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Sage CRM is not just about tracking leads and closing sales. To be sure, that’s a big part of its value. But CRM is more than just a pipeline and order management tool. There are a host of other functions that make it an outstanding catalyst for growth:
Ø customer relation management
Ø email marketing campaigns
Ø technical knowledge-base for employees
Ø and lot more.
One feature that’s particularly effective at helping a company is the Web Self-Service module from Sage CRM, the developer of the SageCRM product line. This module acts as an online portal in SageCRM where a company allows its customers to request work, view order status, make payments, check on project developments and much more.
A customer of Mindover Software, Andrews Anchors, an oilfield services’ company based in West Texas, recently learned the benefit of having the SageCRM online portal. After a successful implementation of SageCRM, Andrews Anchors was selected by a large oilfield production company to inspect the quality of the anchors at over 800 oil rigs, which is an OSHA required inspection. Andrews found out that it won the new account over a competitor in part because of the CRM online portal it developed with the help of Mindover Software.
What does this brief story illustrate? One thing that comes to mind is that a company that invests in the right technology will have a measurable advantage over the competition. It’s not enough to invest in technology alone, however. Technology must help a company do something better than, or at least as well as, the competition. In the case of Andrews Anchors, the Web Self-Service module from Sage CRM gave their customer what they wanted: ease of doing business, speed and real-time reporting.
Another take-away from this story is how you can actually use technology to grow a business while at the same time reducing transaction costs. That’s not an easy task to accomplish, to be sure. Web Self Service for SageCRM may be one of the few technologies that can make it happen. Imagine providing your customers a way to submit new order requests, make payments online and view order status, all without picking up the phone or sending an email. It would certainly make their lives easier, wouldn’t it? Equally as important, though, it would save you time normally spent searching for answers and then following up by phone or in an email. Time and productivity killers for office staff and / or customer service representatives!
One tenet of business is that customers always like convenience. The more convenience you provide, the more customers want to use you. Some customers will make friendly referrals to friends or contacts who frequently complain about poor customer service elsewhere. The net result? More sales!
So you see, it is possible to grow your business while lowering costs at the same time. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to achieve great results when using the online portal available in SageCRM. You can be a rocket scientist, and have customers that buy rocket parts but make doing business with you so painful they abandon you for the competition. The key is to make it as easy as possible to buy from your company so they keep coming back for more. Making smart investments will accomplish that goal, and one of the smartest CRM investments I’ve seen in a long time is the Web Self Service module for SageCRM.
