7 things marketers need to know about CRMs in 2024

The world of B2B marketing is complex… at best.

We recently wrote about the B2B Customer Journey and how interlinked every stage is. To make things easier and more efficient while navigating the journey, you’ll need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

In this guide, we discuss what a CRM actually is, how it can help your business, what characteristics you should be on the lookout for when choosing a CRM system, a few strategies to make the best use of your CRM and what CRMs can do for your B2B business.

Off you go!

1. What are CRM systems?

Think of a CRM system as a centralised hub for all your customer information. It collects data from various touchpoints (like website visits, email interactions, and sales conversations) and consolidates it into a single platform. This provides a 360-degree view of each customer, allowing you to understand their past experiences, needs, and preferences.

In essence, CRM as a technology helps businesses manage interactions with their potential clients and current customers. It acts as a cataloging system, gathering and organising customer data – similar to how a library organises and categorises books, from contact information to past interactions and demographic details.

As you can imagine, a CRM system is incredibly useful – especially for B2B companies. Here’s why:

• Deeper understanding: You’re able to go beyond names and titles. A CRM system paints a detailed picture of each account and its connected contacts, revealing decision-makers, buying journeys, and unique needs. This empowers you to resonate deeply with your audience.
• Personalised outreach: No more generic emails that are deleted immediately anyway. With a CRM system, you can segment your audiences based on specific criteria and tailor your messaging accordingly. This way, you can send emails highlighting exactly a client’s pain points or showcase solutions most relevant to their industry.
• Streamlined marketing automation: Guide potential customers smoothly through their sales journey. CRM automates tasks like lead scoring and email sequences, ensuring no prospect slips through the cracks so you can focus on the (very important) personalisation aspect.
• Commercial team alignment: A CRM system fosters collaboration between your teams by avoiding silos, ensuring combined marketing, sales, and customer success efforts which will support in reaching your company’s revenue goals.
• Data-driven decisions: To truly know and understand your data, use your CRM system as your source of truth. A CRM tool provides robust analytics, revealing which campaigns resonate, what content drives engagement, and where to focus your efforts for maximum ROI.

Investing in a CRM system isn’t just about managing data. By leveraging its power, you can build trust amongst teams, boost customer loyalty, and ultimately drive sustainable growth for your B2B business. Remember, in a world of complex connections, a CRM system is your roadmap to success.

In short: a CRM system encompasses both a strategy and the necessary technology to manage and analyse interactions with potential and current customers, build stronger relationships, enhance customer experience, boost marketing and sales, and drive profitability.

Additionally, CRM systems play a crucial role in managing customer relationships by offering:

• Centralised data for improved organisation and efficiency,
• Comprehensive history tracking to enhance customer service, and
• A unified platform that fosters collaboration and alignment across all commercial teams.

Psst! Do you need help collecting data? Here’s how to capture, store, and activate the right data.

2. Benefits and CRM components

 2.1. Benefits of implementing a CRM system as a B2B company

B2B interactions can be quite complex. Because relationships are key and decisions involve multiple stakeholders, implementing a CRM system can be the ultimate game-changer. Here are some key benefits a CRM system brings to B2B companies:

• Improved sales and marketing collaboration through better lead management, the opportunity to run Account-Based Marketing (ABM), sales automation, pipeline management, deeper customer insights for personalised campaigns, and aligned goals
• Increased revenue and profitability by improving sales, marketing, and customer service to potential and existing customers
• Scalability and growth because a CRM solution can grow with your business and adapt to your evolving needs

It’s important to note that the specific benefits you experience will depend on your business size, industry, and chosen CRM system. However, the core advantages of improved customer relationships, data-driven insights, and streamlined processes make CRM a valuable investment for any B2B company looking to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.

ICYMI: Precis just made a tech stack swap and started rolling out HubSpot CRM a few months ago. We’re happy to have taken that step and we’re already seeing all the benefits!

2.2. Essential components of a CRM system for B2B companies

A robust CRM system for B2B companies goes beyond just managing contacts. It’s a multi-faceted tool impacting sales, marketing, and customer service, ultimately strengthening relationships and driving growth. Here’s a deeper dive into essential components:

Contact management

• Since a CRM system is built like a centralised hub, you can store detailed information on individual contacts within accounts, including names, roles, contact preferences, and communication history.
• Due to segmentation and filtering possibilities, it’s easy to group contacts based on specific criteria like industry, role, or interests for targeted campaigns and personalised outreach.

Sales automation

• With the help of opportunity management, you’re able to track potential sales opportunities throughout the funnel, forecast closures, identify roadblocks, and manage pipelines effectively.
• You’re also able to automate repetitive tasks like data entry, email follow-ups, and meeting scheduling, so you have more time for actual selling and providing value to your customers.
• Sales forecasting and analytics tools help you gain insights into sales performance, identify top performers, and predict future results to optimise team efforts and strategies.

Customer service management

• Included ticketing systems support you in streamlining support requests, tracking their progress, and ensuring timely resolution.
• Live chat integrations offer real-time support and enhance customer engagement through direct conversations.
• Through a self-service portal, you can empower customers to find answers and resolve issues independently, improving their convenience and overall satisfaction.

