7 Reasons why your B2B company needs a custom CRM system

The ultimate guide to leveraging custom CRM systems for B2B success.

According to Fortune Business Insights, the customer relationship management (CRM) market is expected to grow from $71 billion in 2023 to $157 billion by 2023. Such a shart rise redefines how businesses look at B2B CRM because the frontrunners will improve their sales process and find innovative ways to enhance customer relationships.

A robust CRM system is no longer a luxury but a necessity. A well-implemented CRM system can be the cornerstone of your business, providing a unified platform to improve your sales and marketing strategies, optimize your sales funnel, and deliver exceptional customer service. With advanced features like 360-degree customer view, workflow automation, multichannel outreach, and AI-driven analytics, a custom CRM system offers a comprehensive solution that can take your client relationships to the next level.

In this article, we’ll delve into the seven compelling reasons why your B2B company should invest in a custom CRM system, the key features to look for, and how to choose between custom and off-the-shelf solutions.

What is B2B CRM?

In a B2B context, CRM stands for business-to-business customer relationship management. Unlike B2C, which focuses on individual consumers, B2B CRM is designed to manage business relationships. The system comprises a suite of specialized tools, processes, and technologies to collect, store, and analyze data about your corporate clients. This data can include transaction history, communication records, and even social media activity.

This means your CRM in B2B can help you improve your customer relationships with the existing clients and attract new ones since it allows you to simultaneously complete tasks in several sales activity areas, namely sales activities like customer service, sales, inventory management, and marketing.

How does it work?

In a nutshell, B2B CRM is all about these aspects:

• Data Collection. The CRM system gathers data from multiple sources, including emails, social media, and customer interactions.
• Data Storage. All collected data is securely stored in a centralized database, ensuring easy access for authorized personnel.
• Data Analysis. Advanced reporting tools within the CRM analyze the data to provide actionable insights.
• Team Collaboration. Sales and customer service teams can access this data in real-time to understand customer behavior and needs.
• Customer Journey Mapping. The CRM helps plot the customer’s journey by identifying potential touchpoints for upselling or cross-selling.
• Automated Responses. The CRM can automate responses for routine queries or follow-ups, freeing up staff for more complex tasks.

Hence, your team collaboration, your staff, and your sales hub can use the data anytime to understand where the client is on the customer journey and what they need to reach the next stage. This is how you can guide your client through the customer journey to a sale.

Top six B2B CRM features

Every CRM system, especially those tailored to a particular customer’s needs, will provide different capabilities. Some will have more complex features, while others will have fewer or simpler ones. Overall, all B2B CRM systems share a list of similar elements for the business.

With this being said, the basic features you can find in a CRM system for a B2B company consist of the following.

1. 360 customer view

The system allows you to store all your contacts and customer information in one place. In such a way, you can track your interactions with each lead across all channels and throughout each stage of the customer journey. You eventually get a 360-degree view of every customer.

2. Customer journeys

The software contains easy and effective customer journey mapping and sales cycle management tools. A well-crafted customer lifecycle journey lets you plan your sales process step by step, including how and when you interact with prospective customers. You can make a visual sales pipeline and then track every step of your potential customer becoming a client or adjust the journey to reach your goal.

3. Multichannel outreach

To keep track of your marketing strategies with minimal effort, a CRM system provides you with tools for omnichannel marketing. This means you can set up all your marketing campaigns in one place and run, pause, and monitor their performance without leaving the system.

4. Analytics

Your CRM will be equipped with a report section where you and your sales and marketing plan and teams can compile reports based on the data stored in the system. This includes tracking various metrics and turning them into evaluative analytics in marketing, sales, and customer service. In such a way, you and the sales department can see how satisfactory your metrics are in each area and adjust them if needed to reach the desired outcomes.

5. Workflow automation

Automating your workflows is simple with a CRM system and results in more production with less effort. You get to automate the repetitive tasks in marketing and sales and automate repetitive tasks elsewhere, such as bulk email campaigns and follow-up reminders, so that they can be completed in the background while your team is handling more demanding jobs.

6. Opportunity scores

Based on the existing sales data, AI-driven marketing tools can predict the potential success of closing a deal with a particular contact or sales pipeline. This allows your team to effectively distribute the nurturing efforts and sales opportunities across various leads by focusing on prospective leads to maximize your sales rate.

A well-equipped CRM system should offer a blend of these features to cater to the diverse needs of a B2B business.

Why implement B2B CRM in the first place?

Integrating a CRM system gives your business many opportunities for efficiency, improvement, and growth. Let’s discuss the benefits a complete CRM platform brings to your business in the B2B market.

1. Data-driven decision-making for sales reps

When using a B2B CRM, you don’t have to make any predictions on what steps to take and actions to make as you work on increasing sales rates. You will have lots of data to get a complete image of a client’s journey and look for ways to meet their needs with your business. Based on the information you have stored in the system, you will be able to give precisely what they need to the clients, hence making wise use of your resources to get the desired outcome.

2. Improved visibility among sales teams

Your CRM will allow your sales reps and teams to access all data at once, staying up-to-date with each other on sales performance for every client. There won’t be any missed sales and marketing opportunities caused by poor synchronization because the information is updated in real-time for each sales team and the member involved. In addition, all can see and analyze the success of your employees’ performance to figure out how it can be improved.

3. Great customer service

Lead nurturing is huge in moving your contacts through the customer journey. You can manage leads and provide outstanding customer service with a CRM system. Since you have data on all clients, you can personalize their experience with you and make it engaging for them. This is especially important when attracting new clients to your business.

