The Top 7 Benefits of Implementing a CRM for Your Business

Sales and marketing are a key aspect of any small and medium enterprise’s (SMEs) revenue and growth aspirations. The trick is to align your business development and marketing efforts to support your business priorities, with the aim of enabling growth.

Technology is a key enabler for business owners, marketers, and business development to reach these goals. In fact, 64 percent of fast-growth SMEs adopted at least one type of technology in 2017 to help them grow.

Customer relationship management platforms (CRMs) are one of the most popular technologies to improve business operations. But what are the benefits of a CRM? And how can automation help your business grow?

Here are seven benefits of using a CRM:

1. Centralized Data: Reflect on how your business is managing customers right now. Are you constantly shifting between multiple spreadsheets? CRMs like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics 365 track all important information in one place, giving your entire operation line of sight on every client, big or small.
2. Improved Customer Service: Are you only reacting to the needs of your clients instead of being proactive? A CRM helps you understand what your customer needs and when they’re going to need it, providing better service and strengthening your relationship.
3. Upsell Opportunities: With more information at your fingertips, you’ll be able to identify ways to increase sales to existing clients, whether by cross-selling existing products, or creating an entirely new product or service to plug a known gap.
4. Marketing and Sales Alignment: CRMs allow you to attribute leads to specific marketing activities to help your business define what’s working and what’s not. You’ll spend your marketing dollars more strategically and ultimately help drive more sales.
5. Automation: Many platforms also provide the benefit of automation, which, on a most basic level, can convert orders and send notifications to your finance team to approve. But automation can also give you a better understanding of your overall operations, including what areas are performing well and what needs your attention.
6. Sales Forecasting: Having a long-range view allows you to plan for just about everything – from capital investments to resourcing needs. CRMs can highlight how much revenue is in the sales pipeline, and forecast close rates, as well as give you line of sight on where projects stand.
7. Time Efficiencies: The data provided by CRM and automation activities is available by other means – but getting it costs you valuable time that most business owners just don’t have. Automation ultimately helps you make better business decisions in less time.

The value of CRM and automation platforms is evident. But choosing the right tools for your business goals isn’t so clear-cut. To learn more about your options and how to pick the best CRM for your unique needs, contact Dan Caringi at [email protected] or 1.877.251.2922