Nine must-have CRM integrations to optimize your business

Chances are, you don’t spend much time thinking about software integrations.

You might take it for granted that your smartphone’s calendar integrates with all your other electronic devices and your email accounts, but how about integration when it comes to your business? Are your email conversations synced with your CRM? How about your calendar and website?

‍Integration among devices and software tools makes life easier. Take your work calendar, for example: If you haven’t integrated your CRM, you’re juggling multiple calendars from work/personal accounts...or relying on the dreaded paper calendar.

‍With CRM integrations for your email and calendar programs, you'll have a much smaller chance of double-booking client meetings, or scheduling a beach getaway during the same week as your company’s offsite training event.

How CRM integrations strengthen your business

Imagine your client interactions as a wheel. In the center of the wheel, there’s the hub. Let’s call this hub customer relationship management. Each external application you integrate is a spoke, pointing to the central hub, delivering supportive information and strengthening the wheel.

One spoke might be email marketing. Other spokes might be website lead forms and team communication. The more spokes you have, the greater the structural integrity of your wheel.

Here's how your business benefits from integrating more spokes into your CRM wheel:

• Establish a source of truth: Each integration connects powerful data-rich platforms to your CRM, so you can have all your customer information in one place.

• Eliminate internal silos: CRM integrations remove information silos that can exist between platforms and company departments, as each member of your team can access the information in your CRM.

• Shape customer personas: Information accessed through integrations makes it easier to refine a buyer persona. You’ll be more effective in creating content that reaches your target audience and delivering a product that not only appeals to current customers but also draws in new customers with a focused brand message.

• Keep up on details: Information accessed and organized through your CRM keeps you on top of customer details and new changes to your leads, including previous interactions and where each customer falls in the sales pipeline.
• Know when to act: Integration creates a more accurate picture of customer habits, tipping you off to the right time to engage customers with your product or service.