In the right hands, customer relationship management platforms are useful tools that help marketers become more efficient and effective with consumer data. Yet like any business product, CRM software requires resources to acquire, maintain, and know-how. For a smaller brand or marketing team with a limited number of clients, CRM might be an unnecessary expense. In these cases, it might be easier to manage your relationship management needs in-house and save the software for another day.
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If you’re that smaller brand wondering when’s the right time to invest in CRM, you’ll probably find that as you grow, a time will come when the benefits of CRM start to outweigh the costs. Be on the lookout for the following signs:
You’re growing too fast to keep up with new clients
For any emerging business, growth is usually a primary goal. Unfortunately, the resources to sustain growth at scale cannot always be distributed equally — perhaps you cannot afford to hire additional marketers who would manage customer relationships. When this occurs, CRM tools are invaluable options that allow solo marketers and smaller teams to track user data efficiently.
If you’ve reached the point where the brand is struggling to acquire or acclimate to new customer groups, that’s a good sign that CRM tools can assist you.
Overly disorganized client information
Perhaps you feel comfortable with your current level of growth, but face challenges keeping your customer data organized. To successfully manage a customer, you typically need a name, email address, personal address, and copies or references for each communication. Any marketer can start out working from print-outs or a well-designed Excel spreadsheet, but many continue to store information on post-its, which won’t cut it for long.
Even when working from formats like spreadsheets, manual approaches tend to become unwieldy over time. This is especially complicated if you attempt to save every communication you have with a customer. Emails, text messages, and social media posts are often stored across distinct platforms, creating hurdles for copying or accessing them.
You need a consistent marketing funnel
Few emerging brands require CRM tools right away, but as the organization grows, you will need a consistent approach to tracking leads. CRM platforms accomplish this by organizing customer data in ways that are accessible, easy-to-understand, and tailored for marketing departments. This lets team members direct prospects across any number of funnels, recommend marketing-qualified leads to sales, and handle any appropriate follow-up messaging.
At the end of the day, CRM platforms are specialized tools that help you communicate with leads at every point in the sales journey. If you’re ready to scale up to that challenge, then CRM is right for you.