The importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is something you already know as a small business owner. If trying to manage your business with spreadsheets is overwhelming, a CRM will likely sound like a lifesaver for you.
Let’s say you’ve decided your business needs a CRM (or your existing CRM needs an upgrade). How do you set it up correctly?
You’ll also want to think about how you’ll use your CRM on a day-to-day basis. Bells and whistles are great, but if you’re not using all the features in your CRM, what are you really paying for?
If you’re wondering how to best implement and use your CRM, here are 5 common CRM mistakes to avoid and what to do instead.
Mistake 1: Not defining your goals before using CRM
The most important thing you need to know to successfully set up your CRM is what business needs it fulfills. How you implement CRM should depend on your goals, not the other way around.
Determine what short-term and long-term goals you want to achieve. Keep these in mind when building your CRM. Maybe you want to work on organizing your contact list first. Then you can start working on sending marketing campaigns from your CRM.
To successfully use CRM for your small business, you need to implement it wisely. And that means making sure your CRM implementation aligns with your business goals. Failure to do so is a major dog of common CRM mistakes. Why? Because a bad app can lead to a bad user experience for your entire team.
Mistake 2: Not engaging your employees
If you’re using a CRM on your own, you’re free to set it up and use it however you want. But if you hire employees, it’s a good idea to make them part of the implementation process.
Ask yourself these questions:
– Will your employees use CRM in any way?
– How many employees need access to it?
– How much freedom will they have to access its features?
Answering these questions gives you a better idea of how to best use your CRM. It should support as many users as you want to access it, while restricting access as needed.
Another thing to consider is how to get your employees up to speed on CRM. Make sure you offer staff training before using them. If possible, obtain training materials directly from the CRM software company.
Once you’ve implemented your CRM and trained your team, create best practices so they can use them effectively and avoid unnecessary mistakes.
Have you ever had to clean out your contact list? Maybe you found duplicate or incomplete customer records. These create confusion in CRM. When your staff knows how to enter customer information correctly, it reduces clutter.
Maintain a good standard for employees to follow when using CRM software. Be available to answer questions as needed and provide periodic refresher training, especially when new employees join the team.
Mistake 3: Don’t free your CRM from dirty data
Part of the responsibility of having a CRM is keeping it clean. Remember, it’s only as good as the quality of the information it contains. CRM should also help facilitate the cleaning process.
To keep your CRM spotless:
– Can your CRM automatically delete or merge duplicate contacts? Use this feature.
– Can you edit fields on customer intake forms? Delete unnecessary fields to speed up data entry.
– Can you customize CRM report templates to see only relevant data? Do this.
The more you customize and automate your CRM, the easier it is to avoid turning it into a “data dump.”
Pro Tip: You may not always be able to prevent bad data from entering your CRM, so it’s wise to schedule regular cleanups – twice a year is a solid benchmark.
Mistake 4: Not Making the Most of Your CRM’s Reporting Features
Let’s talk about CRM reports. They are invaluable to any business owner who wants to understand how a business works.
Unfortunately, not all business owners use CRM reporting. In fact, only 20% of small business owners use analytics and reporting on a weekly basis – yikes!
If you use the reporting features, give yourself a pat on the back! A good CRM is more than just a contact manager. Reporting is what makes it powerful, especially for small businesses. As your business grows, you need to make informed decisions, and reporting helps a lot.
Regardless of your industry, there are three key reports your CRM should deliver on a regular basis:
1. Sales and income reports — Know how much money your business is making.
2. Customer reports — To manage your contacts and understand the relationship.
3. Campaign analytics reports — To see how email, text or social media campaigns are performing.
If you don’t know what reporting your CRM offers, dig deeper. Contact your CRM vendor’s customer support to retrieve reports and analyze them.
Mistake 5: Not thinking about the future
Ask any small business owner and they’ll tell you they want more control over their business. CRM helps simplify daily operations and save time.
But how flexible is your CRM? Will it grow with your business or become a hindrance? Your CRM should grow with you.
Ask yourself:
– Are you planning to expand to multiple locations?
– Will you increase your staff?
– Will your customer base increase?
– Does your current CRM have limitations that could hinder growth?
If your business outgrows CRM, don’t struggle to adapt. A CRM should make running your business easy – not difficult.
