Cloud Based CRM Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Best Small and Medium Business CRM Software

Myths About Using A QuickBooks CRM For Sales Teams Exposed

Customer Relationship Management solution or CRM software has been around for decades. However, over the past few years the usage of CRM has skyrocketed and today both small and enterprise level businesses use CRM for sales, preferably a QuickBooks CRM that is capable of offering QuickBooks CRM integration free. Here are some of the some of the primary myths debunked about sales CRM software like QuickBooks CRM for sales teams.

Customer Relationship Management solution or CRM software has been around for decades. However, over the past few years the usage of CRM has skyrocketed and today both small and enterprise level businesses use CRM for sales, preferably a QuickBooks CRM for sales teams that is capable of offering QuickBooks CRM integration free.

CRM technology has evolved considerably over the years, but still, there are several misconceptions what a CRM solution actually is, or what it does, remains in the minds of the prospective buyers of CRM. Especially, customer relationship platforms that integrate with software solutions like QuickBooks, which helps integration with financial and accounting software platforms, and therefore, aid the sales teams to do their work more efficiently.

We will call them CRM myths.

Here are some of the some of the primary myths debunked about sales CRM software like QuickBooks CRM for sales teams.

A CRM software can greatly help in cutting costs, and using one can lead to reduced marketing costs by 23% - Cloudswave Click To Tweet

Sales CRM is too complicated

During the early days, sales CRM software was non-intuitive, clunky, and complicated, which came with an extremely steep learning curve. The market took notice of this issue and hence CRM software gained a reputation that it is a complicated piece of technological marvel that requires advanced computing skills to manage its functionalities.

However, those days are gone, and CRM technology has evolved by leaps and bounds. Today easy to use CRM software platforms have intuitive drag and drop interfaces like ConvergeHub that allows even the most non-technical users to quickly learn and use the platform.

This is the exact reason CRM systems like ConvergeHub, which are built to be accessed by small and growing businesses, have an extremely short learning curve.

CRM is too expensive

Another prevailing myth about CRM systems that were born during the early days of the technology is that CRM solutions are prohibitively expensive. Since, at that time, businesses would have to normally spend more than $1000 per month or even a larger sum for CRM implementation in a company.

Unfortunately, this perception still exists and is as-of-date believed by many.

However, the truth is that prices of CRM software solutions have dramatically dropped in the recent years, which has happened primarily because of the growth in cloud based CRM software and the exceeding numbers of many new vendors that have entered the CRM marketplace.

For example, ConvergeHub CRM not only offers a 14-day free trial of the software but also allows you to use ConvergeHub on a pay-as-you-go subscription-based service (quarterly or annual), with its Starter Pack billed as low as $9 per user/month if it is billed annually.

If I buy a CRM, I must still purchase a marketing automation system

In the present times, an innovative and new type CRM technology has entered the market. It is known as the Converged all-in-one CRM software, which includes full customer relationship management for sales, marketing, customer support, and even accounting on the same platform. Therefore, once you buy a QuickBooks CRM for sales teams like ConvergeHub, you no longer need to buy different automation systems for customer support, sales, marketing, or accounts, as they are built within the CRM.

This means all data centrally stored in the CRM database, be it from sales, marketing, support, or accounts is for all to see, which help align your various teams and makes everyone in your organization work more efficiently.

CRM is only used to store contact information

Easy to use QuickBooks CRM software that supports marketing, sales, accounts, and customer support is used for a plethora of activities. Therefore, when you bring a Converged CRM like ConvergeHub into the picture, the list of processes that can be automated with best CRM for QuickBooks online grows exponentially, which include:

Billing and Invoicing
Email marketing
Drag and drop landing page and web form creation
Multichannel campaigning
Lead generation and lead scoring
Online appointment scheduling
Creating advanced metrics and analysis to drive data-driven decisions
Creating eDocs and electronic signatures
Advanced telephony for streamlined sales calling
Helpdesk and customer support automation
Social CRM and social listening capabilities
Creating project management workflows
And much more

CRM for sales will not integrate with my other systems

This is absolutely a myth in the present times, since on the contrary most CRM solutions like ConvergeHub are sold as SaaS (software-as-a-Service) systems.
This means, most cloud based CRM have open APIs, which lets you integrate almost any third-party applications like QuickBooks and others that you want with your easy to use CRM.

These integrations opens the door for the users to complete most complicated tasks using the right plugin and API, like accounting, invoicing, billing, and creating eSignatures, and others, without having to leave the CRM. Modern CRM solutions, not only allows you to integrate billing and invoicing apps like QuickBooks, but also combine emailing, telephony, social media apps, and others with the CRM platform.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that the legacy CRM software of the late 90’s and the early 2000s are gone and obsolete in 2018.
As most customer relationship management software solutions like ConvergeHub QuickBooks CRM live in the cloud, they are extremely cost-effective, and highly intuitive that empowers your business to be more competitive in your field, which in turn increases productivity while decreasing costs, and enables your sales teams to spend more time closing deals.

New to ConvergeHub? Click below to start your 14-day free trial right away.

