Managing relationships with customers or potential customers is fundamental for a company aiming to achieve the best sales targets. One of the most useful tools to handle this need is certainly CRM software.

CRM Software (Customer Relationship Management) represents a set of practices, strategies, and technologies aimed at managing and analyzing customer interactions and behaviors in order to improve the relationship with the customer and foster loyalty, as well as increase sales. All of this is achieved by optimizing operational efficiency with tools that allow for automation and suggested tasks.

The goal is to centralize customer or potential customer information on a single platform to efficiently manage contacts, leads, opportunities, and sales pipelines.

Companies interested in this type of solution are extremely varied and span across different sectors and sizes.

Let's take a closer look at the features of CRM software.

First Contact

The first contact in a sales flow is a crucial moment in the customer acquisition process. This moment represents the first point of direct interaction between a sales agent and a potential customer.

The goals of the first contact are many: first of all, a company presentation will be necessary to establish a positive first impression; identify the needs and goals of the potential customer to offer relevant solutions; create curiosity and interest in the products or services offered; qualify the contact to determine if the potential customer is likely to become an actual customer; finally, plan a next action (a follow-up call, a product demonstration, or an in-person meeting, etc.).

All this information collected in a CRM system will be classified to better plan sales and marketing activities. The data will not only include demographic information but also custom profiling for business type. Here are some examples of data that can be recorded in the contact's profile: industry sector, preferences, geographic area, products of interest, etc.

Interactions

Sales interactions are fundamental for the success of any business activity. They refer to all communications and contacts between a seller and a potential customer during the sales process. Interactions can occur in various forms and channels, including: in-person meetings, phone calls, emails, online chats, and instant messaging, video conferences.

Tracking interactions linked to a contact or a sales opportunity becomes essential to keep track of actions taken and those to be taken in order to monitor the sales process, improve the relationship with the customer, and optimize the sales strategy.

Sales Opportunities

A sales opportunity is a situation where a company has the possibility to close a business transaction with a potential customer. This opportunity can manifest in different ways, such as when a customer expresses interest in a product or service, or when a seller identifies a potential customer who might be interested in what they offer.

To make the most of a sales opportunity, it is important for the company to understand the needs and desires of the customer, present a compelling proposal, and offer excellent customer service. Additionally, it is crucial to carefully manage the sales process, maintaining effective communication with the customer and addressing any objections or concerns that may arise during the purchasing process.

To manage the opportunity in an organized and controlled manner, it is necessary to define one or more sales processes (based on the type of opportunity). This process involves various stages with automatic tasks assigned to the seller responsible for the opportunity. With a well-defined process, it will be easier to standardize procedures and improve individual productivity.

Marketing Campaigns

Marketing campaigns are coordinated and strategic efforts designed to promote a product, service, or brand through various channels and communication techniques. Marketing campaigns are essential for the success of any brand. They require careful planning, a deep understanding of the target audience, and the effective use of various channels and techniques. With a well-defined strategy, marketing campaigns can generate significant results in terms of visibility, engagement, and sales.

With So Smart, and in particular by using the Relationship Management App and the Sales App, the process described above is fully covered with cutting-edge features.

In particular, thanks to the solutions proposed by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and more, our clients can easily manage the sales and marketing flow.

First of all, the initial contact is recorded in the contact list with precise profiling thanks to the profiling questionnaires that also provide integration with Microsoft Forms to avoid manual entries by having the customer fill in the data themselves, which will be automatically transferred to the CRM.

From the contact, one or more sales opportunities can then arise, with the assignment of the sales process and its stages along with the allocation of automatic or manual tasks to the responsible agent. Thanks to the sales cycles and their stages, the sales process is standardized and controlled. Finally, it will be possible to create quotes or sales orders automatically and declare the opportunities won or lost.

All sales activities concerning contacts or opportunities are tracked thanks to the interactions. Moreover, leveraging integration with Microsoft Outlook, it will be possible to send and subsequently view emails.

Finally, with So Smart it is possible to manage:

• Mailing groups to assign contacts to for targeted communications
• Contact segments to carry out commercial actions such as promoting a marketing campaign based on contact profiling, products already purchased (activities of cross-selling and up-selling), geographic area, industrial sector, etc.
• Marketing campaigns

Relationship management cannot be limited to daily operations but must provide useful data to make informed decisions. With So Smart, data is fundamental, which is why it provides a dashboard and detailed reports that allow the analysis of CRM activities and sales performance, monitoring key metrics such as the conversion rate of opportunities and the performance of marketing campaigns.

In summary, the relationship management module in Dynamics 365 Business Central with So Smart is a powerful tool to effectively manage customer interactions, improve the productivity of the sales and marketing team, and make data-driven decisions to drive business growth.