The benefits of using a CRM for businesses of all sizes cannot be understated. By 2025, the global CRM market is projected to be worth $89.9 billion. To stay competitive, it is important to maximize your system’s efficiency. If you have ever experienced frustrating problems with a CRM after a while, you are not alone, but a CRM health check can help fix that.
Many business owners have a CRM set up and do not keep up with the data that piles up on them over time. Just as computers become slow and inefficient when file cleanup and data maintenance are neglected, CRM systems become inefficient when they are not maintained properly. Having a healthy CRM system boosts organizational efficiency as well. These are some of the top advantages of regular CRM health checks.
Keeping Complete and Reliable Records
Two common record-related problems in CRM systems are incomplete records and duplicate records. When there are duplicate records, it causes confusion and leads to less-informed decisions. You may also notice more inaccurate reporting, poorer customer service quality and inefficiency in finding reliable information.
Duplicate data is also a problem when there are separate programs that are not synced. There may be inconsistencies between the two programs regarding information about the same individual or entity.
Incomplete data can be detrimental as well. Users may spend hours trying to track down answers. When users get distracted in searching for answers, they may also forget to update the system when they find correct answers.
When your records are complete and reliable, you can serve clients and use your CRM with confidence.
Scrubbing Dirty Data
Maintenance helps remove dirty data, which can be a problem in any CRM. Many organizations include incomplete and duplicate data in this category. Dirty data also includes more detrimental forms, such as invalid, outdated or fraudulent data.
The cause of dirty data is often negligence, but it can also be malice. For example, users can purposely enter fraudulent information to harm someone else. Today, criminals and unscrupulous competitors may even access the system through insider help or hacking. Once they have access, they can enter erroneous information that could undermine your business. An example of negligence is failing to update the system by deleting outdated information or records.
A common problem is system users entering data in the wrong fields. When this happens, it can lead to multiple inconveniences and errors. System errors and crashes may also occur when there are formatting issues in data fields. Users can accidentally misspell words or names, also leading to the creation of multiple and confusing records.
Regularly removing or fixing dirty data keeps your system running more efficiently and helps you find information quickly.
Enjoying a Functional and Usable System
To ensure that operations are running as smoothly as possible, it helps to know what system users are doing. If they are not using the right procedures and processes, you can see that in the CRM.
When leads cannot be reverted after they are converted, the system can become cluttered. Ensuring that lead conversion status is current helps prevent confusion and extra work. However, many users and managers neglect this task, leading to inefficiencies.
If there are problems or inefficiencies in the sales pipeline, you may be missing out on potential profits. Each person who uses the sales pipeline in the CRM system should be prioritizing deals and tasks based on it. If users are not using it to their advantage, they may not realize the value or importance of some deals. Since there are several steps in the pipeline, it is also important to know if users may be taking too long on one step or skipping steps.
Overdue tasks can quickly become lost opportunities. They are a major cause of inefficiencies in using CRM systems. You can help prevent this by regularly reviewing tasks that are overdue or due soon. Learn how to use the value fields and sort information to issue reminders to users. Since it can be hard to find time to do this daily, it helps to have a regular schedule to review overdue tasks.
With overdue tasks, you can restore efficiency by finding the root of the problem. If it happens often and with multiple users, an expert can analyze the system to see if processes may be too complex. Also, some processes may be outdated, causing confusion or difficulties that lead to overdue tasks.
Keeping the System Secure
Whenever there are multiple users on a system, regular security maintenance is a must. As noted before, hackers and insiders can compromise the integrity and security of the system’s data.
If you give others the ability to grant permissions to some users, you must also make sure that there is no abuse of power. For example, if a team leader grants some unauthorized permissions to team members who enter incorrect data, that could cause problems. The possibilities for problems with user access and permissions are vast, spanning from unintentional mistakes to information theft and misappropriation.
Since hackers are more sophisticated today, security must be better. It helps to have someone review your system regularly to monitor for outside security risks. Thieves can find ways to access usernames and information, and they can try to use other devices to access your system. To prevent this, two-factor authentication is a helpful tool.
Even after you set up two-factor authentication, it is important to regularly monitor the system. You may add new users who also need to add TFA to protect data.
With an optimized security structure, you can reduce your liability risks and have peace of mind.
Saving and Storing Updated Data
One of the worst experiences for managers is losing important data that is vital to the business. If you are not backing up your CRM system at least once a month, a data loss could become a significant financial loss. This is especially true if you have several teams and often add new leads.
Storing data that is backed up ensures its accessibility. You can get to a restore point that allows you a quicker recovery and has less of a potential financial impact. If there is a breach to contend with on top of the data loss, the impact can be devastating for your business. This is another reason why security is critical.
Backing up your data and storing it a couple times a month reduces operational interruption risks.
Outcomes of a CRM Health Check
When your CRM is functioning at its best, there may be benefits beyond improved function, usability and security. These are some other potential positive outcomes:
- Improved customer retention.
- Lower costs for customer service.
- A better overall customer experience.
- Improved staff performance.
- Maximized value for each customer and transaction.
- Improved customer loyalty.
Professional CRM Health Check Services
Imagine finding what you need quickly and efficiently and not dealing with daily frustrations with CRM system data. Imagine enjoying peace of mind that you have up-to-date security measures and backup.
With our CRM health check, we give you these benefits and others that will make your investment worthwhile. With our monthly CRM health check, you receive:
- Two hours of professional training and support.
- Health Check Report
- Full data reviews, including checking data integrity, fixing duplication issues and detecting incomplete data.
- A complete system security review, including TFA, permissions, user access and roles.
- A functional analysis, including procedural compliance verification, lead conversion status analysis, deal pipeline analysis and overdue task detection.
- Bi-Weekly Backup and Storage of your CRM.
Our professional CRM health check is especially beneficial for small and midsize businesses. What would you like to see improved in your CRM system? Please let us know.
