CRM Articles.

Is Your Small Business Ready

For A CRM Software Solution?

I have yet to see a business that, sometimes in spite of
themselves, didn’t benefit from implementing a Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) or a simpler Contact
Management software solution.

Your small business might be the rare exception, but if you
can relate to some of the following scenarios, you may be
ready to take advantage of the improved and inexpensive
CRM systems coming on-stream.

Mary, your star sales performer, has just been poached by
your opposition. She departs your employ with immediate
effect. You are left wondering:

What deals was she working on?

What is the status of those deals?

Mary’s replacement would be able to hit the ground running,
taking over where Mary left off if you have a small business
CRM solution installed.

You need to do an e/mail marketing campaign to your customer
base, but even the simple task of extracting a targeted list of all
your client’s names and addresses proves difficult. And you
haven’t even begun to send out your mailer yet, never mind
manage and follow through with your responses.

Your sales people spend an inordinate amount of time preparing
themselves for the next day, deciding who they are going to
call or visit. That information should be spat out by the Task
List of the CRM or Contact Manager, freeing them up to spend
more time productively doing scenario planning, and selling.

Is getting reports from your sales people like pulling teeth? Do
your reps spend far too long compiling data and reports
essential to forward planning?

This is time that you'd far preferably have your employees
spend doing what they are paid to do - sell your products. We
only have a finite amount of time to contact and meet clients.

Employees should, as far as possible, discipline themselves to
perform the bulk of admin ‘after hours’, rather than during office

These are all reports that could be generated at the touch of a
button, and winging their way to your inbox with another, if you
have the right CRM solution in place. You could even, depending
on your choice of CRM solution, have reports extracted and
forwarded to you automatically.

Nobody can sleep well in the knowledge that their biggest asset,
their customer database, is in a mess! It may look pretty, but
does it work?

Here are some other possible questions that you need answers
for; the facts may remain elusive without the benefit of a
functional CRM solution.

Why did you lose that deal?

Just when did you promise to get back to ACME Inc., after
their budget gets approved?

Exactly how much did you quote them?

Who last engaged with that client from your sales/service or
accounts departments; when, and what transpired?

When does their contract with your competition or with you
expire?

What is the weighted value of those potential deals, forecast
for the next x months?

You have a great new deal sweetener and need to get a mailer,
fax shot, emailer out to your clients in a hurry, but how?

Who are your VIP customers - by region, product, rep or any
other user-defined category? How do you rate or profile them?

You can’t pinpoint just why Johnny is having problems closing
deals.

You want to sell your business but you can’t show your
prospective buyers a professional, current list of your pending
deals or active clients, the goodwill that makes much of the real value of any business.

These are just a few of the questions a competent CRM
application should be able to answer for you.

Next time up, we’ll examine the different types of CRM or
Contact Management solutions that you should consider for
your small business.

One thing is for certain – a few short months after
implementing your CRM solution, you’ll wonder how on earth
you ever got by without it!

Recommended CRM Solutions Below

Are you seeking a CRM solution for your small business? Look at our CRM Selection below:

Hosted Web based CRM Online CRM Solutions

Conventional, Windows based CRM software Inhouse or On-Premise CRM.

Outlook CRM CRM Solutions for Microsoft Outlook

Open Source CRM for Linux, Windows & Mac platforms Open Source CRM

Apple Mac CRM CRM for Apple Macintosh

SMB CRM Solutions Small Medium Business CRM software

Our Top 10 CRM Solutions Our choice of Best CRM Solutions of the above

About the author:
Perry Norgarb has specialized in CRM solutions for small
businesses for the last 15 years.

Contact him or find out more about Customer Relationship
Management (CRM), Contact Management and other Sales
Tracking software tips and solutions for small businesses at:
http://www.smallbizcrm.com.

You are free to re-publish this article as long as this bio box
and copyright remain intact and the links ‘live’. © 26 April,
2005.

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