Small Business & the Criticality of CRM Fitment

As an entrepreneur, you had the most wonderful idea that you sold to yourself, and then to your friends, family and peers. To convert that sparkling idea into a business, you stood on your toes and marketed it, first to your employees and then to your pioneering customers.

Now that you are on your journey to greatness, what is it, that will empower you to accelerate and conquer more markets? Many “empowerments” will come your way but which is the one that will skyrocket your growth?

The one that can help you manage/treat your customers like “kings/queens” is the clear winner and the chosen one. The reason - “no amount or marketing will push your product as much as word-of-mouth.”

Yes, I am talking about using the best customer relationship management [CRM] software. There have been CRMs and there will be CRMs. CRM software has relentlessly stood the test of time [a decade in way too long in the software-tool business] and has helped many a small business like yours stand tall and hack the growth graph.

Most businesses with over 12 employees use a CRM to make a killing. In fact, 90% of businesses with over 12 employees use one. Only 50% of businesses with less than 12 employees use a CRM. Irrespective of the size of your business which anyway is slated to grow quickly, using a CRM is the most logical next step.

The million-dollar question - How can CRM software, not customized to your needs, budgets and business objectives, help you? The fact remains that a CRM is built around your sales, marketing and service processes will not need anything apart from a small budget to enhance your bottom-lines.

Let us now see how to adapt a CRM software to grow your small business.

Needs: Defining the need for a CRM can be real hard. The feeling that you are doing a good job with your spreadsheets can be quite persistent. Think about disorganized confusions that crop up now and then. When you measure the time, you spent unravelling those versus your business roadmap and objectives, you will see that you are wasting a lot of it.

In addition, funnel leaks resulting from those confusions can get in the way of your scaling efforts. You should plug those immediately and get some order into the chaos. You should focus on your core competence instead of putting out fires. To work smart, and not hard, a CRM is essential.

Organized customer information, accessible in real-time across the floor is your best bet, otherwise the cacophony of a troubled customer and the euphoria of acquiring new ones will not be decipherable.

Budget: What is the cost of growing your business? Don’t wonder about advertising expenses, marketing overheads and administrative costs. You should offset these costs against improving work efficacy that will result in long-term gains accruing from new and returning customers. Keeping the costs down is important, but are you getting the bang for your buck. By the way, the cost of your CRM, month on month will be a major one.

Another school of thought is about how good is the CRM you use? The only way to find out is to measure its effectiveness to your business. Try adding up the subscription costs, on-boarding costs and the training expenses and divide it by the number of users. This per head cost is our cost of sales in addition to the fixed cost percentage.  

Consider the total annualized cost of sales and compare it to the ARR. If the cost is not below 50%, you are not doing it right. Believe it or not, for major CRM’s this cost will hover between 65 to 70% after all your cost-cutting efforts.

Choosing a CRM that does not burn a hole your pockets while improving your efficiency is the way ahead. Looking at high efficiency at a higher cost can be a bad idea especially when you are a small business trying to scale. On a wiser note, you should opt for the right fitment in terms of price, features and ease of use.

Business Objectives: Every business has its own vision, mission and objectives that are ideally broken down to its most important resources, people. If people are efficient, scaling your business becomes easier. And, a CRM is designed for the very purpose. When information flow is consistent without funnel leaks between your marketing, sales and customer service, every move efficient and smooth-sailing.

Your business objectives, when broken down, turn into executable functions divided into departments. While choosing a CRM, it is important to choose one that gives you a free deep-dive which will allow you to ascertain its usage and compatibility your business functions that will achieve those objectives.

You will need to understand the CRM well and should be able to customize it to your functions easily. Take your time doing it and you will find the right fit since most CRM’s today are customizable, some easily and some with difficulty. Obviously, choose the easier one.

Conclusion: Once you have nailed the needs, budgets and objectives fitment to a CRM, check for its customer support and resolution time. Since a CRM is a critical cog in the wheel for your business success, it is important that you get the needed support in the shortest of time.