In our earlier article, we spoke about what a Sales CRM is, how it works, what its benefits are and we also explored a few sales CRM tools available in the market.
It is well established that while every business today needs a CRM tool to propel its growth; small businesses, in particular, can benefit immensely from the use of a sales CRM software.
Sales CRM Benefits That Small Business Owners Should Consider
In looking at its most basic benefits, you’ll see that a sales CRM software for small businesses not only save time but can also exponentially increase your sales and return on marketing investment.
Both of which, we might stress, are leading goals for any small business.
Here are the many outcomes and benefits that small businesses can derive from a Sales CRM software:
It doesn’t matter whether you want to expand your portfolio by adding new products or services, or you want to expand your business to new geographies, or just streamline your sales process for better productivity – a sales CRM software can help you scale with ease.
Full Stack Feature Set Out-of-the-Box
Small business owners, often, convince themselves, “I have access to prime enterprise technology like spreadsheets, email, and such. I don’t need to change my technology ecosystem when my current stack works fine.”
Your business might be achieving all defined goals using this technology stack and adopting a sales CRM will only murky the water.
What we often miss is that such a varied technology stack consumes a lot of time, binding salespersons to admin tasks more than tasks that affect the bottom line, i.e., sales.
A full-stack feature-set on the other hand brings all data together to one unified system, freeing time for the sales team to focus on sales.
The case with Kylas – Kylas offers a full-stack feature-set out-of-box (and more).
Key Sales CRM features include-
- Lead Management System
- Deals, Contacts & Companies Management
- Data Analytics
- Sales Pipeline Management
- Collaborative Tools
- Customer Reports and Insights
- Data Management & Security
- Cross-platform & Device Usability
Features unique to Kylas – In the coming months, we will release these additional features, included in an uncomplicated plan of just $99/month.
- In-App Sales Motivational Ecosystem
- Collaboration Module
- AI Engine
Customization & Technical Assistance
Organizations, often, have to rely on the CRM vendor for customizations or they need to hire consultants to implement the same.
Both options cost extra and take significant time for implementation and process audits Small & Growing Businesses cannot afford to invest as much time and resources to implement a bulky ‘customized’ CRM which may not be the best fit for their needs.
Customizability can be broken down into three aspects.
Data Fields & User Control – User control is where the account owner or system administrator can control access based on user role, allowing access to critical information like customer data, and sales data analytics only to a limited few.
Data fields and entities are where the sales pipeline is managed based on existing workflows and terminologies used to suit the business and the industry.
Software Integration is where the sales CRM is integrated with technology from a third-party.
These are software tools that you might already be using and which need to be integrated with your sales CRM software for seamless functioning-
- Email integration (Gmail, MS Outlook)
- Communication (Chat – WhatsApp, SLACK, & Video – Google Meet, Zoom)
- Accounting (Intuit, Xero)
Workflows & Automation of certain processes reduces time spent on admin tasks, improves data collation like auto-lead capture, auto-segregation by source, and one-click conversion of leads to contacts, deals, and companies.
Instead, look for a sales CRM that offers customization with a full-stack feature-set. Other than saving on additional cost and time, customizability along with a full-stack feature-set helps:
- Provide a more effective solution to your sales team, suited to your business’s process
- Improve data accuracy and sales productivity
- Use software that your sales team is used to. Ex: Google Maps
- Prevent sunk costs w.r.t third-party investments
- Get information and data analysis from third-party systems in one place
Small business owners face unique challenges that limit their ability to make the same choices that any enterprise can.
There are various CRM options available in the market today; some catering to enterprise businesses and some to growing businesses.
Sales CRM designed for Small Businesses keep in mind their unique needs and constraints and offer simple, easy to use, effective CRMs which deliver the bang-per-buck!
Before investing in a Sales CRM Software, do have a careful look at the various factors at play and what will best suit your requirements.
The case with Kylas – Unlike other CRMs, Kylas Sales CRM software does not need consultants to customize data fields and user control, making the platform easy-to-use and sustainable. Here’s a testimonial from Shibani Thakur, Owner, waterapp.in.
The platform ensures that all businesses get support in terms of software integration and workflow automation.
In the coming months, we will release workflow automation as well as integration options, like Gmail integration, WhatsApp Business integration, and much more.
Our in-house technical team is here to help provide you with a full-stack feature-set to help you scale with ease.
