What is a CRM?
CRM (customer relationship management) systems are great at helping business maximise customer interactions and sales efforts. They assist your team to build effective relationships and provide a better customer experience.
Why a CRM is not enough on its own
Whilst focusing on the customer and tracking leads is a requirement for any business wanting to improve marketing and generate new sales, it doesn’t help you if you need to do something a little more bespoke to the operational side of fulfilling those sales – tracking staff, where they work daily, vehicles, logistics or something else specific to the way your business needs to work.
And without careful planning, for how you’re going to deliver the new business you’re bringing in, then you will hit a point where, without improving how you operate also, you can’t grow further.
Every business is unique
Operationally, every business has unique processes that can’t easily be met by something off-the-shelf like a CRM – and while CRM’s are customisable to a point, you’ll likely spend more time adapting your business to the way the software works, and fixing its quirks and problems, than if you’d have started by building something specific to your business in the first place.
The key questions you should ask yourself
In deciding why a CRM might be appropriate for your business or not:
- Can what you want to achieve be done well enough by an off-the-shelf CRM solution?
- If you need to adapt a CRM solution to fit your business, or your business to fit the solution, can that be done easily without spending significant time and resource?
If no to both of these questions, then custom software development may be a better choice for you.
Need any help?
I hope this article on why a CRM is not a good fit for every business is useful. If you’d like to discuss any points raised, we’d love to hear – leave a comment below.
Or, if you’re struggling to find a company that has something to fit the way your business works we’re happy to help with some free advice. Give us a call on 01992 466877 or contact us
