crm · 4 Corner IT

Do You Have the Tools to Track Your Fleet?

In a very real way, the Internet has spoiled us, to the point that we fully expect an order to be in our hand in 72 hours – oftentimes, far less than that. Shipping speeds like these are now possible thanks to the use of advanced logistics. If you’re starting to incorporate eCommerce into your business, or distribution has proved troublesome, you may want to consider a fleet management system.

Understanding Fleet Management

Whether you’re talking about a taxi company or driving service, service organization, product distributors, or any of a wide variety of others, the businesses who get the most value out of fleet management solutions are the ones heavily engaged in transportation. The idea is to better manage a fleet of vehicles to more efficiently deliver the applicable goods or service, thereby reducing overall organizational distribution costs.

Fleet management can help you reduce the cost of owning the vehicles that make up the fleet, better enforce policies and procedures geared toward safety, and generally decrease your risk. All vehicle deployments are tracked by a fleet management system via GPS, and if integrated with a CRM, ERP, or other form of management platform, vehicle maintenance can be more effectively monitored and scheduled.

Let’s dive into some of a fleet management platform’s benefits a little more closely:

Driver Safety

Let’s discuss one of the most important factors of having a workforce on the road: the safety of your drivers. Fleet management solutions can help by ensuring they are tracked, and the events of the road are fully transparent, with devices like dash cams installed. Using these devices, drivers are both protected and can boost their efficiency on the road by altering their routes in real-time. This data can also be used to more effectively train drivers.

Fleet Tracking

It only makes sense that you would want to know the locations of your company’s vehicles. In addition to this obvious benefit, fleet management also enables you to create better routes to make deliveries more efficient, trips less strenuous on the vehicles, and more fuel efficient as well.

Driver Retention

Many distributors are finding it to be a challenge to keep their drivers on, especially with a current shortage of drivers available. As with any industry, turnover rates are expensive to a business. Incorporating a fleet management system is effectively working to improve workplace conditions by improving the relationships between administrators, and the drivers behind the wheel.

Maintenance and Vehicle Acquisition

A fleet needs vehicles, so it makes sense that you would want a system in place to help you predict when your vehicles need a little TLC, and when it is time to bring in new rigs. A fleet management system compiles the data necessary to inform your various strategies, like when to buy new vehicles and when to maintain the ones you have.

South Florida businesses know WheelHouse IT as their best option for technology services and solutions. For more information on how your business can help boost its operations and profitability, give our professionals a call at (877) 771-2384.

4 Signs That Say You Need Small Business CRM

Developing relationships with customers is the backbone for any small business. Customer referrals and word of mouth are the best lead generation tools. How you develop and nurture these relationships is key. That is why a CRM (customer relationship management) system is essential.

According to this article, at its simplest, a CRM system allows businesses to manage business relationships and the data and information associated with them.

With a CRM, you can centralize all of the details about every customer in one place. Every customer can feel connected without you or your staff having to memorize personal information about each one. You may be on the fence about doing away with spreadsheets and investing in a CRM.

Here are 4 signs that say you should invest in CRM

1. Your Spreadsheets are Out of Control

Starting off with spreadsheets may have worked in the beginning stages of your business. However, if you find that your spreadsheets have too many columns, are growing too long, and it is difficult to simply search and find important information, your business has outgrown this method of customer management.

2. Client Information is Not Updated Properly

Chances are you and multiple staff are responsible for updating client information in a spreadsheet or other document. If you find that updating client details in a document is low on your list of priorities or that others are failing to input data, it is time to become better organized. A CRM can help automate these processes.

3. You Wish Everything was Automated

Are you and your staff discussing your contact management spreadsheet in every meeting? How about bringing up new ways or methods to make it easier on everyone? If you are constantly thinking about a better way to manage client data without having to manually organize it, you are definitely ready for an updated system.

4. Training New Employees is an Arduous Process

Your current staff are up to par with how the customer relationship spreadsheet works, but what about new employees? There is a method to the madness, however, trying to train new staff about how this method works can take a lot longer than it should. A CRM can cut training time significantly and increase productivity time for everyone using the system.

How you follow-up with your customers can determine how well your business does in the long-term. A CRM not only manages and automates your customer’s information, it can also set follow-up reminders and notify you of where each customer is in the sales funnel. Overall, a CRM will help you and your staff develop better customer relationships.

Are you ready to learn how a customer relationship management system can power up your business? Consult with a managed service provider that specializes in CRM integration.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Our team can put together a system that will streamline the work load, improving efficiency.

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Implementing a CRM: Where Should You Begin?

