Like many small or medium sized businesses using a CRM isn't the first thing you think about when setting up. You may have come a long way without a CRM system and suddenly realise that you'd be much better off with one. I spoke to a chap today on the phone who had a small business and was already using Sage Line 50 as well as Access. His problem was that he didn't want a 3rd system to deal with but rather 1 system to rule them all. However moving away from something you've used in a long time isn't an easy feat.

Although CRM software is something used by your staff to help with their sales process, it's also possible to use CRM software to automate a large part of their sales process, assuming it's not heavily reliant on meetings and lengthy phone calls. I'll go through how this can be achieved in this CRM article and show you the effectiveness.

When businesses gets a properly functioning CRM system they are in the minority of SME's. Over the past few years I'm amazed how many businesses seem to have got by on storing information on bits of papers, spreadsheets and in different peoples email systems. However just merely getting a crm system is not the holy grail. It will make running your businesses more streamlined but in a similar light just by buying a bread maker doesn't mean you'll actually make any bread. (I talk from experience here!)