Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems help micro business owners to keep all of their communications together.
If you’re a company struggling under a growing mound of paperwork, any kind of streamlining is hugely appreciated. But it can be easy for a micro business to buy the wrong system, overloaded with features that they don’t need, draining their pockets unnecessarily.
To give you some steer, we’ve asked an expert what you should be looking for in a CRM as well looking at what’s available on the market right now.
What is a CRM?
A CRM is a customer relationship management system. It’s a technology that’s used to manage interactions with customers and potential customers. They can help increase sales, improve customer service and increase profitability.
It’s a more advanced solution to keeping information in spreadsheets, electronic documents, in a notepad or even in your head.
They collate data and turn them into actionable insights. Everyone in a business can update records and access this up-to-date information. On top of that, they often have contact management, lead management, sales forecasting, instant messaging between employees, email tracking and integration and file content sharing as well as dashboard-based analytics. Some premium services provide