Social media and CRM -- The marketing perspective

The concept of CRM has changed overtime and with new technologies emerging the domain is expanding faster than ever. CRM has always promised and delivered the vision of managing customer interactions at the right time, at the right place and in the right style, to maximize value for both the company and the customer.
In terms of the company, no matter the size of the organization, you need loyal customers, customers who will keep coming back to you. The business goals and challenges of organizations remain the same today as they were quite some years ago. CRM is a major point of focus for business executives, with the goal of acquiring, developing and retaining customers in a profitable manner. For a top up, its not just about the customer, its also about the cost of lead acquisition.
Every company in the current times has a major focus in lowering down the cost of lead generation and sales. The process has become quality and not quantity driven, its no more about the number of leads you generate, but the quality, which also associates with it, the need for optimizing the lead management process.
With the marketplace becoming more and more consumer driven and consumers actively seeking out like minded individuals to connect with, felicitated by social media, businesses have to engage with the emerging consumer segments. The consumer is no more in isolation. There are THREE major ways in which Social Media is impacting the CRM need, evolution and hence positioning in the market, creating unified customer experiences.
1. Being in the listening
Enterprises today have to be in the listening of the prospect who is talking about them on the internet. Word of mouth has taken an entirely different shape, to which the business has to listen to. If your CRM solution can provide you the access to the key social media channels where you can connect with your target consumer segment and key into the right details, your sales cycle time reduces and your cost of converting the lead to a customer does as well.
2. Responding
Since the CRM system has one level of information already about the customer and social media gives a deeper level to it. You can now see what the customer is talking about you and which all platforms is he available at, hence you know what messages to push across and affect the consumer sales cycle. This involves leveraging social networks for customer service and gain real time feedback.
3. Customer profiles
To refine your target prospect (reducing your sales cycle) you have the access to the profiles of the customer. Your CRM application filters out the relevant pieces of information for your use which helps you better understand and define your target market, to position your services/ product to.

These capabilities are major game changers in the CRM domain and are defining the next generation CRM applications, which allow your sales/ marketing team to create opportunities with your customer like never before.

Talking about CRM solutions, there is variety of CRM solutions available at market but choosing a right one CRM Solution which suits to your industry specific need is very complex.

By Keeping all these factors in mind SageIndia has offered one such solution for user by introducing its new CRM Software solution for SME Enterprises & Large scale enterprises - http://www.sagesoftware.co.in/Customer-Relationship-Management-Crm-ERP-Payroll-Software-Company-India-Customer-Relationship-Management.aspx

Research Conducted by eminent Industrial Organization has proved that. Visit - http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/02/21/229516/endoscope-firm-integrates-erp-and-crm-to-boost-efficiency.htm for more info.
Thus choosing a right one solution is not too difficult but needs to be right guidance.
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