Still using spreadsheets and paper to manage your potential and current customers, billing, invoicing, and more?
You’re not alone. Still, it is 2018 and it’s time to join the “new” (now teenaged) millennium: your company truly does need a CRM! It’s beyond time. (In fact, the article linked to above even mentions how it’s more important today to stop “importing and exporting and manipulating data… [because it’s more important] to focus on what the data is telling us.”)
So what is a CRM?
The acronym CRM means “customer relationship management.” CRM software brings a lot of different prospecting, sales, marketing and business management capabilities together, allowing you to send emails, make reports, make calls, schedule appointments, add sales/prospects notes, manage your funnel, pipeline, perform billing and invoicing tasks, and more from just one software platform.
In a nutshell, a CRM is a one-stop marketing, sales and business management machine. A very powerful machine, one that will benefit your business immensely (and far beyond “simply” sending out invoices automatically).
If you’re asking: “Why do I need a CRM?” here are a few statistics:
- Fifty-three percent of “top-performing” companies are investing in CRM and project management software to drive sales. They wouldn’t be doing so if a CRM didn’t drive sales! (Note: that statistic comes from 2016. It’s no doubt climbed since then.)
- Eighty percent of those using a CRM for marketing automation saw the number of their leads grow (and 77 percent saw their conversions increase).
As for ROI on a CRM, some additional terrific statistics:
- When “properly integrated,” a CRM solution can deliver an ROI of more than 245 percent.
- 50 percent of teams (type of team – sales, for example – not specified) improved productivity.
- Revenue increased by two percent.
- Labor costs decreased overall by 20 percent.
- Marketing budgets saved at least $75,000.
- The ROI is about $5 for every $1 invested in the project management software.
- And more.
Still not convinced about how valuable a project management/CRM tool can be? Some more statistics (from the link above):
- Seventy percent of leads may fail to convert without a CRM.
- Average customer purchase amount can increase by as much as 40 percent with a CRM.
- Using a CRM in conjunction with your social media efforts can improve customer retention by 31 percent.
- An increase of 41 percent in revenue can result when using a CRM.
- Leads nurtured by a CRM convert 47 percent of the time. Sales conversions also can improve by a whopping 300 percent!
- Cost of a company’s leads can decrease 23 percent.
- Customer service results can rise by 47 percent.
So instead of asking why you would want a CRM, ask yourself why you haven’t purchased one already! And when you’ve decided you need to seriously look into it, look into MagHub, the Media Publication CRM and Publishing Software. Care to take a deeper look? Contact us to schedule your demo with one of our Account Executives.