Affordability & User Limitations
Most sales CRM software offer confusing pricing plans with multiple variations and support options for each.
Investing in a CRM is not a small decision as it will be a recurring cost for any business.
What small businesses need is a sales CRM software that can accommodate their unique needs along their growth journey. Most CRM tools come with a per user cost; so, as the team size increases, growing businesses, have to shell out increasing amounts towards the license cost.
As a result of which, small business owners decide to restrict the number of users/licenses and only a few members in the organization can access the tool.
This results in a lack of collaboration as most team members don’t have access to the data and conversations happening on the tool.
The case with Kylas – Kylas Sales CRM costs $99/month. Say you have 20 users on the platform, that comes to $4.95/month per user or just $59.4/year per user.
Unlike other CRMs, Kylas doesn’t place restrictions on user limits, so no matter how many users you bring to the platform, you end up paying the same.
Moreover, from a cost perspective, the more users you bring to Kylas, the CRM price per user becomes much more affordable.
Small Businesses Need More Than Just a Sales CRM
While all these features, customizability, and affordability are great, small businesses need a little bit more in terms of support to compete with the biggest and the best.
Small businesses need more than just a sales CRM software to scale and thrive in a highly competitive market.
The Typical Case of Priority
Small business owners find their businesses at the back of the queue as CRM vendors give priority to large-ticket accounts when in need of support.
While this might make business sense for the CRM vendor, it does not augur well for small businesses.
In fact, small businesses need to be given higher priority in terms of technical and business assistance. ‘Time is money’ for small businesses and they don’t have either to waste.
What small businesses need is a level playing field in terms of-
- Quick deployment time
- On-demand technical expertise
- On-demand product training
- On-demand resolution of technical issues (if any)
- On-demand business expertise
When growing businesses get the support that they need; this is the result!
Better customer engagement, better sales productivity, and faster business growth.
The case with Kylas – As Kylas offers only 1 premium plan. Which means that there are zero chances of choosing one customer over another.
What this means is no matter the company size or industry, a level-playing field is provided to all small and growing businesses.
Business Expertise
Small business challenges come in many shapes and sizes. And the lack of access, or affordability, to business consultants is one of the biggest factors in helping small businesses plan better.
Experienced business consultants can help with strategic as well as tactical planning to help reach business goals coherently, based on your unique requirements, your industry as well as product/service.
Access to business expertise helps with-
- Bringing in industry knowledge
- Defining and strategizing viable approaches to reach business goals
- Building a culture of growth mindset
- Setting up proper feedback workflows to discover, order and analyze information from customers, the sales team, and external stakeholders
The case with Kylas – Small businesses cannot afford to hire business consultants. Kylas growth engine offers business expertise from our in-house experts.
They also provide industry best practices, help you understand Kylas Growth Engine, provide a customized walkthrough and product training; leading to higher adoption and usage rates.
Product Implementation & Adoption
A little-known fact but the biggest factor in improving chances of business success, product implementation, and adoption can make or break a business.
As Scott Edinger sets the context in this Harvard Business Review article, “…when I ask executives if the CRM system is helping their business to grow, the failure rate is closer to 90%.”
This topic, however, is quite broad and will require us to address the challenge in detail. Click here to hop over to the article.
At this stage, you want to know if your business is ready for a sales CRM software.
Take a look at the list of questions below. If you answer ‘yes’ to 3 or more questions, your business definitely needs a CRM.
- Am I using too many software tools to run my business? Is it creating confusion for my sales team?
- Does my sales team have the right mix of technology, support, and expertise to deliver at scale?
- Do I and my sales team have full visibility into my sales operations?
- Is my current sales CRM investment(s) proving its worth?
- Using my current CRM investment(s), can my sales team track sales metrics in real-time to know where they are excelling and where they need to increase efforts?
- Does my sales team have a complete and integrated view of all my customers? Do they know who the most valuable customers are?
- Does my sales CRM software allow me to segment my contacts efficiently? Segments like Leads, Opportunities, Customers, Referrals, and Companies?
To conclude, sales CRM software can transform your sales process into something much simpler and manageable.
You need an easy-to-use sales CRM software aimed at satisfying your business needs without asking you to break the bank.
So, what next? You need a sales CRM for your business but don’t know how to go about it?
To know more, check out our blog on ‘How to Select the Right CRM for Your Business.’
