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The best CRM for your small business

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As more small businesses embrace the Internet and move, it is becoming essential to have the right Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software so you can keep track of customers. Having the right CRM also makes it easier for you to interact with your customers, providing help where needed and give them a good experience as they shop with you.

The CRM you choose, and how right it is for your business, depends to a large extent on the kind of business model you have. While there are many great CRMs to choose from, they don’t all have the same features. For instance, lawyers may need a document and file sharing feature and that would not be important for a retailer who would benefit more from a Live Chat feature.

Another consideration, especially for small businesses, would be budget. The cost of many CRMs is worked out by how many employees will be using them as well as what features they have. You may be surprised to find one – Zoho – is free and is packed with some handy features.

Zoho

The biggest advantage of Zoho is that up to 10 employees can use it for free making it ideal for small start-ups with a tight budget. Crucially, it also has a free mobile version. It is easy to use even for those with no previous experience and if you get stuck there is a help button and live chat.

Features include: client interaction tracking, files sharing (not real-time), web forms, purchasing reports and Google docs integration.

Like all freemium products many of the best features – like creating and sending invoices, data backups, multiple currencies, lead capture from social media, marketing campaigns, integration with Google AdWords, customer support, inventory management, analytics and greater security – are saved for paid versions. You can purchase software that will integrate seamlessly with Zoho to perform these tasks though.

SugarCRM

This is a trustworthy CRMs used by many businesses worldwide. A cloud-based service, its better features include: – sales force automation and forecasting, real-time sharing, email integration, mobile app, large storage plans, up to 24/7 support and support for MySQL, Oracle and SQL Server. The user interface, while uncluttered and easy to use, is considered a little too simple and overly-focused on commerce.

Workbooks.com

In spite of the downside of a 25 users limit, this CRM is has a powerful suite of sales and marketing tools that can support sales teams around the world. Features include real-time sharing and easy configuration and customisation. Some users recommend taking a staged approach to integration to avoid headache.

Maximizer

A popular CRM for over 20 years, Maximizer can automatically generate email campaign based on company input. The design, similar to several Microsoft Office applications, makes it very easy to use. With many features, it is available in the cloud or on the premises. Reviews suggest the cloud version is improving but still has many bugs.

MailChimp

Whilst not technically a CRM – and in fact MailChimp is mostly used as an integrated add-on to manage email marketing campaigns – many small businesses are using it as a form of Customer Relationship Management tool. If all you need is a simple way to bulk contact your customers and create email campaigns then MailChimp could be for you but be aware that you won’t be able to benefit from all the clever analytics, lead tracking and reports you get with a true CRM system.

Apptivo

Another affordable CRM, Apptivo offers customisable solutions and has 24-hour support. Considered one of the most flexible and affordable solutions it has many features for just $10 per month per user. This makes it ideal for small businesses or sole traders.

Batchbook

Its cheap cost makes it ideal for the tiny business or entrepreneur that only needs to monitor social media and streamline customer communications. It’s good at what little it does, but if you want automated features to take care of invoices or anything else, you won’t get it from this CRM without third party add-ons.

Salesforce

They say you get what you pay for and Salesforce CRM comes with a price worthy of its consideration as one of the best, if not the best, CRMs on the market. Salesforce is not only intuitive, uncluttered and easy to use; it also has a great many features that will help you reach your business goals quickly and efficiently. As a cloud-based system, Salesforce keeps your information from accidental deletion and boasts robust security to fend off unauthorised access.

Contact information from Outlook or Excel can be imported into this CRM and you can also dial clients, send out automatic mass or single emails or send only to specific groups. It also boasts one of the largest third-party marketplaces for add-ons and apps with seamless integration – and it has its own social networking platform.

One downside is that when it is necessary to add a new contact, a new company account with a designated account number must first be created. Then the new customer can be added to it. Some people find this extra step a little frustrating, especially when they are in a hurry. However, managers will find this software invaluable for keeping a check on customer/employee interaction to make sure that the customer gets what they need, as well as for many other jobs. Performance evaluations can easily be carried out by managers.

Having the right CRM for your business will ensure that things run much more smoothly and efficiently but don’t get wooed by functions you won’t use. Select a CRM based on what you need right now. It might cost you a little more in the long-run should you need to migrate to a different platform but it’s better than getting stuck with something you feel obligated to use because you paid a lot of money for features you never needed.

How to Start Building Your Business Empire Today

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Back to the grindstone, back to the same old maybe not going anywhere job, feeling closed in by a company that is anything but merit-based? Time to run your own show?

Naawwww…yeah? If you’ve even spent an hour investigating running your own company then you’ve probably heard the black and white, the bad and the good, but what about the grey,  and the not so written about?

After 8 years in the digital space maybe our experience can help give you a picture of how you can start your own business and build it into something that replaces and then expands on the money bring in now.

 

Changing Financial Focus

 

Realistically starting a business means changing the focus of your financial investment strategy. You need to be prepared to budget for what you want to do, putting estimates around the costs you think you’ll need to outlay. You’ll also need to be realistic about other investments – thinking of buying a house? That may need to wait.

 

Supporters and Advisors

 

You need to run your ideas by people you respect and by people that know about the industry you’re about to jump into (these could be the same people). They’ll help you flesh out what you want to do and how you can get potential customers to respond positively to your ideas.

 

You need to talk to your significant other and make sure they support what you’re doing and can give you some encouragement on tough days when things aren’t going your way. And don’t forget about your mum or dad – at least one or both think you hung the moon regardless!

 

So how do you start making money?

 

Get a Shopfront

 

You need a marketplace/showroom/shopfront where people can come and find you. Even better if that place is open 24/7. eCommerce might not be for everyone but in our experience using a website to complete some or all of a transaction with your customers will mean they save time and so do you – this of course is almost as good as the thing you are selling.

 

Build a network

 

Maybe you already have one but they don’t know what you’re up to? Every week you need to be pursuing opportunities large and small to get noticed for what you eventually want to do full time.

 

If you’re selling to other businesses then LinkedIn is a great way to professionally advertise what you do and establish your credibility. If you’re selling to consumers then you need to consider Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or even Snapchat, it all depends on who your target market is.

 

Just as valuable as online is good old face to face networking. It’s so much easier to build credibility and get people’s attention when they’ve met you face to face. Investigate industry bodies and groups that potential clients belong to and make sure you attend industry events – this is always money incredibly well spent.

 

Know your Sales Process

 

Statistics continually tell us it takes an average of 7 interactions with a client to bring them onboard. That means you need to build a marketing plan around how you will reach them multiple times without having to invent 7 different types of marketing.

 

You should also have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool that you can store current and future customer details in.

 

A CRM will allow you to track every time you spoke with a customer, what messages and marketing they received and where they are in the sales pipeline – cool, warm or hot lead?Preferably its something you log into online so that you can access it anywhere, anytime.

 

Back in 2008 we put as many of our tools of trade online as we could. That was surprisingly more challenging then you would have thought but it’s been the bedrock of scaling our business for success.

 

Having a shopfront, building a network and knowing your sales process will lead to the ever important dollars you are seeking. Even more than that it will give you control over your current and future destiny and that should continually lead to informed business decision making.

 

Even if you have another gig, it is possible to starting empire building right now. Good luck!