiently execute their plans. This is what happened several years ago to Healey Cypher, chief of staff for global product management at Ebay.

When eBay was only offering e-commerce services, Healey noticed that consumers were still buying 75% of their consumer purchases in store. He saw an opportunity for eBay to get involved in the retail market. He put together a team and created new interactive storefront where customers can see on sale items and purchase them right on their phones. This was so successful it eventually grew into a whole new division of the company.

Because Healey was given the autonomy to pursue this idea, he was able to execute it quickly and successfully.

Read more: Asana vs. Monday.com: Top Project Management Software in 2023

Be creative with project management

In this fast-paced market, it is more important than ever that you employ strategies that allow you to adapt and innovate quickly. Your company can’t succeed unless you effectively get things done.

There are many different methods and strategies for streamlining project management. These are just a few strategies that may work for your company.

The post 3 Key Project Management Strategies for Big Companies appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Construction project management software keeps important details and tasks organized in one place, so every project can move forward on time and on budget. They also help team members and stakeholders collaborate and communicate along the way.

Before you make a purchase, sit down with your buying group and decide what, exactly, you’re looking for in a solution. What kinds of construction projects do you handle, and what construction project management software features would help your teams work more efficiently?

If you’re considering investing in construction management software, you should look for a tool that offers the following essential features.

1. Estimating

In most cases, an estimating tool is the number one feature sought by general contractors looking for construction management software. That makes sense, considering that operating within a budget is one of the most important success factors of construction projects. At the same time, you want to make money and stay profitable.

Look for construction project management software that helps your construction managers deliver higher price bids and back them up with benchmarking and integrated scheduling. Gantt charts can also help you stay on budget with improved project planning. Some tools may even integrate with construction ERP software or construction accounting software, to provide more accurate estimates based on your outfit’s capabilities and timeline.

2. Project information modeling

Most projects in the construction industry are highly complex, involve numerous stakeholders, have hundreds of individual tasks, and span long periods of time. Over time, the data models and drawings associated with the project pile up. It’s important to have the ability to draw from this expanding repository of data at any point during the project lifecycle and find the insight you need.

Some vendors may also refer to project information modeling as “design data management.” Look for construction project management software features that help you easily share models and business information between operations, finance, and leadership, with built-in analytics and reporting. You’ll also need a document management feature to keep reports and relevant information in one place.

3. Cost management and accounting

Nearly every construction project management software will offer basic budgeting and benchmarking capabilities. However, a more robust cost management solution will include estimating and forecasting to give you an overall picture of each project’s financials.

When you can effectively track and manage these details, you minimize the chance of surprises. This is also a must-have feature if your construction company handles accounting in-house. Excel spreadsheets are great for tracking costs and payroll, but it’s not always easy to access important data from the field or share up-to-date files with other key decision-makers.

Most PM software for the construction industry includes accounting capabilities that let you track budgets, payroll, invoicing, and billing so you can see your cash flow at a glance, and the document management feature makes reports easy to access. Ideally, you’ll be able to select different forecast methods based on the type of item, using performance trends and goals stored in the same system.

4. Field Management

As job sites start to add up, it can be difficult for a project manager in the construction industry to oversee fieldwork at every location.

Look for construction project management software that offers field management and execution features to help the contractor foreman create and communicate daily project plans, keep in touch with crew members, assign tasks, improve scheduling, and capture the results of the workday at the end of each shift.

Some construction software can even help your construction business stay compliant by managing inspection forms and streamlining the process for equipment, safety, and quality inspections.

Also Read: How to Know if GPS Tracking is Right for Your Employees

5. Actionable data analytics

Most construction project management software will help you organize your workflow, keep track of client communications, and manage projects. But if you want the most bang for your buck, find construction software that contains a document management feature and will simplify reviewing data to improve your processes.

Some tools offer reporting features that will give you insight into your productivity and inventory management. You may be able to monitor resources and measure earned value by tracking processes on a cost and schedule basis.

