Got Crm? Small Business Crm Software Guide

Got CRM? Small Business CRM Software Guide

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Got CRM? CRM Software Guide for Small Business Preface There are many articles on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and its benefits. However, most articles cater to large organizations and don’t concentrate on the needs and objectives of small business owners and managers. The purpose of this whitepaper is to educate small business owners on what, why and how CRM can retain existing customers and help their business grow. Understanding the demands of small business owners first hand, this paper has been condensed for quick high-level reading. Once you have read this whitepaper, you will be better equipped to purchase, implement or further research on CRM and how it can positively impact your company.

Contents:

1. What is CRM and Why it Matters 2. Contact Organizer Software versus CRM Software3. Better Manage Your Business 4. Reduce On-going Costs 5. Grow Your Business 6. Affording Small Business CRM Software 7. Selecting Small Business CRM Software & Vendor 8. Implementing Small Business CRM Software 9. Potential Pitfalls 10. Got CRM?

Copyright © 2006 Surado Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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What is CRM and Why does it Matter? What is CRM? If the first thought that comes to your mind is Software, you are partially right. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a mindset. CRM is a way of life. CRM is how it used to be in the good old days when you knew every single person that you did business with. Heck, you probably even knew their family members. Unfortunately in the day and age that we live, even with all the technology that surrounds us, there never appears to be enough time – enough time to get to know your customers, enough time to attend to their every need so that they can experience great service from you and your staff. So what is CRM again? The goal of CRM is to realize a company philosophy that puts the customer in the center of your operations. If every person in your business respects and puts the customer first, you are half way there. Next, you need to provide your staff with the tools necessary to track information that allows them to provide not just good service but great service! A well executed CRM Strategy rewards your customer with personal attention to their needs no matter whom in your organization they speak to. CRM Software provides the organizational tools necessary for your staff to better manage customer relationships and the ability to share this information across your organization. In its complete form, CRM Software provides a 360-degree view of your customer, integrating customer information at every touch point. Why do you need this? To increase profits by improving customer acquisition and retention while automating processes to be more efficient and effective. A sound CRM Strategy coupled with CRM Software will provide your business to be efficient, productive and responsive to the demands of your customers.


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Contact Organizer Software versus CRM Software Most people confuse CRM Software with a contact organizer – If you are one of them, don’t feel too bad. Because of the tremendous success of CRM software, most contact management or contact organizers advertise themselves as “CRM” in one form or another just because they may have part of what a complete CRM software delivers. There is a vast difference between Contact Organizer or Contact Manager Software and a CRM Software. Contact Managers are geared towards individuals with features limited to the needs of a single professional. For small and growing businesses, Contact Organizers will not be able to handle the needs of a team – workgroup features, speed, security, storage, limited features for sales automation, workflow, marketing automation, customer services, integration to other products and the list goes on and on. Some Contact Managers are available for small groups of users. However, why go with Contact Manager Software when you can achieve so much more with CRM Software at a price you can afford. The key message here is, if you use Microsoft Outlook or other e-mail systems to do e-mail and track information about your contacts and schedules, that is NOT CRM. Yes, you are better off than not having any kind of an electronic system to track your customers but you are way behind in what you can do with CRM in place. A true CRM Software solution provides complete front office automation for Account and Contact Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and Back-Office Integration.

Contact Organizers are great for Single Professionals

With Limited Needs While

CRM Software provides a Full-Featured

Team Solution for Growing Companies


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Better Manage Your Business with CRM 1. No More Mess Desk 2. No More Lost Documents 3. Reduce Wasting Time Looking for Past e-Mails 4. Leverage Individual Expertise 5. Automate Business Processes 6. Know Which Marketing Campaign Works 7. Improve, Automate and be On Top of Sales 8. Track & Provide High Level of Customer

Service 9. Use Dashboards to Gage Performance 10. Consolidate multiple Databases

Better Manage Your Business with CRM Have you ever been frustrated because you can’t find your agreements? Or don’t know which of your employees last spoke to a client? Or which one of your sales brochure is the latest version? Or why don’t your employees realize that “Bob” is your high valued customer that requires special attention? If this sounds familiar, you are in dire need of CRM. When implemented successfully, a CRM initiative will transform your muddled, messy, mis-managed and disorganized business into a lean, mean, tech-savvy machine! Although there are many ways how CRM Software can help you better manage your business, I have limited our discussions to some of the popular ones below: 1. No More Messy Desk – Track & Manage Information in One Place. Stop buying

post-it notes for reminders. All your contact information and reminders will be available in your CRM System.

