Importance of CRM in the cannabis industry

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the process of communicating with and tracking leads and customers to improve interactions, close more sales, and provide better customer experiences over time. For companies involved in and with the cannabis industry, CRM can deliver tangible results that directly impact sales, profits and brand reputation.

Today, businesses of all sizes and at all stages are investing in a CRM software tool to more effectively automate and track CRM processes and communications throughout the customer journey. Your marketing, sales and customer support teams use CRM software to gain historical perspectives on prospects, current and past customers in order to engage with prospects and customers at the right time and with the best messages to achieve business goals .

Why cannabis and cannabis-related businesses should invest in CRM

Managing the relationship with each customer throughout the entire buyer journey and customer lifecycle – from the very first interaction, through all stages of the marketing funnel and sales pipeline, to the entire lifetime of the customer relationship. The end result is higher sales conversions, higher customer retention, and increased customer lifetime value, which means increased sales and profits for your business.

In a competitive industry like the cannabis industry, consumers have many options. Short-term transactional thinking is not enough to win and keep customers. Today’s B2C and B2B consumers expect companies to know who they are and provide customer experiences that fit their needs. When there is a mismatch between expectations and reality, consumers will not hesitate to find an alternative store to buy from. You don’t want this to happen to your business.

CRM is essential to meet the expectations of B2C and B2B consumers in the cannabis industry. Using CRM software makes it more efficient and less time-consuming to gather valuable data about leads and customers, systematize relationship management, and automate processes throughout the buyer journey and customer lifecycle.

This ensures that prospects and customers always have a highly personalized experience with your brand through continuous communication. As a result, your business will convert more leads into sales and build deeper loyalty with all of your customers, making them less likely to be dissatisfied, which could lead them to buy from your competitors in the future.

Why CRM is important for marketing

Customer relationships begin with marketing communications to potential customers. Collecting leads and moving them to the top of the marketing funnel is the first step for CRM, and if your business invests in a CRM tool, you can centralize data collection and monitoring for all of those leads.

With a CRM tool, every member of your marketing team can track leads — including demographic and behavioral data — to measure their interest in your products and services and deliver the most relevant communications to each prospect.

CRM software enables the marketing team to segment leads, schedule communications, personalize messages and get the maximum return on your CRM investment. With data, systems, and automation available in CRM software, the marketing team can focus on nurturing leads through the marketing funnel that are most likely to convert to sales.

The goal is to move leads through the marketing funnel from cold to warm to hot (sales qualified). When leads are sales-qualified, the marketing team can pass those leads on to the sales team, who can work on closing the sale, while marketing team members continue to invest their time in acquiring new leads and nurturing them through the marketing funnel.

Why CRM is important for sales

Your sales team shouldn’t waste time tracking down information about prospects or communicating with leads who aren’t qualified to sell. Instead, all this information should be available in a CRM tool.

Communicating with prospects is the most important task of any sales position, so it’s crucial that their time is devoted to the most valuable tasks. Searching for data on a prospect or calling leads who are unlikely to make a purchase runs counter to business goals.

CRM software solves these problems by making it easier for sales reps to quickly see all communication between the company and the customer in one place. Everything is tracked in the CRM software – phone calls, demographics, emails received, email marketing campaigns opened, links clicked, notes from team members, contact information and more. All this information is helpful for the sales team.

Quick access to so much data not only saves sales reps time, but also gives them insight into who each prospect or customer is, what is important to them, what issues they are facing, and so on. With this information, sales reps can customize their one-to-one outreach so that communications get through to each prospect as effectively as possible. The result is more closed sales and more revenue for your business.

Why CRM is important for customer service

Once a prospect becomes a customer, communication and personalization should continue. That’s why it’s called “customer relationship management”. You have to manage the customer relationship from lead to loyal brand ambassador, and it never ends. In fact, when relationship management ends, customers are far more likely to abandon your competitors and buy from them rather than your company.

That being said, a large part of CRM consists of post-sales communication and customer experiences to build brand loyalty and advocacy, leading to word of mouth and increased sales from new customers. It can also shorten the sales cycle for new customers.

As such, account managers and customer service representatives should have access to your CRM software so they can personalize communications and meet customers where they are. Every customer is different, and the data stored in your CRM software about past communications, demographics, behavior, etc. can help account managers and employees in support roles deliver better customer experiences, which is the goal of CRM.

Key insights into the importance of CRM in the cannabis industry

The bottom line is that cannabis companies and ancillary businesses are already using CRM software to ensure they are getting the best results, and your business should be using it too. Get your data out of silos and centralize it in one CRM tool for easy access by marketing, sales, and support teams. This is how you deliver better customer experiences that lead to higher sales and profits.

If your target audience are cannabis and/or hemp license holders in the US, Canada and international markets, then the Cannabiz Media License Database is the CRM software you need to connect with them and provide the best customer experiences . Schedule a demo and see how the only verified source of leads for cannabis and hemp license holders can help you achieve your goals.