January 29, 2019 at 15:02Small Business CRM: Secrets to Successful Implementation
Imagine yourself in a room, such as an office. The windows are stuffy, the windows are tightly closed, the pleasant smell of coffee and perfume in the morning turned into torture. But you work, despite a headache and a bad mood. As they say, you can live. Now imagine that you opened the windows or turned on the air conditioner - pleasant coolness, clean air, increased working capacity, good mood. All conditions for successful work.
This analogy is not accidental. A small business without a CRM system can live, work and earn money. A small business with a CRM-system can work better, earn more, live better. And that's why.
If we turn to the letter of the law, then a huge number of companies can be attributed to small businesses: by number - up to 100 people, by marginal annual revenue: micro enterprises up to 60 million rubles, small enterprises - up to 400 million rubles. Obviously, in the ordinary mind, even professionals and entrepreneurs, enterprises with such revenue are not considered small.
In the context of talking about CRM systems, it is worth focusing primarily on the number of employees - up to 100 people. Of course, managing such a number of people is much easier than 500 or 2000, but at the same time, most of the leaders and employees of companies, even from 10-20 people, are dissatisfied with the organization of processes and interactions that take place within the organization. In turn, problems within the company invariably affect relations with customers:
Meanwhile, it is for small businesses that customers - the main value that meets the main goal of the company - profit. Relations with customers are subject to many factors, some of which are simply difficult to influence (for example, the active actions of competitors or changes in the financial situation of a client). But you can always minimize all the negative factors when working with a client, including those related to relationships within the company (loss of data, documents, lack of sales, loss of loyalty programs, etc.). The CRM system implemented in the company should be aimed specifically at solving these problems.
In fact, any interaction with a client in order to receive money from him in exchange for a service (product) is a sale. Each company has its own arsenal of sales techniques - time-tested strategies, techniques and tricks that lead to successful closing of the transaction. Every experienced salesman has such an arsenal and rarely ... the whole company as a whole: something is forgotten, something is lost with the departure of people.
The experience of our RegionSoft CRM development team shows that the first thing that CRM system implementation can help is the accumulation of knowledge and sales techniques. A good customer knowledge base, multiplied by the accumulated experience of employees is a result-based technology. And it is in the effectiveness that lies the whole philosophy of CRM.
Thus, the implementation of the CRM system will inevitably entail the solution of many problems, which together hindered the intensive development of the business. Regarding the high cost of investing in solving these problems, we can advise you to compare the costs of implementing the system with expenses, for example, for entertainment, or, more objectively, to estimate the cost of implementing a CRM solution in connection with the salary of employees. Considering that you pay once for the project (not counting the possible fees for updates at the request of the client), and the CRM system works for you for many years, this investment is extremely profitable and easily pays off due to the growth in the volume of customers and the effectiveness of managing the client base .
Implementation of a CRM system affects everyone in the company, especially if it is a small business company operating as a single organism. This process should be thought out and planned, gradual, in order to avoid a number of implementation problems, such as sabotage by the staff, non-use of the program, erroneous and incorrect data entry, inability and unwillingness to use the full range of functionality.
Sometimes it happens that after implementation, the CRM system is not used, as everyone is used to working in their own way. This is a deadlock, you can not afford to abandon business automation already at some stage, because it will be an obvious way back, and not just one step. When implementing a CRM system, it is important to observe a number of conditions:
You have installed a CRM system - consider that an important, trouble-free and very capable employee has appeared in the office. Accordingly, the system will require certain actions to make the work as comfortable as possible.
CRM system must evolve. It's not just about the updates offered by the vendor. First of all, the solution needs to be developed as a customer database and knowledge base. Business automation is always a set of actions aimed at the result, and in the case of small and medium-sized businesses - at streamlining processes and making a profit. If you initially correctly configure the CRM-system and store the maximum possible correct data in it, it will soon become a powerful information tool for management, sales and marketing.
