What is a CRM system?
Do you remember your first customer when you started your business? As a small business, you got your first customer and grew because none of your bigger competitors could match the personalized attention you provided. But now with growth, you are having a hard time providing the same level of attention that you always wanted and that which differentiated you from your larger competitors.
Maybe you have now grown your business to $1M in revenue or more and you are still able to provide the same personalized service. The examples of your differentiated service could be that you can remember each one of them by name, you can recall every interaction you have had them in the past couple of years, maybe you can remember the names of their kids and dog as well.
However, with growth comes the problems. You are probably growing more than you can manage–or you would prefer to manage.
With the increase in customers and transactions, everything seems overwhelming. Perhaps you are already working long hours and not able to catch the amount of sleep you would like to get. This is where CRM system helps.
Imagine having a personal assistant who could remember each interaction and transaction in detail, and you could access it from anywhere irrespective of whether you are in front of your computer or your cell phone.
To break it down further, CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management.” These systems are designed to capture all your entities or stakeholders including leads, prospects, customers, partners, sales, or processes such as order-to-cash. They also capture all of their transactions or interactions such as quotes, opportunities, and orders.
For further details about a CRM system, watch this video:
Now that you know a bit about CRM systems, you must be wondering which are the top CRM systems available in the market. Here are the top 5 CRM systems for a small business: