Introduction to CRM software

According to a recent study, businesses that use CRM software see on average an 18% boost to their productivity.

Using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software helps you to manage your interactions with potential and existing customers by keeping all your customer data centrally, improving the customer service you provide.

Here, we explore what CRM is and how it can help you and your business.

What is CRM software?

CRM software gives you a complete overview of your customer base across the core functions of sales, service, and marketing, providing insight to help personalise your customer interactions.

The software can be used to collect data about your marketing activity, sales leads, and customers, allowing you to analyse where sales and marketing activity is yielding the best results and which customers spend the most money with you and which need the most support.

Equipped with this information, you will be able to:

• segment your data for more targeted marketing campaigns;
• prioritise sales opportunities and resource, reducing time spent writing proposals or tender responses that your business is unlikely to win based on known criteria;
• spend more time on sales you are more likely to convert and growing and serving your existing customers;
• generate reports such as marketing and sales conversion rates or forecast revenue based on sales conversion rates so that you can make more informed budget and resource decisions.

This will help you to drive sales, increase revenue and improve customer service.

Why should you care about CRM?

According to a recent study by the Enterprise Research Centre, businesses that use CRM software to manage their sales and customer information see on average an 18% boost to their productivity.

If you want to manage your key sales and customer data easily and effectively to grow your business, CRM could be a great option for you.

Is CRM software right for you?

CRM software might be right for you if you want to:

• keep a closer eye on your sales metrics;
• gain a better understanding of what drives your sales;
• find out more about your customers;
• understand interactions between your staff and customers;
• keep track of future business prospects, while better serving your existing customer database.

How much does a CRM system cost?

The cost of a CRM varies depending on the needs of your business. There is a licensing fee that you, the client, will pay costing around £10—£20 per month, per user. But this will be for an off-the-shelf service. You may need to pay an implementation or set up fee first, and most businesses will need the CRM to be tailored to their needs.

Larger businesses may have an in-house developer that can tailor the CRM to their needs, but most SMEs will likely have to pay for an agency or individual developer to do this for them. In addition to this, as the business grows, so will the complexity and scale of the operations.  This may result in more bespoke CRM requirements. This can be implemented if the developer/agency is kept on with a support plan but the more bespoke the system is, the more tied in you will be to your developer or agency for support. In most scenarios, it is the degree of tailoring that results in rising software and support costs.

The benefits of using CRM software for you and your business

Using CRM software offers several benefits to help you and your business succeed.

As well as providing visibility of your sales forecast so that you have the metrics to run your business, CRM software simplifies storing customer data, order history and details of previous interactions securely, all in one place.

You’ll be able to provide better customer service too, leading to an increase in retention and sales, while reducing complaints.

Adopting CRM software can allow your team to focus less on paperwork and more on serving complex customers and developing leads in new markets too.

Next steps

If you’ve considered CRM software before but are worried about how to implement it into your business, you’re not alone. Many business owners feel that a lack of knowledge stops them from introducing new technologies.

To find out more, read our article on whether CRM is suitable for your business.

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