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In this day and age, anyone who runs a business needs to understand technology. No matter what industry you work within, it will be increasing its use of technology right now; from farming, to clothing, to cars, to furniture, to real estate. 

One of the biggest decisions you can make as a small business owner is choosing your CRM platform. In this blog, we will go through why CRMs are so important, and how to pick the right one for your company.

What is a CRM platform?

CRM, standing for customer relationship management, is a piece of software that helps a business manage its interactions with customers. All companies that operate digitally need a CRM platform to host and store these interactions and the relevant information attached to them.

3 Tips For Choosing The Right CRM Platform For Your Business

1. Assess your customer relations needs.

Ultimately, you are seeking a CRM platform that will fulfil the needs of your customer base. The basic needs of digital customers are all the same, no matter what line of work you are in; these include watertight cyber security, good UX, and a reliable service. 

Beyond these basic needs, your CRM will need to cater to the requirements of your customer demographic. These include:

• Their age. What kind of technology is your demographic used to using? Are they the TikTok generation, or an older group? This will affect the type of CRM that will work best for your company.
• The type of products you sell. For example, if you sell cars, platforms such as erapower will help you showcase these by using virtual showrooms on their CRM platform. 
• The scale of your operation. Small businesses don’t need the CRM capabilities of Apple, to give just one example!

2. Formulate a realistic budget for your CRM platform.

Next, it’s time to take a close look at your budget. Large corporations spend millions on their CRM platforms, but this is usually due to having their own platforms designed in-house. 

For a small business, your budget for your CRM platform doesn’t need to be extortionate – but it is also crucial not to sell yourself short. Your CRM platform will be the first point of contact between most of your customers and your small business. If you don’t invest in a high quality CRM, you might be limiting your company’s potential for expansion and success.

3. Learn how to prioritise for your business needs. 

Finding the perfect CRM platform for your business is about ticking boxes – and prioritising the order of the boxes you need to tick.

Prioritising your business’ needs – which might include budget, user experience, security, scale, or any number of other factors – is a crucial step in narrowing down the CRM platform providers that you want to approach.

Final Thoughts

If you run a small business and aren’t using a CRM platform, it’s time to get started on your journey to online success! Use this blog to help you choose the right CRM platform to invest in.