CRM For Consultancy Firms: 9 Essential Functions And Automations

How do you efficiently track leads for a consulting firm? This is a question that many consultants ask themselves today. With so many different project opportunities to choose from, it can be challenging and that’s where CRM systems come into play.

In this post, we’ll take a look at 9 features and automations for CRM systems built around the consulting industry.

Why Do Consultancy Firms Need CRM Software?

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is essential when it comes to tracking both new leads and project status updates.

With a high-quality CRM solution, valuable insights into the sales process and consulting performance can be obtained, thus facilitating strategic decision-making.

CRM For Consultancy Firms: 9 Essential Functions And Automations

1) Contact Management

Instead of having to manually track every email sent to a prospect, the best CRM solutions should make it easier to manage user data.

Basic information such as name, company, phone number, and address may be required. When used correctly, contact management systems can improve your ability to consistently follow up with customers.

Not only that, but you can also manage interactions with users. This way, if one of your clients decides to become an investor in a consulting business or even refer you to another potential client, you can keep track of these relationships and prioritise future work.

2) Automation And Processes

Automation allows consultants to focus attention on things that will help grow the business, instead of spending time on menial tasks like updating project statuses or following up on leads.

Some basic automation rules for CRM systems:

• Email Follow-Up: If a prospect hasn’t responded to an email within the first 24 hours, a reminder is sent.
• High Priority Leads: Mark high priority leads and prioritize their long-term follow-up.
• Project Statuses: Updating a client’s project status after every phone call or meeting. This ensures that the user is always in sync with their consultants, allowing them to keep up with their future work plans.
• Client Surveys: Regular client surveys to obtain valuable feedback on your consulting practice.
• Contact Forms: if a client is interested in hiring a consultancy, they will complete the contact form. The follow-up of potential clients will facilitate the prioritization of their needs.

3) Lead Management

The best CRM for consultants should not only manage contacts on a basic level, but should also be able to capture leads and track their progress as they go. This process extends from the lead itself, all the way to becoming a customer.

Lead management features are important to consultancies because they help with sales forecasting.

It also allows you to develop a sales pipeline to plan future work and goals to see which leads are most likely to become clients of the consulting firm.

4) Project Workflows

For consultants it is essential to track the status of each project in the CRM. This will allow them to manage customer relationships much more efficiently and ensure that they are always satisfied with the work done.

An easy way to achieve this is by using workflow rules within the CRM system, allowing you to automate specific tasks such as project status updates, sending email notifications to clients about them, and reminders for obtain the necessary information.

This facilitates management because the consultants will always know what they are working on at all times.

5) Email Campaigns

Email campaigns are a vital part of any business. From welcome emails to event invitations, the list of these contacts must be up to date and remain active.

A good CRM for consultants will include all the necessary tools to follow up on leads through automated algorithms.

By using these features in conjunction with a CRM system, email campaigns can be managed more efficiently, delivering real value to customers.

6) Reports And Analysis

One of the essential characteristics that a CRM must have is the possibility of generating reports and analysis.

Reports and analytics provide a snapshot of the overall state of the sales pipeline over time. Through the efficient use of this data, efficient and inefficient parts of the system can be identified.

It’s easy to create customizable reports within any good CRM for consultants. Also, with the right tools, you can track progress and make systematic, well-planned improvements.

It is also important to track the effectiveness of marketing strategies and which channels are generating the best ROI.

7) Text Message Campaigns

A good CRM system will also include a text-messaging platform that allows communication with customers via SMS messages.

Combining text messages with email marketing campaigns will increase overall performance.

People are generally reached much faster with a text message than with an email, so this feature is to be held in high regard.

8) Mobile Phone Support

It is essential to ensure that the CRM system is fully accessible from any device at all times.

This way, no matter where you are or what you’re doing on any given day, it’s still easy to manage new leads and keep track of relationships with them.

9) Appointments And Tasks

If queries are provided, the CRM should keep track of all upcoming appointments and tasks. As? Using custom fields to specify details. For example, each appointment contains the necessary information and is easily viewable from a project board or contact record.