In today’s fiercely competitive business landscape, small- and mid-size businesses (SMBs) increasingly recognize the transformative power of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions. A study by Fit Small Business found that while less than 50% of SMBs currently use a CRM, the market is predicted to grow 12.5% year-over-year until 2030. More than a mere tool in the SMB tech stack, CRMs have evolved into strategic assets that optimize sales and marketing processes, enhance revenue forecasting accuracy, and elevate customer experiences. By providing the necessary structure, tools, and automation, CRM systems empower SMBs to scale their operations and achieve unprecedented growth.
As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), you are in the unique position to lead your clients through this critical transition, even if CRM solutions are not currently part of your core offerings. In this blog, you’ll find out how to confidently guide your SMB clients through the CRM adoption process; helping them unlock their full potential with insights and strategies to effectively identify and respond to cues that signal CRM readiness.
Four key indicators of CRM readiness
When it comes to scoping and selecting CRM systems, the SMB decision-maker is often an economic buyer, such as the Owner or Director of Sales, rather than a technical buyer. While MSPs may frequently learn about their client’s readiness for a CRM system through direct requests from technical buyers, there are other telltale signs that indicate your SMB client is ready to consider a CRM system.
1. Sales team growth: As SMBs expand their sales teams, the need for a CRM system becomes readily apparent, whether they’re growing from one salesperson to two or expanding a small team into a full department. A CRM system is critical to equipping a growing number of sales representatives with the ability to effectively track leads, monitor sales activities, and increase sales velocity. Additionally, a CRM provides the necessary tools to manage sales pipelines, assign leads, and measure performance consistently. In fact, research shows that companies using CRM systems can improve sales productivity by up to 34%. Take note of any SMB clients with growing sales teams as this is a clear indicator of CRM readiness.
2. Ineffective lead management: SMBs that rely on manual methods for tracking leads and managing email communications often face challenges maintaining accurate data and consistently following up on opportunities. Inconsistent lead management can cost SMBs revenue and even damage their reputation as reliable business partners. A CRM system streamlines lead tracking by capturing all interactions in one place, setting reminders for follow-ups and automating email campaigns. This ensures that no lead falls through the cracks and allows sales representatives to focus on building relationships and closing deals. In fact, SMBs using CRM systems have reported a 51% increase in lead conversions after implementation. Your clients might be signaling CRM readiness if they mention navigating leads via email, using large spreadsheets to manage customer data, setting reminders to follow up with leads on their Outlook calendars, or even relying on paper journals and datebooks.
3. Challenges predicting revenue: Consistent revenue tracking and accurate forecasting are critical for the growth and sustainability of any business. Without a formal system in place, SMBs often struggle with understanding their sales performance and forecasting revenue. A CRM system provides the necessary structure to achieve consistency in reporting and analytics, enabling businesses to effectively track leads, identify opportunities, and make data-driven decisions within their sales processes. In contrast, high turnover in the sales department can be a red flag, indicating that the business may not be leveraging data effectively to set and measure sales targets. Additionally, inconsistencies in buyer behavior for other MSP-related services could signal issues in revenue management and predictability. By paying attention to these indicators, you can help your SMB clients explore how CRM systems can address these challenges and drive sustainable revenue growth.
4. Limited data access and reporting: While having access to baseline sales data and dashboards is crucial to gain real-time insights into business performance, many SMBs rely on spreadsheets that require time-consuming manual manipulation for data extraction and evaluation. This lack of timely access to accurate data can create silos that strain the entire organization and result in a business run on intuition versus data-driven insights. A CRM system provides accurate data and reporting via dashboards that display key metrics and KPIs in real time, allowing businesses to quickly and easily monitor their progress and identify areas for improvement. These dashboards offer a visual representation of data, making it easier for SMBs to understand their sales performance, track customer interactions, and measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. This readiness signal is easy to spot in conversation as it impacts almost everyone in the organization. When asking your clients questions about their data, listen for responses that indicate limited data access and no “single source of truth” for data integrity.
Learning to listen for these cues that signal CRM readiness can help you engage your clients in deeper business conversations and position yourself as a trusted advisor for their business and technology needs.
Strategies to guide your clients toward a solution
Once you’ve determined that your client is ready for a CRM system, your next step is identifying their unique needs and challenges so you can build a strong business case that helps guide them toward the right solution.
