• Why a CRM is important in your business
• Different types of CRMs
• Understanding what your requirements are
• How to choose a CRM that will suit your business

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Full Episode Transcription

Nicole Smith 0:02
Welcome to take control with Nicole. As business owners, we experienced firsthand the fine line between our personal and business life. During our conversations, we will look at simple hints and tips to create time, reduce, overwhelm, and help you to navigate through your journey to where you want to be. If you’re looking for smarter ways to work, and create space and time freedom in your day, then you’re in the right place. All right, let’s go. Hello, hello, and welcome to another fabulous episode of take control with Nicole.

So today is another special episode where I am talking about CRMs. So client relationship management tools, there are so many options out there. And I know many of my clients arrive and they’re like, I don’t know what to choose. I hear you because there’s so many options out there. But today’s episode, I’m not talking about specific software, I’m talking about what is it? What are we actually looking for? And what is the purpose of a CRM in our businesses. So get ready, have a great time listening, and I’d love to know what you think at the end of the episode.

Good morning. How are we all I hope you have had a fabulous morning so far, what are we 10 o’clock here in Melbourne. And in most cities in Australia at the moment from Adelaide, I know Adelaide in a different timezone. Because Kathy always reminds me of that, but it’s a beautiful day here today I’ve got the sun shining, which is lovely. Up Good morning, Hello, nice to see you. Today, we are going to be talking about CRM or client relationship management tools. So when it you are running your business, being able to capture all of the information in that central location is really key to really building out that client experience that is going to be enjoyable. But not only that, so that you have some data in your business that you can actually start to use, make sense of, and actually put it to make changes into your business that are really going to make you fly, bring some really exciting things into your world. So I’ve already had my coffee. So onto the water already hydrate all fun things. So what is a purpose of a CRM or a client relationship manager? In a nutshell, we’re streamlining of that word. were integrating, we’re really creating a space, a central location to again capture to in create that client experience it’s seamless to have and start to use the data that we capture with our clients to make use of it to make sense of it to become aware of what is working, what is not working. What do we need to maybe make some tweaks to or what do we want to do more of, if there’s a particular thing that you are your most popular service, your most popular post, once you have that information, then that data, you can actually start to replicate that across and do fantastic things with it. But what I wanted to do just briefly is talk about the types of CRM so everybody, when they say CRM, it’s a bit like, ah, where do I even start, there are so many options out there. They’re all claiming, like all the software, they’re all claiming to do the biggest, the best solve all your problems, do everything perfectly. But really, then when you dig under the surface, each of the software’s have a specific purpose that they were initially developed for. Be that that it’s a collaboration tool. So say you’re a bigger business, you’ve got multiple departments across multiple locations. A collaboration CRM with the purpose of that is to really bring all that information together. So when your client, your customer is here, whichever department they contact within your business, we’re all going to that same central location, we’ve got all the history there, we’ve got all the transactions, everything there is so it doesn’t seem like your client or your customer is just brand new, and we’re having to start and repeat and repeat and repeat.

Just interrupting this episode for one little message. If you have been listening and love what you hear Want to come in Connect, we have a tight control with Nicole Facebook community, right over there on Facebook that I would love to invite you to come and join us. We are a supportive community, we are looking to really take action in our businesses and change the way or evolve the way we’re working right now. So I invite you to get hold on over and join our community and connect with us all community is the essence of everything in business, being able to really build those relationships that you can nurture, and grow and support and celebrate each other. Oh, how fabulous, I hope to see you over there, pop on over to Facebook, take control with the code, see you soon.

The next one is a more of an operational based one. So for instance, you know, I use ClickUp and in ClickUp, I have built my CRM in there. Now that is a more basic solution with some small automations. But if you’re looking at the bigger tools, the bigger sort of more software based applications, an operational CRM does exactly that. So it captures the client experience the client journey, right from that lead process, all the way to the actually working with your clients, and then off boarding as well. It also really brings those processes and those workflows into light. They’re all in there, they’re all automated, again, that that central location, which is the aim of the game, to capture everything into the one solution, the one location so that you’ve got the information there and ready to go. And it’s really nice and easy each and every day. Some of those systems as well have marketing automations, and things like that as well, that again, you capture that information in one location scatter basically, that is the point of a CRM, isn’t it capturing it central location.