2. No More Lost Documents, Contracts, Images, Music, etc. CRM Software will allow you to attach documents, images, etc. to each contact. So, to review a document, simply bring up the contact and look at the document attachments.

3. Don’t Waste Time Looking for Past E-Mails. Because e-mails are synchronized automatically, your history folder will always be repository of past e-mails sent/received to a particular individual. No more having to search through ton’s of e-mail for a particular attachment.

4. Leverage Individual Expertise through Knowledge Management. Every organization has a few individuals who know a lot about the business. CRM software allows you to track various information, documents, brochures, etc. in a knowledge management area. Because this is a searchable knowledge base, anyone in your business will be able to search and access policies, brochures, industry information, business documents, HR documents and more.

5. Automate Business Processes to Set Action into Play. So, you want to make sure that when your sales reps complete an introductory call, they get a reminder to send a thank you e-mail. Or how about sending a “friendly reminder” to your contacts one day prior to your


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appointment to make sure that all parties show up for the meeting. Automated business rules, when done right will save you time, money and lots of frustration.

6. Know Which Marketing Campaign is Bringing in Results. You spend hard earned dollars to advertise in the Yellow Pages, local Newspaper, Direct Mail, Internet, etc, but do you have a clue as to which campaign is really working? CRM will change all this. You will be able to focus your marketing dollars on campaigns that clearly provide the results you are looking for – sales!

7. Improve, Automate and Be on Top of Sales. Standardize your sales process with automated reminders, to-do’s, follow-ups, best practices that you know work. Review and be on top of activity logs, top opportunities, forecasting, quota and much more. CRM’s sales force automation features will help your sales team excel to new heights.

8. Track & Provide High Levels of Customer Service. Good service is no longer memorable. Great service makes all the difference. With CRM, you will be able to track each and every customer service call and the steps taken to resolve them in a timely fashion. With Automation, Knowledge Base and standard processes, your customers will be rewarded with Great service which will result in return visits and referrals.

9. Use Dashboards to gauge Key Performance Indicators. So, you have 5 minutes before you dash off. But how is your business doing? Meetings? Sales? Marketing? Customer Service? With CRM, you can create customized Dashboards that will give you a quick graphical overview of all the things that are important to you and your business. Dashboards can also be extended for all your employees so that they can better focus in their area of specialty.

10. Consolidated all your various database silos into Surado CRM. Most small business have several different databases – all have name, address and telephone numbers of your customers, vendors, prospects, etc. Over time, frustration begins to set in as you realize that one database telephone number was updated and the rest were not. Before too long, people are calling the wrong number and accounting is sending invoices to the wrong addresses and you know the rest. The point here is that you can consolidate all disparate databases into your CRM software.


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Reduce On-going Costs with CRM Typically, as a Small Business owner or manager, you don’t normally associate purchasing software to reduce costs. However, CRM software specifically has some cost reduction advantages that are discussed below: 1. No More Looking for Documents. According to research by Delphi Group, a Boston

consultancy group, 30% of all employee time is spent trying to find “lost” documents. Do the math and you will be shocked at how much wastage is going on in your company!

2. No More Spending on Advertisements that Don’t Bring in Revenue. With marketing automation, you will know exactly which advertisements bring in the revenue so that you can toss out the other ads.

3. No More Wondering What Activities took place When & Where. Since all communication is tracked in CRM software, all your employees will always have insights as to a customer or vendors history with your business.

4. Reduce Customer Service costs up to 70%. By using web self-service (a way for your customers to receive Client Specific information from your web site), you will be able to reduce customer service calls and staffing.

5. Reduce printing costs. Why print when you can distribute your brochures online. With CRM, you can automate distribution of brochures and other documents through e-mail and web self-service access.

6. Consolidate Custom Databases. Because you can create custom screens, consolidating other databases in your CRM Software will reduce licensing and maintenance costs.

