Since the introduction of customer relationship management (CRM) systems, small businesses have held off on adopting CRM solutions while larger companies have been making full investments in the new technology. Small companies, however, are now recognizing the value of CRM deployments and making the switch. The following tips were designed to help small businesses determine if they are ready for upgrading to a CRM platform.
Organizations that are losing out on new sales are encouraged to adopt CRM to store and collect valuable data. CRM allows you rapid access to collateral materials when they’re needed and gives the sales manager the opportunity to understand where sales may be going wrong and react to remedy the situation. It’s hard to do all that with a purely manual, spreadsheet-based approach.
Small businesses that are losing current customers should also look at adopting CRM software. The technology can help ensure that follow-ups are made and consumer-business relationship information is leveraged successfully. If an organization falters in these areas, people will likely take their business elsewhere.
Customer information is essential for many companies, but small businesses with limited resources can struggle to ensure this data is maintained properly. With CRM, these organizations can keep track of this knowledge more effectively and better serve their customers. Since customer information can be of benefit to multiple departments within the company, small businesses should seriously consider deploying CRM solutions.
Siloing this kind of data within the sales department is the same thing as discarding it unless you have a mechanism for sharing it internally. That shouldn’t mean sales bubbling it up – it should mean having a system in place so marketing, support, manufacturing and other parts of the business can find that information.
More small businesses moving to CRM
Recent research shows that more small businesses are adopting CRM to improve their operations. Cloud computing has made the technology more accessible to companies that, in the past, simply could not afford such options.
Although some small businesses are hesitant to go all-in with a CRM solution at first, once the system is finally in place, companies love what the platform brings to their organizations.
Contact us today to learn how CRM can meet the unique needs of your small business.