A history of CRM and how small businesses should use it

Today's consumers are more value concious, price driven, and much, much more demanding than in days gone by. Most companies have realised that it is more efficient and profitable to keep old customers than it is to gain new ones. This has led to what is known as Customer Relationship Marketing or CRM.

This is not a new strategy. Before supermarket chains drove small businesses out of the market, the owners of the local corner shops probably knew all of their customers. They knew you, they knew what you liked, and they could recommend products based on this.

Then came mass production and with it, the demise of the direct relationship between customer and producer. Products began appearing on shelves that the consumers neither knew or trusted. Marketers realised they had to change something in the way products were sold, and so brands were born. Here was a means of providing the consumers with reassurance of consistent quality. But as the market again became saturated, with hundreds of new product introductions every year, brands were no longer enough to differentiate products.

Thus CRM came back into fashion, as marketers began to realise several facts. A few of these are listed below:

When you lose a customer, you lose his lifetime value. A 5% increase in customer loyalty will result in profit increase of more than 25%. In nearly every industry, 20% of customers account for 80% of the profit. Seven out of ten customers switch to competition due to poor services. It takes up to twelve good experiences to overcome one bad experience of a customer.

With the rise of computers and the internet, consumers are much better informed and less susceptible to easy maniplulations. This had made marketers realise that a shift in emphasis is needed from transaction based marketing - i.e. a one time deal, to relationship marketing where long term mutually satisfiying relationships are created with consumers in order to earn and retain their long-term business. In other words, instead of trying to maximise profit from each and every transaction, relationship marketing focuses on maximising profits over the lifetime value of the customer by creating and sustaining relationships. Thus it cuts down on transaction costs and time.
Most companies who use CRM as a marketing strategy implement it with CRM software. This software can be very expensive, not just the cost of the software but also the training needed to familiarise employees with it. However this money spent usually does not result in better profits. The reason for this is a fundamental one that most companies overlook. They assume that technology alone will cure their customer retention problems and they lack clear objectives for their CRM implementation.
The solution is not always a simple one. You must understand that using CRM effectively does not just mean restructuring your sales and marketing departments. Instead you must view CRM as an integrated business strategy that places consumers directly at the center of the conciousness of your organisation. For small businesses a large, expensive complicated CRM software is usually not the answer.

Instead you should focus on creating relationships with your customer ba se and fostering loyalty. You should also encourage collaboration with consumers, asking them to give feedback on your product or changes they would appreciate. This makes the customer feel like they have contributed to the product and makes them more likely to buy it.

A software I would recommend for managing your customers is Tree.io. With this inexpensive software not only can you control all aspects of your CRM strategy, you can manage all the other aspects of your business as well. As a bonus it has an intuitive interface and requires very little training to use effectively.

I hope you enjoyed this article and feel free to add comments or suggestions below.

Implementing CRM Solutions for Small Business Online CRM System

Hosted CRM implementation various from one company to another but there is the need to follow a plan which must be in line with your business needs so as to ensure a successful implementation. If you are a small business and planning for an online CRM implementation there is a great need for a careful preparation such that it does not bring in unanticipated results.

Firstly there is need for small businesses to know the hosted CRM vendors by looking at them from diverse perspectives. This will involves examining the vendor and considering whether or not the hosted CRM vendor can fulfil the requirements of your business. Although it's difficult to find a vendor who can fulfil all your business objectives, it would be better aware of the possible short comings which a business may experience at a later stage.

Depending on the business objectives, small business must ensure that the hosted CRM will meet business goals. If the use of a CRM is intended for achieving a strong ROI, CRM processes must be easily tracked and measured. Eliminating implementation of functionalities that are unnecessary for business processes is also essential if a CRM is to be implemented in a short period of time. Time wasting is reducing when employees focus of the applications which are core to the business.

Numerous hosted CRM solutions permit employees to connect from any internet connection, therefore there should be leverage on hosted CRM tools for better a work and life fit.

