Does your business have a functioning customer relationship management tool? If not, now is the time to get one. Whether your business is small, medium or large in size and revenue, you should be utilizing a CRM. If you’re not sure what exactly a CRM is, here’s a breakdown of what it can do:
- Keeps Customer Contact Information in One Place
- Stores all Transaction Data
- Tracks Interactions with Customers
- Provides Reporting and Valuable Analytics
In other words, a CRM is your perfect tool for storing all of your most important company information in one place. Not only that, but it will also provide actionable insights for your business, so you know what’s working and what’s not. According to SuperOffice.com, over 90% of businesses (with at least 11 employees) currently use a CRM to track and read their data. If you’re not part of that 90%, you should be.
Why is it time for SMBs to utilize a CRM for their business?
Stronger Customer Engagement & Relationships
When you utilize a CRM for your business, you are able to create stronger customer relationships, through consistent engagement. When you store your customer contact information, you don’t run the risk of losing your post-its full of names and phone numbers. Your CRM will track your most recent engagement with your customer, as well as let you know when they are due for another visit from you. All of your previous interactions with your customers can be stored in one place, and you won’t need to try to remember what they use your business for. This gives you the ability to create engagement that is customized to your loyal customers and their needs. Not only that, but you are also able to find out who your highest-spending and most frequent customers are.
Easier Product Assessment & Business Growth
What is your most popular product or service? What is bringing in the most revenue for your business? Is there a specific product or service that you’d be better off without? You can easily answer all of these questions when you utilize a CRM. Your transaction data will be stored and you can view easy-to-read analytics that will tell you where your revenue is coming from. Once you know what your customers request the most from you, or what is bringing in the bulk of your revenue, you can better cater your engagement and marketing efforts to that service.
Budget Management
If you’re spending money on marketing, you need to have a CRM. Your CRM will help you to easily understand where your money is going and if it’s being spent wisely or wasted. There’s no reason to spend your hard-earned cash on marketing that isn’t working for your business. Budget management is one of the hardest things for many business owners to get a hold of. The best thing about a CRM is that you really don’t have to be a master accountant to understand your business’ finances and budget. If you see that one of your marketing efforts isn’t bringing in any revenue or helping your business in any way, it’s time to cut ties! Let your CRM do the work for you.
Valuable Data Storage
Customer contact information, transaction data, revenue and growth over time and company spending are all pieces of a very important puzzle. If you don’t have all of your valuable data stored in one, easy to access place, you run the risk of losing it. What could be worse for a small business than telling a customer you’ll call them back, then losing their information? You don’t want to lose any of your valuable data, and a CRM provides the perfect safe, simple storage for all of that information.
WIth the changing technology of today’s world, your business really needs a CRM to stay relevant. To find out more about the value of CRMs, click here.
For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter. If any of these tips have helped you or if you have anything to add, please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!