Last year, we partnered with Bredin Business Information, Inc. to survey small business principals. Some of the results were surprising to us. We found out that small businesses are ramping up their growth in a big way this year: 70% of survey respondents expect to grow their business —  and of those, more than half expect to grow by more than 10%. We also discovered that they’re going to focus on customer relationships to achieve this growth. According to the survey, top sales objectives include creating deeper relationships, growing the value of existing customers, and retaining customers.

We also discovered that despite the focus on customer relationships, less than half of small businesses surveyed use a dedicated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This disconnect surprised us; although small businesses recognize the importance of customer relationships, 31% listed word-processing or spreadsheet software as their only way of managing customer relationships. Another 25% reported having no CRM system at all.

So why the disconnect? Maybe there’s too much information available to parse through. Maybe CRM seems too complex or cost-prohibitive to small businesses. Maybe this is the first time they had ever heard of CRM. Whatever the reason, it was clear that we needed to clear up any confusion small businesses have about CRM in a simple, straight-forward way. All of the answers you need to know about CRM and small businesses are in our new e-book Why Do I Need CRM?

We answered four of the most-asked questions small businesses have about CRM:

• What does CRM do?

• Do only large companies use CRM?

• Can I afford CRM?

• Isn’t it safer to store data myself?

In this e-book, we give you answers and clarify some of the most common assumptions we hear when we talk to small businesses. We show you how CRM is a game-changer for small-businesses in terms of expanding your pipeline, creating a repeatable sales cycle, collaborating more efficiently, and staying competitive with larger companies.

One big takeaway:

If you read nothing else in this post, remember the four things that CRM helps small businesses do: find new prospects, win more deals, keep your customer happy, and grow your business. Understanding CRM solutions and what they are capable of is your first step towards achieving big business power.