CRM vs Manual Solutions: Do you need to use a CRM?

A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system helps you track your customers, and your interactions with them.  The question each business needs to ask itself is “do I really need one?”

CRM vs Manual Solutions: Do you need to use a CRM? Sharyn Munro Virtual Assistance

The right CRM for your business will be a great help and will raise the level of customer service and personalisation you offer. It can also let you track leads, prospects and other aspects of your sales and marketing processes. However, the wrong CRM will slow down all processes, make customer service difficult and be a drain on both your time and money. So it’s important to find the right one.

If you’re at the point where you’re considering a CRM but aren’t sure if it’s what you need, here are some of the things to consider:

CRM vs Manual Solutions Pros & Cons

CRM vs Manual Solutions Pros & Cons - Sharyn Munro Virtual Assistance

CRM vs Manual Solutions Specific Considerations

Tracking

If you’re a larger company with several staff members and multiple points of contact for your customers, you may need to be able to track conversations, sales and any other interactions you have with customers. If you’re a soloist or smaller company where each person deals with their customers, you’ve probably got your own solution already. Whether that’s just your memory, communications via your email program, or something like Journal in Office – if that works for you, then why make changes.  If it doesn’t work, then you need to look at finding a CRM.

Reporting

Most CRMs allow you to create several different types of report; however it’s worth considering what reporting you actually need. A program like Excel will allow you to create many reports, charts, pivot tables and grab other data from your spreadsheets. 

Workflow

You already have a workflow, so consider how will it’s working for you. Do you spend hours chasing down information, entering data in multiple places and looking for misplaced emails or documents? If so, you need to look critically at your workflow and see if it’s a problem with your tools or your organisational skills. Unfortunately no CRM, no matter how good, will be able to suddenly make you organised.  You may find though that a CRM helps you to become more organised. Alternatively, you may find that if you take the time to organise as you do, that manual systems work fine.

Cost

Unless you’re a soloist with very few needs, a CRM is going to cost something. There are many that have fairly small costs and there are some that are extremely expensive. You really need to make sure you get something that has all the modules that you need, but doesn’t make you pay for things you don’t.  My advice is to find a couple of CRMs that you like the look of, take advantage of any free trials that are available and decide then.  If you’re still worried about costs when you’re down to one or two that you really like – talk to their sales team and see what’s available.

Lastly, while it’s really important to choose your CRM wisely as it can be a huge inconvenience to change CRMs, it’s certainly not impossible. So if you need a CRM, don’t put it off because you’re afraid of making a mistake.

CRM vs Manual Solutions Potential Functions

Some of the features to look for in a CRM are:

  • Customer account setup works for your customers
  • Invoicing
  • Social Media integration
  • Sales funnel tracking
  • Website integration
  • Client email integration
  • Bulk email (newsletters, sales messages)
  • Branding and customisation

When you’re considering these functions, think about what’s actually important for your business. If you don’t need it now, then it’s not a bargain if it’s included. Also, you’ll probably find that most of CRMs will have plenty of integrations available for programs like Xero (for invoicing) or MailChimp/Aweber (for bulk email). So it’s important to remember that having a program which includes invoicing is not as useful as a program that integrates with Xero (or your existing accounting package).

CRM vs Manual Solutions Programs

Here are just a few of the CRMS available:

  1. Capsule
  2. Highrise
  3. Salesforce
  4. SugarCRM
  5. Zoho

I’d suggest that if you’re looking for a CRM, try searching “CRM for {your industry}. i.e.: “CRM for builders” or “CRM for restaurants”.  It’s also worth asking others in your industry to see what they use and what they like or don’t like about it.

Some of the Manual Solutions available include:

The basics

Microsoft Office

Use Excel for financial management, reporting, storing customer contact details. Word for letters, invoices and any other documents you need to produce. Outlook for emails and contact management and One Note for notes and project management.

Google Apps

Pretty similar to the above, use Sheets for invoicing, storing contact details and reporting – although the reporting capabilities are a little less than Excel straight out of the box you can get addons for greater functionality. Documents can be used for invoices, letters etc. Gmail and contacts for storing contact details and Keep for storing notes.

Specialised Functions

Invoicing:

Mailouts:

Social Media:

So, as you can see, there’s plenty of choice when it comes to CRMs and what works best for me will probably not work best for you. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of a free trial of anything and if you do – contact the help desk if you have any questions about the product. It’s far too easy to write something off because it doesn’t perform a function you need when it’s just that you haven’t figured out how to do it.  Most importantly, before you make a final decision, make sure you’re clear on what you want it to do.