Monday, February 3, 2014

CRM Management Software for Small Businesses

There are several ways in which CRM management software can help small business create and maintain healthy and productive relationships with their customers. Only 20 years ago, use of CRM software in small business was extremely limited. Fourteen years into the 21st century, and the situation has changed drastically. CRM management software is recognized as an essential tool in the repertoire of any successful business.

Why use CRM management software?
Our economy is predominantly a service economy. The need to make sure the customers are satisfied is crucial for the survival of businesses. Yet, many businesses do not have the time, money, and energy to address their customers’ needs individually. It is here that CRM software comes into picture. A smart CRM software makes it consumer engagement easier.

Three advantages

(a) More responsive

A recent study showed that nearly two-fifths of customers want their businesses to reply within six hours of their email. CRM makes it possible. It integrates with your website and other tools to allow you to achieve a level of responsiveness that your customers will appreciate. This responsiveness is essential to customer retention.

(b) Less expenses
Traditional methods of taking care of customers are call centers and emails. This creates additional expenses; in form of wages, costs and facilities. CRM management software helps businesses save on this overhead while still allowing them to maintain a working customer service plan.

(c) Central database
A business has to take care of several customer needs such as appointments, feedback processing, and attention to outstanding requests. A CRM software for small business makes these and other service tasks easier by keeping all this data in a central database; where it remains easily accessible.

The advantages of CRM software do not end here. One can add discovery of more market opportunities, improved team, and enhanced customer satisfaction into the list.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Why should I use a CRM?

Why do some people make great sales representatives while others prove to be laggards? If the managing director of a management consulting firm in the U.K., Julian Jones, is to be believed – the answer lies in information. In a time when laptops and the internet weren't mainstream, Julian took notes. He attributes this habit to his success. Modern CRM (customer relationship management) tools are fancy note-taking machines.

If you are a small business catering to a small group of customers in a village, you may not have a need for a powerful CRM. Because the chances are that you already know all of your customers by name. But what will you if you were managing a complex modern company whose clients could be from Alaska, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, or even Timbuktu? You cannot trust a human brain to manage all the information about clients. Paper notes become unwieldy after sometime. This brings in modern client relationship management software as your savior.

A client management software keeps track of the consumers who have shown interest in your products or services. Your sales team can then retrieve this data to turn people interested in your product into customers.

A modern CRM memorizes the buying habits of clients who have purchased from you. Your sales team can also use this data to tailor-make their offers to existing clients.

The uses of a modern CRM are not limited to sales. It provides a platform through which you can communicate to your people. It takes in feedback from your clients, it mails them new offers, it alerts you about consumers who haven't purchased from you in a long time. In other words, a modern CRM functions as a giant brain which has everything you would want to know about your consumers.

There is a smart CRM available for some time now for small and large businesses. If you own a business, we encourage you to download a trial version by filling a short form from here – http://www.crm-client-management-software.com/– and notice the difference yourself.