What is Complete CRM?

Complete CRM is more than just a buzzword. Complete CRM is a SaaS solution that provides organizations the tools they need to effectively manage everything from marketing to sales, operations and more - all under one roof.

More than anything, Complete CRM is the solution to a number of problems that have haunted business leaders for decades.

Defining The Problem: Why Do Businesses Need Complete CRM

What are we even talking about?

Customer Relationship Management is nothing new. On the contrary, CRM technology has been a cornerstone of business management for well over two decades. There are hundreds of CRM experts and media outlets constantly churning out content on the state of CRM: what it is, where it’s going, etc. These sources often talk about CRM as if it’s a single, easily definable entity, and decades ago, in its early stages, it was. In reality, today, CRM is nonspecifically broad categorization used to denote a diverse gamut of platforms, many of which have very little in common. When limited use ESPs and full service business management solutions can both faithfully be referred to as Customer Relationship Management, we have to ask ourselves: what are we really even talking about?! 

To inject some specificity back into the conversation, forward thinking tech experts have begun using the term “Complete CRM” to better define the technology they are describing, allowing themselves to separate SaaS heroes from single function CRM wannabes. First coined by software developer, Lars Helgeson, in the early 2000s, Complete CRM describes a full service software solution for business management. 

The issue with mile high MarTech stacks

The information revolution has forever changed the way we view business management. Today’s marketplace is bursting at the seams with SaaS solutions. It seems like there's a platform for every minute detail of lifestyle and commerce. The emergence of so many applications has created a precarious situation for companies across the globe; the unwieldy, ever growing MarTech stack. This hallmark of twenty-first century business mis-management is famous for creating unnavigable nexuses of corporate data. Like the proverbial sinkhole, information entered into an overgrown MarTech stack isn’t guaranteed to be seen again.  

A well rounded digital marketing strategy often involves having to juggle everything from email marketing and landing pages to social reporting and conversion tracking. Once you add on the other tools needed to effectively manage an organization, such as sales, customer service, and more, business leaders might find themselves staring down a 15 sum app tech stack, worth thousands of dollars in monthly subscriptions. The cost alone can be astronomical. Maybe some corporations can afford that, but the operating cost of managing all that software (time + manpower) only compounds the Total Cost of Ownership.

The Solution: A More Complete CRM

Complete CRM describes an all purpose business management software solution. Complete CRM is capable of managing all of an organization’s digital assets, without the need for supplemental SaaS. It’s essentially the Swiss Army Knife of MarTech. It houses all the tools a business needs to effectively, and productively manage sales, marketing, operations, customer service, and your internal team.

What does it do?

It’s safe to say that Complete CRM does a lot. Standard features include email marketing, contact management, automation, telephony (SMS/MMS/VoiP), surveys, signup forms, web design, customer journey mapping, predictive analytics, sales tracking, project management, event management, and ticketing. 

A Complete CRM is more than just the sum of all it’s parts, and the value it provides businesses goes beyond the utility of its features. Complete CRM can measurably improve the operational efficiency of most enterprises, both small and large.   

Complete CRM offers higher ROI

The hallmark of Complete CRM is the exceptionally high return on investment it provides account owners. In some cases, Complete CRM can save over 80% in total cost of ownership. No matter which Complete CRM you choose, it will inevitably cost less than a mile high MarTech stack of single service solutions, in both subscriptions and TCO. 

Now you may not be familiar with Total Cost of Ownership, so it’s worth explaining. Put simply, TCO is the total cost of a platform. It includes your initial investment (setup + training), plus your subscription, and, most importantly, the operating costs of using the software. The latter isn’t something businesses often think about. There’s an assumption that every reputable solution for a problem will require roughly the same amount of time and resources as any other reputable solution. This notion fails to factor integration into the equation. Complete CRM consolidates numerous platforms into one, and has extensive integrative capabilities, for those of you who choose to cling on to pieces of your tech stack. By consolidating all that information into a single digital location, Complete CRM keeps you from having to pay hand over fist for employees to spend valuable company time, manually disseminating oceans of data. This also minimizes the risk of human error. 

Reducing operating costs isn’t the only way Complete CRM saves you money. Using full service business management software is also known to drive customer retention. According to smallbizgenius “82% of companies agree that retention is cheaper than acquisition.” With better record keeping and customer journey mapping tools, organizations can dramatically boost CX, without having to upscale. 

Leaders in Complete CRM are redefining the way SaaS solutions are priced. Most traditional CRMs base prices on a “per user per month” model. This makes the attractive $99 price tag displayed on web ads across the Internet deeply deceptive. In actuality that $99 a month quickly becomes $17,820 per year, when you have fifteen staff members needing access. Some organizations will try to circumvent per user pricing by sharing one account. Unfortunately, doing so severely limits the time any one employee can use the platform, and means mistakes and misuses can’t be easily traced back to any particular user.

Better business software means more deals closed. Complete CRM helps close more deals with marketing automation. Automation lets businesses automate the tedious and mundane aspects of day to day business management, so your team can direct their efforts to big picture items. This way brands can eliminate the risk of human error while still maintaining that personal touch. 

Complete CRM is easy to use

Complete CRM is all about better data management. By storing all of an organization’s data in a single platform, Complete CRMs provide users a 360-degree view of their customers. The days of having to pull together disparate customer information across multiple platforms are gone. The next generation of CRM features a single record for each contact, that catalogues each customer-brand interaction, enabling teams to do more with less manpower. 

Create a collaborative culture! (Happy Employees)

Having a single contact record to catalogue every touch point saves capital through increased operational efficiency. Even more importantly, Complete CRM empowers brands by boosting employee morale. 

Complete CRM fosters corporate cultures driven by accountability and collaboration. A Complete CRM harnesses the power of synergy to propel your brand forward. It does so by enabling the free flow of data between your sales and marketing teams, so no one’s out of the loop and everyone knows what they should be doing. 

Accountability is the foundation of productivity. Business software should be transparent. Complete CRM holds employees to a higher standard with detailed record keeping of user actions. This means account managers can quickly identify the party responsible for any given misstep, without having to interview the entire department. With roles and actions more easily defined, Complete CRM users can work unhindered by the pitfalls of bureaucratic mismanagement.

All great leaders know that happy employees create productive work environments. The synergistic features which define Complete CRM offer employees a superior user experience. When data is easily accessible and software is easy to use, it’s harder to justify an unproductive day. 

Improve the flow of data

Data is the lifeblood of commerce. For companies to succeed in crowded markets, pertinent information like customer preferences, buyer histories, and brand touch points need to be easily accessible to the teams who need it. Disconnects between departments can destroy a brand. When marketing and sales are operating on contradictory sets of information, you’ll close fewer deals. It doesn’t matter that your team is firing on all cylinders, if their work is counterproductive. 

Any CRM worth its salt has offers comprehensive shared access permissions. These are the movable barriers that gate information from the people who don’t need it, while offering access to the people who do. 

Workflows are a standard tool for sharing data with teams who need it. Workflows can assign tasks, send alerts, and modify contact information. They can be triggered by different client-brand interactions, like filling out a survey or hitting a defined lead score. This way, the necessary processes will be put in motion, whether that means steps to closing a deal or activities for re-engaging a lead.

Conclusion

Through its disruption of traditional pricing models and antiquated business management strategies, Complete CRM is providing a much needed overhaul to the SaaS market. This promising tech is toppling tech stacks across the globe, and allowing businesses to unlock their full potential.