On Customer Relationships: More Than Notecards

Today’s CRM systems help provide better customer service.

BY JAY KLOS

Published in the March 2014 issue.

CRM stands for customer relationship
management, which in simple terms is the
collection of customer information that assists
in closing more sales.

You might already have a semblance of CRM
in your business: perhaps a client book or card
file, or maybe you use Excel spreadsheets to
organize data. But today’s CRM systems are
much more than that.

In today’s fast-paced market, a store owner’s
daily responsibilities can become a lengthy
to-do list, and without proper organization
basic tasks can become unmanageable. A CRM
system can relieve some of the stress, allowing
an owner instant access to exactly what each
team member is working on at any moment
without always being physically present.

A cloud-based CRM system allows owners,
managers and sales staff the ability to locate
customer information instantly and focuses
time on engaging clients rather than letting
sales and information fall through the cracks.

A CRM system provides information
instantly, which means no more stacks of client
cards lost on a desk, mistakenly thrown
away or taken home with a sales associate. The
information leaves a digital copy of client information
accessible for years to come, potentially
providing sales associates the ability to close an
engagement ring sale that they worked on for
over a year! That information and level of service
equals more money in my pocket, so now
you’re talking my language!

An effective CRM system will organize sales
staff opportunities while providing management
crucial insight into the workflow and
daily patterns of the sales staff. I once asked a
management group of more than 100 different
jewelry firms if anyone could tell me what their
sales associates were working on, and only one
firm said it could. Of course, the firm had an
effective CRM system in place.

There are numerous systems out there
claiming to be the most effective, so make sure
you do proper research to choose the right fit.
The daily ease of use, coupled with the training
provided should be thoroughly considered.
Ensure that you are selecting the right CRM
for your daily workflow and operational needs.
For example, if you own a small store with a few
employees, a corporate-style CRM with largescale
reporting and team management features
wouldn’t provide you with the right information
for daily use.

Take time to consider the technical level
of your sales staff, as well as the initial training
the CRM company provides. If your sales
staff isn’t tech-savvy, adopting a CRM system
that requires an extensive technical background
could frustrate and hinder the staff
from accomplishing their tasks, causing them
not to use a system you paid a lot of money for.

A CRM system can only be as effective as the
quality of information and the time that is put
in it. As retailers, we train our sales staff to document
the client’s name, address, phone number,
email and finger size, but we easily forget
the crucial information (birthdays, anniversaries,
likes, dislikes) that helps provide an exceptional
customer service experience beyond an
average retailer.

A memorable customer experience
is one in which the sales
associate knows where her clients
vacationed, their kids’ names,
what type of wine they drink, personal
style likes, and so on.

We strive to make our customers feel like
family in our store, and what better way to
achieve this than by using a tool that allows us
to remember all the extra details about them?

We can’t afford not to have a CRM system in
place. It’s one of the best tools you can have to
give your customer the best buying experience
possible and to help your associates close sales.

Jay Klos is president of Grogan Jewelers in Florence, AL,
and founder of Diamond Relations, a customer relationship
management system geared toward jewelers.