Successful businesses are great at two things: excelling at customer service to drive repeat business and generating new sales. But for many businesses, it can be tough to find ways to bring in new customers while continuing to provide individualized and in-depth customer service.

So what’s the solution?

A small business CRM can ensure that sales and customer service coexist in perfect harmony.

The Zen of CRM

One of the reasons that small businesses may be hesitant to invest in customer management software is the idea that it may make things overly complex. However, when used correctly, part of the brilliance of good CRM is that it actually makes things much simpler.

CRM can be customized to collect and analyze only the information you see fit, all while allowing those in sales and marketing access to what they need as soon as they need it.

Imagine if instead of waiting for sales to update a spreadsheet so you can send out your marketing newsletter to all of your latest customers, you had the information right at your fingertips in your CRM.

While those old spreadsheets feel familiar, making the leap to a customer relationship management system can result in a simplified, clean, and efficient workflow – the very opposite of cluttered complexity.

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CRM: The Missing Ingredient in Customer Service

In a world filled with distractions competing for your customers attention, it can be a struggle to stand out from the crowd. Excellent customer service can be the secret ingredient to wowing your customers, keeping your business top-of-mind and generating word-of-mouth buzz that results in sales.

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Customer management software can help you execute the perfect recipe for customer service that stands out. For instance, being able to quickly and easily track customers’ history of interactions with your business can help build customer loyalty by:

  • Delivering the right sales offer at the right time, whether it’s a renewal, upgrade, add-on or compatible solution
  • Speeding up the troubleshooting process for customers with issues.

Ultimately, CRM can help you become a one-stop shop for their specific needs.

CRM As A Sales Resource

Of course, one of the chief benefits of CRM is the ability to boost your company’s performance when it comes to sales and marketing.

With a well-oiled CRM, both sales and marketing have access to clean, accurate data about customers and prospects. Marketing can identify and nurture qualified leads and deliver them to sales – speeding up the whole sales process.  At the same time, sales can reduce time-consuming follow-up and manual task management.  

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Instead of tracking sticky notes and spreadsheets, your sales team can easily identify the hottest leads and work on deals that matter.

It might feel like going all-in on sales and marketing means that you have to make sacrifices in customer service and vice-versa.  But when it comes to CRM, the opposite is true.

Investing in CRM for marketing, sales and customer service enhances the entire customer lifecycle and will continue to pay off for the long haul. For instance, the data you gather over time can give you valuable insights about what your best customers prefer. In turn, you can modify your sales and marketing process to attract more lucrative, loyal fans just like them. Ultimately, you can:

  • Increase user adoption of your solutions
  • Improve the perceived value of your solutions among your customer base
  • Develop field-level insights that make each team member more productive and profitable in their role

When it comes to customer service and sales, you don’t have to sacrifice one for the other. CRM serves as the perfect bridge between the these two integral elements of your business.