A good CRM software derives its value from how much it reduces an individual’s workload. As many businesses rely heavily on digital and telecommunication, keeping track of conference calls and emails can quickly become overwhelming. A well planned calendar not only reduces the daily workload of a business, but keeps a team focused and on task. Scrambling to find a misplaced phone number or incorrect meeting location can often take precious time, time better spent tackling work for the day.
Enter CRM and Google Calendar integration. It’s a relatively simple combination of programs, but the benefit from combining the two holds immeasurable benefits. As far as simple benefits go, it can reduce stress and improve office efficiency. In terms of technical benefits, integration provides better records, improved communication, and better scheduling. Less time is demanded for simply creating a record of the event, and more effort can be put into other office tasks. A few minutes here and there can quickly add up to hours of time spent on simply noting events in a calendar. A late day at the office can become a late night, and those half hours setting up information for meetings are better spent on more important tasks.
Connect your CRM and Google Calendar with CRM integration
It may seem to be a trivial idea, combining CRM software with a Google calendar, but the benefits far outweigh the small effort required. Rather than just telling you that the benefits far outweigh the effort required to make the transition, let’s cover some simplistic benefits to CRM calendar integration.
Putting events into a calendar takes time
Whether it’s a digital or physical calendar, making note of each individual event is, at times, a task you need to set aside time for itself. More than likely any business, big or small, has multiple daily entries to be made onto the calendar. It can be time consuming, inputting information and checking with other employees to make sure the information is correct. Circumventing manual inputs reduces effort and means less time is spent slowly punching information into the calendar for every single event.
CRM integration can cut out the drudge work of filling up the calendar. The information is read and inputted into the calendar, and the only task left is checking for accuracy. This reduces a two minute task into a 30 second task. If a business has 15 calendar events to input in a day, this means an extra 23 minutes in the day. As the number of calendar events increases, so does time saved. A secretary or record keeper can save upwards of an hour on calendar entry tasks, and instead focus on productivity.
Time is money, and cutting down on calendar entries means more profit.
Check once, not twice
Enter information. Check the information source to make sure it’s correct. Input more information. Check again. Double check entire entry for accuracy. It’s a simple routine, but it takes concentration and time. One incorrect number in a calendar entry could throw off an entire day, so that daily planning demands attention to detail. Imagine if that information was entered automatically? The only necessary task becomes a cursory glance at the email and calendar entry.
CRM to Google Calendar integration isn’t just a quality of life upgrade, it’s an accuracy one. Having a software pull keywords and information to create entries means there’s less of a chance for misspellings or incorrect numbers. The software will handle finding the information. The only task that then remains is checking it. Accuracy is just as important as efficiency.
Up to date contact information
Client information can change quickly and without warning. An incorrect phone number in the contacts book could mean digging through old papers for a lost sticky note, or sifting through old emails for that elusive first exchange. So let the CRM software handle it for you. Not only does the event tell who needs to be contacted, it says by what means.
There’s a better way than keeping notes and reminders on post-its or paper scraps.
CRM integration can also handle new contact creation and email tracking. A new event with a new client means contacts are automatically inputted into the address book. Tracking down all relevant information is handled in the blink of an eye, for everyone in the office. All new contacts are shared, and no one is responsible for making sure new ones are added to the hefty address book.
Automatic notifications
At first glance, this might seem like an obvious perk. All calendar applications have notifications. However, as far as benefits go, the synchronization of calendar to email means notifications for events that might easily be overlooked. It’s easy to set up a meeting by word of mouth, transcribe it to email, and subsequently completely forget about it’s existence. So, by having those meetings synced to a calendar with the touch of a button, reminders are created for easily forgotten breakfast discussions.
These notifications also work for all employees connected to the calendar. A word of mouth agreement for an afternoon meeting at a restaurant doesn’t need to be the only reminder. Similarly, group texts are often more annoying than helpful, so a calendar reminder is more likely to keep a business group on task than a bombardment of text reminders. For a busy business in the toughest season of the year, letting the calendar handle the hard part of remembering is a lifesaver.
Still on the fence?
CRM and Google calendar integration isn’t just a task reserved for the IT department. It’s a quality of life change that can take any business to where it needs to go, no matter the industry. Synchronized information reduces workplace confusion, improves communication, and keeps a work day flowing smoothly. As more and more software moves into cloud based integration, any business not taking advantage of integration between workplace software is operating at less than optimal efficiency.
If you’re a Dynamics CRM user, we recommend the Dynamics CRM Integration for Gmail Chrome Extension. It not only syncs Dynamics CRM with your Google Calendar, but can also track emails, and create/review CRM activities.
