How SMEs can plan Growth Strategy with Power of CRM

By Limesh Parekh  the CEO of Enjay IT Solutions Ltd

In today's world Automation and growth are like synonyms. But when it comes to SMEs when they talk about Automation it's generally accounting package at the most it can be a basic ERP package which will manage their Inventory and Finance.

However the most important thing for growth for any Business is Sales. Unfortunately Sales and Marketing is the most ignored part. Maybe because it is most unstructured part of the organisation. Also, maybe because it is driven by the owners directly. But as they say Sales is solution for every problem, SMEs cannot plan their Growth without managing Sales.

Limesh Parekh the CEO of Enjay IT Solutions Ltd

However good news is that now more and more SMEs are looking forward to implementing a good CRM system and manage their Sales Process. Actually CRM is not just a basic Lead management system but is much more than that. If implemented properly CRM can be a major growth factor.

Technology as a Great Leveller

The tools which were previously available only to large Enterprises only, are now available to smaller companies also. Also the introduction of SAAS (Software as a Service) has played a great role in making new technologies available to SMEs. CRM is one of them.

Without SAAS and subscription pricing model, expensive technologies like CRM would never have been available at such a low cost to SMEs.

Why CRM should be forefront in Growth Strategy.

Centralised Customers Contacts

Most of the times, SMEs don't have a centralised Customer database with all relevant contact details. If you ask them details of customer they will refer to Tally or Owner’s Diary or Mobile Phone.

Cross Selling and Upselling can help to increase sales. A good CRM can provide Customer History and proper classifications which helps in proper Customer Targeting.

Recording all activities with all the customers.

When there are more than one person interacting with Customers (for Sales or service), huge amount of time is spent in coordinating between the teams. How many times you have seen every email being marked CC to 10-20 which is just filling their inboxes.

However CRM can provide a Centralised record of all the Activities done by all the team members with all the Customers. A Good CRM can log activities like Emails, Meeting, Visits, Tasks, Calls and even SMS.

Just imagine you are visiting a customer, but before that you are able to see entire history of all the interactions of that customer with your entire team and best part is that you don't have to call multiple people for that.

Managing Sales Lifecycle.

It is said that Customers like to Buy, they don't like to be Sold. Which other words means that every customer has a buying cycle. Also for B2B Sales the Sales cycle is very important, because generally it is long.

A CRM helps you to manage what is popularly known as Customer Journey Mapping. Where you align your Sales Activities in tandem with Customer's buying Journey.

CRM can be a great force multiplier for a Sales Manager, Since CRM reports various customers at their different buying stages - Sales Manager can intervene at proper times. Also, this is a great help for training and coaching Sales Team.

Managing After Sales Service.

Sales success largely depends on Customer Success. Customer Success depends on providing effective after Sales Service. CRM can be of great help in managing Customer services with Ticketing Systems.

Most modern CRM systems also have telephony, Email and SMS integration.  This helps in providing multi channel Support to customers.

Production (and finance) Planning through Sales Forecast.

Sales forecast helps in predicting the performance of a company, either short-term or long-term. Studying the sales trends gives a base for production planning and financial allocations. Sales forecasting consumes valuable time but is essential.

A well implemented CRM helps to a great extent in sales forecasting. It generates forecasting reports for the company and the only input required is the running of day-to-day business.

These CRM generated reports can be the basis for production planning for the next time frame and the financial requirement or allocation of different departments of the company.

Coordination and Cost efficiency through Automation

Automation helps improved flow of data with colleagues and customers. This timely sharing of data leads to a new level of customer satisfaction and gives the company an edge over its competitors.

In this fast paced world, prompt replies and instant assistance from  product/ service provider is becoming increasingly essential to success.

A CRM is slowly but steadily becoming the key to a growing and successful business.