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What is CRM Software for Small Businesses?
If you are an entrepreneur or part of a small business with more than 50 customers trying to manage your customer contacts in a spreadsheet, you have probably already realized that this is a difficult task. CRM systems are designed to take the pain out of this vitally important function.
CRMs have two main advantages over simple contact lists or databases. First, they add internal features that directly handle other parts of your sales funnel, specifically pipelines, scheduling, and even commission management, among others.
Second, and more importantly, they integrate with other software, moving customer data back and forth between systems. Connecting your CRM to the rest of your software stack maps out the details of your CRM system each customer interaction is available upon request. This could be anything from lunch with a salesperson to things like website contact forms, phone calls, online chats and social media mentions. A salesperson can include that data in a purchasing conversation, while a helpdesk employee can use it to better understand the customer’s situation.
What can a CRM do for your small business?
When you leverage a CRM to its full potential, it can collect all of your company’s interactions with each customer and combine them with related data from sources such as accounting, inventory, marketing, and purchasing. That can help you maintain a complete sales pipeline that is not only accurate, but can also respond quickly to new opportunities.
For example, if a help desk agent realizes that a customer is ready for an upsell opportunity while addressing an unrelated support issue, that information won’t be lost in an email. That data can be automatically pulled from the technician’s trouble ticket, added to the customer’s CRM record, and then placed into the pipeline so the sales manager can distribute the opportunity.
This type of automation is possible because CRMs can move data in and out of business systems through multiple channels. Depending on how your sales department works, CRM data can appear in a dedicated app interface, an email, a Slack message, and on any device, especially mobile. Even more important than rapid spread is ingestion. That’s where you’ll want to pay attention to the automation capabilities of a CRM solution.
By automating data collection in the CRM and any app you integrate it with, you get the data you want and can move it where you need it. Think of your sales pipeline as a funnel with a wide opening at one end that collects as much data as possible. By the time the information reaches the other side, the funnel has broken it down into actionable units that are aimed directly at the people who need it.
The main challenge for smaller companies is implementing CRM systems and integrating them with existing systems. This often requires significant effort from trained IT staff, which is likely to be scarce or even non-existent in very small organizations.
In recent years, however, CRM vendors have begun to cater directly to the needs of small business buyers. Some have built brand new products with new interfaces and features designed from the ground up with small and micro business users in mind. Others have scaled back their flagship products to make them easier to use while maintaining an easy upgrade path for growing customers.
How do CRMs handle customer data?
The primary function of any CRM should be data collection. Whether it’s documents, phone calls, social media chats, or something else, your solution should be able to collect data from all the major channels you use to communicate with customers. But collecting the data is only half the mission. Parsing and routing data make up the other half.
For example, if you collect phone calls and social media chats, keywords can become important, especially mentions of a specific product name. The same can apply to a valued customer name or account number. You could compare that to sentiment indicators, which should tell you the topic of each interaction and how the customer felt about it. It takes work, but smart data distribution is where CRMs can shine.
That routing function is less complex than the data collection and parsing function, but no less important. Your CRM can get high marks on data collection and still fail if it doesn’t get that information to the right people at the right time. Customizing this process depends on how your salespeople do their work, which means there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. This part requires meetings with your staff to detail how the sale actually takes place so you can then properly map out your CRM’s notification features.
Is a CRM Worth It for a Small Business?
SMEs represent a huge market. According to USA Today, a whopping 99% of all businesses in the US qualify as small businesses. That’s why some major CRM players are scaling back their enterprise offerings to meet the needs of smaller organizations, while others have built specialized products specifically aimed at them.
For example, Salesforce, the undisputed behemoth of the CRM space, has developed Salesforce Starter, an entry-level product built explicitly to entice SMBs. It uses the same platform as the company’s enterprise offering, just with a limited set of features and a simpler user interface.
But even Salesforce’s most basic offering may seem too complex for some customers. Smaller CRM vendors compete by deliberately keeping the entire solution simple enough to entice SMBs. Some do this by adding artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, but most focus on building as many third-party software integrations as possible. For example, Pipedrive CRM offers fast chatbots that customers can visit on their sites, while Zendesk Sell ties into the broader range of Zendesk helpdesk tools. Meanwhile, Freshsales CRM has also ramped up its integrations and addressed workflow automation and better sales analytics.
What are the considerations of a viable small business CRM? Prices are the first and most obvious starting point. These types of CRMs can start at less than $10 per user per month and scale up to $50 per user per month for more comprehensive services.
As with all subscription software, be sure to take advantage of free trials where available. No matter how many reviews you read or how many demos you watch, it’s difficult to determine how a particular CRM will work for you until you evaluate it in your organization with the people who will use it every day.
It is best to look for a solution that is easy to understand for non-specialists. Easily onboarding team members is an important consideration, as you likely don’t have the time (or budget) for long-term, in-person training. Therefore, you should look for a product that includes a knowledge base, FAQs, and other support articles. Online user forums can often be an effective source of support as well.
It is important to also look to the future. Knowing how a particular CRM will grow with your business is an essential part of purchasing the right solution today. Work with sales leads to determine your current and future needs and explore whether your CRM solutions can easily enable more users, a larger contact base, the analytics you think you need, and the digital marketing hooks you ultimately want to use.
Make the most of third-party integrations
Small business CRMs may not have all the bells and whistles of enterprise CRM platforms, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create a unified system for your salespeople. Ensuring that your small business CRM can ultimately build data relationships with other apps, especially those that are low-cost and aimed at smaller businesses, is critical if you want to get the most return on your purchase.
Check your CRM integration and partner lists to see your options for integrating your solution with third-party software. Dedicated vendors can handle social media listening and selling, email marketing, business analytics, marketing automation, and even lead management, and opting for a low-cost partner integration can still be cheaper than paying for a larger CRM platform that includes these capabilities.
Another way to connect business systems is with Zapier, a popular and inexpensive third-party automation and integration tool. It can help you tie together different web services into automated workflows. While Zapier is a reliable tool, its data-sharing features are limited by its ease of use. Sit down and decide exactly what you need from a third-party integration, and only then decide whether you want to get started with Zapier yourself or invest some money in a developer to build a more flexible integration.
Take advantage of mobile CRM apps
One of the most important developments in CRM for SMEs and entrepreneurs is the availability of simple but effective mobile apps. Today, small businesses are moving. They are also increasingly distributed (even globally) and the devices vendors use can vary widely. So it’s important that your CRM supports not only PCs, but also tablets and phones.
While some vendors try to sell mobile browser versions of their web apps as a solution for mobile device users, this type of setup pales in comparison to a bona fide mobile app. Browser-based apps access online databases and services, but do not communicate directly with the built-in features that many mobile devices offer, including security, Near Field Communication (NFC) for mobile payments, and access to cameras and other sensors.
Both Bigin and Salesforce Starter are mobile-first solutions that offer apps with all the necessary features and controls of their desktop counterparts. Bigin goes the extra mile by including Apple Watch integrations with a wearable widget that allows for shortcuts.
Oliver Rist contributed to this story.