CRM-system should grow with the business. If you are expanding the staff or changing the direction of the business, try to maintain a relationship with the solution used. Be sure to contact the developer, who, if necessary, will be able to put additional licenses or change the software edition. It is this kind of flexibility that makes it easy to scale a business regardless of the amount of change.
The Russian mentality is largely based on distrust, and there are objective historical and social reasons for this. And the more distrust arises when it comes to any investment in your business, that is, potential costs. From experience, we can say that the implementation of a CRM-system quickly pays off due to the effectiveness of each employee and the growth in the number of satisfied customers. Therefore, if in doubt, it’s worth a try, especially since there are various possibilities to fully test a CRM solution without paying for the cost of the entire project.
Implementation of a CRM system is a movement up the stairs to a new stage in the life of a business. This movement is not always simple and short-term, but always productive. And after the implementation of the CRM-system, there comes a moment when it is already difficult to imagine how you could do without it before.
This is a cross-post of our article.
This analogy is not accidental. A small business without a CRM system can live, work and earn money. A small business with a CRM-system can work better, earn more, live better. And that's why.
Small Business - Goals and Values
If we turn to the letter of the law, then a huge number of companies can be attributed to small businesses: by number - up to 100 people, by marginal annual revenue: micro enterprises up to 60 million rubles, small enterprises - up to 400 million rubles. Obviously, in the ordinary mind, even professionals and entrepreneurs, enterprises with such revenue are not considered small.
In the context of talking about CRM systems, it is worth focusing primarily on the number of employees - up to 100 people. Of course, managing such a number of people is much easier than 500 or 2000, but at the same time, most of the leaders and employees of companies, even from 10-20 people, are dissatisfied with the organization of processes and interactions that take place within the organization. In turn, problems within the company invariably affect relations with customers:
- managers cannot “share” clients and, as a result, satisfy all their needs in a quality and timely manner;
- approval of documents takes a long period of time;
- tasks are forgotten;
- the links of one process chain can fail - and now the whole process is collapsing, the client is dissatisfied with omissions in working with him;
- instead of everyone’s personal responsibility comes the collective transfer of duties and mistakes to each other and so on.
Meanwhile, it is for small businesses that customers - the main value that meets the main goal of the company - profit. Relations with customers are subject to many factors, some of which are simply difficult to influence (for example, the active actions of competitors or changes in the financial situation of a client). But you can always minimize all the negative factors when working with a client, including those related to relationships within the company (loss of data, documents, lack of sales, loss of loyalty programs, etc.). The CRM system implemented in the company should be aimed specifically at solving these problems.
Small Business CRM: A Set of Right Solutions
In fact, any interaction with a client in order to receive money from him in exchange for a service (product) is a sale. Each company has its own arsenal of sales techniques - time-tested strategies, techniques and tricks that lead to successful closing of the transaction. Every experienced salesman has such an arsenal and rarely ... the whole company as a whole: something is forgotten, something is lost with the departure of people.
The experience of our RegionSoft CRM development team shows that the first thing that CRM system implementation can help is the accumulation of knowledge and sales techniques. A good customer knowledge base, multiplied by the accumulated experience of employees is a result-based technology. And it is in the effectiveness that lies the whole philosophy of CRM.
- CRM-system supports free and at the same time formalized communication between company employees - customized communications and processes, reminder and task setting systems minimize the risk of “shifting" questions and breaking the corporate hierarchy.
- CRM tools provide an opportunity in a few clicks to create, filter, manage tasks, prices, products, documents, meetings. All the huge lists of notebooks and Excel find a nice interface and powerful functionality.
- CRM-system "knows how" to accumulate data and build reports on their basis, which in the context of several periods will allow you to gain experience and new ideas for customer management and organization of the sales cycle. Important assistants are a sales funnel, an ABC analysis tool and other reports that reflect the real situation in sales, due to the fact that they are based not on desk research and forecasts, but on real data.
