Why CRM is Critical for Small Businesses...
Why CRM is Critical for Small Businesses...
10. You don't have to work as hard to sell a customer who has already bought from you. Implementing a communication strategy that reminds the customer to spend their money with you is easy, and not necessarily costly. Email, blogging, interactive communications on your website, YouTube videos, phone calls - just a short list of ways to stay in touch with with your customers that don't have to put your business in the poor-house.
9. Customers who are satisfied with your product or service tell their friends, neighbors and colleagues to spend their money with you. A referral program is essential to any business and is as easy as providing a good product, great service and never forgetting your customers are the key to your success.
8. A loyal customer continues to "buy" from your business. Customers aren't just loyal because you are a nice guy or gal. They develop loyalty by believing in your business. And, your business has work to do to prove that it is worth of that trust.
7. When they continue to spend, your profit margin improves. Acquiring new customers can be very expensive, leaving your profit margin a little thin. Focus on encouraging continued purchases by existing customers explodes your profit margin.
6. Selling to existing customers decreases the amount you have to spend on Acquiring New Business (Advertising, Marketing, etc.). Most businesses use dollars normally allocated to Advertising to start their retention efforts. After the first year, these efforts will fund themselves.
5. It's more fun when your business is a "community"! And, Starbucks proved it's what our new generations crave...
4. You develop products and services that fit the needs of your customers which translates to high returns on investment (ROI). Capturing the behaviors of your customers allows you to "learn" what to offer.
3. Your employees enjoy their job more and stay longer because less "cold-calling" is necessary. Oh, how happy those non-sales employees will be when they can generate the company money by talking to those who already like the business.
2. You can consider expansion realistically with a strong and loyal customer-base. Business are worth more to investors (banks and venture capitalists) when you can demonstrate a strong and loyal customer-base. The deployment and measurement of CRM as a strategy builds the validation needed to fund technology.
And the number 1 reason to manage customer relationships...
It is waaaaay easier, far less expensive and much more fun to go to work every day when you are talking to people who truly support your passion (business)! It's the cheapest "happy pill" you'll ever have to buy...
Ask yourself a few questions:
1. Do you like making cold-calls?
2. Do you like hearing "no" more than "yes"?
3. Do you want to make more money than you spend each year?
4. Are you serious about your business?
Most people don't like to cold-call, and definitely don't like to hear "no" more than "yes". And everyone I've ever talked to is serious about their business and certainly wants to make more money than they spend... if these things are true, then why doesn't every business have CRM already in place?
CRM is a fairly new buzzword in the small business arena. It really geared up in 2000 when CRM software became affordable to the average sized business. Most businesses think CRM is software and often write off implementation because they don't have the money in the budget to make a capital purchase.
Well, it's not ideal to deploy CRM without technology, but if you take the time to develop and execute a manual CRM strategy, you will find yourself with increases in revenue that help you make the technology purchase. This, I can nearly guarantee. I have yet to see a business fail or lose money from implementing a CRM Strategy, manual or automated.
What I have seen are consistent annual revenue increases of 10-30% or more, depending upon how aggressive the CRM Strategy is and the type of industry in which it's deployed. So, what are you waiting for - create a CRM strategy today!
Why CRM is Critical for Small Businesses - To learn more about this author, visit Carol Smock's Website.
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Customer Relationship Management - sometimes called Customer Retention Management, Client Relationship Management - it doesn't matter what the acronym stands for, it means the same thing - managing the relationships your business has with its customers/clients. Let's take a look at the Top 10 Reasons to Manage Customer Relationships.
10. You don't have to work as hard to sell a customer who has already bought from you. Implementing a communication strategy that reminds the customer to spend their money with you is easy, and not necessarily costly. Email, blogging, interactive communications on your website, YouTube videos, phone calls - just a short list of ways to stay in touch with with your customers that don't have to put your business in the poor-house.
9. Customers who are satisfied with your product or service tell their friends, neighbors and colleagues to spend their money with you. A referral program is essential to any business and is as easy as providing a good product, great service and never forgetting your customers are the key to your success.
8. A loyal customer continues to "buy" from your business. Customers aren't just loyal because you are a nice guy or gal. They develop loyalty by believing in your business. And, your business has work to do to prove that it is worth of that trust.
7. When they continue to spend, your profit margin improves. Acquiring new customers can be very expensive, leaving your profit margin a little thin. Focus on encouraging continued purchases by existing customers explodes your profit margin.
6. Selling to existing customers decreases the amount you have to spend on Acquiring New Business (Advertising, Marketing, etc.). Most businesses use dollars normally allocated to Advertising to start their retention efforts. After the first year, these efforts will fund themselves.
5. It's more fun when your business is a "community"! And, Starbucks proved it's what our new generations crave...
4. You develop products and services that fit the needs of your customers which translates to high returns on investment (ROI). Capturing the behaviors of your customers allows you to "learn" what to offer.
3. Your employees enjoy their job more and stay longer because less "cold-calling" is necessary. Oh, how happy those non-sales employees will be when they can generate the company money by talking to those who already like the business.
2. You can consider expansion realistically with a strong and loyal customer-base. Business are worth more to investors (banks and venture capitalists) when you can demonstrate a strong and loyal customer-base. The deployment and measurement of CRM as a strategy builds the validation needed to fund technology.
And the number 1 reason to manage customer relationships...
It is waaaaay easier, far less expensive and much more fun to go to work every day when you are talking to people who truly support your passion (business)! It's the cheapest "happy pill" you'll ever have to buy...
Ask yourself a few questions:
1. Do you like making cold-calls?
2. Do you like hearing "no" more than "yes"?
3. Do you want to make more money than you spend each year?
4. Are you serious about your business?
Most people don't like to cold-call, and definitely don't like to hear "no" more than "yes". And everyone I've ever talked to is serious about their business and certainly wants to make more money than they spend... if these things are true, then why doesn't every business have CRM already in place?
CRM is a fairly new buzzword in the small business arena. It really geared up in 2000 when CRM software became affordable to the average sized business. Most businesses think CRM is software and often write off implementation because they don't have the money in the budget to make a capital purchase.
Well, it's not ideal to deploy CRM without technology, but if you take the time to develop and execute a manual CRM strategy, you will find yourself with increases in revenue that help you make the technology purchase. This, I can nearly guarantee. I have yet to see a business fail or lose money from implementing a CRM Strategy, manual or automated.
What I have seen are consistent annual revenue increases of 10-30% or more, depending upon how aggressive the CRM Strategy is and the type of industry in which it's deployed. So, what are you waiting for - create a CRM strategy today!
Why CRM is Critical for Small Businesses - To learn more about this author, visit Carol Smock's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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