No one likes confusing business jargon.
But sometimes, when you are new to something (particularly with business software), it is inevitable.
Understanding CRM terminology is easy if you work with CRM software every day, but many clients and businesses are new to CRM systems so it can quickly get overwhelming and confusing.
For both small businesses and large corporations, time is a precious asset. You need it for product development, marketing, and customer service. Implementing CRM software helps you save time in multiple ways and therefore offer better service to customers. Here are a few examples of how it makes your operations more efficient.
Businesses struggle to predict trends and buying cycles. They usually lack the necessary data for accurate predictions and estimations.
CRM software helps businesses in this regard by collecting data and offering relevant analytics. A recent ITProPortal article explains how the software uses past sales data to predict future trends and cycles:
Whether you spend the majority of your day in an office or out on the road, CRM software can help you more efficiently manage your task load if used correctly. What are some ways CRM can create better task management for your small business sales team? How does your CRM software play a major role in the day-to-day life of the typical sales person?
Consider the example of a salesperson out on the road. Join Hypothetical Henry for a look at his typical day.
Often, the biggest difference between small and large companies can boil down to a few indicators: budget, manpower and organization. The first and second are based on revenue; a business with 5 employees won’t ever make as much profit as one with 2,000, and its budget – marketing or otherwise – along with its ability to hire specialists for each job will always be directly impacted by the bottom line.
That leaves the third distinguishing factor, which is a bit more difficult to estimate: how well large companies organize their business tasks (from marketing and sales to inventory and bookkeeping), compared to their smaller counterparts.
Again, part of this improved organization is easily explainable: larger budgets allow for better business management software that helps take care of some of these tasks. If you’ve ever had to keep complex inventory of your retail business using only an Excel spreadsheet, you know exactly what you mean.
Still, organization is the one distinguishing factor where small businesses can narrow the gap, and that’s thanks to one type of software: customer relationship management. Here’s how you can organize your business with CRM software.
Before investing in any Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, any company would want to (rightly) know about the ROI from using CRM Software. So, what do you need to know about the ROI?
As a business owner, you may be wondering how to utilize a CRM solution to best advantage. Since implementation of contact management software for small business represents an investment of capital as well as time, you want to ensure its success over the long term. To that end, it is important to consider some best practices for CRM implementation and how those practices can be applied by your business.
I'm Nico, the author.
I manage product development at BIGContacts by working with our customers to improve product usability and features. 