Plan your CRM setup - HubSpot Tutorial

- Your contact relationship management system, your CRM, is only as good as the data stored within it. Simply put, when your data lacks, your relationship management suffers. A powerful CRM helps you build a successful business by deepening relationships through meaningful communications you can track. Data fuels the interactions, which help you manage the foundation of those relationships. You can collect information about your contacts so they feel seen. You gain valuable insights into them, their behaviors, and their preferences, allowing you to provide them with personalized experiences. That helps you stand out in a competitive market. Now, a definition to set the stage. Data integrity refers to the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of the data stored in your CRM. It's critical to the success of your CRM because if the data stored is inaccurate or incomplete, it can lead to poor decision-making and miscommunication with customers ultimately harming your business. It's clear that when you plan your CRM setup with data integrity in mind, you'll ensure that the information stored in the system is accurate, complete, and consistent. Onto the first step in planning your CRM system. Define your goals and objectives. What do you hope to achieve with your CRM system? Do you want to improve customer engagement, increase sales, or streamline your sales process? Defining your goals will help you select or build the right CRM for your business and ensure that you get the most out of your investment. Next, decide on the data points critical to your goal or goals. At minimum, this should include email and other demographic information. Are you collecting names, phone numbers, geographic location? What about their interests? If you're in B2B, are you collecting job title information and industry? A good CRM not only allows you to store the data you need, but also helps you gather intelligence on your contacts. When are they visiting your website? Which pages have they viewed? Do you know if they're opening emails and clicking links? These are all important questions to consider when planning your contact relationship management system. Now that you're thinking about the planning, I'd encourage you to write down all the paths you're thinking about taking with your necessary data points right now.