Why Adding CRM Is a No-Brainer for Your Small Business

8 min read

CRM (or Customer Relationship Management) systems have been around for a while now, and their popularity and functionality has continued to grow. Companies have learned the importance of developing a customer-centric focus as well as maintaining strong lines of communications with their customers.

So what is a CRM system? CRMs accumulate and centralize data and information from a number of sources, typically including telephone, email, social media, marketing materials, and the company’s own website. This allows a company to accurately and intelligently manage their customer relationships through different stages of the business relationship. That is, CRMs basically give you a snapshot of your relationship with a given customer at any point in time, as well as tools to help manage that relationship.

A good CRM system keeps your team up to date on customer information, letting you focus on other important things (like making Post-it Note designs on whiteboards).

Now, you may think that a CRM system is only meant for huge companies with massive amounts of customers. Or that a CRM system is simply too expensive for a small business to use and maintain. But the truth is that a good CRM system can benefit and add value to businesses of every size — including small businesses.

How?

Keep reading to find out why adding a CRM is a no-brainer for your small business.

5 Reasons Why You Should Add CRM to Your Small Business

Improve customer retention
Grow revenue
Enhance team communication
Increase customer satisfaction
Reduce waste

1. Improve customer retention

This is typically what’s advertised as a CRM’s premier feature. Since CRM systems help you accumulate and analyze customer data, they make it that much easier for you to identify accounts that are at risk of not renewing their contract with you or potentially ending it early.

Rather than wait until an account is in jeopardy, a CRM can help your small business reach out to these accounts proactively and help provide a solution, thereby retaining the customer and their business.

CRMs help you stay in the loop with your business relationship, making an in-person meeting with an unhappy customer a lot less awkward.

2. Grow revenue

Going hand in hand with improving customer retention rates, implementing a CRM system can also lead to increased revenue for your small business. In addition to helping you retain more customers and lose less business, a good CRM system can help you reach out to satisfied customers and cross- or upsell them at just the right time.

A CRM system can also help you identify new customers that are searching for and would be interested in your services, leading to more sales — and more revenue — for your small business.

3. Enhance team communication

These days, your employees might be working remotely in different locations. Despite the popularity of video calls, it can be tough to communicate important customer information across departments and keep your small business on top of everything that’s happening with your customers.

An effective CRM system helps foster communication among your employees by tracking all of your company’s interactions with each of your customers. Each of your employees can get an accurate picture of your relationship with a customer and feel confident interacting with them.

It may not stop your dog from interrupting your video calls, but CRMs can make communication stronger and easier between your team members.

4. Increase customer satisfaction

With the amount of competition in the market today, consumers are paying greater attention to the things that set one company apart from the rest. For small businesses, that can often mean putting more emphasis on managing relationships and keeping your customers happy, rather than simply providing a service or selling a product.

CRM systems compile data and information to give you a snapshot of the status of your relationship with a given customer. This can help you identify when to reach out to certain customers with specific messaging, such as a customer satisfaction survey after the customer’s made a big purchase. When a customer knows you’re paying attention to them and their needs, they are much more likely to be satisfied in their business relationship with your small business.

5. Reduce waste

Coordinating and keeping track of customer data and information can be tricky across the separate departments of your business, which can lead to duplicated work and wasted resources. And when you add in remote working and online hosting of most digitized customer information, it can be even tougher to keep work streamlined and efficient.

A solid CRM system can help reduce waste and improve efficiency by automating some processes and workflows, such as sending out specific templated emails to certain customers who are at various stages of the sales process. It also cuts down on duplicated work and human errors, giving your employees more time and resources to focus on work that can’t be automated or requires a human touch.

Hopefully, now you’re convinced that a CRM system can help your business. Check out a few of our favorites for small businesses, or let us know what you use in the comments!

Top 10 CRM Systems for Small Business

Want to learn more? Check out this detailed review of the best CRM software.

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Jul 1, 2021

About the author

Colin Thompson is a content writer at Ecwid. He writes about marketing, business development, and promotion for our Ecwid Partners. He loves cats, Chicago sports, deep dish pizza and going on hikes.