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CRM (Customer Relationship Management) for your Small Business
When you think of
CRM what comes first to your mind? CRM as technology or CRM as
business strategy? CRM for Small Business is a system approach
(activities, processes and strategies) used to organize, manage and
view customer activities and experience with the small business.
There are many CRM software applications which are built to help you
manage your CRM program. CRM also includes activities of your
prospective customers not only your existing customers such as
promotion and advertising targeted to prospects. CRM is about
organizing important information for making smart sales and
marketing decisions. For example, by tracking promotional campaigns
you can measure your sales efficiency – money invested versus new
generated from your advertising and marketing.
CRM allows you to
manage existing customers in a more effective way. For example you
should be able to see how each of your customers do business with
you such as how often they order, what is their average order, what
products or services they buy from you, how they respond to
different promotional activities, etc. Why is this important? Once
you are able to establish your CRM program and you have all this
information you are going to be able to make more effective and
efficient sales and marketing decisions. You will know what works
and what does not work for your customers in general and also you
should be able to identify customer groups or segments which are
similar and do business in a similar way and hae similar needs. For
example, you can have a group of customers who respond to discounts
and special offers (price sensitive buyers) vs. customer segment
which is driven by value of your offering.
CRM also allows you
to manage your small business operations better. How? Your customers
view your small business as one unit no mater how big your business
is and how many activities you have. By knowing what works for your
customers you are able to organize your business activities in a way
that will improve your customer experience in every communication
with your company whether they call to ask a question or they place
an order or any other need they might have. Effective CRM programs
deliver improved services and improved customer experience which
means more profitable business for you.
While there are many
affordable CRM applications you can organize your CRM program on
your own after you define your CRM approach. For example once you
decide what customer information is critical for your business you
can use simple templates to track this information. You can use
Outlook and Excel to organize your communication and customer
database. The key is to identify your CRM approach and how you are
going to collect the information you need and how you are going to
analyze the information you need. The effectiveness of your CRM does
not necessary depends on how sophisticated you CRM system is.
Technology is one thing and the business logic of CRM is another
thing. Many organizations, big and small, have invested in
sophisticated CRM applications and they failed because they were not
able to implement the CRM approach or they never developed effective
CRM strategies. When it comes to CRM small is good so when you
manage a small business it is easier to understand and know your
customers. |
