10 Benefits of a CRM for Small Businesses

10 Benefits of a CRM

The sections that follow will summarize some of the biggest benefits of a CRM.

 

1. One Central Location for All Data

It's easy to get overwhelmed by data. For example, maintaining customer contact information, purchase history, and service calls can consume a lot of time and energy. Fortunately, centralized data is one benefit of a CRM that makes data management simple.

Companies can maintain several different categories of customer data. Here are the most common:

Identity Data

This customer information is the type most often associated with a CRM and includes the person's name, physical address, phone number, email address, social security number or account number, and birth date.

Descriptive Data

Descriptive data refers to professional customer information such as:

• Job title
• Type of Business
• Geographic Location
• Organizational Size
• Customer Journey Stage (i.e., stage in the sales cycle)

 

Qualitative Data

Qualitative CRM data is information about someone's buying behaviors, needs, or desires. This type of data is often subject to interpretation by the sales team but can be vital in closing deals. Companies that survey prospective customers or their existing customer base can gain valuable insights through qualitative data.

Here are some examples:

• The intent of a customer inquiry (such as requesting a price)
• A customer review
• Customer feedback via the company website or email

Quantitative Data

Quantitative data uses real numbers to assess customer behaviors, needs, or desires. For example, if a lead opens 80% of a business's emails, that shows that the person has a significant interest. Quantitative data can be used to adjust and improve the company's sales and service processes or marketing campaigns.

 

2. Track Individual Customer Interactions

Tracking customer interactions is another benefit of CRM software. Companies can use a CRM to maintain records on each existing customer, including their interests and feedback. This enables an organization to accommodate customer needs quickly. It also helps a business develop additional products or services that customers have requested, contributing to future business growth.

Sales and customer representatives can access the CRM's data to maintain consistency and perform their jobs efficiently. In addition, the availability of customer information in one location makes in-house communication smoother and reduces service errors.

Commitment to tracking activity results in sales teams being able to identify who has not been contacted recently and also provides metrics on the users call/meeting volume.

 

3. Improve the Customer Experience

A company's ongoing relationship with customers is critical to long-term success. The customer experience sets the tone for a positive sales process, onboarding, and customer support. In addition, a CRM can help a business improve customer service, which means fewer complaints and more five-star reviews.

Having a coordinated and professional presentation to the client makes them feel like more than a number. When things do go wrong, an organized serice ticket system communicates your commitment to make things right again.

 

4. Higher Customer Retention

As most small businesses know, selling to an existing customer is easier than finding new ones. Higher customer retention is a CRM benefit that can significantly impact the bottom line. By giving access to customer interaction information to all employees and teams, companies can better serve customers on a personal level. This is one of the most effective ways to build trust and customer loyalty. The CRM will help small businesses and B2B sales managers stay in touch with their customers by using the data to assess complaint resolution and overall customer satisfaction.

Businesses that manage renewals (i.e., subscriptions, insurance) can leverage technology to manage the renewal cycle so that nothing is missed and the service manager is aware of at risk accounts.  Proactive follow-up and coordinated communication result in higher retention rates and a larger book of business.

 

5. Manage the Sales Pipeline

Keeping track of leads and sales cycle stages can be challenging. Missed sales opportunities cost small businesses thousands of dollars each year in potential revenue. In fact, 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales because reps lack the right information.

But organizations that implement a CRM won't have those problems.

A CRM helps each sales rep stay on top of their leads, previous interactions, and workflow in a manner consistent with the process established by the company.  Good process and simple/sensible reporting score wins for the salespeople and the sales managers.  CRM provides a way to set sales targets and measure success, so that users and managers are working on the same data, same dashboards and a single pipeline.  They can even automate sales reports to ensure nothing gets overlooked.

In this way, a CRM provides the business with a complete, birds-eye view of its current pipeline and potential for future revenue.

 

6. Optimize Marketing ROI

Marketing can be expensive, especially for small businesses on a limited budget. Marketing optimization is one of the major benefits of a CRM. Sales and marketing teams can use CRM data to track a host of key performance indicators, such as:

• Click-through rates
• Manage unsubscribes
• Conversion rates on marketing campaigns
• Advertising responses

A company can assess how well each marketing or advertising campaign is performing in just a couple of clicks and adjust accordingly. This means businesses can allocate more resources to what is working while cutting back on what isn't.

Marketing automation is another advantage of CRM technology. For example, email marketing campaigns can be set up to run automatically in a pre-defined series.

A CRM system helps marketing and sales teams define and segment profitable customer groups. As a result, a company can make customized offers for each segment, which increases the likelihood that people will buy.