When hosted CRM systems are paired with the telecommuting features of today's powerful business phone systems their implementation can be a success as this would allow employees the ability to work from home without compromising access to customers or their data.

CRM implementation comes with change and most employees including those working for small businesses are likely to stick to their traditions ways of doing business and are hesitant to adapt to changes. Therefore, in implementation of a hosted CRM it must be clearly stated that employees should adapt themselves to it. Training of employees and answering their questions can also help employees for small business to understand how the system works and make its implementation a success.

Implementation of an efficient hosted CRM solution for a small business is not compound but, sufficient planning and company wide communication and oversight avoidance will ensure that the initiative gets off the ground more easily. The management of small businesses must keep track of progress during the implementation phase of a hosted CRM and ensure that all things are moving forward smoothly.

The Importance Of Crm For A Small Business

Running a Small Business unit has unique challenges. With so many people starting out as entrepreneurs the number of small local businesses has increased drastically over the last decade or so. The personalized service that such small startup companies offer is what endears them to their potential and existing customers. Not everyone prefers to do business with a relatively unknown company, no matter what word of mouth reputation it may have. Many variables can influence their success.

One factor crucial to the success of a small business customer relationship management is keeping in touch with your customers and potential customers. In a small business you do not depend on the sales volume as much as you do on repeat business. This means that you need to be constantly on your toes following up with any existing customers. At the same time you cannot ignore a potential lead which may turn into a loyal customer. For a big corporation with tens of people in eac h department this is not a problem. They can assign a number of people to the different tasks involved in CRM.
The Disadvantage of being a Small Business:

Being a small business means that you have limited funds and man power. You may have the same people doubling up as sales and after sales support. So who gets to organize the customer relationship management? Most people are too busy handling the regular day to day crises to pay attention to special CRM needs. It is here that managing the data base of your existing customers and potential customers becomes a major contributing factor to the success or failure of your business. To make it easy to handle, a lot of small companies are now going in for web based CRM systems.

The ideal solution for a Small Business set up:

A web based contact management software allows you and your core business development team to keep track of your existing customers with ease. You can feed in contact information, purchase history, special notes and even add follow up alerts for each individual customer. Th at way when you need to get in touch with a particular customer you will not be hunting for that small diary in which you made special notes to remember while speaking to this particular client. With a press of button you can get access to all the information you need.

The added advantage:

In the given economic situation where we are experiencing a global growth decline the customer truly is king and needs to be pampered. So Customer Relationship Management assumes a great deal of importance. If you can keep your present customer base happy, they will stay loyal. With a central CRM data management system you are giving your sales team the added advantage of knowing just how to handle each individual. If the customer is an old lady who lives with a cat and when you call up you ask after her cat by name, believe me you are going to close a sale that day.

CRM Programs for Small Businesses

A perfect example of a small investment that can help you get a wealth of gains, CRM software computers can truly help small businesses increase their profit. With the standard definition of customer relationship management based around satisfying the expectations of existing clients and creating new clients out of potential leads, CMR software small business helps companies achieve this by uniting software solutions with different business functions to create better business-client relationships. Through this business practice, personalized external relationships are developed and the small business's internal procedures are also improved. CRM Software small business has benefits that increase the company's value by using data integration, through increasing client loyalty and retention, and though effectively responding to competitors and the marketplace.

Here are the top three benefits of using CRM software small business:

1) Revenue and profits ca n increase with the right information and knowledge of how best to use it, management teams can create plans for increasing long-term sales. The software can enable sales reports and forecasts that are easier to get to and integrate into an existing strategy. It can also allow people to make more accurate decisions on how to allocate resources and calculate revenues. This can help in projects that require some form of cost-cutting, management of the inventory and stocks, and calculate discounts that can be offered without cutting too deeply into company profits.

2) Improved lead capture a small business needs as many customers as it can get, and to generate new customers, it has to follow up on leads. CRM software allows them to create a detailed, massive database that can lead to a higher rate of conversion. The software is designed to allow the company to see potential customers and any relevant information on them, which can in turn be used to pursue them. It is also possible to remove them from the database or mark them as people not to be contacted. Most examples of this software also allow for the production of detailed reports, helping sales teams manage a number of performance areas.