The Ultimate Benefits Of Keeping A Centralized and Clean CRM Database

Still, in the present times, there are many businesses that maintain different databases for their customers and thereby often find it becoming a nuisance to keep everything well managed and synchronized. Exporting data from one software platform to another and trying hard to resolve dependencies and conflicts can become really cumbersome, especially when you are dealing with a very large amount of data. Therefore, it is recommended that you should practice keeping one centralized database, a repository to maintain all your useful data, as we find in a CRM database. Here is how a central database can help you in making your business operations more efficient in the long haul.

Here is how a central database can help you in making your business operations more efficient in the long haul.

Bad data sources result in 30% of all leads failing- Cyber Sphere(2017) Click To Tweet

Inbound marketing strategies have altered the fate of hundreds of business establishments (for the better) all across the globe. However, this is also true, that not all the leads generated are useful. Moreover, in addition to your prospective leads and customers, you will also find many competitors filling out your forms, just to find the feel of your services and eventually try to bulwark a way into your customer database in your online lead management software system.

Additionally, vendors those who have the singular objective of promoting your company something may also break into your CRM database and remain there without ever thinking of being your customer.

Therefore, over a span of time, if you do not periodically clean your customer database, it will eventually accumulate unsought for data that can become a problem in the long haul.

Here are a few steps that you can take in the attempt to make your CRM database cleaner and therefore more optimized.

Delete Inactive Contacts

Implementing an easy to use CRM solution is indeed a step in the right direction, however, in order to maximize upon customer relationships, and productivity, you should always keep a tab on your customer database in CRM. Contacts, that have remained inactive and silent for an extended period of time should be essentially pruned, if and when it is viable to delete their records. Since, hopelessly following leads that are clearly not interested in your offerings can be very damaging for your company’s reputation over time.

Identify Duplicates

Your marketing database software is the golden key to your company’s success, and that is why it needs to be kept clean and efficient at all times. Therefore, it is most needed that you must ensure that every single duplicate identification is removed from your CRM database. It is a common fact that as soon as your business grows and gains a reputation, it is inevitable that duplicate information will start piling up in your customer database in CRM.

Therefore, it is advisable that you must run a periodic check on your CRM database to find and remove duplicate entries or scrutinize both the lead and customer records and after finding out which entry has better information, merge both the records for optimal performance of your customer relationship software system.

Set Up Alerts

Any good easy to use CRM database software allows its user to set up alerts that trigger when certain actions take place so that you keep everything under check. For example, with ConvergeHub CRM you can use time-saving tools like “Manage Duplicates” and “Merge Duplicates” that can prove to be essential in a scenario where two customers or leads have the same name, last name but different phone numbers or emails.

Uniformity Is Key

A CRM database cannot remain clean if uniformity is not maintained- and by no means is it a child’s play. For an example, let us assume that you allow your leads to type their country where they reside instead of allowing them to choose from a drop-down list. In this case you will eventually find a lot of inconsistency in your database, as people hailing from the United States of America, will provide you entries like “USA”, “US”, “U.S.A”, “U.S” and others which will be a sucker blow to your CRM database’s uniformity that can only be rectified by manual correction of data.

Say No-No to Junk Contacts

Your CRM database will inevitably have anonymous leads that will enter fake email addresses like asdfglkjh@gmail.com or blahblah1234@hotmail.com. These junk lead data often pollutes the CRM database, which a good CRM software can run a search and identify and thereafter remove or suspend the information from the online lead management system.

Monitor Email Campaign Results/Feedback

Lastly, it is also recommended that you should keep a close watch on your email campaign’s results and look for opt-outs and, bounced emails. Because based on your findings and observations, you can clean your CRM database after every email campaign is fired for optimal utilization of the resources in your CRM database.

Now that we have learned how to keep a CRM database clean, let us talk about some of the tangible benefits of why you must do so, and what payback a clean CRM database can offer for the growth of your business.

Cut Costs

One of the most pertinent benefits of having a clean CRM database is that it saves your business a lot of money. No one wants to send emails to addresses that do not even exist. Therefore, when you run a periodic check on your CRM database to maintain a clean repository, your email list delivers positive results.

Precise campaign stats

If your contact database in CRM contains erroneous email addresses, several emails that you send will never be opened, or engaged, which as a result will never be able to paint an accurate result of email campaign’s statistics or your marketing efforts. Whereby, a clean database in CRM, which is devoid of any unwanted lead and customer records, will go a long way in ensuring that your campaign stats are authentic and thereby help you to create your business strategies accordingly.

Sender reputation protection

Spam complains, and bounce rates determine how good your reputation is as a sender of your emails, which plays an important factor in email deliverability. Therefore, keeping a clean CRM database ensures that your sender reputation remains protected and trusted by email marketing services.

Elevate Revenue And Conversion Rates

Finally, a clean CRM database helps in avoiding a bad sender reputation whereby the chances of emails being placed in the spam folder (instead of the inbox) more frequently is reduced to a lot extent. Therefore a clean database, which engages people, is bound to increases conversion rates and thereby revenue which is the bottom-line for the growth of any business today.

