Today, many small business owners are suffering from a syndrome that, while treatable, can hamper the future growth of their business. Common symptoms include unexplained lost deals, a vague feeling that leads are falling through the cracks, and a frustrating inability to get a view into their sales pipeline.
While most shrug these symptoms off as just the way life as a growing business, others look for relief in the wrong ways…working longer hours, creating yet another spreadsheet to track data, drinking more coffee. Few people talk about it openly.
Fortunately, there is relief. It is called CRM – Customer Relationship Management. A CRM system can alleviate many of the headaches that come with managing a small business that is poised for fast growth.
Don’t wait until it’s too late and your pain spreads to the rest of your team — or worse yet — to your customers.
Take our 5-point diagnostic check-up to see if you suffer from CRM Readiness Syndrome.
Do you…
1. Struggle with time?
The first sign of CRM Readiness Syndrome is finding yourself wishing you had more time to focus on what you do best – selling your product or service to prospective new customers -- and less time spent on administrative tasks such as managing your sales team's progress or looking for customer information in multiple locations.Remedy: A CRM system can give you one source of truth for all you customer data, in real-time, to help your teams stay connected.
2. Struggle with revenue?
As symptoms develop, you may start to have increasing concerns about how to grow your revenue without growing your sales team and expenses.Remedy: A CRM system can give you insights to find new customers like your best current ones, and mine archived opportunities.
3. Struggle to grow your customer base?
As your readiness for CRM develops, you may notice that you are wasting precious time on your most vocal or familiar customers, and ignoring potentially high value customers who need attention.Remedy: CRM can help you focus on data-driven insights to help close more profitable deals.
4. Worry about retaining your current customers?
Anxiety about keeping your current customers happy is common in today’s competitive economy. Customers have endless choices today, so creating loyalty with your highest value customers is crucial.Remedy: A CRM system can help you communicate with existing customers at the right time in the right channel with the right message to keep them coming back and, better yet, become an advocate of your business.
5. Need more visibility into your business?
Nothing causes stress like not being able to predict where your business will be at the close of the quarter. Do you know which sales team members are closing the biggest deals? The status of opportunities in the pipeline? When you experience this most painful of symptoms, you'll know its time to act.Remedy: A CRM helps you keep track of data to make actionable decisions and course-correct when needed.
If you've experienced one or more of the symptoms listed above, you may suffer from CRM Readiness Syndrome. Fortunately, relief is in sight. The right dose of CRM can address these symptoms and ready your business for future growth.
What are some of your common "growing pains" that you face as a business? If you already use a CRM system, how has it alleviated your headaches and helped you become a healthier business?
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