3) Flexibility Through Scalability: The program allows the company to have better scalability allowing them to create customer offerings within the near future. Although the software can cost the company quite a sum, company owners should realize that the benefits it provides cannot even be compared to its price. Some CRM software solutions offer packages which do not need any installation of software and provide the users a sense of confidence allowing them to create a solution system modified exactly to match their needs at the time.

Removing Skin Tag Remedies

Some may argue that we are in a beauty oriented society. Even in ancient times beauty has always been a focus. Every society has its own definition of beauty but having skin tags is not included. The first thing people notice in other people is their faces. Having skin tags lowers self-esteem and confidence. Skin tags are benign skin tumors. Men and women are equally subspectable to tags. Cause is increase in weight and heredity. Skin tags are small stalk-like barnacles that grow from the skin's surface. Generally, skin tags appear on eye lids, neck, groin folds, under the breast and underarms. Skin tags more common in middle age to 60 years of age. Children can also have skin tags well-rounded babies can develop skin tags on the neck area. Younger children may tend to develop tags under the eye lids and older children the underarms. One theory combined with weight, heredity is friction of skin rubbing against skin.

Note, in a few cases the tags maybe precancerous or cancerous. If tags appear multi- colored, are lumpy and bumpy, hurt and or bleeding do not consider any type of removal before consulting a medical doctor. I also suggest for children and babies before applying any type of tag removal consult with a medical professional. In other cases for benign tumor there are three types of removal remedies home remedies, over the counter remedies and medical removal. Tags have a negative effect in self-confidences affecting personal relationships and successful careers. There is an old saying, "When You Look Good You Feel Good."

Home Remedies for Skin Tag Removal

With string of dental floss or string tie base of tag suffocate and tag falls off. This method can cause pain, bleeding and infection. Use nail clipper of small scissors and cut skin tag off at base. Method can cause pain, bleeding and infection. Liquid nitrogen and freeze skin tag. Using electric cautery and burning tags off. Can cause infection, pain, scarring and or infection. Remove with duct tape. Natural remedy applies tea oil 3-4 times a day until skin tags fall off. Natural combine castor oil and baking soda. Apply mixture 3-4 times a day until skin tags fall off.

Over the counter skin crmes

Some skin tag removal crmes natural ingredients. 3 day natural ingredients removing and leaving no scars. Some skin tag removal toxic crmes. Some skin tag removal crmes may have a combination on natural ingredients and toxins.

Profession Medical Treatment

General $150.00 to $300.00 per skin tag. Cryosurgery or laser therapy applied by dermatologist. Generally, procedures can be done in one session. Healing time can be longer, painful and can leave scars. Consult with dermologist regarding healing time, pain and if procedure can leave scars.) Treatment can be invasive.

Which ever method you may choose skin tags can be removed. Why have benign skin tags when they can be removed economically, at naturally at home safely and leaving no scars? Appearance is not the only ingredents in building self esteem and confidence but it is sure a big first step.

Remove Skin Tags in 3 days Natural Removal

Guaranteed 60 day Removal Skin Tag Removal

Generating Useful Market Intelligence for Marketing and Sales

Strategic market intelligence can reap rich profits for companies that seek to understand their corporate customers' needs and businesses better. From purchase driver mapping to sales gaps analysis, the ability to support and even boost revenue generation through strategic customer and competitor intelligence is critical for market intelligence teams. Here are some tips on how to plan and develop market intelligence that will be highly valued by marketing and sales teams.

There are four areas that market intelligence teams will need to make key decisions on, which will affect how effective their marketing and sales intelligence systems will eventually be. Choosing between the variables can make a critical difference to the team's success or failure.

1. Choosing between strategic and tactical market intelligence

One of the most difficult tasks market intelligence leaders face when designing internal market intelligence objectives, roles, output and performance indicators, is striking the right balance between strategic and tactical market intelligence. Should more resources be invested in strategic brand management intelligence or pricing intelligence? Should the team focus on sizing the market or monitoring promotions?

