Why Is CRM Important?

Why is CRM important?  Because there is no greater feeling in the world to a customer then being understood.  The best CRM software solutions are more than just a customer’s name and telephone number.  They are a roadmap of your customer that will lead your business to success for years to come.  A CRM software will track a customer’s personality, preferences, how they like to be talked to, how they view value, and so much more.  It is exactly what will take your business from being a one-man show, to a real company.  Here is why:

CRM is Important for a Competitive Advantage

The truth is, your small business success is driven by these relationships with your customers and partners. I take that back…it’s more than driven by it.  It’s probably what keeps your business alive.  Most small businesses don’t have the competitive advantage larger corporations do.  Corporations can gain a competitive advantage through price reduction, and a large market reach; not to mention those million dollar ads on the TV every commercial break.

So why do customers buy from people like you and me, the small business owner, the little guy?  Personal attention is why.  We know our customers by name.  We care about our customers.  In other words, small businesses have mastered customer relationship management.  So why is CRM important if us small business owners have already mastered customer relationships?

Well, consider what happens as your first employee comes in, and you’ll see the benefits of CRM software as I did:

CRM Is Important Before You Hire Employees

What us business owners often tend to forget, this information is not in a new employee’s head.  This is often a breaking point for most businesses.  If you can’t get past this hurdle, you may either fail, or just not grow past yourself.

The moment you even start thinking about hiring an employee, information in your head starts to separate itself from your company.  It’s only natural.  Employees don’t have the history with clients you do, and so…the customer relationship management part of it, isn’t as important.  They often come into your business not understanding which customer is priority over the other.  The assistant starts picking up the phone when one of your best clients call, and she says “I’m sorry, can you please spell your last name”?  Or “who are you again?”

What a CRM software does then, is track all this.  So imagine now, a new employee has your knowledge (yes, all that information in your head about your customers) at their fingertips.  They know your customer by name, they understand their expectations, they understand how to give them value.  This is what keeps customers coming back for more.  This is why CRM is important.

But CRM Is More Important for Customers

Let’s pretend you’re visiting a barber for a second.  And you are the customer:  A barber takes about 2-3 haircuts to really understand someone’s hair.  After that, they understand how to cut our hair…so we continue to hire them.  As more time passes, this barber now knows our hair so well, no other barber could ever compete with them.

Now, imagine what happens to you, as the customer, the day that barber decides to grow his business?  He hires more barbers, naturally, because employees have an ROI.  Do the other barbers know how to cut hair?  Of course, but they don’t know YOUR hair.  Will you take the time to let the others adjust to cutting your hair?  Probably not.  You would probably be mad and demand the original business owner (barber) do it.

Without new employees having this knowledge, customers continue to demand the business owner’s personal attention.  Even though he has invested in employees.  This is where failure often looms.

But…what if the new employees did do it right?  What if that transition was flawless?  Would you suspect that good CRM was behind that?  That the business owner saw why CRM is important to you as a customer?  Probably not.  You would just be happy no one messed up your hair.  Yet, the business owner (the barber) in this case successfully made a transition from a one-man show to a company.  More importantly, he did it without loosing customers.

He figured out… why CRM is important.