Analytics and reporting

• Thanks to robust reporting tools, you’re able to generate reports on sales performance, marketing campaign effectiveness, and customer behaviour, extracting valuable insights for your team and company.
• You can also use data visualisation and analyse data through dashboards and charts for easy understanding and identification of trends and patterns.
• Performance measurement features will help you keep track of key metrics like ROI, customer acquisition cost, and churn rate.

Marketing automation

• Due to its campaign management functionalities, you can plan, launch, and track marketing campaigns across various channels, measuring their effectiveness and tailoring strategies based on data.
• The lead generation and email marketing tools allow you to capture leads from different sources, automate personalised email marketing based on your set segmentation, and score contacts based on engagement and qualification.
• Through Account-Based Marketing (ABM) you can identify key accounts, understand their needs, and tailor marketing initiatives specifically to them, increasing engagement and conversion rates.

3. CRM strategies for digital marketers

As you might’ve noticed in B2B marketing, building strong customer relationships is crucial for success. CRM systems provide a valuable tool kit specifically for digital marketers to achieve this.

3.1. Key strategies

Personalisation

• Leverage CRM data to understand the individual preferences of your target audience and deliver personalised content to them across channels (email, social media, etc.).
• You can for example advise them on relevant products or services for their role, share the latest industry or market news with them, and even include personal details that resonate. After all, it’s important to stand out from the crowd.
• You can also work with dynamic website content and display personalised product or service recommendations, blog suggestions, and website content based on your customer’s browsing history.

What will be attractive for digital marketers too in 2024 is interactive content. Go big: use quizzes, polls, and surveys to capture your audience’s interests and preferences which will allow you to inform future communication and personalisation.

Segmentation

• Create audience groups by segmenting customers based on their demographics, interests, and engagement levels. Through that, you can set up targeted campaigns and therefore achieve higher relevance and impact.
• Tailoring communication based on where customers are in their journey is key too. Lifecycle stages such as Lead, Opportunity, or Customer can help you out here. Send personalised emails to prospects to inspire them (but refrain from typical nurture workflows leading to Sales – likely, your potential customers don’t want to receive them anymore), offer loyalty rewards to your customers, and re-engage inactive users.
• Also, consider channel preferences and segment your audience by their preferred communication channels (such as email or SMS) for a more effective and welcomed outreach.

Automation

• Automate personalised email marketing to save time and be more efficient in your daily work but also based on specific customer actions like content engagement.
• Email automation also works wonders for your team internally, for example, to ping your Sales team about new relevant prospects or inform them about the latest marketing activities on their key accounts.
• Through retargeting you can show ads dynamically based on website visits and page interactions and with that, keep your brand top-of-mind.

3.2. What you achieve through personalisation, segmentation, and automation

• Relevance: Personalised communication simply resonates with your audience and therefore increases their engagement with your marketing activities and overall company.
• Efficiency: Segmentation focuses on the right customers at the right time, and automation removes repetitive tasks, freeing up time for your team to work on what matters.
• Scalability: All three strategies allow for effective customer management which is of immense value as your business grows.

3.3. Additional strategies

Additional strategies include omnichannel marketing to ensure a seamless experience across multiple touch points, data-driven decisions based on CRM data analysis, and customer feedback surveys to get insights into how to improve your customer relationships and products or services.

4. How to choose the right CRM system

Choosing the right CRM for your B2B company is crucial for streamlining company operations, aligning Marketing and Sales, and fostering strong customer relationships. With many options out there, making a decision can be overwhelming. But we’ve done it before for our clients, and so can you!

We’ll walk you through key factors to consider when choosing a CRM system for your B2B company:

4.1. Define your needs and goals

• Analyse your current customer management processes and highlight areas that need improvement.
• Set expectations and goals for your CRM implementation together with your project stakeholders.

4.2. Evaluate key features

• Scalability: Choose a system that can grow with your business, accommodating additional users, data, and future functionality needs.
• Integration capabilities: Ensure seamless integration with your existing business tools to avoid data silos. Or, make sure your CRM system offers solutions that can replace current tools – it’s worth considering having all relevant solutions in one place.
• User-friendliness: Opt for an intuitive interface with clear navigation to encourage user adoption and minimise training needs for all stakeholders working with your CRM system in the future.
• Automation capabilities: Consider features like lead scoring, workflows, and task management to optimise the efficiency and productivity of your teams.
• Reporting and analytics: Evaluate reporting possibilities to gain actionable insights into your marketing activities, sales pipeline, and customer relationships. Ideally, your CRM system should function as your primary source of truth.

4.3. Additional considerations

• Budget: Determine your budget and explore the pricing models of different vendors.
• Vendor reputation: Research the vendor’s experience and track record in serving B2B companies within your industry.
• Customer support: Assess the quality and availability of customer support offered by the vendor, including training resources and technical assistance.

4.4. Selection process

Selecting the right CRM for your company is an investment. By carefully considering your needs, evaluating features, and involving key stakeholders, you can choose a system that empowers your B2B team, strengthens customer relationships, and drives long-term business success.

