Cost Benefits of CRM Solutions
What are the cost benefits of utilizing one of the availa
ble software programs for small business crm in an economy where your bottom line is being hammered by the day’s events on Wall Street and Main Street alike?
What are the keys to finding a cost-effective crm solution for your business. Will a customized web based crm program send more customers your way and boost sales?
The answer, say the experts, is a resounding “YES.” But there’s a catch.
So what exactly is crm? In general, it’s the process a company uses to monitor and organize its contacts and all current and prospective customers, and its general purpose is to help you improve your service goals by streamlining the way you interact with a customer, invoice them for services you’ve provided, and sort out their future needs.
CRM software works by collecting demographic and behavioral data about your current and prospective customers and using the data to create sales opportunities for you and your employees.
Arthur Middleton Hughes from the Database Marketing Institute suggests that for CRM to pay for itself, a company must already be profitable and expect changes in revenue as a direct result of crm applications, to come in slowly developed increments, not all at once.
Here’s what he suggests you do if you are considering purchasing a crm software program but perhaps don’t have the money to spend on it, which can be upwards of $2 million for the software.
• Consider the possibility of building a data mart, instead of a warehouse. Data marts can be built for $1 to $2 million, and can be maintained for a half million per year.
• Communicating with customers is always a good idea, and almost always profitable, but attempt to do so using the communications equipment and software you have available before you think about expanding.
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November 4th, 2010 at 5:32 am
Successful CRM encompasses many different areas of your business, starting with sales and spreading out to all other customer-facing areas, like marketing and customer service.
May 17th, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Another point… if available, you should look into paying for one specialized piece of software that handles CRM as well as other parts of your business, thus cutting costs further. I know there won’t be such a solution available for every industry, but http://www.acculynx.com is a good example of something that does CRM in addition to tasks more focused at a specific industry (in that case roofing). I think there are sites that list other such applications.