What is the best CRM for my business and how to choose the right one?
A CRM is the foundation of your business, and to enable your business to grow it is crucial you make the right choice.
To help you choose the best CRM for your business, we talk you through the process of what you need to consider when it comes to
choosing the right system, what does it depend on and what a successful choice looks like.
What is a CRM?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a system that helps you record and keep track of all your customer and prospect information, and any interactions
they have had with your team. Having one central system helps businesses build customer relationships and streamline processes so they can increase sales,
improve customer services and increase productivity.
Why growing businesses need a CRM?
Receptionist at dental practice
Business growth is a wonderful thing and with this comes the need, to organise information and streamline processes, to improve efficiency,
increase profitability and grow in a more sustainable way.
That’s where a CRM comes in. Having a central system helps you store information about customer and prospect interaction with employees.
From marketing to customer service and from operations to service delivery, your business system helps you gather detailed context on the client’s activity and feedback.
In general, the role of the CRM is to help your teams save time.
What are the key signs that you need a new CRM?
In order to recognise whether or not your business is ready for a new CRM, there are two key scenarios to look out for:
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The multiple systems (such as spreadsheets and notes) you had set up are causing too much room for error and are slowing down your processes.
Running a business on multiple systems means that the different teams have to work harder to fill any gaps in communication and stay in sync.
As a result, your customer services team might be facing an increased number of enquiries due to the delays in order processing,
or due to the lack of automation within the day to day processes there is inconsistency in communications.
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The central system on which the business was built on in the inception, is now out of date and can no longer be modified to
accommodate the demands of the growing business.
As the business grows you might add different tools and elements to help deal with increased demand.
There comes a point though, when the original system is no longer supported or it simply cannot cope with the desired modifications.
As a result, you cannot integrate many of the business functions, which are critical in further improving productivity and efficiency,
such as document generation. A number of day to day tasks cannot be automated and notifications cannot be set to alert employees and customers alike.
What you need to think about when considering a CRM for your business
Current business position. You cannot underestimate the importance of a thorough assessment of
how your business operates now. Take time to look over each and every part of your customer’s journey.
From capturing the leads (e.g. website, email, phone) to validating them (e.g. more information request and order confirmations) and from order placement
(electronically or in-person, upfront payment or payment plans) to delivery.
Think about not only the customer facing communication, but the internal communication in this process as well. Such as what paperwork and
order tracking do you have in place and how the different tasks get processed and completed.
Business vision.Is the demand likely to rise and at what rate? What impact would the rise in demand have on your resources? What processes
or resources might be needed in order to sustain or improve customer relationship should the demand rise by 10%, 20% or 50%?
Business goals and objectives. Where do you see your business in the next two to five years?
What elements of your business needs to improve so you can increase sales and improve productivity? What resources do you need to have
in place in terms of staff and systems? How does this differ from where you are no to where you are trying to get to?
Scaling a sales process. A repeatable sales process is key to testing new sales pathways.
The data you keep in a CRM system will help you spot effective and inefficient patterns in sales behaviours. Over time, this knowledge
will help you increase efficiency and grow your business more effectively.
Data entry. As the business grows, the less data you need to enter manually the better. Automating data capture through online forms,
logging calls, sending emails, creating tasks and publishing notes can all be done with the right system.
Manual data entry is not sustainable as the business grows
Business solution partners. You have a choice when it comes to implementing a new CRM system for your business. You can either set up an out-of-the-box CRM alone, without any external help,
or you can receive help for the set up from an external CRM specialist or consultant.
Even once installed, there are two further paths going forwards:
- Do you work with a partner (the consultant) to get your business up and running and then carry on without their skills and expertise.
- Or do you consult a specialist who stays up to date with licensing, apps and new features, so you can spend your time focusing on your business processes.
How do you know if Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM is right for your business?
- If you are running a service-led business, which has grown recently and the systems currently in place are riddled with inefficiencies, which prohibit further growth opportunities.
- If you employ 15 or more staff and recognise that the current system doesn’t comply with the growth in resources as there are endless gaps in communication and teams are out of sync.
- If your current business system has been built on a ‘this will do’ attitude and every team has their own way of doing things, you need a system that will standardise processes and improve productivity.
If you can identify your business with any of the above, then book a demo to learn more about Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM.
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About the Author
John Clark
Founder | Microsoft Dynamics 365 & Power Platform Consultant, Solutions Shared Ltd