One thing that constantly surprises us when helping SMEs with their marketing, is how few have got in place any sort of system to manage their marketing and keep track of clients, prospects and contacts.
If there is one piece of advice we’d give to SMEs around marketing, it would be to get a marketing plan in place, if I could give two pieces of advice, we’d also recommend that they get in place a system to manage their marketing –such a system is often called a CRM or Customer Relationship Management tool.

With businesses always looking to get as much value from their marketing investment as possible, a CRM is a fantastically effective tool that allows marketers to control, measure, manage and monitor the various marketing activities they undertake; giving them the information they need to use their resources most efficiently.

On countless occasions we come across businesses that have undertaken a variety of marketing campaigns, which have never been followed up and the contacts lost. A CRM system will capture prospect information, as well as that of existing customers, giving your business a comprehensive history of communications with those individuals, allowing you to improve your customer service as well as that of your marketing’s effectiveness.

So why, if we don’t sell CRM systems, are we rhapsodising about them so much?

Well, firstly, experience has shown that it is often impossible to be efficient without one in place. Secondly, there are some pretty impressive statistics to support its introduction into a business:

Benchmark studies from IDC (International Data Corporation) reveal that CRM applications account for:

• Revenue increases of up to 41% per sales person
• Decreased sales cycles of over 24%
• Lead conversion rate improvements of over 300%
• Customer Retention improvements of 27%
• Decreased sales and marketing costs of 23%
• Improved profit margins of over 2%

Business Link has identified a range of benefits connected to these statistics, which provide compelling reasons to introduce CRM software to your business.

They also provide a case study about the successful integration of CRM into a small business.

The limitation of a CRM is that its effectiveness is restricted by the quality of the information put into it. If you and your team are not committed to inputting the appropriate information, a CRM is pointless. But populated it with relevant and accurate data and a CRM is a business’ best friend.

Hopefully, we’ve now convinced you of the importance of using a CRM in your business. We thought it would be helpful to direct you to some of the ones out there. It is important that you choose one that is right for your needs. There are a multitude of options and often the variety can be daunting.

We use a CRM called Sugar CRM and have opted for the opensource version. It suits our needs but you might want something different.

Below are a few options we have come across and are being used successfully by our clients.

• Salesforce
• Sugar CRM – Professional
• Sugar CRM – Open source
• M-Files – Document Management with CRM capacity
• Sage Act
• Goldmine
• High Rise
• Zoho

Most will let you have a free trial before you buy, so have a look at them all and choose the one for you.

So if you are thinking about what Santa could get your business this Christmas, make sure a CRM is on your list.

If you’ve had experiences with these or any other CRMs, good or bad, we’d love to hear from you and your thoughts.

When we speak with businesses, the most common marketing objective they are focused on is bringing in new clients. The majority of resources are usually channelled towards the undoubtedly important activity of new business generation.
Whilst new business development is clearly a vital activity in any organisation, it is important that we don’t neglect or take for granted the businesses that you are already in a relationship with, your customers.

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, we thought it was a great time to highlight the importance of taking the trouble to show your current customers that you care. Without them you wouldn’t be in business, so make sure they know how important they are to you.

Famously, it is 5 times more expensive to acquire a new customer, compared with retaining and satisfying an existing customer’s needs. At a time when businesses are looking to get maximum value from their marketing budgets, customer retention has to be high on your list of priorities.

It is essential to keep in touch with your clients on a regular basis. Regular communication builds and strengthens relationships, ensuring you will benefit from your customer’s business for years to come. If you are good at showing you care and delivering what they need, your customers will become advocates for your organisation, referring you to friends, colleagues and companies, generating the new business that allows your business to grow.

Taking the time to understand your customer, their business and environment in which they operate, is an essential first step in laying a solid foundation for a good client relationship.

Building and maintaining effective and rewarding relationships with clients has many benefits:

• Customer relationship management (CRM) helps businesses gain an understanding of the behaviour of their customers and enables you to adapt your business operations to ensure that your customers receive the best possible service. (Visit our article on CRM software)
• A close relationship with clients helps you to recognise the value of your customer base. The better a business understands its customers, the more responsive it can be to their requirements.
• Combining your customer relationship management with your marketing can be a great strategy to maintain customer loyalty, interaction and long-term engagement. The more opportunities a client has to engage with your business the better, so make sure you open up new channels to interact with clients as they become available.

Below are our Top 5 ways to keep the lines of communication open and develop close relationships with your clients:

1. Social media is a cost-effective tool to keep your business in contact with your current clients. Use Facebook and Twitter to follow their latest events, news and articles, ‘like’ their wall posts and re tweet their twitter feeds.

2. When interacting with a client, communication is very important. Stay in touch with your clients through e-newsletters and e-shots. Send reminders about special promotions you’re running, notifications about new merchandise you’re stocking or newsletters about community events that you’re sponsoring.

3. Personal communication is key, call and meet with your clients on a monthly, if not weekly basis. Spend time learning more about their business. Find out what problems they have and how you or your network might be able to help them.

4. Run events and seminars for your clients, providing them with a great networking opportunity, as well as a chance to learn more about the services you provide.

5. Finally, send your clients direct mail campaigns to say thank you. A simple thank you card, box of chocolates or personalised gift can go a long way.

Everyone is out to win new business but make sure you don’t forget your current loved ones.