This can help you increase productivity, improve performance and scheduling, and enable strategic insight. If you have a labor shortage (a serious problem for most construction projects), you can spot it faster and take action immediately. 

Best construction management software with these features

While knowing which features you need from construction management software is half the battle, it’s not always easy to tell which tools have those features. To make your search easier, each of the following construction project management software solutions includes the features we’ve listed above.

• BuilderTrend
• CoConstruct
• Penta Construction Management Software
• Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate
• CMiC
• Zoho Projects
• Contractors Software Group
• Microsoft Project

Manage your project more effectively

Choosing project management construction software is difficult, especially when there are so many options on the market. Large and small businesses have different needs, and not every construction management tool will work for both.

If you are searching for the best construction management software and you’re not sure these options are right for you, take a look at some of our favorite construction project management software.

Megan Pacella is a software writer specializing in project management, and sales. She has also written for USA Today, Bearings Guide, 10Best Nashville, and other publications.

The post Construction Management Software: 5 Features to Consider appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

As we all know, technology has drastically improved the way people do business. At the same time, it’s also evolving at a very quick pace — what may be considered a high-tech solution a few years ago is more than likely obsolete at this point. If not, there’s a very good chance it’s slower, and less intuitive than newer options.

If this sounds like a familiar scenario, it might be time to switch your CRM. While it can feel overwhelming to switch to another platform provider, not doing so for the sake of convenience and familiarity could end up costing you.

How do you know if you fall into this category? Let’s take a look at some of the most important indicators that it’s time to make a CRM switch: 

1. Your CRM doesn’t have software integration capabilities 

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Arguably the most important element of any CRM is its ability to integrate with third-party apps and other tools. That’s because every channel your customers use to view, interact with and review your company’s output is indispensable data sources. 

Your CRM platform should offer vast integrations that can provide a 360-degree view of your prospects and loyal customers.

CRM integration is one of the most valuable endeavors for the following reasons:

• Allows for cross-team communication: Integrating your CRM with your Marketing Automation platform lets your sales team see the steps the prospect took ahead of becoming a lead and lets your marketing team see what campaigns are producing opportunities that close. In addition, accounting software such as QuickBooks is a critical integration since access to financials is critical across an entire organization.
• Provides valuable insight: Integrating your CRM with tools such as email and social media provides unparalleled insight into how your team interacts with customers and what drives desirable outcomes.
• Increases productivity: When a CRM doesn’t have full integration capabilities, employees spend too much time toggling between the CRM and other tools. This type of menial work drains productivity — eliminating this will improve morale and boost output.
• Shows that you care: When your CRM is integrated with other tools in your business, it’s always up to date, which allows your team to appear to remember details about your prospects — a surefire way to show them that you care about them.
• Enables customer profiling and journey mapping: Integrations provide extensive insights into customer behavior, which you can use to develop highly targeted marketing campaigns and forecasts based on real-world information.

ALSO READ: CRM for Outlook: Integrate & Manage Customer Data

2. Your CRM provider didn’t provide comprehensive training

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While CRMs deliver the information your team needs to understand and sell to customers, this can only happen if they are adequately trained. Expecting your team to learn how to use a new system without proper and thorough onboarding is a mistake many operators make. This is probably why a reported one-third of all CRM’s projects fail.

It starts with selecting a CRM platform that provides a modern user interface and intuitive functionality platforms. Legacy CRMs like Salesforce rely on older user interfaces and are not designed for ease of use, which means you might be setting yourself up for failure, with odds stacked against you. 

Many companies adopting these systems spend several times the cost of the software on the service cost of administering the platform. Rather, opt for a vendor that offers an easy-to-use interface that works well on both desktop and mobile, and also offers comprehensive onboarding and ongoing support to get the most out of your CRM platform. 

You might be surprised by how many departments can benefit from a cutting-edge CRM. Sales, marketing, customer service, finance, project management, HR, analytics, and operations professionals can all benefit from using an integrated platform, but simply putting the system in front of them won’t help. 

