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Should your small business get a CRM system? December 9, 2009

Posted by Kelly Brady in : Small Business Technology, Technology Solutions , comments closed

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are now within the reach of medium and small businesses. Just a few years ago, these were 6 and 7 figure investments. But now, there are many choices that enable even a very small business to benefit from CRM.

I think CRM systems are great tools, perhaps essential to maximize profitability and success. But, I also believe that many businesses overlook the business process changes that a CRM system requires in order to justify the cost and produce a real return on investment.

Fundamentally, a comprehensive CRM system gathers everything you know about your customers and stores it in one place. Typically a central contact record links sales activities, services, responses to marketing campaigns, and all communication activities together. You can run reports to see what worked in the past, who fits a new marketing campaign, or who may need a followup contact.

Key Considerations for a CRM Implementation

1. Look at your business strategy first; do you already know exactly how you want to manage your relationships with your customers? If not, figure that out first before taking the plunge into a customer relationship management system.

2. Look at your staff; do they have the discipline to recognize the value of the system and be willing to use it? For instance, will they log nearly all customer contacts (phone & email) into the system?

3. Look at your business processes for marketing, sales, service requests and problem handling. Can you articulate them? The CRM system should help you standardize and create consistency in following your own business processes. If you can’t articulate what they should be, CRM won’t help you fulfill them.

4. Will you actually use the analytical capabilities of a CRM system to understand past customer activities, sales patterns, marketing campaign results to develop new strategies and tactics? This may provide the real value of CRM for most companies, but will managers use this tool or keep doing what they’ve always done before?

I have seen small and large businesses embrace the CRM concept, purchase and implement a system, but then fail to get everyone on board and use the system effectively. Simply buying a system will not improve your customer relationships or result in more sales or happier customers. It will only provide a framework upon which to manage the processes surrounding effective customer relationship management. If you know how you want to relate to your prospects and customers, and can commit to making the necessary process changes, a CRM system might be the best investment you ever made.