CRM Tool is a category of software that helps business manage its interactions and relationships with both customers and prospective customers efficiently. Based on research, it is proven that the implementation of CRM not only helped business in making cost savings but also increased efficiency. However, there could be some hesitation from startups and small business on the implementation of CRM and thereby making it part of their Sales Strategy, owing to the cost factor. Hence, let’s take a closer look to whether the implementation of CRM in the Sales Process of small companies is worth the monetary and organizational efficiency benefits it yields in the long run. But, before going into reviewing the benefits, we need to understand what is a small business.
Small Business:
A business can be considered a small business if it is a partnership or sole proprietorship or privately owned corporation. But the definition of small business may vary from country to country based on various criteria such as the number of employees, annual turnover, customer base, etc. In the US, a company with less than 250 employees is considered a small business while in the EU, the company with the same number is considered a medium-sized business. Now, one might think what difference it is going to make whether the business is small, mid-sized or large when we are implementing CRM. To understand how the size of the company can have an impact on the type of CRM implementation, we need to understand the objectives behind the implementation. Below listed are three main objectives behind the implementation of CRM in any company:
a) Increase customer revenue by discovering and retaining existing customers,
b) Simplify various processes such as marketing and sales and
c) To provide world class customer service
The size of the company greatly defines its resources and its investment ability in terms of capital, manpower and time. Majority of the bankruptcy cases of startups is due to undercapitalization. In order for a company to survive its first year of startup, it should have access to capital that is equal to its first year projected revenue in addition to its operational expenses. There is no guarantee in achieving success even after the company has access to all the above. The reason is market dynamics such as competitors, customer requirements and geographical conditions, etc. can come into play when a startup company goes to the market with its product. Hence, in order to survive, sustain and reap benefits, it is extremely important for small business to optimize its resources and efficiently use them. Sales CRM or Best CRM software is one such application, implementation of which, can help business in optimizing and efficiently using its limited resources. Let’s deep dive and see how the CRM platform can optimize the sales process of small business.
Customer Management:
Small business will have limited leads that they need to efficiently manage in order to convert them into revenue generating sales. CRM is the right fit to meet this requirement. It keeps track of all the contact information of the leads and guides the organization from each stage of lead to a sale process. It helps an organization identify the obstacles that it has to navigate through during the course of its journey from lead to the sale. Since small business will have limited contacts, they cannot take the luxury of losing the customer due to lack of a timely follow-up. CRM can help the organization by alerting its sales reps to do a timely follow-up with the customer.
Efficient usage of manpower:
A small business has very limited resources and hence, they cannot afford to engage its limited manpower in non-value adding tasks such as follow up with all the leads without knowing whether the product meets their requirement or not. CRM has the ability to score
the leads and rank them based on pre-defined criteria by the organization. For example, a CEO of a company has a more say in the decision-making process rather than a mid-level manager who needs to take further approvals. It only makes sense to prioritize and reach out to a prospective customer who is a CEO than reaching out to a mid-level manager.
Customized Approach:
Any business whether small or big, customizing and being proactive in their approach towards customer will undoubtedly yield good results in the long run. Social CRM systems can help the business gain insight into customer’s likes and dislikes based on their activity on social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. There is a greater chance of making a successful deal when business tailors its approach towards customer with his likes and dislikes in the back of its mind.
Ability to tweak Sales Strategy:
In business what works today may not work tomorrow and what works tomorrow may require modification to make it work the day after. Sales strategies need to be dynamic and they need to be modified as per the dynamic market. CRM provides the ability to review sales figures and identify which sales strategy worked and which didn’t. It also helps management in identifying the reasons behind a sales strategy not yielding results. Based on this, management can make informed decisions to optimize resources and reach the desired targets.
