5 Reasons why implementing CRM is a top priority for small business enterprises

Let’s begin with a salute to all the first time entrepreneurs out there. Whether you are pursuing a new product idea or taking over an existing family venture, you are now a business owner and an employment generator. That is a great achievement and an invaluable contribution to the economy. Small businesses are the back bone of a country’s robust commercial infrastructure. The success and growth of small businesses is vital for any country to prosper.

Though we use the term ‘small business’ loosely, the MSME ministry, Government of India clearly defines the categories of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

If your company falls into any of the above categories, it is most likely that you share the following common characteristics:

• You have made your initial business moves, invested in infrastructure and man power.
•  Your product or service is in the market and you have a few stable and happy customers.
• You are generating reasonable revenue. You may or may not be making profits as yet.
• You are able to see a huge growth potential. But you are unable to decide what are the top priority actions to take to achieve this growth.

We would recommend two immediate action points for your business at this stage:

• Plan for the next round of funding
• Implement a CRM solution

There is no doubt in the mind of an entrepreneur about the importance of additional investment to accelerate growth. But when it comes to implementation of business processes like CRM, there is a hesitation. The common myth surrounding CRM is that it is meant for large corporations. However, that is an incorrect notion. Let’s list down the top reasons why CRM implementation is a top priority even for SMEs.

1. Transition from managing customer transactions to customer relationships
   Every customer transaction begins from initial enquiry, then proceeds to pre-sales discussions, order placement, product delivery/service execution and culminates at receiving payment.  This is the traditional way small business deal with their customers. But with CRM, the engagement with your customer will not be just during the transaction. It is always ON 24X7.
   
   CRM enables you to cultivate a customer and build a knowledge base about his business. This makes it easy to forge long term relationships with customers increasing chances of doing repeat business with them. The CRM software will help in managing leads, customer accounts and contacts, inventory and after-sales customer support. When you know your customer better, and mutual trust builds between you and your customer, half the battle is won.
   
   Whether it is gaining a new customer or sustaining existing customers, CRM is the key ingredient.

2. No big initial investment, adopt CRM in SaaS mode
   Many a time you may have realized the need for an integrated approach to managing your customers. But you feared the one time investment cost that is involved to put a comprehensive CRM system in place. This was true until a decade back, but now cost is no longer a deterrent.
   
   Most popular CRM vendors are providing their platforms for integration with your business in the SaaS mode. That simply means, you can rent your CRM as a service and pay for it monthly with no initial investment at all. Now your capital is free for utilization in other priority areas.

3. Integrated Dashboard for “all in one place” tracking
   One of the biggest barriers to customer satisfaction is use of multiple communication and tracking channels. Sales leads are tracked over emails, establishing contact is through calls and messages. Pricing, order details, delivery status, customer support are all handled through different applications. This is bound to cause information delay and loss. When you are looking for a quick piece of information about your most valued customer, you don’t know where to look!
   
   Just imagine if you could open an All-In-One place dashboard where any information, big or small, about a particular customer is available at a single click. CRM empowers you with a comprehensive dashboard where you can trace past orders, support tickets, payments and access communication from one place.

4. Minimises Time-To-Market, shortens the lifecycle
   When you are dealing with your customer, a lot of time is spent on administrative and communication overheads. The customer interface person may change at your end. The order details may get modified while it is progress. You would need to quickly adapt to a lot of such dynamic changes. With CRM, the business is not dependent on the individuals responsible. The whole lifecycle becomes process driven, greatly speeding up the Time-To-Market.

5. You don’t need to do it yourself. Just pick the right CRM partner
   Other reasons why small businesses hesitate to implement CRM is the need to invest in IT infrastructure and the time taken for employees to get familiar with the CRM system. Whether it is the purchase of computers or recruiting CRM specialists to manage the installation, you may feel the monetary costs and effort involved is very high. That’s not true.
   
   Most of the popular CRM software providers have tie-ups with service implementation companies, in your own locality. These companies help you pick the right CRM application among the various options. They also ensure the entire CRM adoption in your company.
   
   We at Rixyncs are a leading CRM service provider based out of Bangalore, India. We have been in the business for over a decade and have helped hundreds of small and medium size companies successfully adopt the CRM enterprise business process. As a result, our clients have seen growth of upto 35% in their revenues.
   
   We are global premier partners for vtiger and affiliated partners with all the major CRM providers like SalesForce, Zoho and Microsoft Dynamics. Get in touch with us and we will be glad to give you a demo on how your business could benefit from acquiring the CRM advantage.

Author Profile – Anuradha is a freelance writer cum corporate trainer in the IT/Telecom domain with 20 years of experience. She served in senior technical and management positions in Huawei and TCS for 10+ years. Then gave up the traditional corporate ladder to go solo – in order to escape horrendous city traffic and to be at her own boss!