Regardless of a company’s size, if it sells products or services to customers, it will benefit from a CRM solution. Although small businesses realize the importance of CRM, smaller companies can be hesitant to integrate a small business CRM software into their operations. There is a common misconception that it’s only a tool for larger companies and it’s too costly for smaller operations At ApostleTech we work with companies of all sizes and our HCP CRM was designed with smaller companies in mind – looking for a more affordable solution.

 

According to Forbes.com, the first five years for small business are critical and focusing on building customer relationships are crucial. Whether you’re operating with a team of two, or 200, here are a few of the benefits a small business CRM can generate in a company’s early stages of development:

 

Gather and organize customer data

As soon as your business grows beyond the limitations of an Excel sheet, keeping more relevant details about current and potential customers becomes a necessity. When a company utilizes a CRM solution, there’s no more searching through spreadsheets for customer information or discovering that information is not accurately updated.  

 

CRM will store detailed customer data and allow access at any point in time from anywhere. It enables sales and marketing to segment, and manage leads with ease and initiate follow-up communications. Not only does it help organize data, it also works with other app integrations such as Gmail and chatbot technology, all through the cloud, providing constant access to information. Read more here about the benefits of cloud-based CRM programs and how it helps sales teams access customer data.

 

Streamline workflow as a team

Whether you have a sales and marketing team working from one office or staff working from multiple locations, CRM can help streamline workflow for all involved. Utilizing a CRM, the team can review data to analyze trends, cultivate new leads, and initiate follow-up to secure potential sales. CRM workflow automation allows various members to analyze, manage, and monitor the status of potential customers or connect with existing clients to create a seamless customer experience.

 

Through each touchpoint of a customer’s journey interactions can be tracked and properly managed. At each stage customer experience, ensure your brand is consistent with CRM.

 

Improve sales strategy

There are a variety of functional features for a small business CRM solution that helps company’s enhance their sales strategy. CRM maps the sales process and highlights the points where a lead loses interest or moves forward. It also offers suggestions for personalized messages that can improve conversion rates. A CRM system allows small businesses to store and access data to be used for personalizing communications to a potential customer or an existing client.

 

Losing clients due to a lack of  proper follow-up is a consistent challenge for companies that do not focus on or have the tools for customer relationship management. With CRM, identifying and key touchpoints and responding can elevate a teams sales methods and transform the overall sales strategy.

 

Enhance Email marketing

CRM integrates with email marketing tools and provides one of the most cost-effective ways to build a brand and communicate a tailored message to a targeted audience. For small business owners it offers an opportunity for growing a customer base with minimal manpower and cost. A well-crafted email marketing campaign can tap into CRM to develop segmented audiences and messages that can help increase sales. 

 

With CRM, you can:

• Personalize your message to hundreds of people at a time
• Segment your customers to organize targeted mail merge
• Ensure customers can access your information from all platforms, even mobile
• Test your copy, buttons, and links before sending out
• Change up the frequency of emails
• Measure the performance of email campaigns
• Save email templates and share them with your team
• Keep emails away from recipients’ spam folders

 

Read more here about how CRM Email Marketing can up your game.

 

No matter how small your sales team is, CRM is an effective tool for enhancing sales and marketing operations and generating results. CRM the foundational information and tools to prioritize and develop customer relationships, which ultimately leads to increasing sales. 

 

If you are interested in learning how CRM can help your small business convert leads into sales, ApostleTech is here to help. We work with a variety of industries and companies of all sizes to help develop and implement CRM solutions that fit their specific needs. Learn more about what we do and contact us today.