What Is A CRM And What It Is For: A Basic Guide

In this article you will learn what is a CRM, what it is used for and some examples of software that will help you boost sales for your business.

What does CRM mean?

Definition of CRM: CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management or the process of managing interactions with current and potential customers during the sales process.

Any strategy or approach that uses data to build, improve, and manage customer relationships can be included in the description of "CRM", but the term is most often used in reference to CRM software or technology.

What is CRM software?

CRM software or technology is a tool or system of tools that helps businesses to aggregate, organize and analyze the data customer information to better manage customer relationships.

When data from existing and potential customers is collected and stored in a CRM system, information is tracked at every touchpoint in a customer's journey through your sales funnel...

For example:

Details shared via forms, engagement with digital marketing campaigns, interactions with customer service, buying models, can help you meet their needs, build better relationships and market smarter.

What is a CRM system used for?

In short, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems serve as a hub for organize and give one sense of data and audience information precious, providing all the tools you need to collect and manage information about the people important to your business.

This functionality can be very different from one department to another. For example, a CRM can:

1. Help reps quickly see past interactions and purchases before making a phone call.
2. Provide support teams with basic information and contact details needed to provide excellent customer service.
3. Submit to digital marketers the access to details to help them target their campaigns.

Organizing and understanding information about CRM data has become a key responsibility for any customer contact role within a business. But as the importance of public information increases, so does the amount of detail that businesses need to track.

A CRM will facilitate communication with customers

With so many online channels and multiple ways for customers to interact with each, data is often stored in different tools, making it difficult (or impossible) to get a full picture of your customer and talk to them about it. significantly.

That's why businesses of all sizes and in all industries are turning to CRM tools to create a central hub for audience reporting, better understand who their customers are and what they want, and build stronger relationships. as they grow older.

CRM software also helps them interact with potential customers, save time through automation, increase customer engagement, and close more deals.

Why is a CRM important for marketing?

As a marketer, you collect valuable information with every campaign you send and every resulting customer interaction (including clicks, views, and purchases from new, existing, and potential customers).

Knowing your customers is one of the most valuable resources you have to improve your marketing strategy and sales PRESENCE in order to develop your business ...

Collecting and organizing your information effectively can tell you everything you need to know about your customers' preferences: what products they like, what they are looking for, messages that tell them what they need to know and where. the mark is still lost.

The sooner you can start capturing, organizing and making sense of that data through a CRM platform, the sooner you can start using it to improve the customer experience and build more and better customer relationships.

Do Small Businesses Need a CRM Tool?

CRM is not just for large companies. Using statistics to improve customer relationships has become an essential function for businesses of all sizes and market niches. In fact, there's no better time to manage your contacts than when you're just starting out.

The moment you create an online presence for your business, you begin to gain access to valuable information about your customers and prospects.

A CRM can help you build a solid foundation for building and tracking relationships with these customers, collecting data on their preferences, and implementing marketing automation processes for consistent, personalized touchpoints over time.

CRM doesn't have to be a full-time job

Whether you have a small sales team or are a solo entrepreneur who relies on occasional marketing campaigns to promote your business, putting your data to work for you can help you stay on your customers' radar, find the news, and save you time.

It also allows you to make knowledge-based decisions about where to focus your budget to reach customers in their preferred channel. However, or when they're ready to make a purchase, they'll be thinking of you.

4 Essential CRM Features For Small Business Marketing

Of course, if you're just starting to lay the foundation for customer data management, you're unlikely to need the same CRM functionality as a large business ...

The specific CRM needs will vary depending on the operation and scale of your online business, but there are some key needs that every small business marketer should be aware of. These CRM basics for small businesses include:

1.- A central axis for audience data

First of all, small businesses need a centralized location to start collecting all the information about their customers: contact details, phone calls, business activity, customer satisfaction, etc. and identify patterns that reveal things like where the majority of your audience lives and the posts they interact with the most.

2.- A perfect connection with your main marketing channels

Especially for businesses with a small or no sales force, your marketing is an important part of selling your products or services and should be as personalized as possible.

Managing audience data in a tool separate from your marketing channels makes it more difficult to transform customer information into personalized communication and increases the risk that information will be lost in confusion.

Identify a few key channels that you will use to reach customers and make sure that your CRM tool allows you to compile reports smoothly from these tools…

3.- The ability to test, learn and iterate in campaigns

As a growing business, you have a lot to learn about who your audience is and what their preferences are. It's important to look for a tool that helps you easily see how your channels are performing, better understand how your audience is interacting with your marketing, and use that information to refine your campaigns.

4.- Tools to help you grow

Once you've started collecting audience data and learning more about the people you talk to, you want to be able to use that information to find and talk to the people you should be talking to - new leads and improving success. loyalty of your customers.