Conclusion

Therefore, implementing an easy to use CRM system, which ensures that the customer database in CRM remains devoid and clean of any unwanted errors can be a real asset to the organization. A Converged CRM like ConvergeHub can easily bring an end to all data management worries as ConvergeHub is the one-stop-solution for online lead management that can save your resources by targeting the most deserving leads.

New to ConvergeHub? Click below to start your 14-day free trial right away.

The Future Of Cloud Based CRM Systems: Intelligent, Integrated And Data-Driven

The time of an intelligent, integrated cloud based CRM systems has come, and it is one of the fastest growing categories of enterprise software solutions today. Right from startups and SMBs to big global enterprises, marketing and sales teams are adopting easy to use cloud based CRM technology to acquire new customers, retain the old, enhance customer experience, and find new customer-centric data driven insights that are paving the path for strategic changes in their companies.

The time of an intelligent, integrated cloud based CRM systems has come, and it is one of the fastest growing categories of enterprise software solutions today.
Right from startups and SMBs to big global enterprises, marketing and sales teams are adopting easy to use cloud based CRM technology to acquire new customers, retain the old, enhance customer experience, and find new customer-centric data driven insights that are paving the path for strategic changes in their companies.

Now as these new CRM technologies are rapidly evolving to meet the newfound strategic goals of businesses globally, Big Data, Analytics, Business Intelligence (BI), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and machine learning are the new technological foundations of the present days fast growing CRM applications, in the market.

The global CRM market is predicted to achieve a 13.7% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) through 2021- Gartner Click To Tweet

Investing in cloud based CRM systems, startups are presently focusing on how easy to use CRM solutions are capable of providing new insights into improving the customer experiences, increase customer retention strategies, and accelerate new product development based on the needs of their customers.

In a recent analysis done by CrunchBase on CRM startups, it shows that the majority of the CRM vendors are investing in advanced analytics, machine learning, Big Data, and AI technologies.

To substantiate this claim McKinsey notes that the total annual external investments in Artificial Intelligence technology globally were between $8 Billion and $12 Billion back in 2016, with machine learning attracting 60% of that investment, and the same figures are on a rise.

Quick Stats

According to Gartner- 56% of all easy to use CRM adoptions will be cloud based CRM systems, starting from 2017.
According to Gartner- The global CRM market is predicted to achieve a 13.7% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) through 2021.
AI will be the primary catalyst of the cloud based CRM’s growth over the next 4 years, which is going to be supported by BI, analytics, and machine learning technologies, as cloud based CRM buyers will focus more on the addition of emerging technologies that cater to more efficient customer experiences.

Businesses of all sizes are now struggling to remain on the same page with their customers as the customer’s preferences as to how they are learning about their required products and services and when they are buying are changing constantly.

In other words, nowadays the customer’s psychology is fundamentally at a flux, and it exceeds the boundaries of simple demographics, or even customer segments, which ranges across B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-Consumer) enterprises.

Therefore as the dynamics of the customers across all segments are changing fast, with customer experiences winning over mere transactions, getting response from any channel a customer chooses to interact with the brands, and for rendering intelligent and responsive support, modern cloud based CRM systems need to change their technology if they are going to meet these customer-centric goals.

Modern cloud based CRM systems need to find greater precision in focusing on the customer needs, predict and quantify their behaviors. In addition to this, today’s CRM platforms should also be capable of recommending or suggesting potential strategies and tactics for sales and marketing teams that should deliver results.

Customer Intelligence is the King

The better the insights, marketing data, and customer-centric knowledge-driven decisions, the more effective every marketing statistics and tactics will be. As we all know by now, that when strategies in sales and marketing are built on the foundations of customer insight and intelligence, customer experiences improves.

Positive customer experiences create loyalties, builds trusts, fuel repurchase, which consequentially lead to higher CLV or Customer Lifetime Values.

Nevertheless, this chain reaction behind customer-centric growth can only begin when the sales and marketing teams in any organization are well aware of what their customers are expecting, why they are expecting, and how their organization can deliver the offerings that will exceed the customer’s expectations.

Therefore as we predicted earlier in this blog, Big Data, AI, machine learning and analytics are the future of cloud based CRM systems, because they are being used nowadays to redefine the path to exceed customer expectations and drive in more revenue.

Hence, the days of the traditional CRM systems and its strategies for treating every customer, in the same way, are over.

In the present times- Customer Intelligence is now the King.

With greater contextual insights, predictive accuracy offered by customer intelligence of when and where to sell delivers measurable results. For marketing managers and their teams, one of the greatest challenges they encounter is in quantifying their contributions to their businesses’ growth. Therefore, with the modern technological developments in CRM technology, machine learning, AI, and analytics all these in conglomeration will provide the marketing managers and their teams an opportunity to measure how their strategies are driving profits and sales, as well as how they are contributing to their organization’s growth.

