Most local Businesses Need a CRM: More Than They Know

In fact most businesses I talk to have no idea what it even is. CRM stands for customer relationship management. A CRM system is a system you have in place, for managing your current and potential customer base. They can range from something just down on paper, to complex software suites. I am not saying mom and pop businesses need an expensive software solution to manage their customers, just that they need some form of the system in place more than they know.

Marketing to Your own Customers Through CRM is a Must

Some businesses have some form of customer relationship management in place, something you might usually see is something like a monthly newsletter. Certainly a great step and if you are not already doing this you should be, both via email and through snail mail. Managing your customers and the relationship your business has with them is paramount to a successful business. Most small business owners are always looking for new clients, that’s a given. What they forget about is their current ones, and how to market more services to them. If you sat down with most business owners and figured out what it costs them to gain new customers, and then put that against what it costs to keep existing ones, they would see a huge difference. In most cases it is way more affordable to keep existing customers than gain new ones, not to mention way more profitable.

They key to long term success likes in the relationships you already have in most cases. After all, when you started your business didn’t you call on people you knew and already had relationships with? It is far easier to sell new products, or more of an existing product to someone who has already bought one from you isn’t it? That is where a good CRM system comes in handy. It manages a customer list, a prospect list and how to market to them. Some of the more advanced ones will automatically send reminder emails and so much more.

CRM only works if you use it

I did some work in the car industry, one of the worst offenders I have ever seen of not using their CRM. These dealerships would spend thousands of dollars on the software and never even use them. Then they would see one of their customers out in a brand new car and say something like “hey why didn’t you come see me?” and the customer would always respond something like “oh I forgot!” Even though that very same customer had made the second biggest purchase in their life from them, can you believe it? The point is your customers will forget about you, we are all busy and are victims of convenience. Don’t make the mistake of hearing from one of your best customers that they forgot about you, that is business suicide, and if you want your business to ever do anything more than tread water you had better get some sort of system in place. Whether it’s just a monthly mailer or a far more advanced form of follow up you should always remember two things. I guarantee what you spend on a CRM system will be gained back ten fold easily if you actually use it, and I would be willing to bet your competition isn’t doing it either.

To Our Members
Learning the power of CRM for your own business is huge. We talk about it in our training system but always keep this in mind. Once you have mastered your own system start selling it to your customers, it will be the easiest money you will ever make because you will be helping them to make more money too.