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Different Size Businesses Need Different CRMs

Different Size Businesses Need Different CRMs

January 11, 2024

Establishing and nurturing positive customer relationships stands as important for any business. A vital tool in achieving this goal is the implementation of a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. While many CRMs share common features, some offer more advanced capabilities at a higher cost. This month, we will explore the suitable CRM options for businesses at different levels.

Exploring Business Sizes

Before getting into the advantages of deploying a CRM, it's crucial to understand what size businesses we are going to talk about in this article. 

  • Startup or Micro-business - Businesses with fewer than seven employees.
  • Small Business - Businesses with eight to 15 employees.
  • Medium-Sized Business - Businesses with 16 to 250 employees.
  • Enterprise - Businesses with over 250 employees.

Understanding CRM Development

Like any other software developer, companies that create CRM platforms prioritize creating comprehensive products to maximize revenue. Consequently, these offerings are tailored more towards larger enterprises.  Let's examine the CRM needs by business size.

Startup or Microbusiness

For these smaller entities, cost is a significant concern. Paid CRMs may be financially out of reach, but fortunately, there are many free-to-use CRMs that provide essential features. These platforms promote user adoption and offer built-in automation, sales management, prospect tracking, and more.

Small Business

Growing small businesses share similar needs with startups but must also consider scalability. Cloud-based CRMs offer cost-effective solutions, charging based on users. If you don’t already use them, this stage has to introduce the concept of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure various aspects of business performance. These metrics are designed to strategically aid in organizational decision-making.

Medium-Sized Business

As businesses expand, considerations shift towards larger-scale platforms capable of handling dynamic and robust automation. The focus is on the need for customizable solutions and automation tools to streamline operations. Identifying crucial KPIs becomes imperative for making insightful decisions.

Enterprise

Large enterprises require end-to-end, continuously improving CRMs to thrive. These CRMs often feature developer-side integrations for external software and are extensively customized to address complex business needs. Enterprise CRMs boast robust lead scoring capabilities, triggering automated interactions to engage both existing and new customers.

Choosing the right CRM is extremely important for any sized business. At First Column IT, our IT experts can assist in aligning technology with your organization's needs whether they are operational demands or cost-effectiveness. Give us a call today at (571) 470-5594 to learn more about optimizing your business’ CRM strategy.

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