7. Layoff the “extra” Help. With CRM, each of your employees will be able to accomplish a lot more. So, it will allow you to review your staffing needs for all the “extra” help that you have from time to time. For example, new leads can come in through your web-site automatically into your CRM system and assigned to the appropriate sales rep – all through automation. You will be able to import leads from other sources as well – no more manual data entry!

Reduce On-going Costs with CRM 1. No More Looking for Documents 2. No More Spending on Advertisements that Don’t Bring in Revenue 3. No More Wondering What Activities took place When & Where 4. Reduce Customer Service costs up to 70% 5. Reduce printing costs 6. Consolidate Custom Databases. 7. Layoff all the “extra” Help


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Grow Your Business with CRM 1. Increase Customer Satisfaction 2. Let Sales Team Concentrate on Selling 3. Identify your most profitable customers and keep

them happy 4. Focus Marketing Efforts on the Best ROI 5. Reduce Disorganization 6. Bring New Employees Up To Speed Fast 7. Do More with Less 8. Improved Team Morale

Grow Your Business with CRM

CRM Software exists to help you retain your existing clients and acquire new ones. Because of the efficiencies you will realize, your team will be more productive resulting in higher earnings which can be used to grow your business.

1. Increase Customer Satisfaction. You may have to spend between 3 and 13 times to acquire a new customer compared to selling to an existing one. So, it’s pretty simple. Keeping your existing customer happy will allow you to grow by continuing to sell more to your existing customers while using precious funds to acquire new ones. The Customer Service module of a CRM software will allow you to identify any potential issues prior to it escalating to unmanageable circumstances.

2. Let Sales Team Concentrate on Selling. Every minute your sales person works on paperwork is less time selling your product and services. By providing them with tools, templates and automation, they will concentrate on what they do best – Sell! And with CRM software, your sales team can be reminded to follow best practices that will help them increase their closing ratios and better forecast trends.

3. Identify your Most Profitable Customers and Keep Them Happy. With CRM software you will be able to identify and provide a higher level of service – whether this is done through automation or simply an indicator on the Contact Screen that informs all your employees to provide “platinum” level service when speaking to valued customers.

4. Focus Marketing Efforts on the Best ROI. Because your marketing dollars provide you a bigger return, there will be less wastage and more funds available through campaigns that work. With CRM, you will be able to identify growth opportunities within your business.

5. Reduce Disorganization. Since meetings, routine tasks, events, reminders and more can be automated, your employees will be better organized to make the most out of their work day. This will also allow you and your managers better insights as to all your resources and how they are utilized. From a personal perspective, disorganization also increases stress which reduces productivity for the individual and all around him/her.


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6. Bring New Employees Up to Speed Fast. When there is a change of staff or a new team member that supports your customer, your CRM software can provide accurate and detail historic information to ensure the highest level of transition. And since your business process and process workflow may be used to guide an employee through each step, you will spend less time training your new employees.

7. Do More with Less. CRM systems provide a host of automation that can be incorporated into your core front office operations – Sales, Marketing & Customer Service. By incorporating automation, your small business will be able to “respond” like your larger competitor and lend more credibility to your current and future customers and vendors.

8. Improve Team Morale. In a small business environment, every employee may wear more than one hat. Because of this, it is extremely important to provide your staff with the tools and technology they need to get their jobs done and feel good about it. The higher the team morale, the higher the productivity, and the better your company will do.


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Affording Small Business CRM Software Perhaps the question should be “Can you afford NOT to have CRM Software”? No matter what industry you are into, as long as you come in contact with other people, CRM software will increase efficiency, improve sales, provide higher levels of customer service and help grow your business. In its initial market debut in the late 1990s, it was almost impossible for a small business to implement a CRM software solution because of the sheer cost and complexity to deploy a solution successfully. Today, that is no longer the case. The cost for CRM software solutions for small business has come down from $3,000 per user to $500 per user for an On-Premise solution (system that you own that is installed on your site). For a hosted solution, the range is from $39 per user per month to $250 per user per month depending on the features you need. Most research indicates increase in efficiencies and/or sales of 15% and reduction in customer service costs up to 70%. Some have experienced even higher returns. So, just like you were doubtful if you needed e-mail when it first came out, and now you can’t live without it, CRM software is here to stay and will become part of your daily software usage life – embrace it and make the most out of it.

