Why Settle for CRM Software for the Masses

Your business is unique, and the CRM software used to manage it should be unique as well. A one-size-fits-all solution does not streamline most companies to their fullest potential. This leaves a business struggling to meet the format of their CRM system rather than enjoying the benefits of a platform that rises to meet their needs.

Why Generic CRM Doesn’t Work

Non-customized CRM software platforms can seem effective in theory, but in application they never reach their full potential. That’s because they are usually implemented though either software or a web-based hosting service that offers one platform to all businesses, regardless of the type of business they operate. General-needs software is not adequate for all types of businesses.

In theory, all businesses are selling something, usually a product or service, but not always. And a business that sells used cars, for example, wins and attracts clients differently than a business selling vacation packages, and their interactions with their clients are different too. The used car dealership may experience most of their customer interactions in person at the dealership, while the vacations business may conduct all of their business over the phone and online, without ever coming face to face with a customer. A used car dealership is usually working to make a one-time sale (although they still want to create customer loyalty so the buyer will return or refer their friends and family for the next car), while the vacations provider is looking for repeat vacationers and client retention.

Nonprofit organizations function like for-profit businesses in many ways, but their “sales” are unique. Not called sales at all, these organizations are effectively selling not a product or a service but a need. Nonprofit business models are fundraising based and they aim to attract clients and customers of all types. Most nonprofits rely on revenues from a variety of different places: grant-awarding foundations, individual/private donors, fundraising campaigns, and selling a product and/or service. Each revenue-earning sector of the nonprofit may be run like a different business, but the same staff may be running and managing each sector.

Most businesses operate more like the nonprofit (in a variety of unique ways) than on the cut-and-dry sales model. A successful business, regardless of industry, markets, wins clients, makes sales, and retains clients in multiple ways rather than through the platform of a confining business model. And a CRM system should help a business better manage its employees, customer relationships, and use of technology, not dictate the ways they perform these functions.

How is custom CRM different?

Custom CRM is unique like your business. When you run your business using customized CRM software, your business is operating on a platform that’s different from every other information management system out there. The platform may begin with a framework like FileMaker Pro, but it is customized to suit the business’s individual needs along the way. It doesn’t contain functions your business never uses and it can be changed and modified when it’s no longer meeting the business’s needs to its fullest potential.

A successful business is constantly growing and changing. A successful business revamps its sales and marketing techniques when revenues are down, whether it’s because of the loss of a big client or a change in the economy. A successful business also changes when profits are up, by identifying what worked and using that forward momentum to increase profits more. A business that can’t change because of an inflexible management platform won’t be able to live up to its fullest potential.

It makes sense to adopt an information management system that’s custom built to your individual needs from day one, tailored to your changing business when needed—and that comes with the technical support and expertise necessary to make those changes.