"The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks sense" - Proverbs

Hey there,

Blessed day to you. So I was in a few meetings where entrepreneurs are still unfamiliar with an electronic customer relationship management (CRM).

These are some key reasons why CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems are an important tool for businesses:

Improved Customer Insights

• A CRM centralizes all customer data and interactions in one place, providing holistic profiles of each customer and their engagement history. This gives more insights to understand customer needs and preferences.

Enhanced Customer Service

• CRM systems equip teams with the information they need to deliver personalized, thoughtful customer service. Details on past interactions and preferences allow staff to serve customers effectively.

Stronger Lead Management

• CRMs help organize leads and sales opportunities. Features like pipelines and deal stages allow businesses to target promising leads and close sales more efficiently.

Increased Retention

• By tracking customer engagement and satisfaction, CRM helps identify those at risk of churn. Businesses can proactively retain customers and upsell loyal, profitable ones.

Improved Marketing Automation

• CRMs streamline communication across channels like email, social, ads. Workflows automate multi-touch nurturing campaigns to turn leads into customers.

Reporting & Analytics

• Robust CRM reporting provides data-driven insights about sales performance, campaigns, service queues, and more. This enables informed, metrics-led business decisions.

In summary, CRM software is a must for successfully managing the customer lifecycle, gaining business insights, and improving sales, retention, and support. The centralized customer intelligence a CRM provides is essential for driving growth in a competitive landscape.

A few of the key metrics and projected values that businesses can expect when investing in and using an electronic CRM platform:

• Increased sales productivity - CRM users typically see between 10-20% gains in sales rep productivity based on improved workflow automation and data access

• Higher win rates - Improved lead management and sales features results in 5-10% increases in win rates/closed deals for many CRM users

• Larger average deal sizes - By tracking sales cycles and optimizing cross-selling/upselling, companies see average deal sizes increase by 10-30%

• Faster sales cycle times - Accelerated lead response and workflow automation shortens average sales cycle lengths by 15-25%

• Improved customer retention - CRM-driven customer service results in estimated 5-15% increases in customer retention and account renewal rates

• Return on investment - Companies generally see full ROI payback on CRM software within the first 6-12 months of usage based on increased productivity, revenues, etc.

• Marketing campaign ROI - CRM marketing automation tools improve campaign ROI by 15-40% through better targeting, nudges, and analytics

The exact ROI will vary for each business based on how effectively they implement CRM processes. But used properly, a capable electronic CRM delivers significant quantifiable value across sales, marketing, customer service and other key business metrics.

Pros and Cons of both types of CRM

This is just a quick overview of the pros and cons of using Excel spreadsheets versus an electronic CRM platform for customer relationship management:

Excel Spreadsheet Pros:

• Familiar interface - Most people already know Excel

• Cost - No added software costs, uses existing tools

• Customizable - Can add/tweak fields as needed

• Offline access - Spreadsheets work without internet

Excel Spreadsheet Cons:

• Limited features - Lacks tools of full CRM platforms

• Not scalable - Difficult to manage large datasets

• Data silos - Information stored in separate spreadsheets

• Prone to human error - Manual entry can lead to mistakes

• Hard to share - Spreadsheet not easily accessible company-wide

Electronic CRM Pros:

• Robust feature set - Sales, marketing, service tools

• Scalable - Handles large and growing data sets

• Centralized data - Single system for entire company

• Automation - Workflows improve efficiency

• Accessible - Cloud-based, mobile access company-wide

Electronic CRM Cons:

• Added costs - Monthly or annual software fees

• Learning curve - Takes time for users to get accustomed

• Dependence on internet - Limited offline functionality

• Customization limited - Less ability to tweak platform to needs

Overall, electronic CRM systems tend to provide higher return on investment despite added costs, especially as companies grow. But Excel can only serve basic needs for individuals or very small teams.

So my question is, are you on the fence whether or not you need an electronic CRM or just stick with your Excel spreadsheet?

Why so? Electronic CRM is a very important tool in building and growing your business especially in this digital age. It makes lead management, customer info management easier and more convenient. This is true for both small and large businesses. However, my goal is to dig into the reasons why managing an electronic tool can be daunting. And, not to mention needs high LOE upfront.

With that said, here are 5 issues commonly encountered on a new CRM. At PODomation, we solve problems. So here also are 5 PODomation solutions! 👊

Common issues with CRMs

1. There are too many tools needed for marketing needs and managing leads.

2. Each tool requires lots of time and great efforts to learn and understand. Sometimes,

maybe even blood and tears. Each tool has it’s learning curve. Now multiply that

learning curve with as many times as the number of tools you need. By the time you

learned them, you’ll be too exhausted to even do anything for business. You will end up

either not using the CRM you pay for or not “doing” your business since you are all to

focused on these tools.

3. Then these tools need to be configured appropriately and integrated correctly so that it

can work together.

4. Now, you can outline your workflows, build them up and then test them, then test

again, and again to make sure it does what you want it to do – so it can function

effectively.

5. Not to state the obvious, but each one of these tools has a separate cost to it. This

means that not only you are spending so much time and effort on these tools, but you

are also losing money since you are paying for tools that you don’t or can’t use. There

goes your profit margin.

Solutions with PODomation

1. PODomation is an ALL-in-ONE tool – all tools you need to build and grow your business

is in this pod. So you only need to learn the most important one – PODomation. That’s

it. Everything is here and it just works.

2. Anything new comes with a learning curve. The great thing is that you only have to get

through the learning curve once since PODomation has it all. You don’t need to spend

your most precious and valuable asset learning about multiple platforms only to realize

that you still have to understand how each works. With PODomation, it’s ready to use

cause it just works.

3. Imagine connecting your smart remote control with your smart TV, wi-fi, speaker, disc

player, and cable provider. By the time you have configured them all – if you ever do on

your own, you’ll be so exhausted, you wont even want to watch anymore. Technology

fatigue, shall I say? With PODomation, this is one less thing to worry about. All tools

integrated with PODomation are carefully selected for seamless configuration. All you

need is to start using it. It just works.

4. PODomation has wide array of workflows already built-up. All workflows have been

tested, tried, then tested again. Whether you are solo or a team, or beginner or advance

user, PODomation has workflows that are very usable for you because it just works.

5. PODomation not only saves you energy and effort, it also helps you keep your profit

margin on check. With just 1 simple monthly. That’s it. As long as you are a current

subscriber, it just works.

What do you think? Can you relate to the common issues? If you do, it's ok. You are not alone.

It may be beneficial for you to schedule a consultation with me so we can talk about your CRM needs. Yes, every business has CRM needs.

Hope this helps. Have a blessed day!

PODomation