For years, the size and resources of large corporations made it difficult for small business owners and startups to compete. With new technology solutions, however, the scale of large corporations has become a hindrance, creating the perfect environment for small businesses to thrive. Armed with the right tools, small businesses can gain an edge over their larger competitors and stand out to customers looking for trust and transparency.
In our SMB Trends Report, we learned that sales and customer service are considered the most crucial roles for SMB success, reflecting the importance of not just acquiring customers, but also keeping them happy in the long term. Streamlined, organised, and prepared, your data is, therefore, key to gaining an edge over the competition.
Benefits of CRM
Organisation
One of the challenges of scaling a business is developing an agile organisational structure and managing the information for an ever-growing list of customers and prospects. Many traditional systems keep information siloed and inhibit security, accessibility, and accuracy, preventing a clear picture of your customer base and business performance.
Efficiency
The more time you and your employees spend on administrative tasks, the less you can focus on your passion for your business and your customers. Small Businesses are, by nature, thin on the ground in terms of resources, so automating and making more efficient these tasks can free up you and your employees to focus where it counts.
Analysis of Customer Data
To stay competitive, especially as a small business going up against industry giants, you need to go above and beyond expectations to deliver a great experience for your customers. Modern customers are savvier and use a variety of resources to choose products, services and companies, and above all else, they focus on the experience.
CRM solutions give you the tools to deliver excellent customer experiences by providing a full view of your customer. You can use these insights to create targeted offers based on their interests, order history, social media conversations and other information about their interactions with your business. This data provides actionable intelligence that can be used to make a personalised pitch to the right customer at the right time, showing them that you’re there to cater to their needs.
Communication
A CRM system can identify a new lead quickly and easily with access to all the information. The system gathers information from conversations on social media, internal account discussions, account history, and business information to see if they’re the perfect fit. This data provides actionable intelligence that can be used to find the right prospects and make the right pitch at the right time.
Competitive Edge
Competition is fierce, but with the right technology, small businesses can leverage agility and flexibility to stand out. A sophisticated CRM system can enhance your assets to improve profitability and collaboration among team members and to build stronger relationships with existing and prospective customers- providing a competitive edge and alleviating time constraints for creative thinking.
How to choose the right CRM
Though CRM solutions have an array of benefits for businesses, not all CRM systems are created equal. Harnessing the full potential of CRM depends on its available features and how they work for your business needs and future planning.
Look out for CRM Solutions that have the following capabilities:
- Integrated Platform: One of the greatest assets of a CRM platform, being able to connect to other products to provide a comprehensive view of your customer. Integration allows you to provide personalised marketing, respond to customers across multiple channels, and deliver customised experiences in a collaborative way.
- Scalability: Many small businesses avoid large, sophisticated CRM systems because they believe that they’re too expensive for a small business budget or unnecessary for a growing business at early stages of the process. With the right CRM system, however, you can choose the plan and features that are most appropriate for your business right now. As your customer base and teams grow, you can seamlessly scale the system to meet your changing needs and stay ahead, without disrupting your day-to-day.
Customer Support: From implementation to upgrades and customisation, you’ll want to know that you have the support you need to get your system online as quickly as possible and reduce potential downtime and loss of profits and productivity.
Cloud Based: Cloud-based CRM systems take the capabilities of CRM a step further by providing all users with access to information anywhere, at any time- including Sales reps out on the road. They also tend to be cheaper and don’t require special installation.
Introducing a CRM platform produces real results, especially to the bottom line. Not only that, it can valuable time and resources, helping SMEs succeed by focusing on their customers.
Want to learn more? Download CRM for Small Business - a Recipe for Success now.
