Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems help businesses improve sales, staff production and customer interactions. Both big and small businesses have discovered the power of CRM  and you can too! With so many CRM options these days, it just makes sense.

Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of CRM.

Upsides

#1. You Will Offer Better Customer Service

Your customer service will improve and your customers will thank you for it. When any employee in your organization can look at every interaction had with a customer, you can assign anyone to solve any problems that may arise. Also, getting a much closer look at your customer’s needs will help you serve them better. If customers love the relationship they have with your company, they will be more likely to return. They are even more likely to refer their friends and family to you.

#2. You Can Target Your Marketing

CRM will give you access to valuable data about your customer base. With this information, you can focus your marketing. The more you know about your customers, the better you will be able to market to them.

Downsides

#1. Your Staff May Not Like It

Employees might not want to switch. There is a learning curve, and some employees might be resistant. But you know what? You are the boss. Getting your entire team on board will ultimately benefit your company more, and it will make their jobs easier. Try to emphasize that it will make their jobs a lot simpler. Eventually, people will learn to love the software and will be happy you made the switch.

#2. A Steep Learning Curve

Your staff might have some trouble learning the CRM system at first, but it should not be that difficult. Once they have completed the training, everything should go a lot smoother and faster for them. Plus, most CRM software is becoming more user friendly in this day and age as competition in the field rises.

The bottom line: The upsides far outweigh the downsides. The downsides are mostly in the beginning, and they quickly disappear with time. Your employees, sales staff, and customer service staff will ultimately benefit a lot from the switch to a CRM system. You should make more money, too. It’s up to you to be strong enough, smart enough, and wise enough to switch to CRM and increase the health of your business.

There are several buying considerations when it comes to purchasing Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, software. Not all CRM software is created equally. Some do everything well, and some are the best at only one thing.

There are many important purchase considerations that you need to think about, such as budget, mobile support, integration, and how robust the company is behind the CRM system. The size of your company is also a consideration. If you have a really small company, you might want to purchase a different kind of product than if you had a large international company. You are going to have different needs depending on the industry that you’re in. You also might want to find one that is specific to your trade.

What does it cost?

Your budget is most likely your primary consideration. You will have to consider the up front costs as well as the long-term costs. Not all CRM is expensive. Thanks to the Software-as-a-Service model, it is more affordable than ever. Some CRM systems are just $30/month – think about all the benefits you will get from purchasing a CRM system. You might consider one with a free trial if you’re hesitant about purchasing a CRM system. A free trial will give you a chance to figure it out and see if you like it.

Does it have mobile support?

Does your CRM software have mobile support? If not, you might want to purchase from elsewhere. The needs of your workforce revolve around mobile nowadays, everyone has a device of some sort, and if they’re traveling, they need to be able to access the workflow from wherever they are.

Will the system integrate with your current systems?

You will need to know whether it will integrate with your other systems, such as bookkeeping and email. If it does not sync with your other applications, it may be a hard sell for team. They are not going to want to input data into the CRM system and then have to do it again for their bookkeeping and email files.

What is the reputation of the vendor?

Be sure to research the reputation of the vendor. Check user reviews, independent analysis and rankings. Also, speak to existing clients about the strengths and weaknesses of the system and the vendor. Ask about service agreements, level of support, and security updates, too.

Getting your team to get on board with your new CRM system can sometimes be a tough challenge. It is not just a technological hurdle  it is a psychological one. People do not want to change their habits and they do not want to learn new things  especially when it takes them out of their comfort zone.

You have to get your sales staff, customer service staff, and administrators excited about it. How do you motivate them? How do you get them to adopt your fancy new CRM system? Let’s dig into what you can do to speed things along. The faster you get your team using the new CRM system, the more the money you have spent is working for you.

Let them know what you have in mind

Be clear about the goals you are setting and why you are shifting to the new CRM system. If they are on the same page with you, then everyone will know why you are switching. It will be easier to make the change. Do not just tell them what to do. Tell them why they are doing it. Then, they will even come up with new ways of reaching the goals you are shooting for. Give them a crystal clear rationale. Make them understand in the simplest terms possible.

