Why you need a customer database and CRM?

Customer Database And CRM

Today we’re going to talk about why you need a customer database / CRM.

If your company does not have a customer database / CRM and uses it properly then you’re wasting a ton of money, duplicating data input entries, and losing out on efficiencies, sales, and profits while increasing operating costs.

I meet so many contracting companies who don’t keep a current and active database of their customers.

Even fewer who have a CRM – which is a 100 dollar term for a customer relationship management software system that helps you manage interactions with your sales leads, your existing customers, and integrates with your other key software systems.

Why are you spending a fortune on marketing and advertising to attract new customers and then ignoring the ones who don’t close into a sale right away?

Do you leave it up to your salespeople to follow up?

That’s NOT a system. That’s not the way to get the most sales out of every marketing and advertising dollar.

What process do you have in place to follow up on every sales lead?

A good CRM will help you automatically follow up with every sales lead.

It will trigger phone calls, send email follow-ups and drip campaigns, add prospects and customers to your email newsletter list and text messaging system.

It will assign leads to salespeople, provide up-selling and financing options for your field technicians, and so much more.

A great CRM will include caller ID so you have all the customer’s data and service history on the screen when they call.

A great CRM will provide a dispatching system, integrate with your accounting system so you’re not wasting time and money on double data entries, it will integrate with your reputation management system or include one within it, integrate with automated referral software, your website forms, and more.

A great CRM will track your inventory and equipment.

A great CRM will literally change your business and/or life.

Your team is working twice as hard as they need to and costing you much more than they would if you had a great CRM. Your sales team is winging it without one and costing you sales. Improve your conversion rates and return on ad spend.

A great CRM will include your price book with financing options and provide powerful sales presentations to help your field staff sell more jobs and create more upsells.

A great CRM will help your customer service reps book more appointments from the calls they get.

A great CRM will help you easily track which ads are performing for you and which ones to aren’t and you need to stop.

A great CRM will let your prospects know the service tech is on his way and follows up with them after the job is done to provide receipts and ask for reviews.

Are you constantly spending money to attract new customers and ignoring your existing ones?

A great CRM integrates with your email marketing, reputation management, and automated referral systems.

The list goes on and on folks, can you see the power of what you’re missing if you’re lacking one of these powerful systems?

Every department in your company becomes more efficient and more profitable with a great customer relationship management system.

Here are some CRM’s for you to take a look at are:

Service Titan – for plumbing, HVAC, garage door, water treatment, pool service, pest control, or landscaping companies

HubSpot and HouseCall Pro are two more for those same industries, as well as for solar installers.

A few others are:

MarketSharp and Improvit 360 (for remodelers or builders)

Job Nimbus – for roofing

In podcast #1 we talked about creating systems to streamline your business and make sure it delivers an efficient, consistent, and repeatable service to your customers like a franchise or national chain does.

All of that is nearly impossible or will cost you so much more than it needs to, without a great CRM system as the foundation of your processes.

You’ll also probably best served to find a consultant that works with the CRM you choose to help your team get the absolute most out of it.

Remember people, processes, and products are what make or break your company and dictate how profitable it will be.

And the process is best served by your people creating standard operating procedures and your CRM software making those processes as efficient and powerful as possible.

I hope that helps some of you, in fact, I know it will if you take the action necessary to get the ball rolling on streamlining your systems.

Do the work upfront so you can cut a ton of work out of your team’s day, close more sales, and stay connected to your existing clients to increase their lifetime value.

Be more efficient, impressive, and profitable by using the power of automation!

Okay, thanks for your time and attention.

Good luck out there and create a great day!