Is your business feeling growing pains? A CRM system could be the answer | Chase for Business
When you started your business, customer relationship management probably meant spending a lot of time with your customers. You spoke to your regulars, knew when they would call, wrote down leads in the margins of scrap paper and did little extras to nurture each relationship.
But there comes a point when a business outgrows this hands-on style. As you bring on sales and marketing staff, you need a way to develop and execute your strategies, manage leads, market your business to your customers and contact them when they’re most likely to respond.
A customer relationship management, or CRM, system is a technology tool that allows you to track and use customer information to enhance communications and develop sales strategies. While some platforms are complex and built for scale, even a simple CRM system can help you improve relationships with customers.
CRM system pros and cons
What can a CRM system do? At a basic level, a CRM organizes important customer information. The ability to store names, phone numbers and emails is essential, and many CRM systems allow you to keep notes about previous conversations.
The next level of functionality uses data collected by the CRM to improve online outreach via email, surveys and other push marketing techniques. A CRM allows you to create and distribute content aimed at specific customers, such as people who live in your neighborhood. CRM systems also help you track previous and current sales, organize workflows and even automate marketing tasks.
Many CRM systems specialize in specific tasks. For example, Mailchimp can create and distribute marketing campaigns that go out via email and social media. More complex systems, such as HubSpot or Monday.com, can host an entire outreach, retention and marketing campaign from a single platform while also providing analysis and visualization tools for managers. Salesforce is an industry leader that offers support for businesses of all sizes.
