Typically CRM is used for sales activities. But there are also great applications for customer service, technical support, and for the companies marketing efforts. Any company that wants to find, entice, and get new clients, then cultivate and retain those clients, should consider a CRM software system for a small business. And if you have former clients who are unsatisfied or just drifted away, a CRM system will help you come up with a plan to bring them back through the doors.

Small businesses today are utilizing customer relationship management software as the visible face of their company-wide business strategy. Owners will implement CRM as a critical part of their overall approach. CRM will also allow all departments within the organization to log their experiences and plans to interface with the customer or potential customer.

What Can CRM Software Do For Your Business?

Basically CRM software is used to gather and organize information. It will allow your business and all the employees to view all customer interactions and the results of those actions. If problems arise, for instance, customer service will see all the customer’s product orders and any communication concerning those orders. This allows the service rep to respond faster, and in a knowledgeable manner. The same with technical support, the tech would know what the customer bought, would see if there had been any earlier complaints or attempts at solution, so they wouldn’t have to cover old ground.

The sales staff would know if there had been any shipping or service issues before they attempted to make another sale. This would allow them to ask first if the issue had been resolved successfully and to clear up any concerns before they asked for more business. Hopefully preventing an upset customer that the sales person didn’t even know they’d had a problem. The sales person would know the customer’s history, and be better able to know what the client might need and the approach to take with the sale.

The CRM software will also provide data to be analyzed, flagging specific opportunities and warnings. For instance if all eighty percent of the customers who bought widget A, came back to buy attachment C, then you should be calling the twenty percent of widget A purchasers who hadn’t yet purchased attachment C. You might also consider bundling widget A with attachment C for the next promotion.

Owners will be able to see what marketing strategies are working, and which should be discarded. They can offer more training to unproductive employees, and warn departments when they might be receiving more calls about a common service issue.

CRM Software and Small Businesses

Often small businesses make the mistake of thinking they aren’t big enough for Customer Relationship Management Software, when this is the perfect time to implement and start using it. Small businesses need every customer the can get and keep. There is CRM software perfect for small businesses, in fact small businesses can often better utilize this software as the information input into the system and the resulting analysis is less complex than it would be for a larger company.

In a small business CRM software is typically easier to implement throughout the organization, instead of just concentrating on the sales group. There are even online CRM options that would allow very small companies to take advantage of the software’s insights, even if you work at home. Some simple contact managements systems are offered free, or free for a specified trial period. Contact Management software is like a light version of Customer Relationship Management Software.

Summary

Customer Relationship Management Software or CRM can help not only your sales force, but the rest of your business, in focusing their efforts on the customer. Small business owners can device a company-wide strategy that will allow all departments to focus their efforts on understanding the customer, knowing the history of sales and contacts before they try to help, and in treating the customer as if he is your company’s number one priority.

The sales force can prepare for each call, knowing that if the customer had had service or technical issues it would be in the CRM system, and he could call to check to see if the issues were resolved before he tried to sell the customer something else. The CRM software will also allow owners to gather information that could result in more sales or help the companies marketing efforts.

CRM software helps a business keep track of sales, creates a client database and allows the business to offer more of what the customer wants due the built-in tracking programs. However, many small businesses put off purchasing a CRM program because they don’t know if they have reached the point in their business that they need to have this tool. The following information should help the small business determine when they need a CRM program and other information concerning the CRM.

Lower Cost Software

Today, the cost of purchasing CRM software has become much more affordable and so the decision to purchase CRM software isn’t usually about the cost. There are software programs that are as inexpensive and can be purchased on a monthly basis. This type of CRM software is typically not outright purchased, but is instead used for as long as the business needs it. The cost of this is much less than outright purchasing and allows for a more robust CRM program to be implemented for less money.

Businesses should consider implementing this lower cost software in the early stages of their business regardless of the number of employees. This early implementation allows for tracking of the business sales and clients to start early in the business and thus provide more accurate historical data later in the life of the business. The CRM will also be important in satisfying customers and ensuring that employees and customers alike are receiving the best the company has to offer.

Is CRM Worth Cost, Time and Effort?

Many small business owners ponder over CRM software because of the time that it takes to implement it and get employees trained on how to use it. This is another reason that implementing the software early in the business will pay off in the long run. It is easier to train someone on something when that is how they see the business being handled than it is to have them learn the business one way and then spring a new method on them.

Today’s CRM are so low-cost that it simply doesn’t make good business sense not to have one in place.

What Can CRM Offer

In order to justify adding CRM to a business, most business owners want to know what it will do for the business, some of those reasons are outlined below.
• Increase value provided to customers: CRM will assist the business owner by preventing the quality of the product or service that the customers receives from being compromised while at the same time simplifying the costs involved with the business practices. This could include organizing and reducing costs of travelling, reducing budgets for supplies or seeking better pricing for healthcare and other employee perks.

• Marketing: CRM is crucial in creating marketing strategies that are more effective. This means that the marketing programs that are in place will have to be examined to determine if they are effective or not. The only time that marketing budgets should ever be cut is when they are not working. Marketing is the last place that a budget should be cut as this is the area that is bringing in money to for the business.

• Contact Management: This is an important aspect of CRM in that it allows the business to keep track of all clients and what they have spent or done with the company over time. Many of the CRM programs will also integrate with other software such as email clients like Outlook. This type of management allows the clients who visit the business online to contact the business anytime and feel assured that their message will be sent to the company because of the CRM software that is in place.

Once the CRM recognizes that the client has placed a request, it goes into action and alerts the business owner via built-in tools. Most CRM software can be set up to reply to the client with a ‘thank you’ or other message that is customized by the business.

CRM software can save a business thousands of dollars in lost revenue simply because of clients not receiving an answer or ‘second touch’ from the business after they send in a request.

CRM has much more to offer a business than what is stated herein. The business owner should research and explore options in CRM that will benefit their business and choose the one they feel fits their clients and employees.