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AI and CRM: How Artificial Intelligence Is Improving Franchise CRM Software

AI and CRM have replaced rules-based lead scoring with a more predictive approach that bases decisions on tomorrow’s forecasts instead of yesterday’s mistakes.

Every day, the world generates 2.5 quintillion bytes of information. Every byte has the potential to refine the predictive powers of artificial intelligence (AI), and customer relationship management (CRM) software is enjoying the rewards. AI is the superhero of the franchise world. It can gauge the buy-readiness of website visitors and identify customer emotions based on their language used. AI and CRM have replaced rules-based lead scoring with a more predictive approach that bases decisions on tomorrow’s forecasts instead of yesterday’s mistakes.

Franchisors have always dreamed of creating a uniform customer experience across franchises, but without automated data-creation and artificially intelligent service tools, results have been patchy at best. With AI in the mix, service excellence and company culture can be dialed to the max across thousands of franchises. Now, your brand identity and its priorities can be served up in Technicolor, buyer after buyer, franchise after franchise. Now that’s power.

Predicting Tomorrow

Lead conversion is one of CRM’s most important goals, but sales teams haven’t had the tools to manage it efficiently until today. Machines can analyze millions of bytes of demographic and geographic data, assess online habits, and place customers’ buyer-readiness onto an intelligent scale. Manual, rules-based lead-scoring is a notoriously blunt instrument, but AI has turned it into a turbo-charged version of its former self. That doesn’t mean predictive leads are free of human charm. Franchises once leveraged AI to replace sales teams who were made of cells and skin, but today’s AI and CRM strategies are packing more punch by putting humans back into the machine learning process. Automated CRM tools analyze discussions and assess client emotions so that human voices can better respond to that data.

An Age of Accuracy

ai and crm

CRMs are heaving under the weight of duplicated, stale, and incomplete data. Inaccurate information is behind 40% of business failures, but AI has swooped to the rescue. It can sort through massive amounts of dirty data and bring integrity back into the system. Service and sales teams can now work with error-free information and up-to-date records instead of wading through the wreckage that once muddied the system. AI can resolve client problems, track spending habits, and streamline marketing processes. Social networks and interfaces have become centralized, allowing AI tools to interpret and transform data into value-added services that achieve franchise goals.

Customer Confidence with Oomph

Biometric technologies such as facial recognition ensure that automated CRM tools offer service that amplifies client trust, but machines can also guarantee a higher level of customer satisfaction across all stages of a purchase. Marketing strategies can be delivered to each customer at the right stage in the buying funnel and deliver service after a purchase the instant new needs arise. Your brand experience just got a hundred times more impressive. Add social media listening tools to the mix, and you will never miss an online conversation about your franchise again.

Lead-Scoring Magic

In days of yore, sales teams had to wade through massive quagmires of uncrunched information to determine their next course of action. Today, AI lead-generation tools have become trusted advisors that make personalized recommendations targeted to each customer. Every course of action recommended to a franchise has a rationale and a targeted goal. The future, it turns out, isn’t dominated by machines, but supported by them.

Tomorrow’s AI and CRM are projected to drive 20% more revenue growth, primarily through sales enablement. Virtual assistants will become wiser and more empathetic as developers find new ways to bring specialized skills to the system. Machines are paving the way towards a decidedly human customer experience, and franchising will enjoy the benefits.