Today, it is becoming increasingly more popular for home improvement professionals to use CRMs, or customer relationship management software to streamline their sales process. While this is an excellent way to collect and record your sales data, it is also excellent for streamlining your communication with potential and current customers.
The risk of not having one? Simple. Losing out on business!
CRMs don’t just help home improvement pros increase their sales and speed up the sales process… they also help you nurture your customer relationships!
In this article, we will review the 5 ways CRMs help you nurture your customer base.
1. Improved knowledge of customers
One thing a CRM allows you to do as a home improvement pro is collect and store key bits of information about your customers. Details like their first and last name, email, phone number, address, website, social media profiles, or job titles.
Having access to all of this key information about your customers is like having a cheat sheet for sales! Your CRM may even collect additional info such as what language they speak or even what their birthday is.
Quick and efficient access to these details allows you to better serve your customer and their needs for all marketing and sales efforts.
2. Improved segmentation
When it comes to marketing and sales, sometimes you need a targeted audience to have a more effective campaign.
That’s where a CRM is helpful! CRMs make it easier for home improvement pros to segment their customer base by different criteria, like services rendered or the date of the last servicing.
Using targeted lists can help you create tailored messages and offers that are more likely to reach your audience. And when your audience feels like their needs are being addressed, they’re more likely to be happy!
CRMs also collect useful data on which contacts in your database are engaged with you. That way, you can drive more campaigns towards the folks who are interested, on-the-fence, or not very interested at all.
3. More customer retention
Things can get busy as a home improvement pro! CRMs are a great way to keep you on top of the sales game. CRMs can help you automate basic sales steps like follow-up appointments, emails, texts, and beyond. By creating this kind of consistency with communication, you’re more likely to show your customer that you are dedicated to servicing their needs.
Beyond just that, CRMs are also great for identifying which customers have not received communication in a while. By re-engaging those contacts, it makes it easier to show your older customers that you appreciated their service and want to keep providing more value.
4. More proactive customer service
As we’ve alluded to before, CRMs collect a boatload of information about your customers in your database. It collects information about who they are, but also what their recent marketing actions were, such as: when did they last close? How much did they close for? What service did they need? Which sales rep did they speak to? The list goes on.
This information can be leveraged for a more proactive customer service approach. It is much easier to upsell your customers when you know key information like this!
As a home improvement pro, you have to know about your client’s recent dealings to know when the best time to make a follow-up offer is. CRMs enable you to do this with ease, and they also give you access to other notes that can help you and your sales team redeem your reputation or offer a better experience in the future.
5. Faster communication
Automation is one of the key pillars of sales success today. Why is that? Because people expect it!
Since we live in a digital world, we are all accustomed to receiving text notifications, follow-up emails, and beyond to keep us in the loop about our interests and transactions. This is no different in the realm of home improvement services. Improving your communication is key to client success.
Your customers have a silent but important expectation that they will receive customer service emails and messages of some kind, whether it be before, after, or during a service!
Home improvement pros can and should use their CRMs to build out customizable email templates, letters, documents, proposals, quotes, invitations, newsletters, and beyond to nurture their customers. Without them, you’re behind the 8-ball!
As more companies offer improved customer service interactions through CRMs, they also raise customer expectations. Luckily, CRMs make it very easy to meet your customers’ expectations. If you utilize some of the tips outlined in our blog, you’ll start retaining more customers in no time!
For more home improvement sales tips, check out our Sales Tip Center. And if you’re looking for more leads, check out this page to learn how conXpros can help!