CRM For Dummies

Introduction 1About This Book 1Icons Used in This Book 2Where to Go from Here 2Part 1: Laying the CRM Foundation 5Chapter 1: Embarking on Your Journey to Complete CRM 7Bringing the R in CRM to the Forefront 7Extending CRM to Your Entire Business 10Knowing the Buzzwords 11Using Strategies and Tactics 19Finding Your Success with Complete CRM 21Chapter 2: Gearing Up Internally for CRM 27Overcoming Resistance to Change 28Encouraging and Facilitating Innovation and Collaboration 33Creating a Consistent and Effective Brand Communication Strategy 38Working with the Gatekeepers in IT 40Adopting a Data-Driven Mindset 43Applying Your Culture to CRM 46Chapter 3: Choosing the Best Software 49Choosing between Software as a Service (SaaS) or On-Premise 50Evaluating Software Vendors 52Testing CRM Software 60Making the Final Decision 63Educating Users on Responsibility 64Installing the Right Data Security Tools 64Training Your Staff 65Part 2: Setting Up Yourself for Success 69Chapter 4: Organizing Your CRM through Segments and Personas 71Segmenting Your Market 72Identifying Buyer Personas 79Developing Your Best Brand 81Testing Your Brand 83Delivering the Right Content 86Avoiding Content Saturation 90Chapter 5: Creating Story Arcs and Buyer Journeys with CRM 93Building Brand Awareness 94Improving Brand Perception 96Making the Best Contact the First Time 99Qualifying Leads 101Getting Your Leads into Your Funnel 102Using Workflows to Engage with Your Customers 105Designing Workflows 109Closing Leads with Effective Process 113Using Opportunities versus Consumer Sales Funnels 116Implementing Process Abandonment 120Following Up after the Sale 123Chapter 6: Defining Process and Your Data Model 125Applying Management by Walking Around 126Outlining Key Areas 127Moving from Whiteboard to CRM 127Defining Contact Data Fields 130Scoring Your Leads and Clients 132Part 3: Implementing Your CRM 135Chapter 7: Setting Up Your CRM Elements 137Contact versus Account-Based CRM 137Defining Users and Their Roles 139Using a Group-Centric Architecture 140Setting Up Custom Data Fields 144Storing Files 146Signing Documents Automatically 148Bridging Your Online Store and Your CRM 149Integrating Billing, Quotes, and Invoices 151Connecting Legacy and Related Software 153Importing Leads by File 155Chapter 8: Capturing Leads to Build Your CRM Database 157Finding the Best Lead Capture Methods 158Buying Leads from Third Parties 162Bringing Leads in with Your Website 164Tracking Sources with Campaign IDs 168Deploying Signup Forms 170Deploying Ticketing Forms 172Appending Data 174Building Automation into Forms 177Chapter 9: Capturing Leads with Other Methods 181Interacting with Chat 182Interacting via SMS/MMS 184Interacting over the Phone 186Meeting over Web Conference 188Interacting over Social Media 189Meeting Leads in Real Life 190Integrating Inbound Leads through Zapier 193Chapter 10: Communicating Effectively with Email 195Avoiding Spam 196Adhering to Legal Requirements 199Employing SPF and DKIM 200Choosing the Right Email Service Provider 202Managing Your Lists 205Gathering New Leads 207Designing Emails That Work 209Tracking Email Marketing Campaigns 211Personalizing Your Messages 217Triggering Email from Actions 218Chapter 11: Joining the Marketing Automation Revolution 219Defining Automation 220Designing Your Campaigns 222Setting Up Triggers 226Encouraging Leads to Activate Triggers 227Automating Workflows around Lead Scoring 229Designing Workflows 230Chapter 12: Managing Your Knowledge Base in Your CRM 235Knowing What to Put in Your Knowledge Base 236Building Access Levels for Information 237Structuring Knowledge for Internal Consumption 239Sharing Knowledge with Leads and Clients 240Chapter 13: Managing Projects with Your CRM 241Setting Up a Project 242Leading Your Project Team 245Measuring Important Metrics for Your Team 247Tracking resource utilization 247Viewing overdue tasks 248Budgeting projects and tasks 248Chapter 14: Managing Events with Your CRM 249Bringing People to Your Brand 250Driving awareness with events 250Educating leads and clients through conferences 251Hosting Events 251Establishing benefits of membership 252Matching attendees by interests 253Setting Up Registration Options 253Determining what to ask for 254Using logic to show only relevant options 255Automating Responses and Follow-Ups 255Connecting with Calendars 256Part 4: Analytics and Improvement 257Chapter 15: Measuring Business Performance with CRM 259Constructing Funnels 260Tracking sales progress with conversions 260Defining the stages of a conversion 260Measuring time and dropout rates for each stage 261Activating workflows for stages 262Analyzing Website Visitors 263Measuring unique visitors and page views 263Tracking referral sources 265Measuring bounce rate 266Keeping a tally on devices that visit your website 267Watching where your visitors come from 267Measuring time on site 268Analyzing individual pages 268Comparing your website properties 269Comparing and contrasting campaign performance 271A/B Webpage Testing 272Setting up split percentages 272Determining the best criteria for a split 273Adjusting split percentages automatically 273Managing Affiliates 273Connecting campaigns to affiliate codes 274Defining tiers for payment 274Measuring Email Marketing 275Watching read and click rates over time 275Comparing performance to benchmarks 275Measuring conversions from email campaigns 276Tracking Social Media 277Measuring impressions and actions 277Calculating influence and lead qualification 279Taking a Global View 279Chapter 16: Gathering Feedback and Supporting Customers 281Sending Surveys 282Applying surveys to the right situations 282Developing the questions people answer 283Building logic into survey structure 283Scoring survey responses 284Triggering workflows from surveys 285Connecting survey responses to your CRM 285Supporting Clients with Ticketing Forms 286Posting forms on your website for customer service 286Automation with ticket forms 287Setting standards and goals for your support team 288Measuring important metrics 289Chatting with Leads and Clients 290Chapter 17: Using Analytics the Right Way 291Defining Your Key Performance Indicators 292Knowing what to measure and why 292Setting reasonable standards 294Reporting your KPIs 294Developing policies for exceeding standards or failing to meet them 295Sharing performance with investors and employees 295Analyzing Your Website Traffic 295Assessing SEO and PPC performance 296Comparing campaigns and their impact 296Scoring Your Leads and Clients 297Predictive Analytics 297Building a data model from behavior 298Applying your predictive model to leads 300Applying your predictive model to your business model 300Sharpening your team's skills 301Part 5: The Part of Tens 303Chapter 18: Ten Top-Notch Software Review Websites 305Expert Market 305G2 Crowd 306SaaSGenius 307GetApp 308Technology Advice 309Software Advice 309Capterra 310Finances Online 311TrustRadius 311Marketing Automation Club 312Chapter 19: Ten Common CRM Mistakes 313Not Getting Buy In from Your Team 313Believing CRM Is about Software 314Not Doing Your Homework First 314Not Listening to Expert Advice 314Not Going through Vendor Software Training 314Not Setting Up DKIM and SPF 315Buying Lists 315Relying Only on Cold Calling 315Not Journey Mapping First 316Focusing on One Requirement 316Appendix A: CRM Decision Matrix 317Appendix B: Self-Assessment 323Index 325