By Larry Caretsky

CEO, Commence Corporation

CRM software has been around for 20 years, and at this point people are tired of hearing about it. It is often viewed as a commodity; just a tool differentiated primarily by price and a few unique features that may or may not be of value to your business. To some degree this thinking is understandable because there are a myriad of solutions that all make the same silly claims, such as; the CRM that will improve productivity, the CRM that is easy to use, the CRM system that drives more sales or the all in one CRM system that you need for your business. Regardless of the above, I think of CRM software differently and I hope this brief article helps change how you think about CRM Software.

I view CRM software as a company asset for our business that if used properly will significantly enhance customer engagement, foster long term business relationships, and help track and manage new leads and sales. Just using the basic functionality to capture, track, manage and share accounts and contact information would be a significant step up for many start-up companies and small to mid-size businesses. Here is why I say this.

When a customer calls, my CRM system provides me with immediate access to a single customer database that displays who they are, what products or services they may have purchased, when they last purchased, what they paid, who they purchased from, do they have a service contract with our firm, have they had any issues or reported concerns, who has been managing their concerns, are they a satisfied customer, is there potential to sell additional products and services and much more.  I am going to bet that you can appreciate how access to this information via my desktop computer, laptop or mobile device is worth gold to our business.

Most CRM systems also enable the ability to track and manage leads or new prospects and the sales funnel. When a new prospect is uncovered, we immediately contact them to qualify their interest. If they are not ready to move forward, we enter them into the CRM system where we can schedule automated follow-ups to ensure our company, our products and services consistently remain in front of the prospect. This is all automated in the CRM system.

An interactive sales funnel provides us with the ability to manage the sales cycle from introduction to closure. This way we know where each new opportunity is in the sales cycle, so that we can take a proactive approach to assigning whatever resources we need to win the business.

I am just scratching the surface of what you can do with CRM software products. What is exciting is that products like Commence CRM can deliver this value at just $19 per user per month. Where can you acquire an asset that provides this much value to your business at this low cost?  To learn more about how to make CRM software an asset for your business visit the Commence web site at  commence.com or view our blog at https://commence.com/commence-crm-blog/  which houses hundreds of articles and best practices for CRM software.