Hold them accountable and stir up some competition

It is important that you hold each person accountable. You do not want them to get away with making errors or using the software the wrong way. Track each user. Log everything everyone is doing. It will pay off in the long run. If they are not held accountable, they might not use it correctly. Empower them to use it the right way, too. Teach them how you want them to use it. Finally, set up a little competition. Reward the best people and encourage the others to keep going and do better next time.

Demonstrate your results

Look for every opportunity to highlight the good effects and positive performance that the CRM has generated. If you can showcase real results, your sales staff will be more likely to personally adopt the CRM. Once they like it, they will naturally do better at it. If they think they are getting somewhere by using it, they will want to use it a lot more, and that should help performance.

CRM software has been around for several decades now, and most businesses, even small business owners, know that it has amazing potential. It can streamline customer interactions, improve customer service, and free up your employees so they can do more important things.

Unfortunately, most businesses do not get close to maximum value out of their CRM software. Even though so much thought has been into making CRM a game-changing solution, so many business owners just do not get maximum value out of their investment.

Why does this happen?

It happens for a number of reasons. From not choosing the right CRM solution to trying to force it to be the be-all-end-all of the business to making your employees use every unnecessary feature. A CRM solution can turn into a CRM problem in a hurry.

How to Get the Most Out of Your CRM Solution

#1. Keep It Clean

CRM software can get messy really fast. Most CRM software solutions come with a lot of bells and whistles. Do not start off with every feature available – add in features and functions as needed. It will be a lot less of a headache for your employee base if you add different functions on a gradual basis

#2. Keep it Sales-Focused

CRM should be put in place for one main reason: To make your salespeople more productive. Add in the features, functions, and tools that will help your salespeople be more productive.

#3. Keep it Rep-Focused

Make sure that your CRM system is focused on making your customer service agents and sales representatives better at doing what they do best: managing customer interactions and generating more sales. It is important that you focus on making your reps be the best they can be at what they do. Make your CRM system as rep-focused as possible. The more you pare own and strip down the CRM software to that end, the better off your company will be.

The bottom line: It all boils down to keeping things clean and focused. If you can do that, your business will grow by leaps and bounds. Too many business owners and middle managers do not set up their CRM software correctly to ensure they get the maximum value out of their CRM software. Their employees end up carrying a burden, and their sales do not skyrocket.

Small business owners might think that Customer Relationship Management or CRM is just for bigwigs and head honchos who run mega corporations.

It’s not for the little guy, right? Wrong. CRM can benefit a small business in several ways, and it can help them grow their small business into a big business.

Give yourself an advantage early on

Half of new small businesses fail within the first six months, and part of the problem is small business owners are not managing their contacts well enough. They think they will only need CRM when their client list grows to a certain threshold – that’s a rookie mistake. What they should be thinking is that with CRM they will maximize the follow-up, repeat order rate, and word-of-mouth of their existing customer base.

Furthermore, they might not even realize how much of a drain it is on their time and energy to update a spreadsheet or basic database manually. Even if they think it’s a breeze  and actually enjoy doing it chances are they could be spending their time on more productive things. The tedious upkeep of updating, maintaining, and understanding customer interactions can add up to a lot of time and effort they could be using elsewhere.

The price isn’t so bad.

Small business-friendly tools, software, services, sites, and service subscriptions are not expensive. They can be, but most subscriptions are under $30/month and some are as low as $15/month.

2 major objections hold small businesspeople back
Sadly, many small businesspeople say they are good just the way they are, and they do not need to change. They may have a narrow mindset, and it won’t lead to growth. They need to break through their mindset and try a real CRM solution. Use it enough, and they will see how much more efficient, aware, customer-focused, and profitable it makes their business.

Another objection small businesspeople have to CRM software is that they cannot get a custom solution. They think it’s just mass market-ready for big old companies that have different objectives and concerns.

Those objections are the most common, but there are loads more. It’s hard to get people to change. But there is really no excuse. Software-as-a-Service makes it simple for any small business to adopt a CRM system.

There are many benefits of adopting a CRM system. Small business can maximize the traffic, leads, and customers they do have and turn their business into a big business!

There are many benefits of using customer relationship management (CRM) software. Even a very small business can get a major boost from intelligent CRM software. If you have been struggling to boost your bottom line, then you should at least consider a customer relationship software solution.

