How to Convince Your Boss to Implement CRM: 5 Compelling Arguments

Are you working in sales, marketing, or customer service and tired of ineffective ways of gathering information about buyers? Do you see how much the company loses due to the lack of efficient use of data and chaotic customer relationship management? Do you dream of improving your daily work with a CRM system? It's time for a crucial step – convincing the boss to fulfill your dream.

We know that management and executives don't speak the language of fairy tales but rather the language of rational arguments and hard data. That's why in this article, we've gathered the strongest arguments for implementing CRM in the company from the perspective of managers.

1. CRM facilitates the measurement of results 

In the CRM system, hard sales data is collected, such as the number of activities carried out by salespeople, closing ratio, transaction-to-lead ratio, transaction amount. These are collected uniformly in automatically generated reports.

This is an improvement in workflow comfort for the manager, who no longer has to wait for sales reports, deal with delays, or manage inconsistent data. In systems like HubSpot, which offer marketing tools and integrations with external channels, we gain knowledge not only about sales but also about earlier stages of actions. This is crucial information for marketers and marketing managers – it allows proving the real impact of marketing actions on closed deals, thus more precisely defining KPIs or planning budgets.

Example? Connecting with Google Ads allows us to see which channels or campaigns ultimately lead to sales.

 2. CRM enables data-driven decision-making

This argument logically follows from the previous one – when we know which actions yield results and which do not, we can allocate resources much better. But that's not all. After all, CRM is a source of data not only about team actions but also, and even primarily, about customer behaviors. Using built-in CRM marketing automation tools also provides more information about the customer before becoming our customer, such as better analysis of their digital traffic on our site or a specific responsiveness scoring to emails, etc. More customer data means:

• More personalized communication – according to an Accenture study, 91% of customers are more likely to buy from a brand that recognizes and remembers their preferences and provides relevant offers and recommendations. At the same time, as Gartner states, delivering personalized experiences to customers remains a challenge for over two-thirds (63 percent) of internet marketing managers. The data collected in CRM and personalization tools meet these needs.
• Better customer service - 97% of consumers claim that interactions with customer service influence whether they remain loyal to a particular brand (Calabrio). Thanks to greater knowledge of the customer's interaction history with the company, notifications about new communication channels such as live chat, chatbots, or a knowledge base for customers, CRM allows speeding up and improving the quality of customer service.

3. CRM helps in team management and team integration 

Knowing the results of individual salespeople is one side of the coin. Other CRM features that managers and leaders will particularly appreciate include assigning tasks and tickets in customer service or automatic lead rotation between salespeople.

From the perspective of controlling the entire Revenue Operations process, it is also essential that all teams have access to the same data source, eliminating communication barriers between departments. Managers overseeing both marketing and sales will certainly appreciate the CRM potential, as mentioned in the article on marketing and sales collaboration.

4. CRM prevents data loss 

Data loss is not an empty threat, contrary to appearances; it happens very often. It doesn't always have a spectacular dimension. Have you ever, as a coworker or boss, had to deal with a situation where the only employee with missing contact information just left the company? Or perhaps you unsuccessfully searched for notes made during a meeting on a prospect? With CRM, none of these situations will threaten you anymore.

It's also essential to consider more global threats – in CRM, customer data is securely stored in the cloud, and the provider takes care of the latest security updates. If you need to convince the company's data protection officer to purchase CRM, you'll find ready-made arguments in our article on GDPR and CRM.

5. CRM has a high return on investment (ROI)

Contrary to popular opinions, CRM systems, especially those designed for small and medium-sized enterprises, are not expensive. The days when only the largest corporations could afford CRM are long gone. Today, most systems are available in a convenient subscription model, in the SaaS model.

You can start for free! A basic option is the free HubSpot CRM. I explained what you can get with a free subscription and when it's worth switching to a paid plan, clarifying the differences between HubSpot CRM and Sales Hub.

If you already know that the free package is not enough for your company, the starter package costs a few dozen dollars per month. In the case of HubSpot, for this amount, you can gain access to the system for an unlimited number of free users – only accounts with administrator functionalities are paid.

Still not convinced? Here's the financial argument:

The average return on investment (ROI) for CRM systems is $8.71 for every dollar spent (Nucleus Research).

So, if your management is looking for an investment with proven returns, it's hard to find a better choice than CRM.

What else should your boss know about CRM?

CRM systems are constantly being improved. This means that through CRM, your company gains access to the latest technologies, such as tools based on artificial intelligence. It's important not to fall behind by several years or months.

CRM significantly enhances the comfort of salespeople, freeing them from routine tasks, such as entering data into the system (For example: data about sent follow-up emails or conversations are automatically recorded in the customer's profile). Working with a satisfied team is undoubtedly more comfortable for management as well. In my career, I've encountered salespeople who left a company without CRM to move to one where this system was in place. I hope you won't have to use this argument or, even more so, implement it in real life!

If you want to increase your knowledge about CRM systems before a crucial conversation, visit our blog, where you will learn more about their key features, the benefits they provide, and read about innovations in the CRM world. You can also contact us – our experts will gladly share their knowledge and support you in preparing for CRM implementation!