One common question small business owners frequently ask is, “Do we really need a CRM?” The answer? Unequivocally, yes. Whether you are a plumber, barber, consultant or contractor, every small business needs a CRM.

The right CRM can help you…

• Grow your business – The number one reason to start using a CRM is that it helps you grow your business by ensuring you always have access to the data you need when you need it.
• Stay organized – Keep all of your information in one place, from contacts and notes to projects and calendars.
• Nurture leads and customers – With easy-to-access customer and lead data, you can stay connected with leads and customers. Turn more leads into customers, and turn more customers into life-long fans of your brand.
• Get everyone on the same page – When multiple people are helping a customer or working on a project, a CRM makes it easy to access notes and status updates.

These are just a few of the many reasons why every small business needs a CRM. But, it’s important to know that not all CRMs are made equal. In order to reap the benefits of a small business CRM, you need the right one on your side.

7 things to look for in a small business CRM

#1. Integrated forms

As I mentioned, a CRM will help you keep all of your contact and business information stored and organized in one place. However, all of that data doesn’t just magically appear on its own. Someone has to enter it in, and forms on your website allow customers and leads to enter in data on their own.

Your CRM needs to be able to integrate with any forms on your website, from simple contact forms to review request forms and email newsletter sign-up forms. This will save you hours of painstaking manual data entry.

Plus, since your leads and customers are filling out their own information, you’re less likely to end up with transcription errors.

#2. The ability to customize

Every business has its own organizational needs, and there’s no such thing as a cookie-cutter CRM that will meet the needs of every business. What works well for one business may not be ideal for another. That’s why any CRM you choose needs to be customizable for your needs.

Don’t settle for a CRM with predetermined fields. Make sure your CRM allows you to create the fields you need to store the information that matters most to your organization, and that it lets you organize your data however you prefer.

In addition to being able to create custom fields and organize your business information your way, your CRM should make it easy to see the data you need from a bird’s eye view.

#3. Lead and customer management

CRM stands for “customer relationship management,” which means that any CRM worth its salt will help you manage your relationships with leads and customers.

While much of your digital marketing efforts will go toward getting new customers in the door, the right CRM is powerful because it helps to give leads the push they need to become customers, and it keeps customers coming back for more.

In order to properly manage lead flow and customer relationships, you need a CRM that allows you to do things, like log history notes, create tasks, manage deals and projects, store files and more.

#4. Email marketing lists and automation

Email marketing is an incredible marketing tool in terms of ROI. Emails are often read quickly, and it’s the perfect medium for asking for reviews, getting the word out about upcoming events, promoting sales and offers, providing customers with valuable information, recommending additional products or services and so much more.

When you back email marketing up with a CRM that streamlines customer data, it’s even more powerful. Your CRM and email marketing platform shouldn’t be two separate things. It’s critical that you can integrate your CRM with your email marketing software.

Get even better results (while spending even less of your time getting those results) by looking for an automated email marketing solution. Automation takes your email marketing to the next level, allowing you to reach a wide audience — and to guide them through the sales funnel — all at once.

#5. Contact management

Your leads and customers are, undeniably, essential contacts to manage and keep close track of. However, for your average small business, they are far from your only contacts, and the right CRM can help you keep track of them all.

Just as you can keep track of purchase history, contact information and other key data for your leads and customers, look for a CRM that allows for the same kind of data management solution for your other contacts, including employees, partners, etc.

Imagine having all of the information you need about employees in one place — emergency information, availability, talent and skill sets, performance history, etc. The right CRM can do that and so much more.

#6. Mobile-friendliness

Customer relationship management tools are not what they used to be. Like everything else, they’ve changed with the times.

In the good ol’ days, businesses would keep track of customer data on paper, with filing cabinets full of client folders and Rolodexes jam-packed with notes and business cards. Luckily, we’ve come a long way from the good ol’ days, at least where customer relationship management is concerned.

These days, you want a CRM that can be accessed from anywhere. So, whether you’re helping a customer in your store or office, at their home or on location, or even at a booth at an industry fair, you can always enter and access the data you need.

You’re not always going to be close to your computer, and you need to be able to use your CRM no matter where you are or what device you have handy. That means that you need a CRM that’s mobile-friendly and offers full usability on any device.

#7. Digital marketing integration

A good small business CRM is a great tool on its own for building customer relationships and keeping track of business information. But, you can get so much more out of your CRM when it integrates with the rest of your digital marketing channels and strategies.

Your CRM shouldn’t be an island. Look for a CRM that can be integrated with the rest of your marketing programs and campaigns.

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Get everything you need in a CRM and more with Marketing 360®

There are a lot of great CRMs out there, but if you’re looking for a solution that checks all of the boxes and can be customized for your specific needs, there’s no better option than Marketing 360’s CRM.

It’s an easy-to-use, one-of-a-kind solution that’s designed to scale with your business as it grows, and it’s backed by Marketing 360, the only all-in-one digital marketing platform of its kind. See our plans and pricing. 

Originally published on 10/21/20