How a CRM System Can Help SMEs During a Pandemic

admin

4 min read

Updated: May 11th, 2020

Almost every business is affected by the Covid-19 outbreak today. Some have stopped their operations for the time being and some also continue to thrive. But how could other companies perform their business as usual?

Most of these companies leverage the power of technology. With the right software and tools, businesses can still operate even amid the pandemic. If you are having a hard time keeping your business functional in these trying times, you might want to consider taking hold of these innovations.

One of these powerful creations that rose from technology is the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. It is a system wherein you can incorporate all your business processes into a single, powerful, and efficient platform.

Not only that it aims to provide better customer interaction that will lead to increased customer retention rates, but an all-in-one CRM solution also has sales, marketing, and customer service support tools that will boost your business’ productivity and help you achieve success and growth.

A CRM system is not only beneficial to bigger enterprises but it is also advantageous for small businesses. Especially at a time like this, it could help SMEs operate their business processes all the more.

If you are an SME business owner, here is how a CRM system can help you continue and elevate your business processes despite the pandemic:

1.   Reduce missed opportunities.

Setbacks caused by the pandemic should not be a factor to miss opportunities. You can connect your CRM system to your websites and let you capture potential customers from there.

A CRM system has intelligent workflows that allow you to set business processes and eliminate manual and repetitive tasks through automation. In your workflow, you can connect your web forms and it will automatically capture leads once they fill up those forms.

Once they submit those forms, the data will be automatically captured in the CRM system. At times like this, you cannot afford to lose leads, relevant data, and many more. That is why connecting your CRM system to your website is necessary.

2.   Enhance the capabilities of your teams.

It might be a challenge for employees to stay connected with their co-workers since the government has mandated every company to let employees work from home to stay safe. But with a cloud-based CRM system, this will not be an issue.

Since all data are stored in a single platform and centralized location, it is easier for everyone in your company to access any real-time customer information that is vital for everyone’s business processes. Sales, marketing, and customer service support team can easily work with one another and even boost their capabilities in their respective fields.

A CRM system has sales and marketing tools that will help your marketing and sales team elevate their business processes at their convenience. No matter where they are, even if they are in the comfort of their homes, they can continue to do their job. From contact information up to sales processes, everything can be accessed.

Sales

Since closing deals are critical today due to the pandemic, CRM systems can help you with that through its deals management feature. You will have a better visualization of what stages your deals are through organized pipelines and have an overview of your sales cycle or your deals won and lost.

Marketing

Marketing teams can also continue their processes through marketing campaign management and marketing automation features that will help them fulfill close deals and increase brand awareness to every social media channel. This will also allow your marketing team to measure their progress on their marketing efforts in each target audience.

You can also increase your lead conversion rates through the email marketing tool readily available in the CRM system. You can incorporate it directly into your workflows to automatically send emails for your leads. Bulk emails, scheduler, and email design templates as CRM features are of great help, too.

Customer Support

Because of the AI-powered automation in CRM platforms, customer service can be done quickly. Queries, problems, or customer issues can be routed to the right employee and can be addressed accordingly.

With a CRM system, you can maximize every employee’s capability in your company. By eliminating manual work, they can focus more on sales-driven workloads and give better customer interaction.

3.   Elevate connections with your customers.

One of the advantages you can garner in using a CRM system is its ability to categorize leads, prospects, or customers. Through the categorization of entities, you can send out tailored messages to each consumer segment. This helps you stay connected with your customers and send out a more personalized experience.

You can send bulk emails to each category. For example, if you want to send a certain message via email to your customers who are categorized as “Canadian citizen”, then the CRM system could filter the customer information and automatically send those emails in bulk for that category you have chosen.

4.   Boost productivity through integrations.

A CRM software can integrate external apps to its system to further streamline processes. It does not only lessen the gaps created because of jumping from one window to another, but it also boosts productivity among your workforce.

An example of this is how your iCalendar or Google Calendar can be integrated into the system. You do not have to manually input schedules, activities, or meetings to your CRM system scheduler. By simply integrating it, it will automatically sync those data in your CRM system. 

This way, you can channel your efforts to tasks that are more important and more prioritized.

As an SME business owner, you should find the right CRM solution for you.

Finding the right CRM software for your business might be hard. You need to research and try every CRM system to know its features and interface. Good thing there are CRM systems who provide free trials of their product.

Since you are an SME business owner, you know that the CRM system you are looking for should be able to adapt to your business processes. It should be tailored to your needs and it should be scalable.

If you want a CRM solution that will meet your business needs, then you should probably know about Saphyte.

Saphyte is a CRM solution that is not only handy to big companies but also small businesses. It was created to provide convenience for every business type or sector. Saphyte is built to grow along with your company.

With Saphyte, you can customize your CRM system. You can just ask Saphyte’s team if you want to have additional tools, modules, or custom processes. This is why Saphyte is the CRM system every SME wants to have.

With its scalability, you do not have to change from one CRM to another once your business grows. As you progress, Saphyte levels up with you.

Conclusion

Without any doubt, it is very hard for every business owner to thrive in this pandemic particularly those companies who have not seen this coming. Without concrete plans, strategies, and the right tools to continue their operations, some might fail and go down.

As business owners, you should learn from this experience and you need to consider leveraging the power of technology like the CRM system. In that way, no matter what obstacles may come in the future, you will be equipped and can handle certainties in the best and successful way.