Yes, Your Small Business or Sidehustle Needs a Good CRM!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of SharpSpring CRM. All opinions are 100% mine.
Do you operate a small business or sidehustle? If so, you know the value of your customers. And you also know how quickly it becomes challenging to keep track of not just those who purchased your product or service, but those who didn’t but will in the future. That’s why if you’re not using a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, you need to get one.
For virtually every business, sales are not one-off occurrences. There’s a significant cost to customer acquisition, and the lifetime value of a customer is how that cost is covered. And what will make your business more profitable. Of course, it won’t help with the bottom line if the system you’re using isn’t effective or it it’s a significant expense. So it’s important to find a CRM that isn’t just robust, but offers sales and marketing tools.
Good CRM Defined
A good CRM is one that can grow with your business. You can customize its elements, which might include the following:
- Sales Team Management
- Lead Management
- Community Support
- Marketing And Sales Tools
- Pipeline Management
- Business Reporting
- Analytics
The CRM options available today have evolved from free sales CRM systems that sprang up with the introduction of the PC into everyday business operations. Early iterations were ACT! and Goldmine in the 1980’s, but all evolved from simple systems equivalent to a digital Rolodex.
Even in the early days there were huge variations in both the features and costs of CRM systems. And that’s still true today. Large companies can spend well into five figures annually. For a small business, it’s not unusual to find monthly costs in the $200 to $500 range. Fortunately, you can also find free CRM for small businesses that stacks up well against many high priced options. We think we’ve found one that’s pretty impressive. Here’s a look at it.
SharpSpring CRM
First off, yes, it’s actually free. Not a free trial. They don’t even ask for a credit card, and it doesn’t expire in 30 or 60 or 90 days. Free. Forever. It’s also intuitive and easy to learn. But that doesn’t mean it’s not full-featured. As a tried and true affordable marketing automation company, SharpSpring built a CRM packed with tools to help you grow. So trying it out isn’t going to be a time gobbler, and you’re going to love the power it puts at your fingertips. Here’s a brief look at just some of the features of SharpSpring CRM:
Unlimited contacts, accounts, and products
This is true of many of the pricey competitive options, but pretty rare in something free. So you won’t reach a point where you can’t add more customers into the data base.
Customizable pipeline
You can create custom fields for contacts, accounts and opportunities. Fields that make sense for your business, not some generic “sales business.”
Advanced reporting
If it’s just you, this helps you see your own performance. If you’ve got staff to track, you’ll be able to get a clear picture of how they’re doing. And so will they.
Custom emails
With SharpSpring’s Smart Mail feature, your sales team can easily access marketing emails to send powerful, one-to-one messages in just 3 clicks. And you can create your bulk email marketing campaigns, too.
Email integration
Capture every new message or reply to a lead, and send to sales reps with synced mailboxes. View these emails in the “Life of the Lead” and on opportunities. And SharpSpring syncs with Gmail, Outlook, and more.
Social media integration and tracking
Social media has become a huge marketing tool. SharpSpring not only captures the customer email information, it also captures their social media address. View and interact with posts from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.
Gmail integration
Create trackable emails from your Gmail inbox, and access contact profiles right from Chrome. Easily create leads and opportunities on the fly, and access conversations, email opens, and other lead activities.
Yes, You Need A Good CRM!
Today’s business world is highly competitive. It’s more important than ever to be proactive with client management, and to efficiently handle contact management. If you’ve been putting off adopting CRM because you thought it was too cumbersome, or for any reason, now is the time to try out this awesome solution.
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#sharpspringCRM
