Customers have a variety of choices of where they want to shop from, but with so many options springing up everyday, businesses need to work hard to stand out from the competition. Creating a long-lasting impression is vital in order to keep customers. Creating those connections takes a lot of time – and that’s where a good CRM comes in.
What is CRM software?
A customer relationship management (CRM) software platform is a business application that enables you to store not just contact numbers for your customers but all of their important details, so that you can streamline your communication with them.
CRMs come with built-in analytics features to contextualise customer data, like purchase history, sales interactions, and user behavior, which helps businesses optimise business processes to improve customer satisfaction.
Why do small businesses need a CRM?
Businesses across all industries face fierce competition, and a high-quality customer experience is not simply optional – it’s essential.
As an outcome of using a CRM, you can achieve the following:
- Organise all your leads in one place .
- Call your customers directly from your CRM.
- Facilitate collaboration between team members.
- Maintain all customer information and interactions in real time to offer immediate support for customer issues and complaints.
How to pick the right CRM for your small business
The number of CRM solutions on the market catering to SMBs is also on the rise. This can make the process of choosing the right solution a daunting task for SMB owners.
These days, CRM systems offer a wide range of robust features, but everything boils down to a few important features which will help you to succeed in your business.
Here are 11 things you should look for before investing in a CRM tool for your business.
1. Identify your needs
Every CRM is pre-loaded with features that are useful for some businesses and less useful for others. Make sure you pick a CRM and edition that doesn’t require you to spend money on features you don’t need.
2. A CRM solution with a mobile application
As a small-business owner, you have to travel, manage work, and take care of personal tasks. If your CRM offers a mobile app, you can take your business on the go.
3. A cloud-based CRM solution
A cloud-based CRM system is undeniably better than an on-premise CRM system. For starters, it’s easier to set up, import data into, and get started working with cloud-based CRMs. They’re more affordable, easier to access, and generally easier to scale and manage.
4. Built-in dashboards for analytics
Every action contributes to your business’s growth. You need to know how your business is performing to plan your next action. Make sure you have a customizable dashboard that measures, compares, and analyzes your performance.
5. Integration opportunities
Scalability is one of the key features to look for in a CRM. As your small business grows, you also want your CRM to accommodate other software tools rather than requiring that you transfer all of your data and look for a bigger, better CRM solution.
6. More than a contact manager
While CRMs started out as contact managers, they’ve since evolved. It’s crucial to track how your customers’ information is stored and how easy it is to access and therefore provide superior customer experience.
7. Easy to use
As soon as your CRM is fully up and running, your team will be using it 24/7. It’s important to make sure the learning curve is as flat as possible, so choose a CRM with a user-friendly interface.
8. Customer support
Reliable customer service is especially relevant for SMBs that are adopting a CRM for the first time. They’ll require consistent support from the implementation stage and beyond.
9. A social CRM
Because social media is increasingly important for customer-brand interactions, it’s an important tool for generating leads. The CRM you choose should have the capability to monitor brand mentions and interact with customers directly from inside the CRM itself.
10. Workflow automations
Automation saves both time and effort. Ensure you pick a CRM edition that automates your day-to-day activities to increase the efficiency of your team.
11. Easy customisation
One of the most overlooked essential features of CRM software is the level of customisation offered. Make sure you can create custom list views and dashboards, as well as custom fields, activities, and pipelines. Remember: Your CRM shouldn’t be rigid – you should be able to tweak it according to your needs.
With the above checklist, we’ve covered the core CRM features and functionalities that can have the greatest impact on your business. To summarize, you need to find a lightweight CRM that offers powerful features at a reasonable price, and bundled with great customer service.
Have you considered Bigin by Zoho CRM?
Bigin is a simple CRM solution from Zoho, built specifically to help startups, small businesses, and small teams – such as freelancers, agencies, solopreneurs, and creators – get started on their CRM journey and manage their customer-centric operations more effectively.
Bigin enables you to manage customer information, such as activities, deals, and customers/prospect interactions – all in one place. Because it’s simple and easy to use, Bigin is already trusted by over 7500 businesses across the globe.
Some of Bigin’s standout features are as follows:
- Multiple customer pipelines to monitor and close deals faster.
- Built-in telephony to make calls right from your CRM.
- Simple workflow automation to automate your daily tasks.
- APIs and integrations to connect seamlessly with your favorite apps.
- Custom dashboards to monitor your performance accurately.
And Bigin’s robust mobile app for iOS and Android enables you to close deals even while you’re on the move!
CRM software strengthens relationships, increases profits, and saves time.
Get Bigin for free, and get a 50% discount when you upgrade. Sign up here. Happy Biginning!
Written by Sanketh Y S, Product – Growth & Partnerships at Bigin