Whether it’s a formal meeting or a casual conversation with key stakeholders, a discovery session will help you gather valuable insights through a dialogue of open-ended questions. The goal is to collect specific, relevant, and timely information about your client’s data and sales processes.
During the discovery session, focus on understanding the following:
- Current challenges: Identify the qualitative and quantitative impacts of not having a CRM system today. Gather specific examples that clearly illustrate the challenges and how they impact the business.
- Past considerations: Inquire about previous discussions or considerations regarding implementing a CRM system, including any roadblocks. This can provide additional context and reveal any lingering concerns, misconceptions, or objections.
- Potential benefits: Discuss specific areas of the business where implementing a CRM system will have a positive impact. Highlight how utilizing a CRM can streamline processes, improve efficiency, and drive growth.
- Risks of inaction: Identify the potential drawbacks and costs associated with not implementing a CRM system. Explain how these risks can negatively impact the business in the long term.
By the end of the discovery session, you should have a comprehensive understanding of your client’s needs and challenges, enabling you to build a compelling business case for a CRM system.
How to create a compelling business case
Helping your clients understand the positive impact a CRM system can have on their business is crucial. This is your opportunity to showcase lessons learned from the discovery session while uncovering your clients’ motivation and willingness to move the process forward.
At this stage, your business case doesn’t need to be complex or lengthy; the goal is to start a more formalized discussion and gauge your client’s openness to act. It is important to tailor the business case with the following high-level components in mind:
Address buyer types and motivations
Ensure your business case addresses the needs of all key stakeholders, including both the economic and technical buyers:
- Economic buyer: Include stats and information on how a CRM can streamline sales and marketing processes, improve revenue forecasting, and enhance customer experiences.
- Technical buyer: Highlight benefits to the tech stack, such as enhanced security, productivity gains, system integrations, and technical specs for implementation and support.
Demonstrate how a CRM can address specific challenges and opportunities you’ve observed in your discovery conversations. This personalizes the business case and showcases your value as a trusted advisor.
Make CRM recommendations
At this stage, you should provide several high-level CRM solution suggestions that best align with your client’s specific business needs. Baseline aspects to consider when making recommendations include:
- CRM experience
- Implementation style
- Technical specifications
- System integrations
- Security protocols
- System features, optimizations, and customizations specific to SMBs
- Cost sensitivity
While there are many CRM options, some solutions are better optimized for SMBs, featuring affordable price points and limiting complex features and functionality that SMBs seldom utilize. A great option for SMBs just entering the CRM space is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Professional, as it offers a competitive pricing model, real-time dashboards to track marketing leads and sales funnel, and seamless integration with Outlook, Teams, and Excel.
Provide a sample project timeline
Ensure alignment on project delivery by giving your client a general overview of the timeline for adopting a new CRM system. Explain the phases of implementation, from scoping to deployment, and emphasize the importance of a smooth transition. This is also an opportunity to identify other stakeholders and address any additional considerations that might impact the project timeline.
Present a general ROI
To demonstrate the full value of implementing a CRM system, calculate the potential financial gains from increased sales, improved efficiency, and better customer retention. By providing a clear and data-driven business case, you can give your client valuable insights into the tangible benefits and justify the investment in a new CRM system.
Better understanding your client enables you to present high-level solutions as jumping off points to move the conversation forward to a formal project plan with technical scoping, pricing, timelines, training, and support plans.
Help clients achieve long-term growth
Implementing a CRM system can be a complex but transformative process for SMB clients. For MSPs on the other hand, it can feel overwhelming, especially if CRM solutioning is new to your practice or outside of your core area of expertise. The good news is you don’t have to miss out on the opportunity to serve your clients in this area of their business. Many MSPs choose to engage a partner with expertise in delivering CRM solutions to help develop the project, manage the implementation, and provide ongoing support services.
Pax8 Professional Services offers proven CRM system expertise and affordable fixed-scope, fixed-price implementation and support options tailored specifically to the needs of your SMB clients. With our team providing additional bandwidth and experience, you’ll guide clients toward adopting a CRM system with ease. Partnering with Pax8 Professional Services ensures that you take the lead in meeting your clients’ current and evolving CRM needs while delivering exceptional value and successful implementations.
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