If you’ve tried to manage your business out of a spreadsheet, you’ve likely realized that it just can’t cut it as your business grows. It becomes nearly impossible to keep track of which leads you should call today, which customer is due to purchase again soon, and who is late on a payment.
Thankfully, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software can handle the complexities of tracking lead and customer actions, communications, documents, and much more. A CRM for small businesses replaces the patchwork of spreadsheets, apps and databases, streamlining daily business operations.
Let’s explore these key benefits of CRM for businesses of all sizes and industries:
- Organization and efficiency
- Flawless follow-up with leads and clients
- Personalized communications
- More sales opportunities through data insights
- An improved customer experience
Advantages of CRM software
The benefits of using a CRM are felt across your team, from marketing to sales to customer support. Of course, your leads and customers will benefit too.
Organization and efficiency
A small business CRM consolidates all lead and customer details in a central place, accessible to your entire team, whether at their desks or on the go. The information you need to close a sale or help a customer with an issue is at your fingertips — no more piecing together info from multiple systems.
Flawless follow-up
When your CRM is combined with sales and marketing automation, sending the right message to the right person at the right time becomes a reality.
You no longer have to copy and paste introductory emails to new leads or put reminders on your calendar to follow up with clients. Lead and customer actions trigger automated email and text message follow-ups at key touch points in the customer journey.
Personalized communications
When a sales rep has visibility to all the actions a lead has taken, they can personalize their conversations and encourage the appropriate next step in converting the lead to a customer.
With CRM and sales and marketing automation software, emails and text messages can be personalized automatically based on customers’ interests, past purchases, time elapsed since last purchase, etc. Personalized, relevant messaging is critical for building long-lasting relationships with leads and clients.
More sales opportunities through data insights
A CRM can track lead conversion trends and customer purchasing patterns, providing insights into what’s working and what needs improvement.
When you understand where leads are dropping off, you can make adjustments to improve conversion. When you’ve identified common purchase combinations, you can create packages or bundles to increase sales.
An improved customer experience
An often-unsung benefit of a CRM is a better experience for your customers. Having all lead and client information in one system makes the handoff between sales and customer support seamless.
A CRM helps you build relationships with your clients through timely, personalized communications. And strong relationships lead to customer retention, higher customer lifetime value, and referrals.