Most of the CRM solutions in the market today are cloud based CRM systems. Since cloud based systems are capable of maturing rapidly and provide a solid foundation for the next generation of application developments. In fact, APIs or Application Programmer Interfaces that most modern CRM software solutions rely on to create real-time integrations helps in linking and bridging platforms and applications, accelerating the breadth, depth, and stability of modern cloud based CRM systems.

In a recent study done by McKinsey & Company, it has been found that businesses using cloud based CRM systems can capture greater revenue growth with APIs to integrate enterprise systems.
In other words, in CRM systems, APIs are the fasteners that make greater customer intelligence possible. Since APIs helps to integrate systems together and develop a valuable system of records that can easily reflect customer preferences, while at the same time create strategies for a successful sales growth.

API Integrations Are Designing The Most Valuable CRM Apps Of The Future Days

All businesses big or small striving for keeping their existing customers, and at the same time attract new ones, faces the constant challenge of staying on the radar of their customer’s preferences. Since customer preferences change over time, therefore, using outdated CRM applications are no longer pertinent to the sales and marketing teams depending on CRM and its features to catch the attention and win customers.

Hence, the future of CRM today is defined by new and agile application interfaces that can be customized for each sales reps and marketers by adding or changing fields in minutes, according to their varied needs.

The cloud based CRM system of the modern times no longer takes weeks or months to modify a CRM system’s dashboard or its workflow, since they can be easily modified and changed quickly by the system administrators using a cloud-based platform.

Therefore, the flexibility of customization of cloud based CRM systems to match how marketing and sales team works, rather than the other way round is one of the main catalysts that welcomed the adoption of cloud based CRM solutions and is fueling its continuous growth.

In fact, APIs are one of the main technologies that facilitate cloud based CRM platforms to flex its functionalities and respond to the sales and marketing team’s needs.

Moreover, the growth of AWS (Amazon Web Services) has also dramatically shown how APIs contribute to the development of an entirely new business model, fueling a level of analytics-driven insights for businesses, previously unknown to the users of CRM platforms.

According to a recent article published in Forbes, it points out that APIs are most essential for defining and customizing GUIs (Graphic User Interfaces) that improves the contribution and usability to improve customer experience since APIs creates the links that cloud platforms rely on to integrate easy to use CRM and other enterprise software applications.

The CRM’s Future Is a Highly Integrated One- Because the Cloud Has Won

In the present times, APIs are already beginning to become more customer-centric in their designs, which allows for greater versatility and flexibility in designing entirely new GUIs, process steps, workflows, and screen designs, which over time will redefine the nature of cloud platforms in the days to come.

Nearly every cloud based CRM providers today like ConvergeHub and others have integrated enterprise-grade APIs (some more mature and scalable than others) that signals the future of the CRM technology’s road map across all businesses.

We are all extremely apprehensive that these new APIs will become customer-centric in the coming 3-5 years and will have a strong focus on orchestrating a wide variety of data-rich applications, databases, and system of records.

In other words, cloud platforms are helping APIs to become more customer-centric by providing reliable and scalable integration frameworks and technologies.

Looking Ahead

It is presumed that in the near future a more integrated, contextually intelligent and aware cloud based CRM applications will enable sales and marketing teams to define their strategies with superior precision while measuring the results achieved, better than it was ever before.

Therefore, briefly, cloud based CRMs like ConvergeHub will continue to outmatch overall enterprise growth in software, as with a superfluity of technologies at hand, the future of cloud based CRM is the brightest among all other enterprise level cloud-based software solutions in the IT world.

Do You Think A Cloud Based CRM Solution Will Future-Proof Your Small Business?

It is unnecessary to say that in order to thrive in 2018, all small businesses must remain prepared to utilize the latest technology in hand. Whether it is sales forecasting with the help of a cloud based CRM solution, big data analysis, or even digital marketing and social media, it is technology that holds the key to communicating with the consumers on their individual terms. At that too possibly, in the least intrusive way, so that it provides the consumers a convenient and clear path that eventually leads to a sale.

It is unnecessary to say that in order to thrive in 2018, all small businesses must remain prepared to utilize the latest technology in hand. Whether it is sales forecasting with the help of a cloud based CRM systems , big data analysis, or even digital marketing and social media, it is technology that holds the key to communicating with the consumers on their individual terms. At that too possibly, in the least intrusive way, so that it provides the consumers a convenient and clear path that eventually leads to a sale.

CRM software returns an average of $5.60 for every dollar spent. Click To Tweet

As modern technology is advancing at a breakneck speed, businesses can often find themselves unable to stay on trend or keep themselves updated on the latest technological developments.

It is true, that it takes a significant amount of money and time to implement a new solution across a company and this is the exact reason we cannot blame small businesses for being so skeptical of adopting smart business solutions when they remain unsure if this technology will stand the test of time. A critical problem that plagues prospective users of CRM solution systems in particular, since Customer Relationship Management has evolved a lot since its inception when the term was coined in 1995.

The Customer Relationship Management Paradox

A CRM implementation is perhaps one of the most complex yet at the same instance most transforming product adoption that a small business organization can undergo. Requiring all departments in the company to cleanse the data before migrating it, train the employees in getting used to the new software, and then most necessarily catch up with the backlogs of the works that have been delayed by the change in the organizational process.

