Do Small Businesses Need CRM Systems?

Being in the business of helping small businesses grow, we get to deal with hundreds of small business owners on a daily basis. Talking to those entrepreneurs often reveals insight or even patterns with regards to the way they are thinking which we can then use to better tailor our support services towards them.

One of the emerging perceptions among small business owners seems to be the thought that CRM systems are either too expensive for them to use or simply targeted to the large and established brands, rather than small upcoming companies. So, I thought we should look into that in a bit more depth and try to establish an opinion based on facts.

• The advantage of a small business is the ability to establish actual relationships with their customers and prospects, as opposed to the more formal communication type that larger brands adopt – I think we all agree to that. What a CRM does is help businesses achieve that intimacy much more easily by storing data about your customers’ preferences, demographics, purchase history, etc. so that nothing gets missed or forgotten. Therefore, a CRM system makes it simple for a small business to leverage its fundamental advantage, and be able to compete with the largest players in the industry.
  
• Now, I know that there are people who question the importance of being able to establish intimate relationships with clients. The reality is, though, that if you lack the advertising budget of a large organisation – and I’m assuming you do – positive word-of-mouth is all you can rely on in terms of promotion and that is exactly where a CRM system can come in handy. A consistent communication tool like that is able to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty or in other words build a good reputation for your business.
  
• What I usually find when dealing with small business owners is that they are often too busy running their company to find the time to handle administrative tasks such as sending courtesy emails to customers or asking for feedback. You might think that is not necessary, but it actually makes all the difference for a small firm who is trying to build a loyal clientele. Having a CRM system means you don’t need to worry about administrative duties anymore as these can be set up once and then run automatically.
  
• As we all know, not all customers are equally important to a business. I am sure that if you are a business owner you can appreciate how important it is to be able to identify your most profitable customers so that you can treat them better to ensure their retention. A CRM system tracks all customer activity, as well as the time you’ve spent dealing with them, therefore allowing you to detect profitable and unprofitable clients.
  
• It’s been years since modern marketing first discovered the importance of being customer-centric. Providing a personalised experience to each client is a win-win situation for both parties, as satisfied customers end up converting more often. A trusty CRM system allows the small business owner to tailor all marketing communications to fit the right audience. It is essentially one of the main tools for customer-centricity.
  
• With regards to pricing, as with most products out there, CRM systems range from really expensive to very low-cost solutions. Before you make your decision, make sure you do a thorough research to find which one is best tailored to your needs . My advice is to go for a system that was made to work for small to medium enterprises as you are definitely going to get much more use out of it, rather than simply choosing one of the big brand names which emphasize on a large number of users and would often be much more expensive.
• And if you are still thinking ‘All these are great, but I still haven’t actually got any customers to manage’, that means you could benefit even more from using a CRM system. Lead generation is one of the many perks these systems offer. A quality system will allow you to easily create carefully targeted landing pages which can then be shared online to thousands of potential customers. People will sign up in return for something you've offered thus filling your database with prospects you can then re-market to. Try it, it works!
  

I would love to hear your opinions on the matter. Have you ever used a CRM system for your business? Why/Why not? Please comment below and share your thoughts.