Customer Relationship Management Implementation

As a SMB, considering the options to organize your customer data can leave you with more questions than answers. There are dozens of Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, system options out there and plenty of companies also specializing in industry-specific (consumer goods, financial services, industrial sector, etc.) or customized CRMs. If you’re on the fence about which option to choose, here are a few things to consider before you make your selection:

First, you need to determine if a generic or industry-specific/customized CRM will best fit your needs. Start by making a list of features and benefits that you need in order to maximize your ROI. Then consider your timeframe and budget; customizing a CRM will of course take a bit longer and involve more money initially, but will choosing the easy out-of-the-box option fit your company’s needs in the end? Ask also is the CRM priced per user or per office? Don’t forget that no matter which option you choose, you need to make sure the CRM will integrate with any other systems or technology your business is currently using.

Once you’ve narrowed your options down, it’s time to test the CRM. Make sure that you see a demo version of each product so that you can better determine if they will provide the data solution you’re looking for. Besides looking at functionality, testing each CRM may also provide more insight into the integration process and requirements.

After the demo process, the next step to help choose your CRM should be a focus on customer support. Many brands may be eager to help in the initial set-up stages when it comes to importing your data and customer records. However, in the months after your SMB is up and running, how will technical support operate? Will you be charged for additional assistance? Maybe you will have to use an 800 number, wait on hold for ages and then be treated as just a number in the hundreds of accounts using a big-name CRM. For most SMBs, having a direct contact to help answer your questions and walk you through the product and process may be the winning ticket when it comes to picking a CRM solution.

If you’re in the middle of weighing all the CRM possibilities, let 4 Corner IT help! With over ten years of experience in the preparing, planning and execution of CRM integration for companies small and large, we will walk you through the process and find the best solution to meet your business needs. Contact us today!

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What is CRM Integration and What Are It’s Benefits?

what is crm integration and what are it benefits

The whole point of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, is to keep all of your customer’s information organized so that you have no problem keeping track of it, while also managing customer activities and conversations.

This lends a helping hand, specifically, to the customer service, marketing and sales teams because with the information collected, they can better understand the wants and needs of your customers. Each day many businesses waste valuable time and effort, simply searching for information. That’s time that could be spent working on more important aspects of your business.

CRM Integration, simply speaks to a consolidation of all your company’s information into one centralized database, but ultimately means you’re not relying on an in-house data structure to carry out day-to-day tasks.

This way, you and your team can get any necessary work done, come rain or shine; while you’re in the office or out. As a bonus, integrating your website & marketing software means that your customer’s information goes right to your CRM.

Take for example, if a potential customer were to download a white paper or some type of informational guide from your website. If your maketing software is automated & integrated with your CRM, then a new log, or record, will be created of when the customer visited your website last; what pages the customer looked at; what information they requested and so on.

This log will then be sent to a sales rep for a follow up on that potential customer. Giving your sales team the best leg up in terms of converting a potential customer into a paying customer.

Lets consider some other benefits that CRM integration can offer your business:

It can improve communication & customer retention.
It can Enhance customer prospect tracking.
Makes it possible to deliver more targeted marketing, with higher quality leads.
More efficient workflow and customer processing.
You’ll save valuable time and effort because all needed information is at your fingertips.

Whether big or small, all businesses can reap the rewards of CRM integration. Giving them an invaluable edge as the need for organization increases.

You need a partner that ensures your success, not a run of the mill computer guy or IT Company benefiting from your problems.

4 Corner IT is the next level for your company, let us show you the why and how. Contact us to request a call or an appointment with one of our IT experts.

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How Important is CRM Integration?

When you operate a business, building and maintaining a relationship with your clientele is crucial. In today’s business environment, the key to success is forging long-term relationships.

It is becoming more and more difficult for a company to differentiate by the product or services provided, and therefore, a company’s main differentiating factor must focus on customer support, and the customer experience.

CRM is the best and most efficient way for a company to realize and understand the potential of their existing and hopeful customers.

Consistently tracking, organizing, and maintaining customer information, ensures that you are up-to-date with the current and future needs of your clients. Customer relationship management is also very important when determining your companies future plans and product road map.

So, what exactly is CRM integration?

IT brings together your website and CRM to function together seamlessly. While your CRM maintains customer information and leads through manual entries, CRM integration allows you to obtain new leads from your website in real-time for a sales-lead to easily follow-up with. For obtaining new customers, and understanding what their intentions are so you can better serve their needs, this is huge.

For a business to achieve success, CRM integration is crucial. When you are able to manage your customers, prospects, and opportunities in one place for the entire organization to see, the results are invaluable.

Do you have any questions about CRM integration, or would you like to learn more?

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