Food and beverage manufacturers need to be able to manage their customers, just like any other business. Keeping track of customer relationships and being able to monitor and improve the satisfaction of customers allows food manufacturers to continually improve. With a comprehensive CRM solution, businesses in the industry can create and execute a strategy that helps them to stay ahead and maintain a competitive edge. Like many other industries, food and beverage manufacturing is benefiting from a wider use of digital tools and equipment. In addition to using smart technology and sensors in manufacturing plants, food manufacturers should ensure their back office is making the most of available tech solutions with a CRM that works for them.
Creating and growing long-term relationships with your clients is key to building a successful business. It’s more cost-effective to keep existing customers than it is to capture a new one, anywhere from five to 25 times cheaper, so fostering customer loyalty is a must. Customer relationship management software that provides your business with all of the tools it needs can strengthen customer relationships and ultimately raise customer satisfaction.
Keep Your Business Cutting-Edge
One of the essential reasons for any business to adopt the use of a CRM is to stay up-to-date and relevant in the modern world. Manufacturing businesses can often be slow to make changes, particularly when replacing older equipment can be so costly. However, in the office, introducing new technology is often extremely cost-effective and saves both time and money. Food manufacturing businesses that are still using legacy systems for customer management or haven’t graduated from simple solutions such as tracking information using spreadsheets can see a huge difference when switching to a CRM.
CRM software centralises your customer data. With cloud software, anyone can access the information that they need, wherever and whenever they need it. You don’t have to try and cross-reference different spreadsheets or use multiple tools that don’t work well together. You can do it all from one application, ensuring your business is more modern, more efficient, and won’t get outpaced by competitors. More than 90% of businesses with more than 10 employees already use a CRM, so finding the right one for your company keeps your business relevant.
Clear Communication with Customers
Communication with your customers becomes easier when you manage all of their information using a CRM. You can use the software to send emails directly from the software and keep records of communications with customers. Being able to communicate clearly and quickly with customers is vital in food manufacturing. Whether you want to send out a marketing email or let your customers know about a safety issue in your factory, using a CRM makes it quick and easy to contact individuals, groups, and different segments of your customer base.
You also have clear records of the communication that you’ve had with customers. This makes it easy to understand the relationship with the customer so far, any issues they might have had in the past, and anything else you might need to know. Communication with customers can occur from a more informed position to greater customer satisfaction.
Collaborate with Colleagues
Food manufacturing businesses are able to improve staff collaboration and communication through their CRM solutions too. When all of your customer information is in one place, it’s easy for anyone on your team to access it, share it and be sure that everyone is seeing the same data. Everyone can see the status of each customer and provide support when they start with the right information. Using Purple Potato, you can benefit from features such as setting tasks for colleagues and assigning enquiries so that you can truly work as a team.
Make Customer Relationship Management Mobile
Cloud CRM solutions make managing customer relationships more mobile. They allow customer information to be accessed from any device and from any location. This is ideal for food manufacturing businesses that might need to provide customer information in the office, on the factory floor, in meetings with customers, or in other environments and situations. One example of how this can be beneficial is that sales representatives always have the information they need at their fingertips. If a customer asks them a question, they can answer right away without having to promise that they’ll get back to them with an answer later. Being able to see a customer’s purchase history can enable sales agents to make better decisions and have a more complete understanding of the customer too.
Identify Trends
Sales reporting from a CRM gives food manufacturers insights into sales trends, enabling sales teams and other departments to improve decision-making. CRM software can present reports of daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly activity to gain a better understanding of sales and customer interactions. Viewing the sales achieved by each user or as a sales team also provides insights into the performance of your team so that you can make improvements in productivity, identify opportunities for training, and increase the number of sales your team is able to make.
Personalise the Customer Experience
CRM software gives food manufacturing businesses the tools that they need to personalise the customer experience and communications. Instead of sending out mass communications to customers that treat everyone the same, you have the option of taking a more personalised approach. CRM tools enable sales teams to have a better understanding of their customers and the history that they have with the business. Customising marketing emails or other communications is easier with the help of valuable customer data, which is all centralised in one location.
Improve Decision-Making
Sales teams and other departments can make better decisions when they have a CRM solution that works for them. When you have the customer data that you need to get insights into your customers and sales, everyone can make more informed decisions. You can improve business processes when you have a complete overview of your sales pipeline and relationships with customers. Sales teams are able to make decisions based on real-time data, instead of guessing at what decisions will be most effective.
Cloud software
Our cloud-based app enables you to use your CRM wherever and whenever you need to. You get the same great experience on any device, whether you’re using Windows, Android, or Mac OS. As long as you have internet access, you can see the information that you need on both desktop and mobile devices. If you need to check in with remote teams or sales teams in different locations, it’s possible to do it from one application.
Communicate with teams
Teams can easily collaborate with each other when they have all of the customer information that they need in one place. Managing manufacturing customers and their often large orders is a breeze when you’re able to set tasks for colleagues and assign enquiries to different people on your team so that workloads are evenly distributed and each customer receives the dedicated attention of a sales representative. Reminders and notifications help your sales team to stay on top of their tasks, with features such as daily email summaries and a clear user dashboard giving them the tools they require to get their work done.
Enquiry and sales reporting
Our reporting system enables you to track your sales and enquiries for a bigger picture of what’s happening within your sales team. Drill down into sales for each user or your whole sales team, and look at sales and enquiries for different periods to gain a better understanding of your sales and interactions with customers.
View historic and current customer communications
Having a record of your past and present communications with customers enables your food manufacturing business to focus on the customers who matter most. The historic value of each customer shows you which customers are the highest value so that you can ensure your sales teams work on nurturing those relationships. You will also be able to see information such as whether a customer has had any previous complaints or enquiries.
Track enquiries
With records of your enquiries, you can track each customer journey to stay on top of the relationship. Reminders can help you to ensure you never miss a deadline, always getting in touch at the right time and following up on the most important enquiries. Watch how each enquiry progresses and gain insights into what works and what doesn’t for better decision-making in the future.
Food manufacturers can benefit from implementing a CRM solution, giving them more power and control over their sales and customer relationships. Contact Purple Potato today to find out more about how our tools can help.
