Smith runs a real-estate agency. His most valuable capitals 5 years ago were his passion for exploring new properties and a keen eye for details. Operating with a small team of 3-4 individuals on a bootstrap budget, Smith made do with the most familiar tools that he could afford. With time, his business grew! Today, Smith’s real-estate agency has a robust team of 50 and a growing clientele. But, he has been using the same tools for managing his business so far. As a result, he is feeling the data-pinch like never before! Spreadsheets that need updates are piling up, data is scattered across devices and customer data is not organized. Further to this nightmare, Smith has started facing customer-complaints for delayed follow-ups and simple errors. The situation is more or less the same for most small and mid-sized businesses. When a business starts out, the team size is small and so is the clientele. Thus, it becomes easy to manage with generic tools such as spreadsheets, Google drives etc. But, eventually managing these tools become a challenge to the business as a whole. A CRM is an essential investment for any business that intends to grow lets you manage your relationships with customers in a much-organized manner. But, does your business need it now? Here are 3 signs that’ll show you, whether your business needs a CRM system now!
1. Too Many Spreadsheets are Shared Across Your Team
When a business is dependent on spreadsheets, its employees tend to spend an enormous amount of time updating these spreadsheets following every development that occurs in day-to-day business processes. With multiple spreadsheets shared across teams, it becomes almost impossible for different departments such as marketing, sales, and customer service to access up-to-date data in real-time. As a result, the customer service likely to gain a bad reputation. Here, a CRM is the perfect tool to store data in a centralized location which is accessible to your team members across the team 2. Constantly Reminding Your Sales Reps to Follow-Up
Follow-ups are critical for closing sales. But keeping track of all your follow-up calls and meetings with help of sticky notes, spreadsheets or legal pads could be exhausting. The absence of an automated system with consistent follow-up reminders can cause your sales representatives to miss out on important and potential leads. A CRM system will help your sales team to follow up on incoming leads in real-time. The CRM system can provide your team with reminders so that they know when a lead or customer needs to be contacted. This allows your team to reach out at the right time to build a relationship with a prospect or customer. 3. Your Customer Service is Suffering
Every customer wants to be valued and treated well. Effective customer engagement involves supporting clients throughout the customer journey and retaining them in the business for a fairly long time. CRM helps you analyze customer behavior and buying patterns, allowing you to offer personalized deals from time to time. 47% CRM users say that their CRM had a significant impact on customer retention and customer satisfaction. Automated customer service tools help you resolve complaints/issues effectively and support customers 24×7. A satisfied customer tends to stay loyal and is more likely to refer your brand to others. The CRM system helps keep track of the purchase history of each customer, making it easier for you to target existing customers for cross-sale and up-sale opportunities. There comes a time for each business when it out-grows spreadsheets and Google drives. The above three scenarios are the biggest indicators of that. So, if your business is showing these signs lately, it is time to implement a CRM system and start growing. 