To get the most from it, you need to inspire employee buy-in. Getting creative with your enablement, such as running contests, mixing up on-demand training vs. scheduled sessions, and giving real business scenarios helps users really get comfortable with using the platform themselves. 

Also, ensuring you have potential roadblocks figured out ahead of time, and that there is a decision-maker who is responsible for all questions and troubleshooting are good ways to ensure your employees are on board.

ALSO READ: Technology Adoption Curve: Guide to the Five Stages

3. You’re attempting to consolidate data from multiple channels

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If your CRM software doesn’t have a full integration functionality, pools of data will collect in each department, and employees will waste time finding information, managing multiple logins, and reaching out to colleagues with inquiries. 

The best platforms are ones that consolidate data from every app and software platform that your company uses so that they are in the best possible position to delight customers and help your company grow.

Examples of information you can consolidate using a CRM and an integration tool include:

• Email inboxes and sent boxes, voicemails 
• Customer support chats and tickets
• Deal tracking spreadsheets
• Proposals and invoices  
• Social media and website traffic 
• Direct mailing lists 
• Form submission histories 
• SMS and IM conversations
• Shared documents

4. You have insufficient CRM automation

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Many legacy system users are disappointed by how much manual input is still required after implementing a CRM. The best CRM providers know that many users prioritize automating repetitive but critical tasks. As such, new platforms automate wherever possible.

The workflow automation capabilities of top CRM platforms are practically limitless, but an automated CRM’s five main functions should include:

• Contact management: Contact data includes name, phone number, email address, designation, and social media profiles. Automation ranges from employees accessing information to offer personalized responses, to automating field updates and emails when a certain record changes, an action happens, or a specific number of days have passed.   
• Lead management: Pipeline management, lead generation, lead tracking, lead scoring, and lead assignment are unnecessarily time-consuming and cumbersome when done manually. Taking these tasks away from salespeople means they can focus more attention and energy on building relationships and making sales.
• Reporting: Data-based decision-making is revolutionary for business owners and operators because it takes out the guesswork. Automatically generated reports that use real-time data can transform tasks, such as sales performance analysis, forecasting, and customer journey mapping.
• Integrations: As mentioned above, automated integrations mean your CRM can pull data from calendars, social media, email, and more.
• Document management: Selling to customers requires that you create tons of documents, such as invoices, contracts, quotes, and templates. Being able to store and access this information in a central hub makes life easier for your employees.

ALSO READ: Top CRM Automations for Business in 2023

5. There isn’t flexibility with your current CRM provider

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Another reason businesses have issues and decide to switch their CRM is because it isn’t customizable enough and can’t adapt to your company’s unique needs. Just as no two companies are the same, the same should be held true for a CRM platform.

In reference to the survey mentioned earlier, “difficulty customizing” is one of the top three complaints that most companies have with their CRM. Businesses will achieve greater cost savings in the long-term because having a flexible, customized CRM will allow for access to features the business actually needs.

If you switch to a CRM platform that checks all of the boxes above, you will be able to get the most out of your platform, which in turn will lead to long-term customer relationships and business growth.

Looking for the latest in CRM solutions? Check out our CRM Software Buyer’s Guide.

Anthony Smith is the founder and CEO of Insightly. Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, he’s a lifelong techie with a passion for all things startup and has dedicated his career to innovating the customer experience. When he realized that CRMs weren’t delivering on their promise to manage and grow lifelong customer relationships, he built Insightly to fill the gap.

The post 5 Signs It’s Time to Switch Your CRM appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

• Why gamification?
• Implementing gamification in the workplace
• Tools to make gamification easier
• How much gamification is enough?

Why gamification?

Hold the learner’s attention

Improve knowledge retention

Incorporates real-life problem solving

Presents a working environment with no risk

Provides automatic feedback

Implementing gamification in the workplace

Tools to make gamification easier

MySalesGame

Centrical

CRMGamified

How much gamification is enough?

Top Gamification Software Recommendations

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