Therefore, it might take some time before small businesses can really start to benefit from the new CRM solution, although it is well worth the sacrifice, especially if they understand that the product adoption is future-proofed.

Once a small and medium business has identified that it needs a CRM system, the primary obstacle it may encounter is whether its CRM solution should be an on-premise or a cloud based CRM system. Now, we know all businesses are different and so it would be an irresponsible act to advise either way. Since businesses should always adopt a product that best suits their individual needs.

Nevertheless, there are clear advantages and disadvantages of both these CRM systems as illustrated below:

Should You Adopt An On-Premise Or A Cloud-Based CRM Solution?

Those businesses having a long history in trade and commerce will surely be familiar with on-premise CRM solutions, which can be installed on local networks and is most commonly developed or administered by a permanent member of IT staffs, employed by the organization. On-premise CRM software platforms are generally unreachable for anyone out of the network, which makes it an ideal CRM solution for small business employees that do not need remote access to the software.

On-premise CRM also aids with security, as only permanent staffs working in the organization gets access to the CRM system.

Many businesses also prefer Capital Expenditure (CapEx) versus the modern day subscription-based model (OpEx) of the software for accounting purposes.

Therefore the decision to implement an On-Premise CRM or a Cloud Based CRM solution, not only lies in the hands of the marketing and sales, or IT and Ops, but also with Finance.

Moreover, on-premise CRM solutions can often be left behind with technological upgrades, since many small businesses may not choose to periodically upgrade their CRM platform due to lack of compatibility with their customized solution, as well as the fear of losing data or the disruption it will cause to the routine use of the software.

Additionally, with the CRM data stored in the local server, which is not accessible from outside the network, this can also create a bigger data risk than cloud based CRM solutions that can be accessed from online portals.

This is because, there are several instances when users are forced to share their customer data in CRM via external communicational platforms or emails for the purpose of networking or sales calls, thoughtless of the alarming fact that this data being sent could be compromised.

This where the real benefits of a cloud based CRM system come into play. Since a cloud based CRM solution is inherently future proof.

With live updates released on a regular basis, online cloud based CRM platforms are constantly optimized, as well as well guarded against all latest cyber threats.

Whether it is an improvement to be done on the user interface, an adherence to be made to the latest General Data Protection Regulation (EU) law, or even for a major product update, cloud based CRM platforms like ConvergeHub and others use regular and subtle updates. Therefore, unburdening the CRM users by guaranteeing them minimal disruption to their work.

Integrations are also made much simpler when the data is stored in the cloud, with several web-based systems making product integration as easy as ‘drag and drop’ functionalities, which is becoming increasingly useful given the value of marketing products and solutions via social media platforms.

Easy to use CRM platforms, especially those that boast of their marketing automation features, should always embrace the cutting-edge modern communication technology for the CRM users to get the most out of sales and marketing. Therefore, small businesses that still use on-premise CRM software that predate the advent of modern social media platforms, often find themselves stuck with outdated marketing strategies, as popular integrations are almost impossible to implement without a major product update.

Is future proofing CRM technology ever truly possible?

While adopting cloud based CRM platforms like ConvergeHub can help to future-proof your small business endeavors, honestly speaking, there is really no way to predict the direction in which technology will go.

However, as of date, cloud based CRM system merely offers us the option of constantly staying up-to-date, providing us with every possible advantage as CRM technology advances with time.

Nevertheless, to sum up, small businesses that are capable enough to justify the time investment and financial outlay and benefit from the limitless product integration of a SaaS-based software should seriously consider using a cloud based CRM solution, which is also easy to use.
Since implementing a cloud based CRM for small businesses in the modern times will at least ensure future proofing your CRM solution until the next breakthrough in technology- as for what that will be, your guess is as good as mine.

6 Customer Management and Sales Strategies to Knockout Your Competition Flat

As a small business owner, you must be having huge plans for your business. The goals for your startup organization may include providing the best possible offers to your customers, sell more than your competitions, hire highly skilled employees, and someday make your organization be a part of the Fortune 500 company lists. However, regardless of all these dreams, you can only make your imaginations only come true if you employ the best possible sales strategies to beat your completion by using an easy to use CRM solution that helps businesses to gain more leads, find new customers and increase the customer lifecycle by managing the customer and their interactions with your company.

As a small business owner, you must be having huge plans for your business. The goals for your startup organization may include providing the best possible offers to your customers, sell more than your competitions, hire highly skilled employees, and someday make your organization be a part of the Fortune 500 company lists.
However, regardless of all these dreams, you can only make your imaginations only come true if you employ the best possible sales strategies to beat your completion by using an easy to use CRM solution that helps businesses to gain more leads, find new customers and increase the customer lifecycle by managing the customer and their interactions with your company.

