When shopping for a CRM, the costs associated with various aspects of a software package might initially make the numbers look odd. Why, after all, would you spring for Premium CRM Support when a cheaper option was available? The truth is that customer relationship management requires knowledgeable users, so this support feature must be paid for, even if you vow to DIY your support in-house.
When you choose a CRM package that doesn’t include premium support, a few hidden costs rear their heads.
CRM Support Delays and Wait Times
CRM Support Wait Time
Many major CRMs offer 48-hour response times to support requests. If you are in the thick of pulling lists for a campaign launch, you know that “two days later” may be a completely different environment and may deeply affect your campaign’s effectiveness.
If you choose a CRM with this kind of lag time in support, it isn’t their “fault” per se if your work gets delayed; discount CRMs simply cannot afford to offer you the kind of service that keeps you smoothly working because they don’t have the staffing. Buying their product also means buying wait times, delays, and possibly lost revenue when things go wrong.
Devoting Sales Team Time to “Internal Support”
Certainly, someone on the team always seems to “take to” the CRM and really get to know it. However, many sales teams discover that the person who understands the CRM spends half his time (or more) helping others to troubleshoot it.
With long wait times for CRM support through the software provider, this “internal support” person has to be brought in whenever there’s a pressing need, in hopes of reducing the delay. In effect, this internal support person’s productivity is reduced: he or she has skill sets that can add value to the company, but instead he or she is having to train up on the CRM and offer help even if it is a bit inefficient.
Most companies don’t think about the fact that they are putting a half-time worker on the job as CRM support, and they definitely don’t count it in their estimations of what makes a good deal for the company. This is certainly an option, but most likely, your internal support guy would prefer to go back to killing it on the sales and marketing front, since his specialty wasn’t this one CRM until necessity made it so.
A More Effective Way: Let The Experts Help You
The reason that premium CRM support exists, and the reason that SalesNexus has made it our calling card, is because we are in the CRM business, so we can handle support needs quickly and effectively. We know this software inside and out, and we can offer chat support as well as same-day emails and calls.
Yes, keeping the staff on to make this happen costs money, but the costs of “internal support” and delays are much, much higher.
What’s more is that other companies do offer this support, but they add $20 per user per month to get what we guarantee as part of all of our client packages. We’d prefer to be able to take care of all our customers rather than making you choose whether or not to go to the back burner. It’s part of being transparent, and it is why our support is known to be second to none.
Forbes has discussed how minimal support of customers is bad for clients and bad for business; we believe this is also true with our product. We think full premium CRM support is part of the deal, because it guarantees you a good experience that helps you generate revenue. Get to know what makes SalesNexus different in a good way, and we think you’ll be impressed.