What is a CRM Audit and Why Does Your Business Need One?

Just like a company is only as good as the people it keeps, a CRM is only as good as its weakest data-point. Although this may sound a little dramatic, the reasoning behind it is far from it. If your CRM is cluttered with data that is inaccurate, old, or outright wrong, it will not perform to its best capabilities. This may be fine for small businesses with only 100 customers, but for multinational corporations and large national businesses, this could lead to millions of dollars down the drain from lost sales. 

For this reason, a CRM audit should be a necessary component to your business’ strategic development. 

How does a CRM audit work?

A CRM audit takes into account your total CRM usage and capabilities, as well as the quality of data within the CRM platform. It includes:

Review Existing CRM Data Quality
You would begin with analysing usage data such as staff interactions with the platform, the numbers of sales closed, communication sent and received, reply speed, as well as daily staff activity and interactions.

Review CRM integrations
You would review the CRM’s integrations such as communication applications, activity management software, SAAS integrations, accounting integrations, marketing integrations, and more. Your business integrations make up your systems and procedures, ensuring that all of your integrations are up to scratch and working means that your business is running smoothly. If you’re looking for Hubspot apps to generate more leads and sales, click here.

Evaluate the ROI of your CRM
As CRMs are an investment, it’s important to understand the value they are bringing to the table in relation to lead generation. For large businesses, it’s a no brainer, but mid-size and small companies may benefit from understanding the true value of their CRM system.

Find any incomplete tasks or deals
As part of a CRM audit, it’s important to review any incomplete activities and the reason that they were not converted into a sale. 

Understand your team’s adoption to the CRM
As part of the CRM audit process, you would seek to understand the barriers to the CRM from your team through reviewing who has adopted the CRM processes versus who finds it more difficult to adopt. 

Identify the areas for improvement
The key takeaway of the CRM audit is that the process is being refined and improved by the end of the audit process. This could include new integrations made, staff training, or the development of updated systems and procedures.

Create an action plan
A timeline and action plan is then created to outline how the issues identified in the CRM audit will be resolved, as well as how any new actionable tasks will be undertaken with a defined timeframe.

What are the benefits to a CRM audit?

The key benefits to a CRM audit include:

Improved customer relationships
By identifying gaps within your existing CRM system’s data, you can determine areas to improve communications with potential and existing customers, therefore increasing their engagement with your brand and opening up the potential for more successful deals.

Increased business efficiency
By identifying opportunities to automate, standardise and improve systems and procedures, your business becomes more efficient. This saves your organisation time and money.

Save on business costs
By optimising your CRM, you’ll be able to reduce your customer acquisition costs as you better understand how your business acquires new customers. On top of this, refining new procedures will ensure that your costs are lower as outdated, inefficient systems are reviewed and removed.

Gain competitive advantage
Your business will be more competitive through greater business efficiency and a better idea on how to move your business forward. The CRM audit helps to build better customer engagement, productivity and profitability on a competitive landscape.

Overall, a CRM audit is a great way for businesses to take a step back from the day-to-day operations and refine their CRM to optimise standard operating procedures, save on costs in the long run and gain a competitive advantage within their industry.

Contact us today to learn more about how a CRM audit may be right for you.