So, in the big picture, we’re a B2B business that makes it easier for B2C businesses to reach their customers. So, even though we’re experts at building digital marketing strategies that work and we can build a website that converts, we are new at managing onboarding clients and finding leads while we’re maintaining our current clients.
For us, this has been the main learning curve. In the beginning we created a structure, a really good structure for maintaining client updates, but it has been completely manual using our project management system. Now that we’re growing in all the aspects of our business, trying to manage and remember everything we have going for onboarding, leads, and current clients could be a job by itself. Well, it’s just us two and ain’t nobody got time for that.
So we’re finally setting down our manual system and working to transfer all of our information to the CRM, a client relationship manager, that can help us automate some of our processes.
So we launched into researching what we need and the right platform for us. If that’s where you are too, Courtney made a GREAT video comparing the Dubsado and Hubspot CRMs. Click Here to Watch that.
If you’re not sure exactly what you need yet, you’re in the right place.
How to Know If You Need a CRM
Not every business will ever need a CRM at all.
And for businesses that will, it isn’t necessary in the beginning. Especially if you’re dealing with low volumes of customers, clients, and leads.
However as you grow, the question of whether you need a CRM becomes really clear because things start to get messy without one. Usually, you’ll start to notice that things like follow up emails and reminders for leads can really easily fall through the cracks.
As your business grows, you have to be able to handle higher and higher volumes of leads and clients without worrying about whether you’ve sent the right onboarding emails and that your proposals are being sent and followed up on. When you start having issues with timing like, “I have to finish this client work, send two big proposals this week, and take several calls with leads,” it’s time to get a CRM for your business.
Now for some businesses, a Customer Support Platform will serve you really well and you don’t need a CRM. Make sure you know which one will work best for your business.
What is the Difference between a CRM and a Customer Support Platform?
There is an interesting amount of overlap between a CRM and a Customer Support Platform. Most businesses don’t need both types of platforms until they are pretty big and they have multiple streams of income – like a product business that sells online B2C and has a wholesale department that operates B2B.
For right now, you probably need one or the other but you should be clear on what you need before you jump in and set up a whole platform, which can take a good chunk of time to do.
The main difference between a CRM and a customer support platform is the nature of the way that a business interacts with its customers or clients.
When to use a CRM
A CRM like Dubsabo lends itself to higher ticket client work where the nature of the conversation is unique. This can be a client business like a digital marketing company, a registered online therapist, or the wholesale department of a company that sells products. In all of these cases, the people that you’re working with:
- Buy through a sales call
- Have a more personal relationship with the business than just a money-for-service exchange.
- Typically have a follow up call
- Have the potential to build an ongoing relationship
- relationship is a really important part of the overall health of your business.
Another way to look at it is that CRMs are built to help you focus on transitioning leads to customers. If your business has any kind of hands on sales program, you will need a CRM as you grow.
When to use a customer support program
A customer support platform like Zendesk is designed to help with high volume, relatively impersonal customer questions.
This is especially useful for ecommerce companies that sell products or services that people can purchase without the help of a business representative.
There will always (ALWAYS) be questions about how to use your product, shipping issues, broken arrivals, people that don’t like what they received, or maybe even never got what they paid for. That’s all normal customer stuff, and those questions are better serviced by a platform where people can easily write in to contact you with direct questions.
Additionally, this group of people doesn’t need you to hold their hands or make unique proposals to make the sale. All of the follow ups can be automated and personalized within your email marketing platform.
What is the Best Option?
We’re in the process of researching and choosing right now, and Dubsado is the sure winner because it’s more integrated for exactly what we need. It came down to a close race between Hubspot and Dubsado and it was super close.
Here’s Courtney’s video for you:
Do you use a CRM for your business? Tell us about it in the comments below!
