The Right Customer Relations Solution Makes All the Difference for Small Businesses

Fact or Myth: A solution exists to manage all customer relations, email marketing, leads, and e-commerce, while still using great content – and all in one place.

FACT. It’s true. Small business automation and management systems exist to save you time and money – two things small business owners and entrepreneurs cannot afford to waste. A part of growing your small business means using the right systems. A solid customer relationship management (CRM) system allows businesses to manage, track, and automate communications and data for your business relationships.

What Does a CRM System Look Like?

It doesn’t matter whether you are a solopreneur or the leader of a team serving thousands of customers, you have some kind of a CRM system. It could be a spreadsheet where you log the names of your customers. Maybe it’s a Rolodex. Post-It Notes. A steno pad of past customers and future leads. Your brain.

If you’re running a business that relies on customers in order to succeed, you have a CRM system somewhere. The real question is, how’s that system working for you?

As your small business grows in size, it will also stretch the amount of time and energy you have to devote to every little thing. The steno pad might have worked when you were first starting out, but now…? If you want to grow to the next level, you need a system to manage customer relationships that will free up your time and energy so you can devote yourself to the things that add the greatest value to your business.

Track, Manage, and Follow-Up with Your Customer List

A quality CRM database allows you to track current customers, leads, categories of customers, and interaction with your business. When paired with email automation, a CRM helps you create and monitor campaigns and create emails that automate on your terms. Automated emails don’t have to sound like automated communications – these can be written to feel as if you sat down personally to write the most recent lead from your website. You did sit down personally to write that email – six months ago, and now it sends to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that requests more information from your website.

Tom feels like he got a warm and personal reply from you, and you never had to think about whether you followed up with that late-night lead. Email automation can be used to nurture leads, educate your current customer list, reengage with existing customers, and more, all with the intention to free up more of your time to do the work that adds the most value for your business.

Multiply Your Time and Your Team’s Effectiveness

Being a small business owner, you may not have the ability to keep hiring a new person every time a new “job” arises. A quality CRM allows you to bridge the gaps and fill customer relationship needs until it’s time to hire a new person to support you. It also multiplies your current team’s time and energy so they can devote their time to developing personal relationships with your prospective and current customer base.

Is It Time to Ditch the Steno Pad?

If you’re feeling the burden of customer relationship management pressing down heavy, if you’re missing precious opportunities just because you don’t have time to follow-up, if you feel like you could grow if you only had a little more time and energy to take that next step, a quality CRM solution could be the thing to help you take that next step. Spire partners with small businesses to help leaders figure out the best system to take their business to the next level. Contact a member of our team today to start the conversation about how you can bring automation, customer relationship management, and more time to your business.