• Shortlist 3-5 potential CRM vendors for further evaluation based on your defined needs and features.
• Conduct in-depth evaluations, attend demos, and involve key stakeholders in the selection process.
• Negotiate pricing and terms with the chosen vendor and ensure a clear contract outline.

5. How to implement CRM in B2B companies

Successfully implementing a new CRM system in your B2B company requires a good amount of planning and execution. We lined the key steps involved out for you, along with best practices for data migration, stakeholder training, and change management:

5.1. Planning and preparation

• Create a cross-functional implementation team representing marketing, sales, customer service, and IT to ensure diverse perspectives and ownership.
• Identify all customer data sources (spreadsheets, emails, existing CRM if applicable) and map them to the new CRM system’s properties.
• Cleanse and standardise data for accuracy and consistency (this step can be challenging but worth it – being able to access and analyse accurate data is an absolute must for B2B companies and will save you from future headaches).

5.2. Data migration

• Determine the needed data migration approach, develop a detailed migration plan and define realistic timelines as well as stakeholder responsibilities.
• Conduct thorough testing to ensure data integrity and accuracy throughout the migration process.
• Establish a fallback plan in case of migration issues which allows you to revert to the previous stage if necessary.

5.3. System configuration and customisation

• Adapt your new CRM system to align with your existing marketing activities, sales processes and reporting needs.
• Integrate the CRM system with other relevant business tools to ensure a seamless data flow.
• Set up team accesses, user permissions and security protocols to protect sensitive customer data.

5.4. User training and adoption

• Create comprehensive training materials tailored to different stakeholders and their roles.
• Deliver interactive training sessions to your teams, focusing on core functionalities and best practices.
• Provide ongoing support and needed resources to relevant stakeholders to address upcoming questions and encourage continuous learning.

5.5. Change management

• Communicate the importance of your CRM system implementation transparently and consistently to all relevant stakeholders, especially the ones that will need to use the system continuously moving forward.
• Proactively address concerns and potential resistance by highlighting all the benefits and continuing to provide support.
• Recognise early wins and milestones to maintain user engagement and motivation.

While following the above steps, don’t forget to measure progress, track KPIs, set up continuous check-ins with key stakeholders, and promote data-driven decision-making throughout the whole implementation process.

6. How to measure CRM Success

Evaluating the success of your B2B CRM initiatives is about understanding how well it impacts your business processes, customer relationships and ultimately, your company’s growth. Here’s how to measure it:

1. Customer satisfaction

Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measure customer loyalty and potential for referrals by asking “How likely are you to recommend us to others?”

2. Retention

Customer retention rate: Calculate the percentage of customers you retain over a specific period. A decreasing churn rate indicates improved customer relationships.

3. Revenue growth

Average Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV): Measure the total revenue a customer generates throughout their relationship with your company. A fully set up and functioning CRM system should lead to a higher CLTV.

4. Additional metrics

• User adoption rate: Monitor the percentage of employees actively using the CRM. High adoption rates indicate successful training and change management.
• Data quality score: Track the completeness and accuracy of customer data within the CRM. Clean data ensures reliable insights and effective actions.
• Sales cycle length: Monitor the average time it takes to close a deal. Streamlined CRM processes should shorten the sales cycle.

7. Future trends in CRM

The landscape of CRM systems for B2B companies is evolving rapidly, driven by exciting new technologies and trends. Here are some key areas shaping the future in 2024 and beyond:

7.1. AI-powered CRM

• AI can analyse customer data and interactions to accurately assess lead quality and prioritise sales efforts.
• Tailored sales strategies, content, and communication approaches for each customer can also be suggested by AI.
• AI can handle repetitive tasks like data entries and follow-up emails, freeing up your team’s time for more strategic activities.
• AI-powered chatbots can handle basic customer inquiries and provide 24/7 support which leads to an improved customer experience.

7.2. Predictive analytics

• Predictive models can analyse past data to anticipate customer actions, churn risks, and opportunities for upselling and cross-selling.
• These models can also help prioritise and personalise marketing efforts towards the most profitable customer segments.
• Predictive models can identify potential service issues before they arise, enabling proactive intervention and improved customer satisfaction.

7.3. Omnichannel customer experiences

• B2B companies can gain insights into how customers move across different channels, analysing and optimising the customer journey for each touchpoint.
• CRM platforms will facilitate real-time collaboration between marketing, sales, and customer service teams for more efficient teamwork and quicker results.
• Seamless integration across channels: Customers expect consistent and personalised experiences across all touchpoints, including website, social media, email, and phone.

Conclusion

In this extensive CRM guide, we’ve now covered an introduction to CRM systems, essential CRM components, everything you need to know about a CRM implementation as well as future CRM trends, amongst other topics. A lot of input, we know. So in a nutshell, a CRM system will empower your commercial teams and take your business to success – so take the most important insights from this informative guide and dive into the world of CRM for your B2B company!

Need an extra hand? We got you – reach out to your local Precis B2B expert.