4. Effective data management

Of course, when you start your business, you can use off-the-shelf solutions like spreadsheets to manage the data on your clients and your interactions with them. But as your company grows, monitoring everything at once becomes unbearable. This is when a CRM system is essential, as it helps you keep everything on track with no extra effort, such as by setting up helpful notifications when your sales leads need to be followed up.

5. Timely & accurate communication with clients

When using a CRM system, you won’t face situations when your client receives wrong information in the quotes you send them. Your CRM will keep track of everything, including inventory and prices, so you can have everything up-to-date and pull up accurate information when you need to share it.

6. Simple marketing campaign setup and launch

With data on clients’ needs and preferences, you can create personalized ad campaigns that will reach the target audience, increasing your marketing strategy’s potential success. Your team and sales manager will also be able to mine contact data to spot prospective clients easily and work on converting them to leads with no extra effort.

7. Detailed analytics and reporting

Besides collecting data from email marketing platforms and storing it, your CRM will allow you to analyze it. You can track the performance of your ad campaigns with customer success software and get statistics on your clients and sales. Based on these, you can decide what areas need improvement and what changes you can make to increase sales.

The advantages of implementing a CRM system in a B2B setting are manifold. From data-driven decision-making to seamless team collaboration and exceptional customer service, a CRM system is the linchpin for business success. As your business scales, the CRM adapts, ensuring you’re always at the forefront of operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

B2B CRM software development

You can go different ways about your B2B CRM solution. Namely, you can either build a custom one or use off-the-shelf software. There are differences in what advantages you get with each, so it’s good to investigate your options in advance. Here are some details about each of the two.

Custom software solutions

Our team has extensive experience developing tailored CRM systems for clients in various industries and sectors, including business and business. We see the value of a custom solution over ready-to-use ones and believe these are the best CRM tools for B2B and provide significant opportunities to our clients.

At the same time, developing your solution will likely take longer than using an existing one. This is because it’s a complex process consisting of several steps:

1. Business goals evaluation and requirements identification
2. System design
3. CRM building and testing
4. Go-live
5. Employee training
6. Continuous maintenance support

While the timely development may look daunting, the outcomes imply a well-functioning solution that operates according to your business needs.

Choosing between a custom and off-the-shelf CRM solution is a critical decision that can significantly impact your business operations. While custom solutions offer greater flexibility and scalability, off-the-shelf products have advantages and limitations. Regardless of your choice, selecting a top CRM data and system that aligns with your business objectives and offers the features you need for long-term success is vital.

Off-the-shelf CRM software

Some popular ready-to-use solutions exist if you’re still hesitant about building your own CRM or want to try using a CRM for your business for the first time. These vary in features and prices, but you can find a suitable one.

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 will be suitable for your business regardless of size and provides features such as 360-degree customer view, customer journeys, multichannel outreach, workflow automation, and AI-driven analytics. For the B2B sector, you’ll need the Enterprise edition, the monthly price of which starts at $95 per user.

Salesforce

Salesforce software will also be great for all business sizes in the B2B market. For $25 per user per month, you’ll get customer journeys, multichannel outreach, analytics, reporting and sales forecasting, customizable dashboards, and contact management.

Zoho CRM

Zoho is best for SMEs and niche businesses in the business-to-business sector. With this CRM, you get essential features like lead generation opportunities, automatic lead scoring and management, multichannel outreach, workflow automation, and analytics. The monthly cost is $12 per user.

HubSpot

Another CRM system suitable for small businesses is HubSpot. With this one, you get email automation, reports, dashboards, notifications on leads’ actions, multichannel outreach, and customer journey and project management tools. The monthly cost starts at $40 per user.

How to use B2B CRM for customer business growth?

The three main areas where CRM helps boost your business processes via automation are marketing, sales, and your business customer relationship management and service. While these are crucial in all markets, the processes in these areas are longer in the B2B market when compared to B2C. Let’s discuss how CRM helps in each room in detail.

Step 1. Marketing

In the B2B sector, the quality of the leads means more than their number. The goal is to obtain clients with whom you will build strong, long-lasting business relationships. To do this, your marketing campaigns and sales processes should be personalized and targeted at a particular segment of prospective clients.

CRM helps to collect data on who your contacts are, what they need, and how to appeal to them with the most chances of attracting them. This can be achieved with targeted advertising, automated email campaigns, or other types of reaching out across various communication channels — all managed in your CRM. You will also have access to reports on how each marketing strategy has performed.

Step 2. Sales Process

After you have gained a lead, the CRM will store all the information on the contact for your convenience. This includes data on the prospective customer information, client’s needs, your interactions with them, meaningful milestones on their customer journey, and other contact details.

You can even set up notifications on your scheduled phone calls, meetings with the contact, deadlines on quotas, and other essential activities. In such a way, you and your team get a complete image of each lead, knowing the steps left to close the deal.

Step 3. Customer service and customer relationships

Instead of B2C, you can rely on something other than bulk campaigns and different widely used approaches to customer service in B2B. In B2B customer relations, it’s crucial to focus on long-term partnerships. This means prioritizing the loyalty and trust of both your existing and potential customer clients as your goals. Your CRM will help you achieve this with personalized customer service adjusted to each client individually.

The bottom line

Custom CRM systems are more than just a technological investment; they are a strategic asset that can propel your B2B company to new heights. With capabilities ranging from detailed analytics to customer journey mapping, a custom CRM system offers a holistic approach to managing and growing your customer relationships. Whether you’re a small startup or an established enterprise, the benefits of a well-implemented CRM system are undeniable. If you’re considering taking this transformative step, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team for a personalized quote and consultation. Your journey to unparalleled business growth starts here

Contact Avenga right away and find B2B CRM meeting your needs to the fullest.