September 8, 2021

Lobang: https://www.moneydigest.sg/9-reasons-why-crm-is-important-for-your-small-businesses/

In today’s competitive business environment, it is extremely important for all businesses, whether big or small, to have the edge over their competitors. And this can only be done by providing your customers with a memorable and hassle-free experience that will force them to come back to do more business with you. Whether you are selling a product or any services, the kind of user experience you provide to your customers decides the success of your business. And this is especially true for small businesses. Unlike bigger brands that can rely on popularity, a loyal customer base, and high investments to attract more customers, small businesses only have a superior customer experience to rely on to succeed. This is why CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is important for small businesses.

CRM is software that enables small businesses to efficiently handle operational challenges that include tackling sales decline, maintaining high-client retention, creating a strong brand image, and aligning sales and targets. And if you are a small business owner, then having a CRM in place will provide several benefits.

Benefits of CRM for small business

The one thing that all customers look for while doing business is how delightful their experience is while interacting with you. In this competitive business world, it is important to capitalize on building a loyal customer base and improve customer engagement rate. And realizing the importance of CRM, most businesses are now implementing this software for their benefit.

Client management

Businesses deal with a large amount of data. Whether it’s customer’s contact information, past purchases, their buying patterns, handling purchases and returns, etc., there is a lot of information that is difficult to manage manually. This is where CRM for small businesses can help you get organized. CRM software helps in digging out information about past clients with just a click of a button, and you don’t have to depend on any single employee to keep track of it all. CRM software stores all this data in one place, and it can be accessed by anyone giving businesses more operational freedom.

Tracking the profits

Keeping track of the finances is a stressful job. And as your business grows, the task becomes even more challenging. But a CRM system can organize all the financial information and make it easily available when needed. From orders, payments, profits, and overall business expenditure can all be managed and accessed easily. This not only saves time but also minimizes errors.

Order tracking and useful data generation

One of the most significant benefits of a CRM system is that it provides useful insights into your sales process. Through this information, you can analyze which areas in your sales process need improvement, where the workflow is getting weaker depending on call drops or order attrition. This way, the CRM system can help any potential sales from dropping off by indicating the areas that need improvement.

Strategic planning

CRM software is capable of doing a lot more than what is perceived of it. And one of the biggest benefits of CRM software is that it provides insightful data about sale trends, customer behaviour predicts lulls and high-sale periods depending on various factors, and even provides details about customer demographics. Depending on all this important information available, businesses can then make sales and marketing campaign strategies to boost business.

Improve productivity

Research has shown that CRM software increases productivity by 34 percent, which is a great boost to any business. By providing useful data, customer behaviour, and other details, businesses can focus on what needs to be done at any given point in time rather than trying different strategies all at once. CRM software also automates a lot of time-consuming, mundane tasks resulting in faster delivery of services. Automation means that your team members have more time in hand to focus on other important areas.

Maintaining compliance

Compliance is one of the most important aspects of any business, and CRM software can make this tedious process very simple. There are several CRM solutions for small businesses that provide in-built compliance features that can be used to ensure that your business is well within the federal or state laws.

Better customer services

Today’s customers demand a quick and accurate response from businesses, which can be a huge challenge, especially if you are doing business in different time zones. But a CRM software can solve this issue as it can analyze complaints and queries and generate responses to them. It can also create reports on the problem areas that can be further handled by the team members.

Lead generation

 With CRM systems able to analyse customer demographics and buying patterns, businesses can convert this information into targeted lead generation. By utilizing the data available, businesses can target customers through direct or indirect marketing campaigns.

Increased customer retention

With quick, responsive, and targeted customer services, CRM software helps in creating a memorable experience for the clients. This helps in forming an increased customer retention rate, an area that businesses always stretch themselves to master.

So, it is clear that there are several benefits of CRM for small businesses. This software not only guarantees better services but also provides businesses with a chance to grow profusely. All you need is an efficient CRM software provider who can integrate all the right features that fulfil your business needs.

 

 

 

The post 9 Reasons Why CRM Is Important for your Small Businesses appeared first on MoneyDigest.sg.

