A lot of business owners consider Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system’s as a costly and complex function for larger companies. The initial setup can often be daunting and concerns of user adoption can influence the decision to commit.

Being a small business is actually a great time to invest in a CRM that can centralise all of your data, provide you clear forecasts and ensure that the correct processes are in place throughout the organisation. It is the rocket fuel of growth and will save you manpower and mistakes as your business scales.To get the right one for you, ask yourself these 5 questions:

1. CAN IT GROW AS FAST AS YOU?

New and small business can often grow at a speed faster than you may have anticipated.Staying on top of customers, accounts, orders and admin can be a challenge. By making sure you have a great system to control and manage this data it means you instantly have everything at your fingertips.

2. IS IT SECURE?

If you’re currently using spreadsheets to keep track of all of your accounts, contacts, opportunities, and customers, how do you know that you’re data is secure? Having an industry leading CRM with its automated tools and built in privacy and security protections, is just one of the ways that an organisation can protect itself against data breaches especially with the General Data Protection Regulation coming into force in May.

3. CAN YOU ACCESS YOUR DATA ANYWHERE?

Thanks to cloud technology, an entire team can access software through internet enabled devices from any location. With the correct system in place, the sales team can sell the right product to the right customer at the right time, from prospecting and qualification to proposal and closing the deal all in one place from wherever you or your team are. For managers, it’s possible to report on any data from anywhere, including this month’s sales forecasts!

4. CAN IT HELP YOU WORK SMARTER?

Whatever your business needs, you’ll need to be make sure your technology can automate and sync manual processes to increase efficiency, productivity and revenue giving you the freedom to work on building other areas of your business. By using a good CRM, such as Salesforce, it can typically increase sales revenue by 37% and can increase the speed of a deal closure by 38%, with an overall productivity by around 44%.

5. WILL IT PROTECT MY SALES AND ORDER PIPELINE?

What happens if your top sales person suddenly leaves or (God forbid!) is hit by a bus? What opportunities were they working on? Who were their key contacts? How close were they to a decision? What deal had they agreed? A CRM provides complete visibility and protects your sales pipeline.ION works with the world’s number one CRM system, Salesforce, to incorporate all of these functionalities, which can be built specifically around your business’s needs.