One of the biggest recommendations I make to B2B startups is to start using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. Organizations invariably start with Excel as their repository for customer information. There are many benefits for using a CRM versus excel to manage your customers. There should be no reason not to use a CRM. The high-end for startups for CRM is Salesforce.com starting at $25 per user a month. On the other hand you can start with a tool like HubSpot CRM at $0 for the sales side. There are pluses and minuses to either of the CRM systems, but both are better than use an Excel spreadsheet.
Here is why you need to stop using Excel to manage your B2B customer data.
Access the Information Anywhere
Today’s CRMs are in the cloud, which allows for them to be easily viewed on multiple types of devices. Many of the CRMs have mobile apps or they are mobile responsive. This allows for easy access to useful data even when out of the office or working remotely. People might say you could access a spreadsheet stored in a shared drive on your mobile. Yes, you can, but it is very hard to view a large excel spreadsheet on your smartphone. CRMs on the other hand make it easy for you to access the right information, quickly, and best of all in usable format.
Plan Future Activities
Spreadsheets can record lots of information, but they are not ideal for planning future activities. A CRM can help you plan and schedule future activities, inform you when they are due, and even connect to your calendar to make sure you are always up-to-date. This is a big deficiency of Excel as a customer information repository.
Link Account Detail
Another issue with spreadsheets is that the information is very one-dimensional. It can be sorted or multiple pages can be added, but it is still difficult to navigate. CRMs can connect accounts, contacts, emails, calls, notes, meetings, and opportunities together. They are easily linked and navigated when reviewing progress and strategy within an account. Storing and keeping track of the detailed past and planned future activities is not easily done within excel.
Reports
With a CRM you will have access to more information than you could ever have in a usable Excel spreadsheet. Within a CRM, it’s easy to create reports that slice and dice your data in many ways. Want to create a list for an event based on location or run a funnel on a vertical? Both can easily be done on demand or with saved settings.
Automation and Integration
Yes, Excel documents can be uploaded into different tools, but they will likely need to be modified or sorted before connecting. CRM systems can connect to many third party tools. This could include email tools, calendars, your website for inbound leads, and many other marketing automation tools. Salesforce and Hubspot also each have their own marketing automation tools with, Pardot and Hubspot Marketing respectively.
Your customers, prospects, and the interactions with them is the lifeblood of your startup. Use the best tool that allows you to leverage past knowledge and future plans to be successful and close sales. If you are interested in talking about which CRM would be the best fit for your team and how to have a successful roll-out, please contact me.
