How to scale up your business with a CRM

We’ve all heard the saying ‘Customer Relationship Managers’ or ‘CRMs’ are only as good as the data put into them.

A small business scaling up typically does not have the time or desire to take on a new system. Of those that make the jump to systems like HubSpot, 72% usually give up because they are too complicated and too expensive, costing them, on average, £7,000 each month in lost sales and missed opportunities.

So, to me, it’s about keeping a CRM simple so that you can focus on what you do best, not making a system fit around you and your business. Here are my top six tips on how CRM can help a small business scale up.

Tip 1 – Keep it simple

There are loads of CRMs out there, and choosing the right one to suit your organisation is critical. To do this, write a list of all the features you want in it, then separate them into two lists – ‘Need’ and ‘Want’. Base your decision on the ‘Needs’; that way, it won’t become overloaded with features and complexity that prevent you and your team from using it.

Tip 2 – Everything in one place

Bring all your prospecting together in one place so you see the bigger picture. That means every single opportunity you get; whether that is a conversation in the pub, a discussion on social media or an enquiry on your website, you should always put them into your CRM, along with simple notes and reminders to follow them up at the appropriate time.

Tip 3 – See the bigger picture

Add all your prospects to a visual pipeline that matches your sales process. That way, you or anyone on your team can see exactly where all your prospects are at a glance and why they are there. When creating your pipeline, keep it simple and ensure that it matches the practical steps in your sales process – this should include columns for when you need to do tasks or stages when you are waiting on the prospect. Doing this will ensure you never miss a sale or forget to follow up on an opportunity.

Tip 4 – Nurture

Not every prospect you speak to will be ready to buy from you now. We all know that stuff happens, and prospects can move forward and backwards in your sales process. Join up your CRM with marketing tools like Automation, Email Marketing and Website Tracking. Then, from your perspective, you can easily see a bigger prospecting picture by joining up online behaviours and your team’s notes in one place. From your prospect’s perspective, you can target them with specific messages to nurture and educate them on what you can offer and your brand’s values; that way, when they are ready to buy, they will be prepared to engage with you faster.

Tip 5 – Convert faster

Now that you can see all your prospects in one place, you and your team will always know exactly what is happening with each person, where they are in your prospecting cycle, and when they need to be contacted. More importantly, if they start engaging with your marketing, they will be flagged up as a Hot Prospect so that you can convert them into customers faster.

Tip 6 – Don’t forget your customers

Often, a small business will put all its effort into winning new business and forget the opportunities that lie with existing customers. Try setting up an email marketing campaign to nurture them post-sale and ensure they initially get all the support from you and truly value the product/ service you provided. Then educate them to ensure they understand every service you offer – it is 60% easier to sell to an existing customer than a new one.

Bonus tip – Integrate

Integration of your CRM with your accountancy software makes it easy to manage business finances on the go, so transactions are recorded as they occur, and financial reports can be accessed anytime. That way, your accounts payment process can prevent invoices from getting lost or sent to the wrong person, speed up proposal sending, improve prospect response times, and improve cash flow. Having previous customers’ profiles and contact information makes communicating with them easier, which helps to sell more products and services. Simplifying the process means satisfied customers are more likely to become repeat buyers. Keeping sales teams organised by sharing financial information without an overloaded number of different CRM systems in place and giving them access to past transactions allows team members to review what pricing has been discussed or agreed upon earlier and respond quickly to customer queries.

If you choose and use your CRM based upon my six (and a bit) tips, you will develop a simple CRM that works for you and your team, increase your sales conversion rates, save loads of time and, more importantly – everyone will love using it.

Simon Washbrook

Popcorn Lead Management

Simon Washbrook is the founder of Popcorn and the official CRM partner of choice for FreeAgent accountancy software. Popcorn CRM is a lead management platform created specifically for small businesses. It offers everything needed to manage, nurture, and convert more sales without overcomplicating workflow. CRM, reminders, sales pipelines, email marketing, lead generation, landing pages, call tracking, and automation are monitored all in one spot—easily connected and ready to go. No bells, no whistles – Popcorn gives clients the essential tools a small business needs to track, manage and convert more prospects, faster – so sales simply take off!

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