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A customer relationship management (CRM) system is a critical part of any business, but especially for businesses who have an extended sales process. Whenever you have a new lead come in, whether the lead is a result of SEO from your website or they call you or it’s a referral, you should be entering them into a CRM system to keep track of them during the sales process.
Many businesses don’t use a CRM system — I’ve seen businesses use Excel which works okay to a certain extent, I’ve seen other businesses use a pen and paper which also works okay to a certain extent, and I’ve seen businesses use absolutely no system at all. The reality is you aren’t a computer and can’t remember every detail about every single lead your companies gets, which is why a CRM system is a critical part of any business– big or small.
I personally never used to use a CRM system. When we started Simple SEO Group, it was small enough that I could easily remember the details of each lead in my head. We then migrated to using a pen and paper, then Excel, and then about a year ago started using a CRM system. Since we started using the CRM system, our sales conversion rate has literally gone through the roof. We have so many tools available to us in the CRM system that make the entire sales process so much easier and more structured. Here’s a few major benefits to using a CRM system:
- Organization: All your leads are in one place, where you can sort them and arrange them by any variable you wish
- Calendar: You can easily schedule follow up calls and emails as well as meetings and conferences through the CRM system to make sure you contact people at the right time
- Lead Status: You can easily assign each of your leads to a different status depending on their stage in the sales process — from those who are just shopping for prices to those who are ready to sign a contract
- Notes: I always leave very detailed notes in our CRM system about our leads, which quite honestly impresses them when we talk again in a month or two and I have every detail of our first conversation right in front of me. It shows that you genuinely care about what they have to say
- Scalability: No matter how large your business gets — whether you need to hire 1 sales assistant or 1,000 sales assistants — you have everything in one place and can assign as many users as you need.
Depending on the CRM system you use, the costs can vary from being 100% free to being several hundred dollars per month. I personally use a CRM system that we’ve installed right on our website server, so we don’t have any monthly fees associated with it. It is lacking some features of the high end CRMs, but for now it more than gets the job done for us.
If you aren’t already utilizing a CRM system, you should definitely consider adding one to your sales tools as it truly can make an enormous difference in your overall conversion rate and assist you with gaining the most new customers possible. It’s a great addition to any SEO campaign because let’s face it — all that new website traffic can be hard to manage if you don’t have the right tools available to assist you.
If you’re interested in learning more, contact us today for a free consultation and we’ll gladly discuss the CRM options available for your business, install them for you, and assist you with setting them up and implementing them in your sales process. I can guarantee you’ll never look back once you get a quality CRM system in place.