The balance depends on a number of factors:

CEO and management mindset. Management focus on short-term profits or long-term development will dictate the market intelligence that needs to be presented.
Planning cycles. Shorter planning cycles tend to lead to a more tactical approach to market intelligence.
The nature of the competition. Market intelligence tends to be more tactical in heavily competed markets where price or competitive bidding is under pressure.
Business or consumer markets. In B2C markets, market intelligence tends to be more tactical.
Corporate or local. If the main focus is on supporting corporate level management, market intelligence will tend to be more strategic in nature. A tactical approach is more appropriate for local sites.
Marketing or sales. Market intelligence in support of marketing is typically more strategic.

One could also argue that generating revenues though more tactical market intelligence will allow organizations to justify the existence and value of their market intelligence programs. This typically leads to further funding through clear ROI to build more strategic contributions.

2. Choosing the methodologies that best suit the organization

There are multiple market intelligence techniques and methods; some will help you defend your customer proposals while others will help you attack and fend off your competitors' sales tactics. Which one you use will depend largely on the nature of your business, your internal sales processes and the pain points therein.

Ultimately, the key to success will be in understanding your customers better than your competitors' as well as understanding your key competitors' mindset, strategy and tactics.

To achieve this, you can choose to use:

Voice of the customer (VOC). VOC can be a significant source of customer understanding that in turn, helps build trusted relationships with corporate clients.
Creativity in building competitor profiles. For example, you can investigate the long term financial strength and sustainability of your competitors and use that to your advantage.
Market penetration analysis. Try identifying segments that your competitors are focusing on and which you are not, and investigate why.
Strict account planning. It helps to aggregate account level intelligence, identify account intelligence gaps and include positive and negative feedback on competitive products in the analysis.
Win-loss analysis. This is an extremely important tool in strengthening your sales strategy for the future.
Role-play or war gaming. This is useful in understanding your competitors' mindsets.
Marketing mix analysis. This is exceptionally useful in reviewing the competitio n at the product or offering level.
Competitor channel or value chain analysis. Use the analysis to understand the mindset of your customers' customers or your competitors' margins.
Propensity models. Such models help you assess customer churn rates and to take corrective action in time.

Knowing which is the right methodology for your organization requires an understanding of the pain points within marketing and sales. It also helps to brainstorm with your colleagues in the sales department on what they think are the winning factors of your company's value proposition.

3. Choosing the tools that will make the output user friendly

A critical part of supporting a company's marketing and sales efforts effectively is in providing market intelligence deliverables that are quick to access and quick to digest; in short, clear and filtered formats.

Ideally, only one tool should to be used to provide market intelligence to the sales team. Otherwise, multiple internal systems should be integrated to create a perception of having one tool or access point. For example, customer relationship management tools and market intelligence deliverables can be made available through one access point.

Technology tools alone will not solve all the challenges for market intelligence. Building accessible and easy-to-use tools however, can provide a competitive advantage to your sales organization, as long as feedback is directly and continuously gathered from the sales front.

4. Choosing the method/s to recruit and motivate internally

Critical market intelligence typically already exists within an organization, through the collective experience and observations of a company's sales force.

A company with an active intelligence culture can go a long way in the receipt and utilization of field intelligence. This however, requires continuous internal marketing. So one of the most important success factors for market intelligence is the ability to build strong relations with the sales force.

You can do this if you can:

First align your market intelligence efforts with the company's sales targets and customer relationship management objectives.
Assess your sales process and identify pain points where better intelligence can make a difference.
Use the right incentives and motivational factors for those in the field to start contributing intelligence and insights.
Set up intelligence collection and sharing processes and tools that are both accessible and easy to use.
Generate deliverables that give sales teams the critical information that will help them seal the deal'.
Demonstrate tangible benefits to the sales effort through insightful, timing and value-generating market intelligence.
Celebrate and recognize success stories based on contributions from the field.

