In my role as an Account Manager at Huble Digital, I deal with data from many different sources and work with clients to come up with new and innovative ways of delivering personalised customer experiences. In this blog, we'll take a closer look at the ways in which utilising a CRM can help you succeed with Account Management.
For this, I need a central place where all of the client’s data lives and where I can have an organised and in-depth view of client data; this is where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software comes into play.
I work with HubSpot’s CRM daily, which sits at the core of HubSpot’s Marketing, Sales, Service, Operations and CMS Hubs. The many insights that the HubSpot CRM offers allow me to help our portfolio of enterprise clients reach their goals - a primary focus of an Accounts Management team.
Leverage a single view of the customer
Recording and keeping track of customer information often fall on an Account Management team. This includes the analysis of that information, as well as delivering updates to clients and other customer-facing departments.
A CRM can empower an Account Manager by providing a single view of a customer in just a few clicks. Any relationship that you or your business is engaging in, such as with a lead or a prospect, can be captured and stored in a CRM to give you a holistic view of all activity. All interactions with your business, from forms, submitted, to recent downloads or emails opened are all available to be viewed and analysed. With all these touchpoints at their fingertips, Account Managers have the key insights they need to help grow a client's business and keep all relevant parties informed.
In HubSpot, there are two key components in the CRM: records and properties. It is here that Account Management teams are able to record information and label things properly to provide an organised view of data. Though the complete customer view in your CRM may require updating after new interactions, a lot of data can be automatically stored on a record, saving Account Management teams valuable time.
Personalisation and automation of data
Communication that is contextual and personalised is a great strategy for building and nurturing customer relationships.
Collating and tracking customer data in your CRM equips Account Managers with context to provide personalised and relevant outreach to customers. The tracked activity can help an Account Manager tailor communication or advise on an interaction with a specific customer.
Analytics can also shine a light on how various parts of the buyer’s journey may not be suited to customers and where you need to make changes to enhance their experience. Personalising customer experience helps to build trust and customer loyalty and ultimately delight your customers, often a key area of responsibility within Account Management.
Within CRM software, an Account Manager has several options for analysing client data where it can be organised and pulled into automated dashboards for immediate overview.
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Improve customer support
A robust CRM is also crucial to providing excellent customer support.
Through the greater data insights available, an Account Manager can work quickly to identify and resolve issues clients are experiencing. Getting to the bottom of a problem quickly and efficiently and delivering a quick and insightful response is a key way to delight your client and build client satisfaction.
Customer lifecycle management
A robust CRM should allow you to draw insights into your various customer lifecycle stages and work out what actions need to happen next to cultivate continued interest.
With a full view of a customer's past and present behaviour, you can more easily predict the course of action. It is important for an Account Management team to stay one step ahead and prepare as needed to meet client expectations and foster relationships through to the next life cycle stage. Through visibility and management of the customer lifecycle stages, an Account Management team can look at what steps are needed to promote business. For example, Account Managers may offer relevant services through upselling or cross-selling.
To successfully manage client data and gain the insights needed to best serve clients, an efficient and robust CRM is crucial. As an Account Manager, you have to make sure you can operate with the information that is being provided to you and gain a holistic view of all activity, instead of retrieving data split across siloed platforms. With HubSpot’s CRM, I can manage and analyse client data on a high level and make it personalised and actionable across several different marketing channels.
If you would like help with developing and rolling out your CRM check out our page for more information about our Sales & CRM consultancy, or if you would like to talk to a member of our team, please get in touch.