Effective sales organizations are 81% more likely to be practicing consistent usage of a CRM or other system of record- Aberdeen Group Click To Tweet

We hope that with the help of these following tips, your business will be on its way to new heights by increasing sales and bringing in more revenue:

Follow Through

This might seem obvious, but following through is often overlooked as your business grows with time. For example, if during your last meeting, you have promised to fax a brochure, send an email, or touch base with additional information, then do it. Remember in sales you are only as good as your words and therefore following through with your promises will give you and your company the credibility you need to secure future sales.
If you know what is a CRM platform, and has adopted one to help your business, using an easy to use CRM software always helps you to remember your commitments just in time, so that the promises that you made to your leads, prospects, and customers do not fall through the crack.

Foster An Ongoing Relationship

Making a sale can be exciting both for you and for your organization. However, things should not stop over here. Repeat business from existing customers by up-selling and cross-selling your offerings, is an excellent way to build and nourish an ongoing relationship with the buyers of your products and services, increasing the Customer Lifetime Value of your consumers. If you are a user of a best small business CRM software, it can easily remind you to call your customers to see how things are going. It can also find out their personal preferences, a few weeks after your sale and then send automated and customized email campaigns to keep them aware of your new offerings as per their respective interests.

At times, the post-sales conversation with your customers does not always need to revolve around business matters. Per say, if you and your customer have a common interest in baseball, gardening, or movies, talking about such out-of-business topics helps in showing that you care for them and that you genuinely appreciated their social activities.

Stick To Deadlines

Let us assume you have a sale going through this Sunday. A customer tells you that the person is interested in buying your goods or services; however, that individual cannot close the deal until next week. What do you do? Do you extend the sale offer to accommodate the customer’s needs? No. We recommend sticking to your sales deadlines helps in building credibility and heighten the sense of urgency around the purchase decision-making process.
Nevertheless, occasionally this policy can be altered on a case-to-case basis, especially if after looking into the customer data in your easy to use CRM; you believe that the customer will not ask for a sale extension again, as the person has never requested anything as such before.

Therefore, talk to your sales reps about individual situations before taking actions to better understand your buyer’s needs.

Do Not Rush For Referrals

Referrals are one of the most reliable ways to build and grow your business. However, it is important not to ask for a referral too soon. Therefore, before asking for a referral, get a pulse on how your customer is feeling about your brand and your company. Primarily, you need to understand that your customers are overwhelmingly happy with your product or service, and customer support before you request for the referral.

For this, try communicating with your selected customers on the phone a few weeks after the beginning of your post-sales relationship. Ask them how they are feeling about your organization and only if they respond favorably, you may consider it to be the right time to see if they know about someone who may be interested in your offerings.

Never be scared to ask for a referral, you will be surprised to learn how generous happy customers can be.

Practice Active Listening

Think back to the last time you spoke with your best friend. Chances are good that he or she actively listened to how you were doing and subsequently for their attentiveness; you came back from the conversation feeling loved and refreshed.

The best sales reps recreate these same feelings by asking their leads and customers probing questions about their business and then let them tell their requirements in detail.

Active listening on your part makes the customer feel that you care for their needs and is not just focused on hard selling.
Make the conversation meander around what you can do for them and you will likely have a loyal customer, who will remain for a long time.

Be Cordial When Discussing The Competition

Lastly, badmouthing the competition in front of a prospective customer is never a good idea. Although there is nothing wrong in discussing the competitors of your brand with your customer and explaining where your offerings stand tall, nevertheless, try to stay miles away from saying something outright negative about your contenders.
Actually, any sort of backbiting behavior will reflect poorly on you and your organization. Therefore, it is always best to tread the high road and be cordial when discussing the competition in front of your consumers.

Takeaway

We guess, entrepreneurs, small business owners who are users of easy to use CRM software platforms, and sales reps, those who use these tips to knock out their competitors, by showing that they are polished professionals are the ones whom anyone will be proud to do business with.

Therefore, using these tips along with the best small business CRM software solution like ConvergeHub is sure to get you more sales and thereby help your small business to amass more revenue.

12 Most Essential QuickBooks CRM Buying Guidelines for Startups

Customers are the most essential element of any business. Therefore, it is equally important that we must look after them. Now, if you are busy guessing how you can do that, because it may seem to be a breeze in the beginning, but as your business expands the multitude of your consumer base springs up with time. Therefore, before you decide and square-up upon finalizing your favored QuickBooks CRM software, here are twelve best practices that according to him, small business owners should recognize before purchasing their first CRM solution that offers QuickBooks CRM integration free.

Customers are the most essential element of any business. Therefore, it is equally important that we must look after them.
Now, if you are busy guessing how you can do that, because it may seem to be a breeze in the beginning, but as your business expands the multitude of your consumer base springs up with time.
To shed some light on the subject, we are here to speaks in this article about some of the best practices small businesses should adopt when they look for a QuickBooks CRM platform to run their businesses.

Therefore, before you decide and square-up upon finalizing your favored QuickBooks CRM software, here are twelve best practices that according to us, small business owners should recognize before purchasing their first CRM solution that offers QuickBooks CRM integration free.

