As the economy takes a turn for the worse, many SMEs are understandably concerned about the impact that this will have on their revenue, and the lack of stability that comes with economic uncertainty.
Sales are fundamental to business success and revenue growth, but maximising sales is difficult without a stable and growing customer base. Adding a CRM to the process will help you to measure your progress and control the sales function. You can develop a CRM system from scratch or choose one from existing on the market and customize it due to your company’s business needs. For this, you can find Salesforce developers for hire, for instance, who make sure that you gain all the benefits from using the CRM.
But how do you fulfill your CRM with new potential customers and partners? One of the most important things you should be doing for your business right now is to focus on customer experience and satisfaction.
This will ultimately assist in growing your business revenue. Here’s 5 tips on getting this right:
1. Know your client
Differentiate your business from its competitors by spending the extra time and effort getting to know your clients and building meaningful relationships.
Every client wants to know that they matter and that the businesses helping them actually care about the results and outcomes that they achieve.
Show enthusiasm and interest in helping your clients to accomplish what they came to you for. No amount of technology or automated communication can replace human connection, so put the effort in and your business revenue will benefit from it.
2. Don’t stop learning
We all want the best service and outcome for the money we spend, so putting in the time to really educate yourself on what you can offer your clients to make a difference will go a long way. Your client should feel confident that you’re not only giving them a solution, but a choice.
Staying up to date with the latest news and information relevant to their market should be your first step.
3. Be aware of what they want, and what they don’t want
You should have a clear understanding of exactly what your client wants from you – so don’t sell them anything you know they don’t need.
They’ll come back, and recommend you to other people, if they trust you and feel respect in the relationship that you’ve built, so listen to their needs and work on what they actually want, rather than what else you can sell them in the short term.
Here, you can use your CRM to categorise your clients into different interests and needs, so that you offer solutions best suited to them and don’t try to sell them services that aren’t the right fit.
4. Be proactive, not reactive
Your clients will prefer services that offer them options up front, rather than reactive solutions as an afterthought. Foster your relationships by finding the right balance between being available when needed, but not too pushy.
Follow up when you feel it’s appropriate to check to see how they’re finding your service.
5. Form good partnerships
Having the right partners in business can often make or break a company. Invest your time and energy into finding the right partnerships for both you and your business, and try to ensure that your goals and objectives are aligned.
Don’t expect to do everything yourself – you should be prepared to delegate tasks and ask for help where it’s needed.
Treat each relationship as an investment; the more you put into it, the more you’re likely to get out of it. Every partnership needs hard work put into it to thrive, but this will ultimately help to grow both your business and its revenue.
Arun Maharaj is the Chief Executive Officer of HashChing.
