Contributed by Melissa Fiske, FOUNDER 7 CEO OF Local 44 North

As a woman business owner, you’re faced with new opportunities, new ways to reach your audience, and new people to connect with every single day.

Even if you’re a “people person” or you “never forget a face,” the most organized entrepreneur needs a fail-proof way to manage it all. Despite its lackluster name, CRM (or customer relationship management) is the backbone of some of the most successful businesses in the world.

CRM is a cloud-based tool growing in popularity, with more options than ever to choose from. It helps you:

Organize your contacts
Segment your contacts by type (warm lead, vendor, potential candidate, etc.)
Track all interactions and activity (for example, what emails a person has received, notes from a Zoom chat, or an inquiry made through your website’s contact form)
Send customized emails based on interest or activity
Automate email campaigns
Set reminders, + lots, lots more!

CONSIDER THE STATS:

CRM applications can help increase sales by up to 29%, sales productivity by up to 34%, and sales forecast accuracy by 42%. (Source)
Using a CRM can boost conversion rates by 300%. (Source)

No matter what business you’re in, here are 8 reasons you need (the right) CRM:

1)

NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY

The truth is, you’re busy, and you WILL forget things. Nowadays, with many of your new connections coming from various digital channels like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn — it’s more difficult than ever to remember every interaction you have throughout the day.

Let’s look at a typical scenario together:

It’s Wednesday afternoon, and you’re prepping for a meeting. An email interrupts you asking for more information about your services, so you respond immediately before going back to your meeting prep. Weeks pass, and you forget to follow up. Your subconscious may assume that the person isn’t interested anymore, but there’s a good chance that they simply became busy and need a nudge from you.

Without CRM, that potential lead could be lost forever.

With CRM, instead of interrupting your meeting prep to respond, an automatic email could be sent from your CRM providing more information on your services, along with a reminder on your calendar to follow up with a personal message 5 days later.

See the difference? In a time where we’re all trying to do more by doing less, CRM is a total game-changer.

Furthermore, for many of us, our sales cycles are much, much longer than an instant purchase. It’s important to continually keep in touch with contacts, even if they are years away from purchasing from you.

2)

PREPARE YOUR COMPANY FOR GROWTH

It’s time to ditch the spreadsheet — along with any other old habit that’s limiting your ability to grow and scale! Effectively using a CRM helps you see the big picture so you can graduate beyond daily transactions and find insights that will help you scale, including:

Identifying trends or seasonality in your business
Spotting leaks in your sales funnel
Creating new ways to serve your audience through segmented content
Maintaining a “personal touch” as you grow

3)

AUTOMATE ROUTINE TASKS

There’s no excuse for not automating your most mundane and routine tasks. This includes:

Scheduling Meetings
Sending post-meeting follow-ups
Assigning tasks to your team
Lead scoring, and so, so, so much more!

The best CRM systems will not only help you make more money, but increase you and your team’s efficiency so you can save more of your most valuable resource — your time.

4)

PERSONALIZE 1:1 INTERACTIONS

Personalization is a key component of marketing, sales, and customer service. People want to feel special. The best way to make people respond favorably is to find ways to let them know that they are unique and important to you. This could look like:

Sending someone a personalized follow-up or thank you
Sharing valuable resources based on someone’s individual needs
Remembering their birthday or business anniversary

5)

CREATE MORE MEANINGFUL CONTENT

One-size-fits-all content doesn’t work anymore. Your audience EXPECTS that you are tailoring your content to them. Whether they are first-time customers, loyal customers, big purchasing customers, partners, or wholesale accounts— categorizing them within your CRM allows you to create personalized, meaningful, and consistent communication.

6)

BUILD A STRONG NETWORK

The most successful businesses are working in partnership with other businesses to collaborate and build community. Managing and strengthening your partnerships, wholesale accounts, press contacts, and other connections that are part of your collaborative network is extremely important. Making a habit of consistent communication — not only when you need something — will create lasting, engaging relationships that can turn into valuable business channels.

7)

INTEGRATE YOUR VARIOUS TOOLS UNDER ONE ROOF

The best CRM for your business is the one that integrates with your existing business tools and processes. When set up correctly, your CRM can serve as the hub of your business, connecting your data across areas that used to be siloed (social media, email, calendar, etc.) to create valuable insights that help you grow.

8)

MORE THAN LEAD GENERATION, IMPROVE CUSTOMER RETENTION

On average, a loyal customer spends 67% more in their 31st to 36th month with a brand than in their first six months of the relationship. (Source) What does this mean for you? Using CRM to create lasting relationships long after the first purchase is one of the biggest arguments for why you need to start using this powerful business tool.

Convinced you need a CRM, but you’re not sure which to choose?

Check out our cheat sheet that breaks down some of the most popular CRM’s out there:

Wonder if you’re doing the right things to market your business? Schedule your FREE 30-minute chat to talk through your marketing worries with Melissa:

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About Melissa Fiske

With over a decade of experience helping business owners create custom, revenue-generating marketing strategies, Melissa Fiske and her team at Local 44 North are on a mission to help women entrepreneurs attract more local clients with less effort so they can have it all-- a successful business and plenty of time to do what they love.

Melissa is a Hubspot Certified Partner, host of the “Marketing is Bullshit” Podcast, and believes that when it comes to growing your business, expensive, one-size-fits-all marketing packages are so antiquated! Instead, Local 44 North creates custom solutions for your businesses’ unique needs and challenges. Learn more about how to do less and make more @ local44north.com

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8 Reasons Your Business Needs a CRM