If you are a business owner, chances are that you already have one system or the other in place to manage information about your customers, partners and potential customers.
Initially you may be okay with just keeping business cards of your clients etc in a card holder or keeping their contact details on your smartphone. But sooner than later you discover that you need a more organized way of holding your information and most business owners turn to CRM solution.
You know you are in need of a CRM system when:
10. You mainly use your smart phone or tablet to record important notes. (It takes too long for your laptop to start up and you tend to forget the details of your conversations quickly.)
9. You see no increased business from your Emarketing blasts. (Am I sending valuable information to my clients/prospects? Are people opening my marketing emails? – If so, who are they?)
8. You have social media accounts, but have no idea how it can help your business. (Wouldn’t it be smart to have your Emarketing campaing post to all of your soical media accounts?)
7. You just tried to sell addional products to a customer that is 120 days overdue on payment from their last purchase. (A view of the current A/R status with the clients past purchase history would have helped.)
6. You just spent 4 hours on a Sunday putting together your call report. (If you had a system that kept track of all the emails, notes, and completed activities you did this week you might have been able to watch the NASCAR race.
5. You understand what the “Cloud” is now! (You’ve drasticly decreased your IT costs and want to provide an easier way for your sales team to do their job.)
4. You want to know what other contacts you have in the area after meeting with your last appointment for the day. (Stopping by a few customers that you haven’t talked to in 3 months might prove profitable.)
3. You are tired of entering the same information into multiple systems. (The time wasted on double data entry, you could have setup 3 meetings with prospects.)
2. You are a meeting with the Sr. VP of Marketing and you blanked on what products you sold him last year. (A quick query in your Mobile SalesLogix or ACT CRM system would have made you look smart and knowledgeable on his business).
1. Your number two customer just signed a 3 year contract with a “Common” compettitor. (You never resolved his customer complaints from 6 months ago because there was no resolution/follow up tracking – just a pile of post-ed notes.)
Take the Next Step:
18 Requiremnets for Business Success with CRM
