Looking for a way to win more business and stand out from competitors? Chances are your existing IT tools can be tapped to help your company deliver greater ROI and better customer service. With a little hunting, most businesses can unearth new uses for technology, as well as IT features that are being underutilized. This is especially true for companies that run robust systems like ERP and CRM solutions.
Start with Research
Opportunities to extend the reach of in-house IT are often overlooked when systems are running smoothly. The mentality tends to be, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” So a good first step in stretching use of existing tools is to take an inventory of what you have and how it’s being used. Then schedule 15 minutes with the vendors of your solutions and your IT consultant. Share details on what the systems are used for and ask them about other capabilities that might benefit your business.
Put Your Customer Support on Steroids
One area that IT can often enhance is customer service. More tools exist than ever before to help automate and improve interactions with clients and prospects. For example, Data Balance uses Microsoft Dynamics CRM to automate tracking of customer support requests. It creates a record of each action taken, and updates the Data Balance team at every stage of the process. Clients receive automatic updates on work status and are immediately notified when the request has been filled. This underscores Data Balance’s commitment to responsive customer service without adding any time or effort to the customer service process.
Boost the Value of Your CRM Solution
If your company has a customer relationship management (CRM) solution in place, take time to integrate it with other technology your company uses. For example, if you send an email newsletter to customers regularly, you may be able to link it with your CRM tool to capture email open and click through rates automatically within customer records. Staff members can review these records before calling on customers to gain insight into the newsletter topics that interested them.
Conduct Grassroots Market Research
By combining the power of your client database and online survey tools like Survey Monkey, you can gain quick insights into customer satisfaction levels and needs. Export your contacts’ email addresses, load them into the online survey tool, and create 4 – 6 survey questions designed to help you understand why clients choose to work with you and what unmet needs they have. Include a request for a testimonial that you can use for marketing efforts.
Start a Two-Way Conversation
If you haven’t already, it’s time to tap social media technology to deepen your relationship with clients and prospects. You’ll need accounts on LinkedIn and Twitter at a minimum, and a strategy for ongoing communications. You can supplement this with blogging, video sharing, social bookmarking and a slew of other social technology tools. The goal is to reach out to your contacts frequently with information they care about and encourage them to share comments and questions. By doing this, you dramatically increase the likelihood that your company will be top-of-mind when they have a need for your products or services.
Do you have other ideas for leveraging IT to gain a competitive edge? Tell us about them.
No Responses to “5 Ways to Use IT to Beat the Competition”