Do Small Businesses Need Customer Relationship Management (CRM) ?

Leonie Bruning — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 13:29:00 GMT

Let’s first define what exactly Customer Relationship Management is.
The easiest way is to give an example:
Every time you get in touch with a customer or prospect (still to be customer), you want to register the information regarding that contact. The more you know about your client, the better you can market your product or services in a personal way.
You know exactly what your target customers need and want.

CRM is a combination of strategies, methods and best-practices to gather this information and organize it in an accessible way.

In former days, it was hard to do, because you had to write it all down and use a rolodex for the contact information, cardboard files to store orders and bills and there were many different places you could archive data.

You can imagine how hard it was to retrieve specific information about a client or even worse, make a list of all prospects of the last 3 years that you sent a brochure.
Nowadays this is much easier to do, thanks to the software we can use.

All information is linked to the customer and with a few mouse clicks you can compose any list you want. We are talking about CRM software.

Coming back to the question “Do Small Businesses Need Customer Relationship Management (CRM) ?”, the answer is definitively “Yes”.

Because now more than ever, we must compete with the Big Companies. One of the strengths Small Businesses have compared to the bigger companies is the personal relationship we can (and have to) build with our customers.
A good CRM system is essential to be able to accomplish that in an efficient way. This does not mean that you have to buy one of those expensive CRM software packages.

Most Small Businesses already have the software they need, without being aware of it.
I’m talking about Microsoft Outlook. This tool has so many hidden features. But most of us only use it for email or the calendar. If you discover it’s many flexible possibilities, you will realize how easy it is to stay completely up-to-date on your prospects and clients.

If you want to find out more about how you can use Microsoft Outlook as a CRM-tool, go to Be-InControl
There you can download a free sample of the eBook: “Best-Kept Secrets To Organize Your Business With Microsoft Outlook”
Let me know what you think about it!

Introduction

Leonie Bruning — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 19:42:00 GMT

Hi everybody,

My name is Leonie Bruning and I would like to introduce myself and tell you what you can expect when you visit this blog.
Since the early seventies, I am a trainer/consultant in the IT sector.
I started working for big companies in the Netherlands, like Philips, Organon and Cap Gemini until 1983.

That was the time the Personal Computer was introduced in Europe.
Until then, IT was just something for the multinationals and far too expensive for smaller companies.
But all of a sudden it became within reach of Small Businesses too.

I started to teach from WordStar and CalcStar though WordPerfect and dBase to Microsoft Office 2003.

Can you imagine what it was like in those days? When you compare the possibilities of a little more than 20 years ago to what can be done today, you might think that 2 centuries in stead of 2 decades have gone by.

What didn't change was the need of individuals to take maximum advantage of the tools that are available.
And that’s where my passion is: helping (Small) Business owners to improve their business by using the tools they have in a most effective way.

With this blog I want to contribute to that goal. On a regular basis you will find articles, written by me and different authors, that cover many topics related to Small Businesses. I hope you will take an active part in discussions by posting your comments.
If you want to contact me personally, just send an e-mail to: leonie.bruning@bge-training.com

Biz Tools Blog

Do Small Businesses Need Customer Relationship Management (CRM) ?

Introduction