The 10 Most Important CRM Reports
Businesses use customer relationship management (CRM) systems to get a better understanding of who their customers are, what they are buying (and not) and how loyal they are. But if you are not running the right reports, you may not be getting an accurate picture of who your customers are, which products or services they like and don't like, and which ones are the most profitable and the least.
So to help business owners and executives get a better handle on customer relationship management, Enterprise Apps Today asked CRM expert David Taber, the CEO of SalesLogistix, a certified Salesforce.com consultancy focused on business process improvement through use of CRM systems, and the author of “Salesforce.com Secrets of Success,” to identify the Top 10 Must-Run CRM Reports.
Top CRM Reports
1. The DOA Report: The DOA (or Dead on Arrival) CRM Report lets users know which products are the most error-prone or receive the most complaint calls from customers. The point of the report is to understand where customers are having problems and why, and it is derived from customer service calls and emails (including requests for refunds or exchanges) as well as customer surveys. This report is incredibly useful, said Taber, because it can pick up “all kinds of little things that you missed or take for granted but the customer trips over,” and can really hurt your business.
2. Quality Problems: The Top Quality Problems CRM Report tells you which product or products have the highest service costs. As Taber explained, “quality problems turn into service cost expense.” And you want to spot these problems as soon as possible because they can be deadly, resulting in “an otherwise wonderful product becoming horribly unprofitable due to (undiagnosed) service issues.”
3. Most Profitable Service Offering: The Most Profitable Service Offering CRM Report is valuable because oftentimes businesses don't know which services are the most profitable. “You may think you've got a great offering, but it's only when you really look at who orders it and how much it costs to provide the service that you discover that you should subcontract it or get out of the business all together,” said Taber, who added: “There are a lot of soft costs in services, and if you don't pay attention to how those costs are affecting revenue, it's very easy to lose money on services.”
4. Customer Satisfaction: The Customer Satisfaction CRM Report reveals which products yield the highest and lowest levels of customer satisfaction. This report is important because it shows you which products customers really like and which ones they don't. “You may have a product that to you is mediocre, but your customers love it,” Taber said. And even though you are not making much (or any) money on it, it's bringing in customers and engendering customer loyalty, which is critical, so you may not want to discontinue it, or at least not right away.
5. Most Profitable Customers: The Most Profitable Customers CRM Report seems like a no-brainer, but as Taber has found, not all businesses are running this important report. Figuring out who your most profitable customers are “is the Holy Grail of CRM,” said Taber. And it's not always obvious. You have to understand everything that customers buy, their purchase lifecycle and how valuable a customer they are to you, which can be difficult. “But at the end of the day, that's what's going to make or break your company profitability.”
