In today’s dynamic and competitive business environment, effective customer relationship management is paramount for small businesses and startups. Salesforce, a reputable CRM platform, offers affordable solutions tailored to the unique needs of smaller enterprises. If you’re a small business owner, startup leader, or decision-maker in a small business, searching for a cost-effective CRM solution to boost your business, Salesforce could be the best option for you.
What is a CRM and why do you need one?
Before going any further, let’s first understand what is a CRM.
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It’s a technology used to manage interactions with existing and potential customers. A CRM system helps companies build customer relationships and streamline processes so they can boost sales, improve customer service, and increase profitability.
CRM systems are the cornerstone of a customer-centric strategy, allowing for targeted communication, superior customer service, effective retention strategies, and continuous improvement based on customer feedback.
CRM systems unify sales, marketing, and customer service data, eliminating information silos. With one central database, businesses gain a holistic view of customers, ensuring coordinated and well-informed interactions across all departments.
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is the heart of managing your interactions with current and potential customers. Here’s why CRM is crucial for small businesses:
- Improved Customer Engagement: CRM systems enable you to track customer interactions, purchase history, and preferences. This information allows you to tailor your communication and offerings, enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction.
- Efficient Lead Management: Small businesses need to make the most of their leads. A CRM system helps in lead scoring and tracking, ensuring that sales teams focus their efforts on the most promising prospects.
- Data Centralization: Having all customer data in one place streamlines operations. This centralised information makes it easier for different departments to collaborate, share insights, and provide consistent customer service.
- Sales Process Optimization: CRM software often includes sales automation features. This means that your sales teams can automate repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails, allowing them to concentrate on high-value activities.
- Better Decision-Making: CRM provides valuable insights through analytics and reporting. This data-driven approach allows you to make informed decisions, identify trends, and adjust your strategies accordingly.
Salesforce for Small Businesses
Salesforce is the best and top rated CRM in the market today and #1 CRM Provider for 10th Consecutive Year as per the International Data Corporation, an independent tracker that provides an in-depth look into the competitive landscape to inform fact based insights.
More than 100,000 companies in the world have chosen Salesforce as their CRM to help them streamline the way they connect with prospects and customers to close bigger deals and grow revenue.
Small businesses can greatly benefit from implementing Salesforce as their CRM system. Salesforce offers a comprehensive suite of capabilities, making it an ideal solution for managing customer relationships and streamlining business operations. Here are the key advantages:
- Comprehensive CRM Capabilities: Salesforce provides a wide range of features, including lead management, sales automation, customer support, and analytics. It serves as an all-in-one solution for your CRM needs.
- Scalability: As your business grows, you need a CRM system that can grow with you. Salesforce is highly scalable, allowing you to add new features and users as your business expands. You won’t outgrow your CRM system, making Salesforce a long-term solution for your business.
- Customisation: You can tailor the Salesforce platform to suit your unique needs, from personalised workflows to custom data fields. This flexibility maximises effectiveness, empowering small businesses through increased efficiency and adaptability.
- Integration: Salesforce offers a vast ecosystem of apps and integrations, making it easy to connect with your existing tools and systems. This ensures that your data is easily accessible and up-to-date across your entire organisation.
- Mobile Accessibility: Small businesses often require their teams to be agile and on the go. Salesforce provides mobile access, allowing your team to access critical data and functionality from anywhere, ensuring that you stay connected and productive, whether you’re in the office or on the move.
- Community and Support: Salesforce has a thriving user community and a wide knowledge base where you can find solutions and connect with other small business owners. Additionally, they offer multiple support options, ensuring you receive assistance when needed.
Bringing it to life
Now that we understand the importance of CRM and how Salesforce can be a great enabler for small business, what does is really mean for your business? What difference will it make?
Every business will use the platform in a specific way that fits their industry, vision and KPIs to ultimately put their customers first, improve sales, reduce operational burden and reduce cost.
BetterUp, a San Francisco-based BetterUp is on a mission to transform careers and businesses around the globe, has seen a 60% reduction in deals that require manual intervention since adopting Salesforce, this was achieved by transforming their GTM strategy, benefiting from the workflow management on the sales side, and the CRM powering the outreach on the marketing side
“Especially on the go-to-market side, we live and breathe Salesforce. The reporting we have there is our source of truth, not just on what has happened, but how we’re continuing to trend against our goals.”
Adam Lavezzo, VP, Revenue Strategy & Operations, BetterUp
If you want to know how your business can leverage Salesforce and best practices to maximise the ROI, download “Your Complete CRM Handbook”, a comprehensive guide with real life applications.
How much does it cost?
When considering Salesforce for your small business, one of the primary concerns is the cost.
You might be wondering, How much does Salesforce cost for a small business? The good news is that Salesforce provides flexible pricing options designed to fit small business budgets. Contrary to the myth, Salesforce is not designed solely for big players, you can access the best of breed technology at a price that matches your scale.
With Salesforce Starter, priced at $25/user/month, you only pay for the features and resources you need, making it a cost-effective choice that won’t strain your finances, while keeping the option to add more features and capabilities as your business grows.
Small businesses and startups often face unique challenges. However, by embracing the right technology, you can overcome these challenges and achieve remarkable success.
The right CRM can be a growth enabler, by investing in a cost-effective, comprehensive solution, you’re not just managing customer relationships; you’re future-proofing your business. You’re optimising operations, maximising lead conversions, and creating a customer-centric business that’s positioned for long-term success.
How to get started with Salesforce?
As a Salesforce partner specialising in CRM strategy, implementation and migration, we would be delighted to discuss your needs, design a roadmap, help you choose the right products and collaborate on a solution that is right for your team.
We’ve crafted a Salesforce Starter Pack specifically for small and medium businesses. A Starter Pack is a pre-packaged implementation at a fixed cost, perfect for budget-conscious organisations looking to get started quickly with sales force.
Unify Starter Pack implementations are delivered by experienced and certified Salesforce consultants. With a predefined scope of work, the starter pack service enables organisations to swiftly experience the benefits of Salesforce. Get in touch with our experts and take the first step toward CRM success.