Another CRM type that you could be looking at is more of an analytical CRM. So when you’re talking about that, you’re looking at the data. We love the data. I’ve said data a few times now, but this one is, in particular, you might have a load of information, maybe your business has been around for a while. M aybe you’re a product based business, and you’ve got all of the information on your sales, and you want to see which products are actually working for me right now, which marketing campaigns have been super successful? And what is the transit transition and the transition ratios between leads to clients or customers? Which ones? How does that flow all through? Again, having that information can help you to become aware and make those more educated decisions on which and which way you want to go. So for some entrepreneurial businesses, the operational type CRM is the most popular that everyone’s looking to bring into their business, we want to really create that ease and enjoy enjoyment each and every day. So if we have that invest that time to build out your solution, be that software programme, or be that something like clickup, where you’ve got your processes in there and ready to go. When we are looking at selecting a solution. Just remember, I think I’ve already said it, but there is no one solution that’s going to tick all the boxes. So it’s really about understanding what your requirements are, and what features are really, really important to you right now. And potentially in the future.

It’s really about understanding that information so that when you go out and you have a look at all of the solutions, you can start to bring those numbers down. So you don’t end up with hundreds on a spreadsheet, and you’re not sure where to start. I always advise that with anything that you’re looking for, have a think about what your processes are, and your workflows are right now and how those tools will fit into those workflows. There is no point in grabbing a solution, then try to squish yourself in there. If you really understand how your business operates and where and what you need to be focusing on. That’s going to make again their selections, system purpose selection, process even so much more enjoyable. If however, as well, you’re the study your business, and maybe the financial commitments, we don’t have the financial backing right now to make an investment in one of those solutions. That doesn’t mean that you can’t start collecting the data. So use your project management tool. If you click up if you Trello if your Asana create a space in there that’s going to capture the information that you need for each of your clients. introduce a form for your own onboarding so that you can collect that information again, central location? What does your your proposal and your agreement process look like? And are we using electronic signatures for those, all of those things that yes can be available in a in a software solution in a CRM are also available, either in a free version, or in a low cost options, so that you’re not investing lots of money into a solution, when you’re still just developing out your business. However, it really is to understand what your priorities are in your business right now, if you’re starting, and you’re just ready to rock and scale, then maybe it is the right time to find that solution and invest in development, design that out. However, if you’re still just starting, you kind of know what you’re gonna do. But you’re still like working through an evolving, having an inner in a system like your task management solution is such a fabulous way to go.

Because as you grow, you evolve your processes, you evolve the way you work. And then when you get to a capacity, and you’ve got the financial income coming in, and you’re, you’re ready to actually invest, you know how you want that system to work, you’ve already been working that way, same way each and every day for the last year, year and a half, two years, so that you know that you’ve got to make that decision on educated experience from your own business, rather than getting knowledge from other people who have been through it as well. Okay, well, in a nutshell, that’s just a little bit about CRMs. This month, in the members lounge, we are focusing all about client experience. And a part of that is capturing the client information in a system, a CRM, even a spreadsheet. If you are at that stage, you want to start with a spreadsheet and you love it, that’s fine. The aim of the game, capture your information, start to collect your data, and working away that’s going to start to bring ease and simplicity in it to your world. And if you’ve got any questions about CRM is about anything. Drop me a DM, I love to chat all of this stuff. So have a great day. And I’ll see you soon. Bye. So what do we think? Are we clearer now on the purpose of a CRM? Do we know exactly what we’re going to be looking for? And at what stage of your business? are you right now? What type of solution do you think will really fit and support you at the stage that you are right now, to really get you ready to scale and grow or evolve into whatever the next stage of your business is? As always, any questions pop over into the DMS on Instagram because I love chatting systems process and streamlining solutions, all the fun things. It makes me just smile whenever I had the conversations about it. I know very geeky, hey, but I love it. I’m owning it. And that is me. I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your day, creating space and time freedom by now.

Well, there we go. Thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been such a pleasure having you on board. Have we connected on social shares? If not, please come on over. Say hi, I’m on all the platforms at the artisan solutions. So I’d really look forward to seeing you over there. And if you enjoy today’s episode, don’t forget to tag me and I would love it if you could leave a review. And of course share this with others so others can come and join us next time. All right, then everyone have a fabulous rest of the week and until next time. See you then.