CRM data + Market data = True

Information and data about customers and leads are crucial to the effectiveness and relevance of marketing communications. Yet CRM is rarely used to its full potential for customer care. In many cases, the marketing department does not even have access to the system.As a consultant at Leadfront, I often see examples where the marketing department pulls out manual lists of contacts to receive the next newsletter. While struggling to demonstrate the value to the rest of the organisation. At best, marketing does simpler types of segmentation, such as newsletters based on country/language or product/business unit.Similarly, sales departments find that marketing doesn't add value with its activities. And in some cases act protective of their leads so that marketing doesn't interfere with the sales process.

Benefits for market

As a marketer, having access to data from your CRM can be a prerequisite in many ways. This is so that you can be more relevant in your communications. It can be as simple as knowing who in your contact list are existing customers and who are potential customers. It's very easy to argue why these audiences should receive different types of marketing.Do you want to get a holistic view of where in the buying cycle the customer is, which of your website visitors are having an active sales dialogue right now and which leads have never been in contact with you before?Would this information allow you to create more relevant content or even be BETTER at your job? If the answer is yes, read on...

Benefits for sales

Imagine an everyday life, where you, as a salesperson, can get a holistic view of where the customer is in the buying cycle. What events they have signed up for, what blog posts and other marketing material the customer has read. Maybe even marketing delivers leads based on a lead scoring model you set up together? Would this allow you to have a more relevant dialogue with your customer?

Way forward

The above example is possible if you integrate CRM data and marketing data, which are currently collected in silos in different systems in the marketing and sales departments. The aim of integrating the systems is to enable both sales and marketing to generate more relevant leads and guide potential and existing customers through the entire customer journey.By integrating sales and marketing data, both teams will gain a greater understanding of how the customer interacts with your company and products. This in turn will help you create more relevant content to support them through the buying journey.Finally, it will also mean that you can work more effectively on marketing and sales activities because you have a shared understanding of the customer.If you have more questions about CRM and marketing data, just get in touch!