In Today’s Competitive Global Economy,

Can you afford Not to Have CRM Software?


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Copyright © 2006 Surado Solut

Selecting Small Business CRM Software & Vendor Definitely one of the harder undertakings for most small business owners is related to the selection of a CRM Software and Vendor that will meet your needs. There are over 30 good CRM software companies in the market and yet when you search on the web, you will find hundreds of companies professing to provide CRM software solutions. Again, a true CRM software solution should provide Account and Contact Management, Sales Automation & Forecasting, Marketing Campaign Management, Customer Service or Help Desk Tools and a robust system that integrates with other third party software solutions including but not limited to financial systems. Here are points you must consider prior to purchasing a CRM software system: 1. Your Minimum Requirements. Think of what is most inefficient in your organization.

What are your pain points? If you don’t have a feature requirement document, create one and verify that your vendor can meet your minimum requirements.

2. Product Comparison & Demos. Have vendors demo the product to you live – not just providing you a trial version. By doing this, you will be able to ask vendors to show you how the product works and ask specific questions. Just “playing” with a trial version may be frustrating or confusing if the system is not configured to your needs. Compare Ease of Use, Features and Future Expandability. Vendors you should look at include SalesForce.com, Sage CRM, SalesLogix, Surado CRM, Maximizer, Microsoft CRM and NetSuite to name a few.

3. Hosted versus On-Premise CRM. Both solutions have pros and cons. With a Hosted solution, you do not need a server or technical expertise on your end. You simply log in to a hosted CRM system through the Internet and use it. All information resides on the vendor’s server. However, you must have a good internet connection at all times. If your vendor’s system goes down or if your Internet connection goes down, you will not be able to access your data.

Also, the convenience of not having to deal with an in-house server and having basic in-house technical expertise comes at a price. Hosted solutions, over a period of 5 years, can cost 4 to 6 times more than an On-Premise solution.

Selecting Software & Vendor 1. Your Minimum Requirements 2. Product Comparisons & Demos 3. Hosted versus On-Premise CRM 4. Licensing & Maintenance Costs 5. Existing Data Migration, Importing & Exporting

Data 6. 3rd Party Software Integration 7. Ability to Customize 8. Are you Purchasing a Small Business Solution? 9. Implementation & Training

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With an On-Premise solution, you own your application and it is housed physically at your location. And because it is housed locally, you will have direct access to the servers if you want to integrate with other custom applications. However, you will need some technical expertise in-house and you will need to purchase the necessary server hardware and software.

4. Licensing & Maintenance Costs. A Hosted solution is usually based on a named user and runs $30 to $200 per user per month depending on your needs. An On-Premise solution costs $500 to $1,500 per named user to purchase. You will have an annual maintenance fee that costs 10%-30% of your license cost depending on the vendor and options you select. Some vendors provide concurrent usage license instead of named user license. This can be a major cost savings. For example, if you have 10 employees but only 5 will use the system at any one given time, you will need to purchase only 5 concurrent user licenses versus having to purchase 10 named licenses.

5. Existing Data Migration, Importing & Exporting Data. It is important that you are able to easily migrate your existing database into your new system. Most CRM software will allow you to import data from other sources. Verify the ease of use of these features. Most important of all, make sure that you can export information out of your CRM system. You may need to do this for various reasons but this becomes critical in case you decide to go with another vendor in the future. Note: Extracting your data is much easier to do with an On-Premise CRM software that uses industry standard database such as Microsoft SQL.

6. 3rd Party Software Integration. The goal of integration is so that your CRM application works with other popular applications out of the box. This creates efficiencies. Your CRM software should integrate seamlessly with MS Office applications including MS Word, MS Excel and MS Outlook. You should not have to manually synchronize your e-mails if you are using an MS Exchange Server for e-mail management. Other integration can be for accounting packages such as MS Dynamics Great Plains or Intuit QuickBooks. Some vendors also integrate with other applications and web services – from getting directions to seamlessly integrating MS Project Manager.


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7. The ability to Customize & Create Custom Screens. Since every business has unique needs, it is important that you can customize your CRM software to the way you do business. Also make sure that you can create custom fields and screens. Since some vendor solutions have limits on this, identify your needs and your vendor’s ability to deliver ahead of time to avoid surprises.