QuickBooks operates in the SMB market, sized at approximately 29 million businesses in the US, and it has more than 80% market share with small businesses that use financial management software. Click To Tweet

Choose A CRM Vendor That Offers Support

No two organizations require the same functionalities while implementing an easy to use CRM software. This is why, it is so critical that you must select your QuickBooks CRM vendor who is capable of providing you with the right support your establishment needs. Finding the right kind of support for your best CRM software for QuickBooks can be as significant as the functions that constitute the solution.

Think About The Set Up Time And The Ease Of Use Of The CRM

For startup owners and beginners who are in need of implementing QuickBooks CRM for their organizations, the last thing that they want is to face a complicated CRM system that will take weeks to install. Instead, think about adopting a CRM solution that requires limited set-up time and is easy to use for most employees in your organization.

Grow With The CRM Solution

Instead of just adopting a QuickBooks CRM for sales teams , since it does not cost much or is free, ensures that you find a CRM solution for your business that is unlikely to outgrow your organizational expansion. Therefore, opt for a CRM solution that can help your business grow effectively, keep up with your employee performances, and make your organization grow with the program.

Read Reviews On Various CRM Systems

Before you commit yourself to a particular customer relationship management solution, carry out in-depth research on your preferred QuickBooks CRM platform. As, the more information you have on different best CRM for QuickBooks online, the more informed choices you will able to make while purchasing your CRM solution with integrated accounting and invoicing module.

Check If Your CRM Helps Throughout The Customer Lifecycle

Make sure that your selected QuickBooks CRM for sales teams is capable of offering support to every department in your business. Right from Marketing, Sales, Support, and Accounting team members, with what they need to help your leads and customers at every phase of the customer lifecycle with your brand.

Best QuickBooks CRM solutions, not only aids in finding prospects but also helps in turning them into loyal customers and keep them through the long haul, by providing them unflinching services and great experiences.

Avoid Selecting Just for Big Names

It is natural that you can decide on big names in QuickBooks CRM as their reputation and credibility outreach others. However, always remember as each organization’s CRM requirements are different, so select the QuickBooks CRM tailored to your needs, rather than going for the “biggest names” other companies use and recommend online.

Go Beyond Just Features

While choosing your best QuickBooks CRM for sales teams, pick the right CRM tool by “thinking ahead of just the features” in the software. Instead, look for other important aspects of CRM integration, like the amount of available data storage facility in the CRM and pricing flexibility of the solution.

Go Mobile

In the present times, with more and more people using handheld devices, choose the best CRM for QuickBooks online , which can be accessed seamlessly across multiple devices over the Internet, including Windows Phone, iPhone, and Androids.

Look for Personalization

It is important that your selected QuickBooks CRM is capable of providing the personalization that modern consumers crave. Buy a CRM that can send personalized emails and other individualized bespoke communications, which are based on the acquired customer data. Since doing so can significantly enhance your marketing campaign’s, click-through rates and further increase your revenue.

Find who is accountable for Recovery, Backup, and Data Security

All businesses, be it big or small, can find themselves irrevocably crippled once they fall a prey to security breaches and cyber threats. Hence, it is absolutely critical to measure the security of the CRM software and understand the party responsible and involved for the software’s data backup, and information recovery.

Check Policy for Regulatory and Compliance Requirements

Before selecting your CRM software that offers QuickBooks CRM integration free, make sure that your CRM vendor’s data policy and contact guarantee are compliant in handling customer information, especially, when you are buying a cloud-based SaaS CRM solution for your business.

Consider API Calls

Modern day businesses mostly integrate multiple customer oriented business applications with their CRM. Therefore, make sure that you understand the confines on API calls into the easy to use CRM solution for integrating third-party business applications, other than QuickBooks such as Evernote, MS Outlooks, Gmail, RingCentral, Zapier, DocuSign, MailChimp, and others.

Takeaway

For more information or for a 14-Day free trial on QuickBooks CRM software, call ConvergeHub the award-winning best CRM software for QuickBooks.

5 Unsurpassable Benefits of Using Cloud Based CRM Systems

A cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is a vital tool for any contemporary sales stack. As your business grows, so does the number of customers and contacts you have to keep track of – which is where a robust cloud based CRM system comes into play. If you have not yet made the switch to a cloud based CRM system (or you have just not made the leap from spreadsheet to using an easy to use CRM at all). You could be letting down your sales teams and slowing down your businesses. Let us now explore the reason why more than 87% of modern businesses function better, with the help of a cloud based CRM system in their organization.

87% of modern businesses function better, with the help of a cloud based CRM system in their organization- Marketo Click To Tweet

If you have not yet made the switch to a cloud based CRM system (or you have just not made the leap from spreadsheet to using an easy to use CRM at all). You could be letting down your sales teams and slowing down your businesses.

What is a Cloud Based CRM system?

A cloud CRM or a SaaS based CRM system, as the very name suggests, resides in that elusive place, which we in the technical term call the ‘Cloud’. Although we cannot view where a cloud CRM dwells, however, we can indeed see and experience the benefits it provides over the traditional On-Premise CRM software platforms.

This is mostly because the positive impact of a cloud based CRM system makes you feel the CRM solution palpable, real, and substantial in its appearance.