In addition, it is useful to identify other groups, such as legal, customer support, research and development or engineering, that are in position to provide field signals.

Web based CRM – Savings for small business owners

Almost a decade back, small business owners were not ready to accept the web-based crm. The only reason behind was that they were not aware and not even sure about the benefits they would get from it. Especially, those who have a small-scale business need to have small business crm software. Moreover, the cost of small business crm software was higher earlier; therefore, it was not affordable for everyone. In addition to the cost of buying it, one had to invest in the configuration of this software as well as in the maintenance.

But the times have changed a lot now and the costs have lowered. Almost every business now has business contact management software. On the other hand, it has now become a necessity to have a small business customer relationship management team. The cut throat competition in the present time has made it compulsory for every business to get small business crm software.

For the small business owners, it is not possible to invest too much into such software or to mange a team for this purpose. For them, it is better to get free online crm. For small business, customer relationship management is the basic thing to achieve success in short period.

Introduction to the crm solution software has created a new era in the organization of small businesses. This has helped in removing the need for spreadsheets and costly communication and information sharing tools. Web-based CRM solution software offers major profits for small businesses, even without the purchase, low-cost of realization, no cost of repairs and upgrades, at least the technical knowledge which is all the time, where the availability of commercial co-operation increased contacts with customers and improved lead management, in-depth analysis and reports, and much more.

Now, a small company can install web-based contact management software without cash in hand. The only cost required to be paid is the monthly fee, which is generally planned on each user. Lower the number of employees, less you pay per month. All data are stored, arranged and updated in a database remotely, so the companies do not have to be troubled about that.

How Web Based CRM Can Help Small Businesses

Web based CRM is what most small businesses are going in for these days. It is not as expensive as setting up a different department to handle customer relations. It is fast to set up needing very few resources to run efficiently. It has proven to be invaluable to small business owners and now it s set to make its way into the corporate ethos as a necessity rather than a luxury. It is good for a small business in a number of ways as illustrated below.

Personal Commitment

Small business CRM software allows the company to project a feeling of personal commitment to the customer. For instance, if you have a small business where you sell some small electronic gadget you can use the software to generate a number of reminders which give your customer a wonderful experience after buying from your company. The reminders can be fed in for follow up of sales to check if they have any problems using the gadget, for servicing reminders to ensure that the gadget is kept in optimal functioning order and a whole lot more.
Competitive Advantage

Business contact management software gives the small business owner a competitive advantage in a number of small ways. Since there are a number of tasks that the person is trying to do at the same time there is a good chance that handling customer care relations is not exactly top of the priority list for a small business owner. And yet it is CRM which can make a vital difference for the small business. With the CRM software in place the business owner does not have to organize his contact with customers on his own, the software does it for him and reminds him to follow up.

Growth of the Business

Small business customer relationship management can make a world of a difference to the growth rate of a company. With the help of the CRM software any small business owner can give his customer base a world class customer care experience. And since most customers are loyal to companies which give them good value for mon ey and fantastic customer care they will not only stay with the company but provide excellent word of mouth publicity. This is what helps the small business accelerate its rate of growth.

Use the Latest Technology

By using the cutting edge technology you as a small business owner help to benefit the company in some ways. You can develop email campaigns in advance to set customer care and parallel sales prospecting projects. You do not have to call the customer to ask if they are happy with the purchase they made from the company, you can mail them instead. The few who reply can then be sent out another set of mails after a period of time to ask if they would be interested in purchasing some other product which may be complementary to the one that they have already bought.

This can bring in sales on an automated system for the company. All this can be done without a single executive of the company spending any time on it. Well worth conside ring getting a CRM software for your company.

Advantages of Hosted CRM Applications for Small Businesses

CRM applications meant for small businesses are designed in a way that they incur minimum costs but at the same time considerably increase productivity and thus gather customer loyalty in the process. These solutions greatly benefit small businesses even if they have limited resources. They are designed in a manner to take care of multiple business needs.