We could spend a lot of time breaking down all of the benefits, but let’s start by looking at six key perks of CRM software.

#1. Faster, better decision-making

Decisions should be made based on data not your gut. Gut decisions sometimes work out, but wouldn’t you rather rely on empirical data? At it’s roots CRM is a decision-making tool that will help you and your staff access data to make informed decisions. More data = better decisions.

#2. Better time management

Your employees will not miss important parts of the customer interaction process. They will know when and who to update and contact when the time is right. They will have access to data like customer personal information, purchases or product information and delivery schedules on location and can make decisions or reports on the spot.

#3. Do business from any device, at any time, from anywhere in the world

With CRM anyone in your organization will be able to get access to critical data from anywhere in the world on just about any platform. With CRM’s mobile capabilities your sales reps will be able to check real-time inventory; check customer credit limits; receive alerts like out-of-stock items; and process approval from anywhere in minutes rather than days.

#4. Automatic updates of bookkeeping files saves you from accounting hassles

Most CRM software can link up with existing spreadsheet or bookkeeping software. Think about all the time your employees will save not having to input data into your bookkeeping files.

#5. Cross-company communication improves

Shared customer interactions, journal entries, notes, and calendars means everyone in your organization is on the same page. When everyone is on the same page, more will work get done and in a more cohesive way.

#6. Better customer service

A solid CRM setup makes sure that everyone who needs it has full access to all interactions with a customer. This includes tracking customer feedback, and that can only improve your customer service. Since everyone in your organization will have complete access to all customer interactions, it will be easier to spot issues, take action and deliver better customer service.

Many small business owners do not think they need a Customer Relationship Management or CRM system. Other business owners might not even know what it is or how it can help them.

It may be risky to try to grow your business without one nowadays. Retaining and selling more to your current customers could be the difference between success or eventual failure.

Here are five simple ways that small business can benefit from CRM.

#1. Web Traffic Optimization

You probably get a fair amount of traffic to your website. If you have a blog or some free eBooks, you’re likely getting at least a trickle of visitors from the search engines. But, are you optimizing it? You need to capture that traffic. Many CRM services have forms you can embed to capture leads from your website.

#2. Enhancing Customer Service

It should be easy for anyone in your company to pull up any customer profile and look at all the interactions with that customer. You should, at the very least, be able to look at all the sales, customer support emails, and chats associated with that customer. In fact, anyone in your organization should be able to do so. Having an efficiency expert comb through each customer interaction could speed up your service or sales by a healthy percentage.

#3. Training New Recruits

A robust CRM system is a big asset when you are training new employees. If you can show new employees examples from your database during training, they will learn how to deal with your customers quickly and efficiently.

#4. Sales Rep Monitoring
How can you know who are closing sales and who are letting them go if you do not have some kind of sales rep monitoring. CRM will allow you to monitor the activity of your sales reps from anywhere and getting a close look at each sales rep’s statistics will help you know exactly what is going on.

#5. Customer Organization

It can be almost impossible to sift through hundreds, or even thousands, of customer profiles to find the data you are looking for in an old-fashioned paper system. Knowing who, where, and how all your customers are is one of the most important steps in moving your business forward.

Scaling your business, getting new people trained quickly, and monitoring personnel is a lot easier if you have a reliable CRM system in place.

There are some amazing, eye-opening facts that have to do with Customer Relationship Management or CRM. It’s important that as a business owner you are aware of the facts we are going to present in this article. You might be hesitant about getting a CRM subscription or buy CRM software. These facts will help to ease that hesitation. The bottom line: You probably need a CRM system. Let’s find out why.

#1. Spending on CRM is Going Up Each Year

Every year, companies are spending more and more money on CRM. The shift to cloud-based computing, the proliferation of mobile devices, and the speed at which business moves are all reasons for this shift. By 2016, CRM spending is expected to reach $18 billion. A Gartner study found that the spending was likely to go all the way up to $36 billion by 2017. Business owners are realizing that CRM is vital, and the numbers are proving it.