8. Is the solution meant for Small Businesses and is there an Enterprise version as your needs and complexity grows? The last thing you want to do is purchase a system that is not meant for small business because it will overwhelm you and your staff with complexities that you don’t need right now. As long as the solution can be easily upgraded to the vendor’s enterprise level product, you will be okay.

9. Does the Vendor or Partner provide on-site Services (Implementation & Training)? Whether you select a Hosted solution or an On-Premise solution, make sure you know exactly what you are receiving. A CRM Software is as good as not having CRM when it is not properly configured and if your staff is not trained to use the features. So, ask for detail cost on configuring the system to your needs and personalized training – not just online tutorials.


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Selecting & Purchasing CRM Software

Is the First Step to Ensure

CRM Success for Your Company

Implementing Small Business CRM Some small business owners purchase CRM software and expect it to be up, employees to be experts and productivity to skyrocket, all overnight. The reality – purchasing CRM software is the first of many steps that you must take to ensure CRM success in your organization. The Implementation phase is probably the most important as how it is executed may define your CRM success or failure. Here are some points to consider during the Implementation: 1. Establish a customer-focused culture within your business.

2. Documenting pain points and success metrics.

3. Review your business processes and decide what you are going to automate.

4. The system must be configured to the way you do business. 5. Make time available for integrating with other software and to migrate existing data to your

CRM system.

6. Staff – Manage Expectations & Set Usage Mandates. 7. Training – Make sure that your staff is well trained. On-premise training is the best when

coupled with online refresher tutorials.

8. If possible, go live in stages for minimal impact to employees, customers and vendors. 9. 1st Month Review – Take the time to get feedback from your employees. If more training is

necessary, this would be the time to do it. Make the necessary configuration and business automation changes.

10. On-going Business Review & Update. As your business grows, processes will change as well. It is important to keep all automated processes up to date on an on-going basis. At minimum, you should carry out a quarterly review of all automated process.


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Potential Pitfalls There have been CRM failures for more than one reason. The better prepared you are, the less likely you will have to deal with it. Here are some questions and points that should be addressed prior to making the leap: 1. What if you are unable to migrate your current system data to your CRM system?

2. What if the solution does not solve your business problem? How will it impact your existing operations?

3. Lack of ability to integrate seamlessly with 3rd party applications.

4. Lack of ability to create custom screens, fields and automated business rules that are specific to the way you do business.

5. Employee perception is not addressed and employees are unwilling to use system.

6. Lack of Service received to implement the solution successfully. Services include configuring the system the way you do business and receiving sufficient end-user and manager training to be self-sufficient and not completely rely on the vendor for every minor adjustment.

7. Does your current computer system meet the minimum system requirements for your CRM software?

8. Can you afford for your CRM system to go down? If not, how will operations proceed?

9. How easy is it to move to another vendor? Can you export your entire database? Can you upgrade your application to an enterprise level product without too much inconvenience and cost?

10. System security – this may not be a concern when you are small but as you grow, it will come to play.


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Got CRM?

Like many technologies that have profoundly changed the way we do business, CRM is here to stay. Just like e-mail, once embraced by all your employees you will wonder how you ever survived without it.

The key is to spend the necessary resources to identify your needs and partner with a CRM Software vendor that will support you today and help you grow into the future.

With your CRM strategy and software in place, you will be able to win more deals, have a better relationship with your customers, vendors and suppliers and you will have a better handle on the health of your business.

Know your Customers and Keep them for Life

About the Author Sundip R. Doshi is the founder and chief executive officer of Surado Solutions, the emerging innovator in customer relationship management software for small and mid-sized businesses. With more than 18 years of CRM and IT experience, he is responsible for providing vision and strategic direction for Surado. Mr. Doshi frequently speaks on CRM and related topics and has been featured on various web portals, national publications, radio shows, TV shows, business and technology seminars, books, association meetings and higher education institutions. Mr. Doshi is also an adjunct professor at University of California, Riverside and California State University, San Bernardino. Surado CRM and Surado Small Business CRM are registered trademarks of Surado Solutions, Inc.

Got Crm? Small Business Crm Software Guide

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