A hosted CRM solution for small businesses focuses on the automation of crucial business processes in order to gain an insight into different interactions between the company and the consumer. Business executives can thus understand customer requirements easily and therefore deliver their services in quick time. This automatically leads to customer satisfaction and increases the goodwill of the company. Customer retention is an important aspect of any business and it is much more cost effective when compared to customer acquisition. A satisfied customer base also helps one to make valuable associations and thu s helps to promote company services to a similar section of the masses.
A CRM solution specifically meant for small businesses has a positive impact as far as productivity is concerned and also helps to reduce costs substantially. These equip businesses with SFA or Sales Force Automation tools, marketing management and comprehensive customer service tools. By generating a storehouse of crucial customer data and information that spans all aspects of customer life cycle, the solution helps to demarcate areas that require immediate attention of the organisation. This implies that the latter can take the right course of action in time and thus save itself and its employees from an impending crisis.

Through a hosted CRM, the organisation hosts its CRM or customer relationship management on different servers through the Internet. It offers convenient, flexible as well as cost effective solutions to businesses that lack the traditional IT resources. A hosted CRM implies that there is no requirement for installation, software upgrade is sues and hardware compatibility that is normally associated with the purchase and management of the CRM systems that are traditionally used. In case of a hosted solution, the upgrades, maintenance, system management and backups are all offered by the vendor.

The operation costs are often factored in and thus these CRM deployments cost considerably less. These also reduce the Total Cost of Ownership or the TCO considerably by opting for a subscription model. Companies, on their part, have to subscribe to the service either on an annual or on a monthly basis and make the payment accordingly. Therefore, the cost of a hosted CRM application is much less than an in-house deployment.

A hosted CRM solution also offers greater customisation benefits and multiple features. Companies can add the features that they require and therefore do not have to keep features that they do not need. The addition of particular features requires the companies to subscribe to a new module instead of configuring, loading or purchasing brand new software.

A hosted CRM application can be accessed from any part of the world over the Internet. It offers instant access, irrespective of the location of the users.

Cloud based CRM: Does your small business need it?

I ran into a woman I had done business with a while back who heads a successful Interior Design firm that manages both residential and commercial accounts. She has become a faithful reader of our blog and told me that although she has learned a lot about cloud computing, she doesn't think that they needed more than what they had in place and that the cost and time of implementing cloud services would not be worth the supposed benefits. At first I thought it was an odd comment as she is already using some cloud applications and she is not one to shy away from technology. She explained that every time her staff was introduced to yet another 'time saving' tool, the learning curve was far beyond what had been expected and, all too often, was quickly discarded. She said that is was just easier to use what they had in place. Sound familiar?

I was increasingly curious and asked her what email and CRM program they were using to manage their accounts. Her firm uses Gmail, uses Excel to manage their contacts and schedules along with a design project management program that manages the product and purchasing side of their business.

This firm has 10 employees and for any individual project can be employing multiple vendors. How can a web-based CRM program benefit their business?

Liz, this is for you.

Customer relationship management (CRM) has been around since the beginning of time. The shopkeeper, the door-to-door salesperson and the repairman practiced it automatically, serving their customers one-on-one and adjusting relationships on the fly. CRM wasn't very complicated back then.

Today small businesses typically fall into two categories, each which carries its own challenge: some have many widely dispersed customers where maintaining relationships is a serious challenge, others rely on a small pool of customers for the bulk of their business. A design business, actually most service businesses fall into the latter category although both would benefit from implementing CRM tools.

There is an absolute need among small businesses, particularly as they grow to 10 or more employees, to have the ability to not only manage centralized customer information, but to share and collaborate on that information across the organization and on the road. A company may be small, but its need to service customers from across the country and abroad or to access centralized information remotely is imperative. Yet even a company of two to four people will find it essential that project data and activity be collaborative and accessible. In this apocryphal design firm, installers and project managers would benefit from access to data while on the job, updated client communications and change requests are updated and shared as they occur and management can gain a clear in-depth understanding regarding the specific preferences of individual customers, analyze customer and market trends and build effective sales strategies to build their business. It is far more costly to a cquire a new customer than to retain an existing one but retention requires excellent customer service at every level of interaction and even afterward.