For instance, there are several sales teams that rely on ConvergeHub Cloud based CRM solution to streamline their workflow, that includes email outreach, cold calling, managing their contact lists, tracking sales opportunities and activities, as well as optimizing their process of sales.

Let us now explore the reason why more than 87% of modern businesses function better, with the help of a cloud based CRM system in their organization.

5 Benefits of adopting Cloud based CRM systems

Hassle-Free Installation Process

For a small business or a startup to successfully adopt any new robust software, the primary thing is to get it started easily. After all, software that works seamlessly and moves quickly does not make you invest more time or efforts and resource on that application.

One of the greatest causes a business might fence sit and try not to use a CRM, is the imbibed fear that the installation of the software will be complicated and the onboarding of the business solution will be more of a trouble than it is worth its rewards.

Luckily, with a cloud based CRM system, installing the software is a procedure, which is as smooth as a breeze. As in a SaaS-based CRM software, there is no hardware involved in the installation process, you need not even set up your own server, and there is zero maintenance required for upholding the system.

This means you simply do not require an IT team to supervise the installation or data migration procedures since the CRM vendor will take care of all these aspects remotely.

In fact, as long as you have an internet access, getting started with a cloud based CRM system is an easy affair.

Sales teams admire and love cloud CRM solutions, as SaaS-based CRM is accessible from anywhere.

Most cloud CRM software like ConvergeHub and others are easy to use CRM software platforms that are mobile ready, which makes the sales reps access their important information they need about their contracts and deals on the go.

To access mobile cloud based CRM software, all you need is a Wi-Fi connection and the login credentials to connect with the software’s cloud base.

Moreover, since the CRM is hosted in the cloud, it also acts as a lifesaver on many instances, as the customer database in CRM is available 24/7- not just when you are at the office.

Per say, information stored in the CRM database is organized and accessible to everyone on the sales team from anywhere across the globe. Which implies your in-house sales reps can review the same data and information, as the sales reps meeting their clients on the road.

A cloud CRM is also a boon to the sales teams when anyone needs to make a last minute sales call while working remotely. Using this CRM platform, sales reps can quickly get the details they need for an important sales call or check up on a client whether they are on their tablet, phone, laptop or even borrowing someone else’s device.

Ease of Use

Not only does a cloud based CRM system ensures that your customer data in CRM is always there at your fingertips, but is also extremely easy to use.

The process of onboarding is a different experience for every CRM platform, but ConvergeHub easy to use CRM solution, does not involve a steep learning curve. Thanks to our extremely simple onboarding process, our CRM is designed to be up and running within minutes.

Businesses can upload and seamlessly synchronize existing customer data residing in their previously used online lead management software, edit the details whenever they want, and customize fields and reports in the CRM software to fit into their sales processes.

ConvergeHub cloud based CRM system also allows you to easily generate new leads, send cold email campaigns, keep track of existing customer data in CRM and their communications, as well as send follow-up emails for lead nurturing.

Scalability and Flexibility

Cloud based CRM software applications have the ability to keep up with any small and medium-sized business as it grows and thereby support your expanding team.

This agile and flexible nature of any SaaS CRM solution makes it perfect for businesses of any size, including startups looking for a software solution that can match their budget, size, and most importantly goals.

Because cloud CRM platforms can provide unlimited storage space and bandwidth without upgrading the system, cloud based CRM systems are more flexible than those On-Premise CRM software platforms that reside in the local servers.

This increased flexibility of cloud based CRM systems leads to a greater productivity and efficiency across the board.

Integration With Other Apps

Any reputed cloud CRM in the market can be easily integrated into your businesses’ existing workflow. This is a great news, since adopting a cloud based CRM solution, you do not have to invest in software applications that do not cooperate with the services and tools your employees rely on, to do their job well at the office.

Once you adopt a cloud CRM, just make sure that your CRM software is fully compatible with the services your marketing, sales, accounts and support teams use, such as email client, accounting software, telephony applications and others.

Compatibility is a matter of such importance to any startup’s sales stack that we built ConvergeHub specifically to help you integrate our customer relationship management software seamlessly with other applications you use every day, which includes Gmail, Google Drive, DocuSign, Zapier, QuickBooks accounting, RingCentral, MailChimp and several others.

For viewing the full list of all our integrations, you can visit our Integrations webpage. We are sure with our exhaustive list of integrations you will be seeking nothing further anymore.

Cost Savings

Small businesses and startups do not need to invest a lot to get started with a cloud based CRM system. Therefore, switching to a SaaS CRM is a low-risk business venture, with very high rewards.

The services offered by a cloud CRM software can save your sales team’s time and efforts by taking care of data management so that your sales and marketing reps can focus on selling and bringing in more revenue.

Additionally, a cloud CRM like ConvergeHub also requires fewer resources to maintain, so you do not need to hire a big IT team to manage your show.

Endnote

Therefore, now that you are aware of the benefits of what is a CRM on the cloud, try ConvergeHub the award-winning cloud CRM for small business that helps you to take control of your enterprise.

Tag: Cloud Based CRM

Company

Resources

Solutions

Product

10X Hub