Small businesses face a paradox. On one hand, the goal of every business is to grow. On the other, modern businesses want to offer the feeling of more personalization for their prospects and customers. The larger a business grows, the harder it is to scale personalization.

Lucky for you, the answer to this age old question is actually quite simple: a small business CRM. With the help of a CRM, you can achieve both goals. You can boost sales and leave your customers secure in the knowledge that you care about their individual needs and concerns. Here are a few ways a small business CRM can help you grow while also staying connected to your customers.

Pick Up Your Customers’ Signals

Perhaps the most basic reason that sales opportunities are lost is that the salesperson doesn’t pick up on the buyer’s signals. Compounding this problem, many sales teams have limited data about their prospects and customers. The signals they do receive are usually limited to short interactions via phone or email.

Using CRM software for small businesses provides amazing insights into customer behavior and gives you numerous signals you couldn’t detect before. Being able to see who has accessed pages on your website, who has clicked on links within emails you’ve sent, and exactly where in the sales funnel every single person is will lead to a powerful increase in sales. Having all of this data means that you can now tailor and deliver specific content for specific customers based on your knowledge of their behavior–providing them with an intuitive and organic level of service in which they truly feel like individuals.

See your business in “3D”

To achieve personalization at scale, your business must utilize what The Harvard Business Review calls the “Three D’s.” These stand for data discovery, decision-making, and distribution of content.

    • Data discovery refers to gathering behavioral data to gain personal insights about your customers.
    • Decision-making refers to software that is able to gauge customer responses and adjust the kinds of emails and offers they receive.
    • Distribution of content refers to ensuring specific customers end up on specific landing pages, receive tailored offers, and essentially providing a customized experience across your various channels.

The bottom line? Small business CRM can help you tap into the “Three D’s” to tailor deliver more personalized offers and a more refined customer experience. Ultimately, the bigger your business gets, the more important it is to have CRM in place to achieve business and customer relationships that are meaningful and personal.

 

small business crm
CRM lets you gather data, segment, and communicate with customers -making them feel like you’re personally speaking to them and their needs.

Client data and segmentation

Without CRM software in place, small businesses default to a “one size fits all” model. And even if segmentation does occur, it often begins by targeting at a high level (for example, creating a customers list vs prospect list.)

Some businesses rely on firmographic characteristics  such as segmenting by industry. But this approach is primarily useful only if there is little variety among your customers businesses. The risk here is losing out on the personal touch you want to have with each and every person.

The truth is that each customer and prospect has different needs and wants and is in various stages of the buying process. To truly stay personal and accelerate the growth you need to thrive, you need to leverage your customer relationship management system.

A small business CRM gives you the right data to hyper-segment your customers by behavioral info such as status, tags, and online activities.  That means you can treat each group according to their needs and interests. This helps with customer service, problem-solving, sales…the list goes on. Best of all, though, it feels more personal to customers because, compared to a one size fits all approach, it is more human.

The feeling of personalization in service and sales is an undeniably important part of 21st-century sales and marketing. By leveraging a CRM, your small business can accelerate sales and still keep that friendly, personal touch.