It’s a well-known fact in the outdoor industry marketing circles that acquiring new customers costs more than retaining existing ones. This is why the most successful brands in our industry prioritize customer experience and service. So, how do they go about achieving this? It all starts with implementing a centralized Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system tailored for outdoor brands.
If you’re contemplating the use of a CRM to streamline your data management, this blog post will outline the advantages of using it for your outdoor, hunting, or shooting sports business. It will provide clarity, organization, and scalability to your operations, which is especially valuable in these uncertain times and amid the growing influence of artificial intelligence.
One of the most popular CRM systems available today is HubSpot’s CRM. HubSpot CRM offers a “single source of truth” that empowers your front-office teams (marketing, sales, and support) to strengthen their relationships with customers and deliver an exceptional experience.
Below, we’ll explore seven benefits that can elevate your business’s customer experience to a whole new level and contribute to more profound and widespread growth when using HubSpot.
1. A Comprehensive Dashboard CRM for Outdoor Brands
One of the key benefits of the HubSpot CRM is its comprehensive dashboard. The dashboard provides a complete overview of your customer interactions, sales pipeline, and marketing activities. You can see the status of every lead and customer in your system, including where they are in the sales or support process, what actions they have engaged in, and what communications they have received. This makes it easier for sales, marketing, operations and support teams to collaborate and work together towards a common goal.
Real industry application: You’re a business owner of a trigger manufacturing company and you have a lot on your plate. A CRM will make things easier by tracking your contacts and customers, automating administrative tasks, and sending email campaigns to keep online sales flowing — all using the same tool, with one login.
2. Easy to Use CRM for Outdoor Brands
The HubSpot CRM is user-friendly and easy to use, even for people who aren’t necessarily tech savvy like your customer service rep. It has an intuitive interface makes it easy to navigate and use all the features. You can quickly add new contacts, create tasks, set reminders, and manage your support and sales pipeline. The platform is also customizable, allowing you to tailor it to your needs.
Real industry application: Say “so long” to messy spreadsheets and time wasted on menial tasks. HubSpot CRM features a full suite of sales productivity tools so you can sell more and work less.
3. Centralized Database
With HubSpot CRM, you can store all your customer data in one central location. It becomes your “single source of truth” for your business. If things aren’t going well, or you start to feel some upward or downward trends, your CRM will be able to tell you. This means you can access all the information you need about a customer, including their contact details, past interactions, and communication history, returns and support requests all in one place. This saves time and eliminates the need for manual data entry—reducing the risk of errors.
Real industry application: If you’re a retailer, media company, distributor, OEM, or manufacturer, having your contacts all in one place will allow you and your team members to take action on sales, marketing, operations and support activities more clearly and centralize your internal communications for your team, especially for sales calls, events, campaigns, show projects, product launches and business development.
4. Sales Automation
HubSpot CRM automates many of the repetitive tasks involved in the sales process. For example, you can set up automatic email sequences, schedule follow-up tasks, and create custom workflows that trigger actions based on customer behavior. This streamlines your sales process, making it more efficient and effective.
Real industry application: Sales leaders can easily follow-up with calls, create and send meeting invites, and send contracts and payment links that save time. Use automation to speed up the process and create a more professional sales experience.
5. Seamless Integration
The HubSpot CRM integrates seamlessly with other HubSpot tools, including Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and Service Hub. This means that you can create a unified customer experience across all touch points. For example, you can create targeted email campaigns using the Marketing Hub and track their performance using the CRM. You can also integrate with other systems like your ERP, ecommerce store and countless other apps.
Real industry application: As your enterprise grows and inventory management becomes more complex, you can utilize HubSpot to sync orders, pre-orders, online orders and other data points for easier inventory management.
6. Valuable Insights
The HubSpot CRM for Outdoor Brands provides valuable insights into your customer interactions and sales pipeline. You can generate reports on sales activities, track the performance of your marketing campaigns, and gain insights into customer behavior. This information can be used to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions that improve customer engagement.
Real industry application: Sometimes, one major deal can make or break this year’s sales goals. HubSpot provides actionable insight into leads/prospects so your follow-up calls can be approached with more understanding to close the deal. Built in reports allow you to also understand customer sentiment through Net Promotor Score (NPS) which can help you forecast sales.
7. Cost-Effective CRM for Outdoor Brands
HubSpot CRM is a cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes. The platform offers a free version with basic features, making it accessible to small businesses and startups. Then, as your business grows, you can upgrade to the paid version to access more advanced features. You can begin to calculate ROI on customer service improvements and increase in repeat and new sales.
Real industry application: Smaller businesses don’t have to break the bank on software that doesn’t deliver ROI. HubSpot offers flexible plans to scale with your organization when you’re ready. By starting now, you’ll be well-positioned in 1-3 years from now when you break 1M in sales.
In conclusion, the HubSpot CRM for Outdoor Brands is a powerful tool that can help businesses of all sizes manage their customer relationships more effectively. With its comprehensive dashboard, user-friendly interface, centralized database, sales automation, seamless integration, valuable insights, and cost-effectiveness, the HubSpot CRM is a worthwhile investment for any business looking to improve customer engagement and drive growth.
Ready to see what HubSpot CRM can do for your business? Sign up below or contact us with your questions!