Lobang: https://www.moneydigest.sg/how-to-organize-an-engaging-virtual-team-building-event-during-remote-work/

Pandemic has disrupted the corporate world and brought major transformations in how we work. It is no surprise that post pandemic some organizations have switched to either fully remote or hybrid modes of work. Geographic constrains are no longer a hindrance to hiring and team sizes have also grown significantly. Remote work has been hailed as the solution to employee stress, productivity, and a myriad of other problems. However, after a few months into remote work, executives and organizations have become vocal about the pitfalls of remote work. Employees have reported feeling disconnected with their organization, isolated, lonely, and lacked trust in their employers. Remote teams were also found to have low morale and motivation. Interference with personal lives, emotional turmoil due to health concerns, and reduced interpersonal interactions with teams were found to be the major causes of poor employee mental health in remote work. When employees worked out of offices, these concerns still existed but regular interactions and team building activities boosted employee productivity.

Similar to how remote work has evolved during the pandemic, team building has evolved into a virtual activity too. It is not necessarily a new phenomenon as virtual team building has existed pre-pandemic. But the adoption of virtual team building has skyrocketed during the pandemic. It is a misconception that remote teams do not require team building activities. The need for Team building is more crucial in a virtual work environment than an office setup. Online team building games can help teams connect, collaborate, and communicate better in remote environments. These activities can forge relationships among team members regardless of team size and distance. Virtual team building can also play a vital role in new hire onboarding. Apart from these there are a myriad of reasons why online team building games have become popular. A few of the reasons are outlined below:

Improves employee mental health

Employees who work remotely are more at risk of feeling isolated, discontent and stressed than those working from offices. For remote employees there is also less work life balance which often leads to burn out. Juggling family responsibilities while working can also be overwhelming for some remote employees. Therefore, they may not be keen on interacting with their team members on a personal level or forging a bond. Organizing virtual team building activities such as ice breakers regularly can improve the mental health of remote workers greatly and help them in building relationships with their teams.

Boosts productivity and collaboration

Productivity and collaboration decrease when employees are stressed out. Fun virtual team building activities such as escape rooms, puzzles, trivia, mysteries, movie nights, virtual potlucks etc. can bring together your teams to destress and bond together. Research has always suggested that collaboration is higher in teams that bond together personally and productivity is higher in employees who are relaxed. For example, a study by Microsoft Japan has found that giving an extra day off to employees boosted productivity largely although the contrary was expected. Therefore, it is important to destress your teams regularly and make time for fun.

Emphasizes organizational culture

In remote employees it is easy to get disoriented from the organizational culture. As employees no longer interact with the culture in person, there is a risk of employees misaligning themselves with the culture. Culture binds an organization together and leads employees towards a common goal. Teams crumble when they are not aligned with the culture of an organization. Therefore, it is important to organize virtual team building activities that align and emphasize your organizational culture. Some examples are memory walls, photo sharing, ice breakers, truth or dare etc. Activities that are organized with a motto to strengthen your culture need to be conducted frequently to demonstrate your commitment to your employees.

Facilitates open communication

Communication among remote teams can suffer if open communication is not encouraged. Some executives and management often ignore a healthy two-way dialogue and adopt a top down communication strategy. This can severely damage relationships among team members too. Virtual team building activities such as scavenger hunts, story-telling, feedback sessions, trivia nights can encourage open dialogue among team members.

Enhances creativity and innovation

Creativity and Innovation can only be fostered in a nurturing environment. When employees are demotivated, stressed, or unengaged, creativity cannot flourish. Virtual activities like drawing, thinking hats, personality tests, etc. can spark your team’s creativity.

Retains talent

Lastly, when work is less stressful, motivating and fun, you can retain the brightest talent. A high employee turnover is not only expensive but also draining for your organization. Organizing team building activities will emphasize your commitment to employee well-being. Therefore, it is not an investment in employees, it is rather an investment into your organization.

It is often a misconception that virtual team building activities are not as engaging as regular ones. If planned and executed well, they are more intriguing, engaging, and relaxing than physical ones. They are also cost effective for organizations.

The post How to organize an engaging virtual team building event during remote work appeared first on MoneyDigest.sg.