I am often asked about the benefits of having a CRM system. After all, what is wrong with having all of your contacts in Outlook, Excel or within an old shoebox underneath your desk, for that matter? In our (small) office we use Capsule CRM. Here are the benefits of having your own CRM (Customer Relationship Management):
1. It keep keeps all of your contacts in one place. Which means that you can A) find people and their contact information and B) you can divide your contacts in ways that makes sense to your business and then “communicate with people with shared needs” which is fundamental marketing thinking, isn’t it?
2. Your own CRM = the best phone directory you will ever have (on the assumption that you enjoy talking to past, present and future customers).
3. It can save your life when the phone rings and the caller says their name and you have no idea who they are. (I meet several thousand people a year, so, yes, this happens to me: I ask an open question and put their name into our CRM. Hey Presto! Their record usually appears).
4. Having up-to-date records is the sign of a well organised business. (“Well organised enterprises out perform chaotic competitors.” ~ Nigel Temple)
5. If there is more than one person in your office, then your CRM contains the combined contact information of your customer facing team. If a team member leaves, you will have their customer contact information available within a few clicks.
6. Modern CRMs can also handle other business requirements, i.e. accounting / invoicing.
7. An up-to-date CRM adds value to your enterprise, i.e. if, one day, you sell your business.
Do you have a CRM? If that’s a “Yes” which one do you use and what are the pros and cons?
Written by marketing consultant, trainer, speaker and author Nigel Temple.
3,000+ clients over a 30 year period.
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CRM will help make your business processes become efficient and competitive. The data of the customers for business use are processed faster using this business tool. Manual research of different business data and generation of reports take a lot of time and effort. These processes are automatically done using crm software for small business.