Especially for small businesses with limited access to budget and resources, audience insight is an important tool in pushing their marketing budget further, helping them anticipate who is most likely to buy and focus their marketing dollars. resources where they matter.

Benefits of CRM for Small Businesses

Finding a CRM tool that meets your business needs (even if these are just the basic criteria outlined above) can start to generate immediate benefits for small business marketers.

Building a solid foundation for CRM allows you to:

1.- Get a better idea of ​​who you are targeting

When you create a central location for customer reports, you see more clearly who you're talking to and can track changes as your business continues to grow and evolve.

2.- Send the right content to the right people

When you use data to target your posts, you make it easier for customers to deliver important content (making them more likely to continue listening).

Especially for small businesses that rely heavily on marketing to position their brand, tailoring messages to specific segments to ensure you don't overwhelm your audience.

3.- Use your data to find new people

Building campaigns based on knowing your existing audience makes it easy to find the people most likely to like what you have to offer, so you can be smarter in targeting your campaigns and get the most out of your campaign. budget and increase your sales.

4.- Find new ways to talk to people with common interests

By looking at all of your data in one place, you'll start to notice patterns in who your contacts are and what interests them. And the more you know about audience trends and preferences, the easier it will be to think of new ways to speak to your audience and improve your campaigns.

How to choose the right CRM for your small business

Your specific CRM needs will vary widely depending on how your business operates and sells to customers. So you should always take the time to determine what your strategy will look like based on your goals. Here is 4 key questions to you poser when you assess your own needs:

Who will use your CRM tools? Will your CRM tools be used primarily for marketing? By a sales team? Both? ...

Consider everyone in your organization who might benefit from having access to customer information (whether it's just for visibility or to use the data for specific purposes) to find a tool that's right for your needs.

How much complexity do you need to get started?

Keep in mind that you probably won't create a complex CRM strategy overnight. Find a tool that gives you a streamlined approach, so you can adjust your strategy and gradually add complexity as you learn.

What marketing channels do you use to speak to your audience?

Find a tool that integrates directly with the channels you use the most so that information can quickly be turned into action and information is not susceptible to being lost or isolated.

Create a central hub for customer data

Having all your audience data in one place allows you to identify patterns: you can see what is working (and what is not), you can know what to send, when to send it, and to whom. ship it.

How to build your mailing list

THE Email Marketing helps you build a relationship with your customers. No matter what type of business you are running, email is one of the most important parts of a successful marketing strategy.

When people sign up to receive your emails, you can share your story, promote your business, and showcase your products, all while turning subscribers into paying customers. One tool that can help you with this task (and many other tasks) is GetResponse.

Recommended reading:

1.- GetResponse review in Spanish.

2.- How to create a mailing list.

Design pop-up forms that work

When you create a pop-up, it's easy to create a simple signup process for your followers in one place where you manage and track all the rest of your marketing.

Will your CRM grow with you as you grow?

Over time, you'll discover new ways to use your audience reporting and automate CRM processes, so it's important to find a tool that allows you to add this functionality when you're ready to do so ...

But keep in mind that while there are CRM processes you will never need, you won't want to pay for unnecessary complexity ...

Which CRM is recommended?

There are many CRM programs on the market. But to save you some work, I'll recommend the one I know the most and which I think is on the list of the best CRMs out there: Keap.

What is Keap?

Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) is a cloud-based sales and marketing solution that offers customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation and e-commerce in one suite.

What is Keap for?

Keap helps small businesses across various industries optimize sales and manage customer experiences.  

With Keap, you can segment contacts, track customer interactions, send emails, and launch campaigns with personalized communication triggers based on emails opened, clicks, and more.

Keap users can also manage e-commerce, from inventory management to payments and fulfillment, set up shopping carts online, track digital store activity, send quotes, invoices and more. receipts.

Reporting tools, marketing analysis and analysis system help users perform analysis on metrics such as email, campaign performance, and ROI data.

Keap allows you to remotely access Android and iOS devices. Offers integration with QuickBooks, SalesForce, Outlook, Gmail, etc. Price is for a monthly subscription and includes phone, email, and FAQ support.

How much does Keap cost?

Keap is available in three tariff plans, described below: Lite: $ 79 / month Pro: $ 159 / month Max: $ 159 / month.

Keap offers a test 14 days free to experience the program and does not require any credit card information.

Conclusion

CRM is a literal description of what CRMs do, but those three sweet words don't tell the whole story ...

Without software designed to help keep track of the details, business owners can do whatever they can to try and keep up. This has firmly established CRMs like Keap as a must-have for small business owners who want to improve their relationships with their prospects, customers, and other contacts.

The amount of data you can track for each individual user in a cloud-based CRM system is staggering.

You can be personal on a large scale while delighting each of your prospects and customers with d