- CRM solutions can shorten the sales cycle, largely due to the fast and coordinated work of all departments and, for example, the rapid formation of a package of all documentation in a few clicks.
- Building business processes inside a CRM system is an effective way to build relationships in reality: when there is a real electronic map of the process with responsible, reminders, planning and reporting, it remains only to successfully move from stage to stage.
- If you have a website or an online store, the CRM system will help to collect leads directly from the website and from the user's account. Such an approach will make it possible not to miss a single client.
Thus, the implementation of the CRM system will inevitably entail the solution of many problems, which together hindered the intensive development of the business. Regarding the high cost of investing in solving these problems, we can advise you to compare the costs of implementing the system with expenses, for example, for entertainment, or, more objectively, to estimate the cost of implementing a CRM solution in connection with the salary of employees. Considering that you pay once for the project (not counting the possible fees for updates at the request of the client), and the CRM system works for you for many years, this investment is extremely profitable and easily pays off due to the growth in the volume of customers and the effectiveness of managing the client base .
CRM: how to choose and how to make friends
Implementation of a CRM system affects everyone in the company, especially if it is a small business company operating as a single organism. This process should be thought out and planned, gradual, in order to avoid a number of implementation problems, such as sabotage by the staff, non-use of the program, erroneous and incorrect data entry, inability and unwillingness to use the full range of functionality.
Sometimes it happens that after implementation, the CRM system is not used, as everyone is used to working in their own way. This is a deadlock, you can not afford to abandon business automation already at some stage, because it will be an obvious way back, and not just one step. When implementing a CRM system, it is important to observe a number of conditions:
- Management should be directly interested in implementation (for top managers, planning, control and reporting play a crucial role).
- The company should have an expert-trained employee who is ready to answer all questions of internal users and patiently explain the features of using the system. In order for such a person (s) to appear inside the company, it is important not to save on training from the vendor, especially since the tuition fee is a small part of the cost of the implementation project.
- Work on the implementation should go closely with the vendor. In any case, the CRM developer knows his system better than anyone and has carried out hundreds to several thousand implementations, therefore he knows how to take into account all the features of the business, draw up the right technical task, deploy the system taking into account the client’s IT infrastructure.
- Do not neglect the improvements if you need them - a system finely tuned specifically for your business will allow you to use all the functionality as efficiently as possible.
CRM as part of the team
You have installed a CRM system - consider that an important, trouble-free and very capable employee has appeared in the office. Accordingly, the system will require certain actions to make the work as comfortable as possible.
CRM system must evolve. It's not just about the updates offered by the vendor. First of all, the solution needs to be developed as a customer database and knowledge base. Business automation is always a set of actions aimed at the result, and in the case of small and medium-sized businesses - at streamlining processes and making a profit. If you initially correctly configure the CRM-system and store the maximum possible correct data in it, it will soon become a powerful information tool for management, sales and marketing.
CRM-system should grow with the business. If you are expanding the staff or changing the direction of the business, try to maintain a relationship with the solution used. Be sure to contact the developer, who, if necessary, will be able to put additional licenses or change the software edition. It is this kind of flexibility that makes it easy to scale a business regardless of the amount of change.
The Russian mentality is largely based on distrust, and there are objective historical and social reasons for this. And the more distrust arises when it comes to any investment in your business, that is, potential costs. From experience, we can say that the implementation of a CRM-system quickly pays off due to the effectiveness of each employee and the growth in the number of satisfied customers. Therefore, if in doubt, it’s worth a try, especially since there are various possibilities to fully test a CRM solution without paying for the cost of the entire project.
Implementation of a CRM system is a movement up the stairs to a new stage in the life of a business. This movement is not always simple and short-term, but always productive. And after the implementation of the CRM-system, there comes a moment when it is already difficult to imagine how you could do without it before.
This is a cross-post of our article.
As part of the “Time Ahead” promotion, which will continue for three more days, until January 31, 2019, we offer a 10% discount on the purchase of any RegionSoft solutions . Write, call, we are ready to tell and show.