Many business owners use Outlook emails and Excel spreadsheets as a means of storing customer information. Unfortunately, this fragmented method of storing and accessing customer data is neither comprehensive nor efficient. By relying on two separate software programs, there’s no guarantee that customer information is where it belongs or that it is accurate, which prevents your employees from having all the information they need to provide good service to your clients.

Why Customer Relationship (CRM) Software?

Because CRM software can help you manage all your business relationships with customized modules that accommodate both customer and vendor contact information. You can access contracts, view sales leads, measure marketing efforts, and listen to recorded service calls without opening and closing multiple applications. You can keep track of the number of times you’ve interacted with a client, how often and/or if they’ve ever had a problem, and, with all that information right at your fingertips, you can do it in less time and with less hassle. A CRM platform helps personalize the client-company relationship and can reduce customer management costs by centralizing data and communications.

CRM Myths

There are numerous customer relationship management software systems available today, but many small to medium sized businesses believe one or more of the following things:

• They don’t need special software to keep their customer relationships under control
• The price tag will be prohibitive
• Spending all that money now will leave them no room to expand later

All of these beliefs are incorrect. No business is too small or too large to benefit from excellent customer service, because, as the economy changes, one of the things you’ll need to set yourself apart from your competition is your customer service. And while it is true that the price tag on such systems used to be high, things are changing in that arena as well – no longer are customer relationship management systems just for the “big boys.”

What CRMs Offer Now

The customer relationship management systems of today offer numerous ways to continue to expand into the future: scalability, constantly evolving functionality, and mobile access.

Modern CRM systems are scalable, meaning that they will fit your needs now and will continue to fit your needs in three, four, five, and more years. The scalability allows you to add more users as your workforce grows, and the constantly evolving suite of modules allows you to add new components as you expand, meaning that you won’t have to purchase a whole new system – you can just make your existing system better.

Customer relationship management software now uses mobile solutions where you can access data on the go. Because the information is in real-time, mobile employees are always completely in sync and up to date on their information.

Contact Southeast Computer Solutions to learn more about how a customer relationship management system can help you move your business management practices to another level of efficiency.

About Southeast Computer Solutions

Southeast Computer Solutions is based in Miami, Florida, and has additional operations in Mexico. For over 30 years, we have positively impacted the success of small and mid-sized businesses with effective business management implementations that improve our clients’ operations. We listen, we are accessible, and we care. Learn more by visiting our website or calling 305-556-4697.