#2. The Most Important CRM Feature to Business Owners is Intuitiveness

A CRM should be intuitive or easy to use. This is the most important feature to most business owners, as rated in a recent poll. You might assume price would be the most important feature. Maybe price is not a high consideration because not all CRM software is expensive especially a monthly subscription to a Software-as-a-Service solution and it should save money in the long run.

#3. Having a Mobile-Ready CRM Increases Sales Staff Productivity Dramatically

Giving your employees access to real-time customer data while they’re out of the office is a big advantage. Your employees travel all over the area you serve, and they use all kinds of devices. Giving them access to up-to-the-minute information wherever they are will make them better salespeople.

#4. CRM Helps Your Entire Organization Not Just Your Sales Team

Your whole company will benefit greatly from CRM. It’s not just your sales team that will benefit. CRM can benefit nearly any business, and it can do so in several areas. It can improve customer service, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. It can also help your business increase sales and generate new business.

#5. Customers Might Be Leaving Your Company Because of Service

It might not be the price or product that is driving your customers away. It could just be the quality of customer service. CRM can improve that.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common mistakes that businesses make when they are moving to a new CRM system. Moving to CRM based customer tracking can be a big shift when everything goes right let alone when you make mistakes right off the bat.

With so many options out there (and more coming!) you need to be careful.

Hopefully, this list will help you make an educated decision about which CRM system to choose.

Mistake #1. No Social Media Integration

Social media is will be one of the main ways you interact with your customer base. You do not want a CRM system or software package that does not take this into account. Social media is a great way to build long-term relationships with customers and you need a CRM system that will keep track of this important communication.

Mistake #2. No Integration with Email or Bookkeeping Software

Automated email tracking and updating of bookkeeping software is also a necessity. You want a CRM system that will work with your other applications seamlessly, especially email and bookkeeping so, at the very least, your employees will not have to enter details twice.

Mistake #3. Not Keeping it Simple

You have done the research and decided to purchase a CRM system. You are really excited about it, and you want everyone else in your company to be just as excited about it. You want to be careful at this stage because you do not want to alienate your employee base. Start slow and keep it simple. Just stick to the core features in the beginning. Roll out new features as they become necessary.

Mistake #4. Putting Too Much of a Load On Your Workers Shoulders

In tandem with mistake #3, putting too much of the load on your workers shoulders can be the death knell for employee morale. Once you purchase a CRM system, you might want to hire a project manager – someone who knows and likes the system. Someone who will make sure your employees are taught how to use the system and what it can do for them. You do not want to make employees fill out every single field for every customer, add in a bunch of unnecessary stuff all over the place, and make them do 100s of things over the course of the day that are completely unnecessary as it will make your organization more inefficient.

Before reading this, let me just give you a word of caution. This is not a comprehensive list of reasons why you need Customer Relationship Management or CRM. If it were a comprehensive list, it might fill up a whole eBook. The goal here isn’t to provide a completely exhaustive list, but just to encourage you to go online and investigate CRM software or subscription services for your business.

#1. It’s Critical That You Know Your History

You have to know where you have been with each customer. Everyone in your organization has to be able to look at any customer’s history. Imagine any employee being able to look at any customer’s interactions at any time from any device anywhere in the world. Not only can they pull up their data, they will be able to pull up the entire stream of communication you had with that customer. Now, that is a pretty special thing and that can make your customer service staff a lot more efficient.

#2. Emails Are All Over the Place

You probably think your email inbox is the perfect solution to managing your customer interactions. You can filter, search, and label anything you want, but you might want to rethink that. The problem is that you will have to start syncing all your email on all your devices. And, what about your employees? They will need access to those customer service emails. You will have to remember to CC or BCC all your employees on every email you send out. Communications may get lost and your customer service will suffer because your employees will have a hard time keeping track of your customer service emails.

#3. Competition Is Good For Your Company

It’s good to have a little competition in the workplace. It keeps things exciting, fun, and moving fast. You don’t want a stagnant workplace and you want to motivate your employee base to do better than they ever have. With a CRM system, you will be able to see who is doing well, how they are doing well, and you will be able to reward and promote them.

So, there you have it! Three solid reasons that you need a CRM system, software, or subscription. It’s hard to make your business soar without it. It needs to be fluid, flexible, and holistic, and it’s hard to get those kinds of things without a robust CRM system.