In this article, we will take a look at the ways in which businesses can implement CRM software to effectively manage their customer data and marketing communications. Specifically, we explore the areas of cross-selling, up-selling and lead management.

By focusing sales and marketing strategies on the specific needs of the customers, businesses can ensure that they deliver high levels of ROI. This, however, is often easier said than done, due to the fact that many organisations often struggle to tailor their campaigns to the specific needs of their customers. The reason for this is that, in many cases, they are unable to effectively organise their customer data resulting in communications which are not suitably targeted, meaning that their effectiveness is limited.

One way to avoid this is by utilising CRM software such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. This gives you the tools to successfully segment your data, which will enable you to deploy effective customer relations and marketing campaigns, by putting your products and services directly in front of the people who are most likely to need/want them.

Using personalised information, such as previous interaction, buying history and more, CRM software allows companies to determine customer preferences and potential needs. Companies can then customise offers to a specific customer group by looking in detail at this buying behaviour and other information. This can help your marketing department to identify potential targets for cross and up selling.

One of the most common complaints of sales staff is the difficulty they are faced with when capturing and tracking leads. Without, your sales team would have to enter information about potential prospects manually. This is a process, which is both time consuming and can lead to gaps in potentially vital customer knowledge.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 can help to automate this process, meaning that representatives can automatically capture names, addresses and other information about prospects and then store this data for easy retrieval and analysis. This automation increases data quality and saves time, which helps your sales team to focus on their core activities such as following up potential leads.

Genesis Communications have helped hundreds of businesses to improve and develop their sales and marketing efforts through the integration of hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4. To find out more about how they could help your business, visit: http://www.genesis.co.uk/crm4