Today’s business landscape is becoming increasingly complex and customer behavior is evolving rapidly.
Customers want more custom-tailored experiences than ever before, and as such, projects are now more multifaceted, involving multiple teams.
A robust CRM strategy has never been more important.
And the most agile companies that can innovate, consolidate, and adapt will be the ones that gain the advantage.
Elevating the customer experience is paramount.
Tightening up and simplifying business processes means everyone wins.
Providing positive customer relationships and maintaining productive project management practices should go hand in hand.
As such, considering the merits of a CRM project management solution is something any enterprise would be wise to do.
CRM project management essentially describes the functions and tasks that make customer relationship management run smoothly. CRM in itself involves the actual collecting of customer data and how a team uses it to nurture relationships. CRM project management touches on those in-between initiatives to take CRM to the next level.
Do CRM and project management work well together?
Many find that CRM project management software greatly enhances their productivity as it enables customer concerns to quickly translate into requests or tickets and directly into employee workflows.
as 42% of SMBs list customer relationship management as a top priority. Above all, managing customer expectations and swiftly addressing their concerns comes down to getting the right people involved. And doing this seamlessly means having a project management solution built on your CRM platform. With an integrated project management and CRM solution, you’ll be able to better serve customers and give those working to resolve their problems an in-depth look into their journey and specific concerns. Managing a relationship starts by understanding it, and that’s what a CRM provides.
a CRM is an essential part of the project management that sales, marketing, and customer service teams need to convert data into strategies that make an impact.
So we will talk about the most important benefits of CRM for project management:
- Create strategic alignment between PM teams, sales, and customer service
- Consolidation of processes
Consolidating processes translates to less clutter and more productivity. When employees can perform multiple tasks all in one place, less time is wasted switching programs. See customer activities while working on a project
- Execute projects as soon as sales occur
- Easier post-sale task management
Once a sale is closed, a client no longer interfaces with the sales team, but rather with other relevant teams and departments within your organization. A combined CRM and project management solution makes the transition from prospect to paying client seamless. A project management system built on a CRM platform allows teams to easily understand tasks and projects that relate to cultivating customer relationships. Workflows can be established and the client can be nurtured and given the service they deserve. It’s all possible with a CRM project management solution.
- Cross-department alignment
It’s much easier to align multiple departments around a customer’s needs if they have a clear picture of what those needs are. That’s what you get with a CRM project management solution. In the past, marketing might hear one message and sales another. However, when a clear view of the customer is readily available, there’s little room for misinterpretation of what needs to be done. The result is greater clarity and focus on the customer needs. Any investment you make to better serve your customers is a no-brainer. So it should be with CRM project management.
What makes a good CRM project management solution?
There’s nothing like having all of your customer and project data on a unified platform, not to mention it can help you avoid the need for potentially complicated integrations to fill in the gaps. Instead, you should shop for CRM with project management software that’s flexible, functional, and totally customizable.
- Customizability:
Your business has unique needs. As such, finding a CRM project management solution that’s customizable is key. At times, a one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t work for your particular organization. You want a solution that can be customized around your unique organizational structure.
- Flexibility:
A good CRM project management solution is flexible. It can accommodate your varying needs. The right system is agile, yet robust. Look for flexibility when you search for the right CRM project management platform for your business.
- Ease of use:
The project management features should be easy to use. Not only that, but they should also fit well with any existing processes you have in place. A solution that you can customize should help you maintain ease of use.
- Collaboration features:
It’s hard to manage projects without collaborating. A good project management solution will include features that make collaboration simple and seamless. Collaborating on solutions with the customer at the center is made easier with a CRM project management solution.
- Document management abilities
- A powerful project management solution will have the ability to create and share documents. Turning to another source for documents might sound more convenient, but having it all in one place can save time.