This document attempts to take some of the fear and uncertainty away from the CRM concept:

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1 What is CRM?

2 What is CRM? Today growing businesses manage customer connections and information in a variety of ways. Some use old fashioned note cards and Rolodex. Others store information on their mobile phone while on the go. Others use Excel spreadsheets, Outlook or Google documents. Some organisations continue to use their brains as the main customer database! While that may be viable in the short term when you have a small team and don t plan on scaling your business, however if you want to scale for growth, it may be time to consider a CRM system to help you collect your precious business data in one place and to provide process to support your business's growth goals. CRM can however seem a little daunting for a beginner! Questions come to mind such as: Why do I need CRM? How will the sales and service teams be persuaded to use CRM? Do I need integration? What about Marketing? Will CRM fit my business process? What s the difference between a lead and a prospect? What about Mobile? How do I take advantage of social channels? Will CRM create more revenue and profits for my business? This document attempts to take some of the fear and uncertainty away from the CRM concept: What does it really mean? C-R-M stands for Customer Relationship Management. At its simplest, a CRM system allows businesses to manage business relationships and the data and information associated with them. With CRM, you can store customer and prospect contact information, new leads, sales opportunities, jobs, projects, service issues, and invoices in one central location. The CRM system provides a single view of the customer across an organisation and ideally everything should be stored in the cloud so the information is accessible by many, in real time. A business depends on its customers, so a CRM system is a database that represents these customers. CRM should underpin an organisation and provide a complete business process flow from start to finish, all orientated around the customer journey!

3 Other systems such as finance systems, stock management systems, job systems, systems all have been designed with a different perspective. A finance system relates to invoices, an ERP system relates to jobs, stock and invoices, an system relates to contacts. However a CRM system relates directly to a customer and that s why it s very valuable for any organisation. How will CRM make any difference? CRM systems are built around people and relationships. And that s exactly why it can be so valuable for a fast-growing business. Any business starts out with a foundation of great customer relationships. You, the seller, connect with people who need your product. Yet, as your company grows, these business connections grow more sophisticated. It s not just a transaction between the buyer and seller. You start to manage a myriad of connections within each company you do business with. You need to share information across various teams within your own organization, who may be making contact with the same customers. A CRM system can serve as a vital nerve centre to manage the many connections that happen in a growing business and to avoid overlap. For small businesses, a CRM system may simply help you put your data in the cloud, making it accessible in real time, across any device whenever you need it. As your business expands a Customer Relationship Management system can include more sophisticated features to help teams collaborate with colleagues and customers, send customized s, gather insights from social media conversations, and get a holistic picture of your business health in real time.

4 How will my staff members benefit from CRM? A CRM makes things easier and quicker and better for staff. Sales teams know where to focus, support teams have access to the correct information and marketing teams can finally prove success and campaign profitability. The CRM user has the ability to see all the relevant data that relates to the lead, prospect or customer and with this data is able to add more value to their relationships with customers. Specific benefits for a user will include: Be organized: A CRM integrates s, tasks and calendars and so much more in one easily maintained and managed place. Access your information from anywhere in the world and from any internet-accessible device. You'll learn things about your business you never knew before Track your tasks and events: A CRM will help you not only keep track of every task and every event but also relate them to the appropriate customer, prospect or lead. Your memory is not perfect: Do you really want to limit your business by what information you can store in your head? If you can only manage 20 clients successfully in your memory then you have stopped your business from growing any larger. With a CRM you can store and manage hundreds of clients and let a computer system handle the task of memory and recall. Take advantage of technology and use it for your business success s are decentralized: s are sent to contacts, a CRM system puts all the pertinent client information in one central location that was easy to update and easy to see when other's updated. All communication can be kept in one spot, nothing gets lost and you can now see and share with the rest of your team. You need metrics: A CRM will give you instant metrics on dozens of aspects of your business, and you don't have to do anything. Plus with a CRM you can actually create custom reports to better track metrics and reports specific to your needs. History is important: If you've ever wanted to look back and see everything on a particular contact, the stream of communication between you and them and other members of your business then you need a CRM. Customer relations systems help keep all those conversations in one place. Make it easy for you to quickly look back in time and see how things have progressed. Never lose your data: A cloud-based CRM lets you effectively protect your data from being lost. Sure, servers can crash and hard drives fail but with the proper web host and data backups you'll never lose your data. Predict your future: You can see your pipeline of your prospective deals and have a pretty

5 accurate feel for how much business you can expect to see in the months to come. Once you realize how much information you have access to you may start to feel like a bit like a psychic. Conclusions? A CRM system offer companies a complete view of their customers across the entire organization. When implemented properly, a CRM strategy integrates all customer-facing and back office applications with the same data. Companies reap large gains from these efficiencies by offering better service and developing deeper and more meaningful relationships with their customers. Better relationships ultimately equate to higher profits, happier customers and allow business owners to turn their customer data into a real asset. Next steps.. If you are know wondering whether your business would benefit from a CRM system, please feel free to access the following How to Guides ( to get some more useful tips or phone CloudTech on and press 1 for a free consultation.