As the extreme pandemic effects of Coronavirus are spreading like wildfire across the world, Governments and organizations are responding with innovative survival techniques to confront the operational and financial challenges of business. During the primary 21 days of lockdown, and subsequent days of running lockdown have forced citizens to stay at home, and continue to run the business operations remotely through work from home culture.

Though remote working has its challenges, the expansion in digital transformation has encouraged organizations to introduce the automated business process, preferably by implementing a customized CRM software application. This automated CRM system helps to integrate the processes and functionalities of business operations. The software organizes information and binds the entire process for mitigating costs, stimulating relevant resources, and generating optimized sales revenues for the firm.

Methods to Tackle the Effects of Lockdown in Running a Business

Automated Customer Monitoring

Issues arising regards to customers can be addressed directly by rendering automated responses to the specific target audiences. However, in case it remains unsolved, it is then raised to the dedicated customer support team assigned for specific departments for assisting the clients. Thus, to monitor the problem, a ticket must be raised to track the status. This tracking procedure can be easily be automated through the implementation of customized CRM software, which aids in generating tickets against the specific customer’s issue along with an email copy interlinked to it. So, it aids the customer service representatives to automatically document all the related activities. This coordinated CRM function helps to maintain an appropriate workflow to boost customer interaction, preventing loopholes in the system, while converting potential clients into sales-ready customers.

Integration of Websites

Now, when a CRM application is integrated with the business process, it assists the sales team to directly address any product or service related query through the CRM itself. A prospective client showing interest in the company’s website, and its specific products or services can submit an inquiry instantly through the website’s form or link. Thus, when the website’s information is linked with the CRM application, the sales team can automatically scrutinize the inquiry, and perform necessary actions promptly to transform the customer query into an ultimate purchase.

Automating Social Media Platform

Due to the digital advancement, nowadays prospective target audiences reach the business houses through different social media channels other than emails. So, social media platforms have turned into a powerful communication method, wherein interested clients can easily interact with the concerned business. Thus, more organizations have started integrating the CRM software with various social media tools such as, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to create comprehensive touch points for enhanced customer interaction. These specific collaborations assist in offering appropriate value to the prospective clients and envisage ways to move them through the sales funnel. So, resultant more potential customers can be converted into sales-inclined ultimate buyers.  Moreover, for small to mid-sized organizations, these automated interactions can be productive, as they lack enough resources or manpower to create these social media campaigns.

Monitor Fiscal Amendments

For maintaining the financial and operational balance of a business, it is necessary to identify the economic up and downs. Thus, in case of a recession or a severe economic degradation, the business owners must brace themselves and stay updated with the latest industry information. So, in such hostile scenarios, the businesses should be integrated with the CRM application, which aids in generating backup plans according to the latest fiscal amendments for boosting the survival of the organization.

Accept Transformation

To cope up with the challenges posed by the business rivals, it is necessary to accept any transformation changes that are being inducted in the organization. These changes can be innovative technological implementations, and modification of products or services to face the competitive challenge optimally. Thus, hi-tech automated CRM processes will result in more process synchronization, and pave the way to acquire more potential leads with better conversions.

Thus, through the integration of business intelligence applications of CRM with the process workflows, organizations can sustain them through the tough times of lock-down.