As a small business owner, you pick and choose your software applications carefully. You don’t need the same types of management software that a large company requires, and frankly you can’t afford most of the enterprise software packages out there anyway…and you certainly don’t have the time to invest in learning them.
But one application package you do need is customer relationship management (CRM) software. Whether you specialize in goods or services, whether your sales team numbers one or 20 (or more), and whether you operate in one city or all 50 states, your business can benefit from enhanced customer relationship management. Here are some advantages of CRM software for small businesses.
Increased customer satisfaction
The number one reason all businesses—from sole proprietorships to corporations—should consider CRM software is that it leads to increased customer satisfaction. Storing customer data in one centralized location and tracking all customer interactions means you can address inquiries and requests more efficiently. You and your employees will spend less time searching for information and hunting down relevant documentation, so you can spend more time actually serving your customers. In today’s market, providing excellent customer service is the best way to make your business stand out from the competition.
Better lead generation and follow-up
Next to retaining your current customers, one of your top goals is undoubtedly to attract new ones. How do you keep track of your leads and communicate with potential customers? Do you have a timeline for following up with your contacts, or do you find that too many of them slip through the cracks? CRM software can help you organize your leads and set follow-up schedules so you can convert more of those potential customers into paying ones.
Improved sales tracking
What is your current sales tracking and reporting process? Do you know what each member of your sales team did last week? Are you on track to meet your monthly or quarterly sales targets? CRM software integrates customer data with employee tracking and sales tracking, allowing you to generate instant reports to answer these (and many other) questions. This allows you to address any issues and problems that might come up, before it’s too late.
Integrated “Big Data”
Big Data isn’t just for big businesses. At its core, the Big Data movement is really just about collecting, storing, and using as much relevant information as possible, so you can have it on hand when it comes time to make important decisions—like what audience to target for a new product launch or how to divvy up the advertising budget. Small business owners often find Big Data overwhelming, but that usually means that the information isn’t being collected and stored in a way that makes it easy to use. Knowledge base software can help small businesses benefit from big data by organizing all of a company’s information in one place and using integrated analytics to generate actionable reports. Many small business owners are amazed at the wealth of information they already had available, but just never knew how to use.
CRM software allows small businesses to take advantage of the types of sophisticated information storage and analysis that were previously limited to large corporations. What are you waiting for? Explore your CRM options today to start improving your customer service, boosting your sales numbers, and making better business decisions.
