From Spreadsheets to Success: 5 simple steps to consider when implementing a CRM for your SME

As a small business grows and reaches out to more customers the need for customer relationship management becomes crucial for data analytics and future growth. Most businesses start off using Excel spreadsheets to manage their customer data, but as the business grows, more complex data needs to be tracked and analysed in an integrated system. As they grow, small businesses will naturally start exploring new tools to manage their customer data.

When acquiring new customer leads, businesses will often collect data such as Name, Email, and Phone numbers, this allows customers to be followed up with product or service offerings. To gain more insights, at various stages of the sales funnel, more detailed data around customer preferences, product, and service challenges should be collected as effort is made to build a long-term relationship with the customer. This data is all collected and integrated into CRM tools which track interactions and deliver insights on how best to maintain a long-term relationship.

Factors to consider

When embarking on the process of choosing or building a custom CRM system, it is crucial that the new tool aligns with business goals while also meeting current business needs.

1. Business Needs: Before deciding on a new CRM, SMEs must evaluate their current needs. Common requirements are contact management, automation, and integrated data dashboards.

2. Budget: A frequent constraining factor for SMEs is costs. Businesses must consider the cost of subscription fees, training, and continuous maintenance of CRM software.

3. Integration: Before transitioning into the new CRM system, SMEs must make sure their current data formats can be transferred, with accessible navigation and user interfaces.

4. Security: Data security is now more important than ever when handling sensitive customer data. SMEs must make sure their CRM systems have secure data encryption and meet the current data protection regulations.

5. Improvement: CRM is a continuous process of implementing feedback from users. SMEs must make necessary adjustments as their data collection processes grow.

It is important to remember that CRM systems are specific to business needs, which will vary depending on the industry, business size, and goals. By following the tips in this guide, you can begin the process of setting up your CRM system and start improving your business. From our experience, some CRM software worth exploring are HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics & Salesforce.