The most powerful sales technique came from 'would you like fries with that'. This simple question became the foundation for a new generation of upselling. With cloud based CRM services, a small business can take this to a whole new level, targeting specific opportunities to service your existing clients and, understanding these trends, where to look for new ones.

Remember that the head of this design firm stated that the angst of implementing new software made her team reluctant in learning any new program. My response to this objection is a simple and to the point. Cloud based services don't require installation, hardware and are browser and computer agnostic (they work on a MAC or a PC and will work in the browser of your choice). Our VP of Sales was particularly proud of a recent client implementation: the whole project took 10 minutes and that included all instructions.

To quote Claudio Marcus, research director at Gartner: "CRM is not part of a business strategy; CRM is the business strategy" irrespective of the size of your business. Small businesses cannot stand still technologically. We can't imagine conducting our business using only landlines and we shouldn't be reluctant to bring in cloud based services because our experience, and frustrations, with desktop software.

How to Choose a web-based CRM for a Small Business

There is no doubt that running a small business or start-up provides every day with new challenges. With so many entrepreneurs striking out on their own in this economy, the number of small local businesses has grown dramatically over the last few years. The one-to-one service possible in a local environment is what endears these startups to current and potential customers. Getting a broader reach than the local zip code, with the same personal touch is what customer relationship management or CRM for small business is all about.

The biggest advantage of subscribing to small business customer relationship management software online, is keeping in constant contact with your customers and potential customers. In small business, the key to growth is a strong relationship with current customers, because it is much more affordable to get repeat orders than grow the volume of orders from new customers. Using the right software solution can increase your productivity enough to contact customers more often, more personally and more consistently. At the same time you need to have tools within the software that let you gather new leads from online forms and turn those leads into customers.

Traditional CRM software is designed for large corporations who can throw many people at customer satisfaction, with specialized departments these solutions work fine. For a small business the software solution should be specialized for getting the maximum contact with the minimum number of employees. The small monthly subscription prices associated with online customer relationship software is an affordable price compared to the return on investment a small business will receive, expanding the frequency and quality of customer interaction with fewer resources.

There is no question that the biggest challenge for small business is achieving growth with limited funds and man power. The most common situation is that each employee wears many hats, doubling up on sales, marketing, support and operations in combinations that rarely occur in large organizations. The goal of a customer relationship software program designed for small business is to empower that structure with tools that make each person more productive. Most people in a small business are too busy to think about adding something new like customer relationship management to the daily process. The reality of those companies who make the change to an online crm product designed for small business is that they will save time and money compared to using tools like Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Outlook to perform the same work.

Switching to a small business CRM system structured around an affordable customer database will eliminate a lot of the sales and support fire drills that eat up time every day. A web based contact management software with email marketing, twitter integration, help desk support, and more will help make the activities that eat up small business time speed up or become completely automated. Having a robust database of information about customers and potential customers can become a major contributing factor in the success or failure of a small business. In fact subscribing to an on-line CRM solution for small business may give you a huge edge over your competition.

A "cloud-based" or "on-line" contact management system that gives you and your co-workers all the information they need about each sales contact, customer or opportunity from anywhere they need to get to the information. This means that they can know anything they need to know about a customer from their desktop, laptop, smart phone or even public computer if they need to find the information out. Knowing purchase history, pending issues, opportunities at a glance will increase your customer loyalty and let you take advantage of opportunities in a timely manor.

Choosing a subscription based on-line software will lower your costs to something you can manage easily within any company budget. Many subscriptions offer free trial periods and lower monthly rates than the typical newspaper subscription. If the solution doesn't work for you or you find it's not a good return on your investment it's easy to stop the subscription and try something else.

Success in small business in today's economy means that you need to take advantage of any resource you can to get more sales from existing customers, get new customers and grow your business. Adding a CRM software for small business can replace the chaos of using multiple computer products, card catalogs and spreadsheet printouts into a customer growth machine that gives brings you more loyal and happier customers.