Why You Should Have a CRM for Your Small Business (With 3 Steps To Get Started)
Are you just getting started with your contract service business and keep the majority of your clients' information in your phone or in an Excel spreadsheet?
While your phone contacts are a convenient and logical place to keep your customers' contact information, it is a vulnerable place to keep the one and only record of all of your client information.
You could potentially lose your phone or update it and lose all access to the contacts you worked hard to accumulate. This is why we recommend that you have a secondary CRM (customer relationship management tool) outside of your phone contacts.
In this article, we will cover what a CRM is, common CRMs you can use, and three steps you can take to get a CRM set up for your contract service business.
What Is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Tool?
A CRM (customer relationship management) tool is exactly what it sounds like: it is a tool that allows you to manage your customer relationships.
CRM’s usually hold information like:
Customer first name
Customer last name
Customer email
Customer phone number
Customer address (if applicable)
Customer demographic information (age, gender, etc.)
With this information, CRM tools can allow you to set reminders to follow up with customers, track customer history (purchases, etc.), send emails or email campaigns, track website interaction, and more.
However, not all CRMs are built alike and not all CRMs have all of these capabilities. Additionally, some CRMs have these capabilities because they are tied to another larger system, like your website content management system (such as HubSpot).
What Are Some Common CRMs I Could Use For My Small Business?
Since costs add up quickly in a small business, here are some easy-to-use, free CRM tools you could use to start out:
Monday.com free CRM
HubSpot free CRM
Zoho free CRM
If you are interested in exploring more expensive CRM tools, some of the bigger CRMs are:
Salesforce CRM
Hubspot Paid CRM
Pipedrive CRM
Another thing to keep in mind when determining what CRM you need is your industry. For instance, companies in service industries might benefit from using a CRM that is part of their service scheduling tool, like ServiceTitan.
Step 1: Start Small If You Need To
While starting out with a formal CRM is ideal, it is not always possible. Fortunately, you can also start by creating your CRM in an excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet. When you make your CRM, you should include the following:
First name
Last name
Customer email
Customer phone number
Customer address (if applicable)
Customer age
Customer gender
Customer group (mother, father, retiree, etc.)
First acquired/contact (first outreach/ connection)
Most recent contact (last time you reached out/ connected)
Total revenue (optional)
Services (services they have gotten from you and their service contracts)
Once you have created your CRM in a spreadsheet, you should determine what cadence you would like to reach out to your customers (weekly, monthly, every 3 months, every 6 months).
We recommend that you reach out once every 1 to 3 months at a minimum, unless 6 months works better for your type of services.
For example, if you have a landscaping company, for one-time customers, you may want to reach out to them more frequently to see if they need their lawn cut again. For customers on service contracts, you should reach out every 3-6 months to recommend additional services.
For contacts who are not active customers of your landscaping business, you could reach out to them at a seasonal cadence to provide them with landscaping tips and recommendations for the season.
Once you have determined the cadence you would like to reach out to customers, you should set calendar reminders for yourself to email, text, or call your contacts.
Step 2: Research the Best CRM for Your Business
After you have gotten started with your CRM, you may want to look into a more comprehensive or long term CRM for your business.
Before you do this, you should look into the best CRMs for your type of business. For instance, a CRM that works well for a landscaping business might now work for a roofing business. A CRM that works well for a photography business might not work for a cleaning business, and so forth.
Some things to consider are if the CRM:
Integrates with your other tools
Is customizable to your needs
Is scalable to accommodate growth
Provides training and support
Here are some of the top CRMs for industries like HVAC, plumbing, landscaping, roofing, electrical, garage door, cabinet and countertop, and home foundation:
HVAC: ServiceTitan, Jobber, and Housecall Pro
Plumbing: ServiceTitan, Jobber, and Housecall Pro
Landscaping: LMN (Landscape Management Network), Service Autopilot, and Jobber
Roofing: AccuLynx, JobNimbus, and RoofSnap
Electrical: ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, and Jobber
Garage Door: ServiceTitan, JobNimbus, and Salesforce
Cabinet and countertop: JobNimbus, Salesforce, and ServiceTrade
Home foundation: ServiceTitan, JobNimbus, and Housecall Pro
Step 3: Implement Your CRM for Your Small Business
Once you have selected your CRM, you still have to implement it and train your employees on how to use it. Some teams that may use your CRM include:
Service
Customer support
Accounting/ finance
Human resources
Sales
Marketing
These teams will utilize your CRM in different ways, making it crucial for you to consider who will be using and how they will be using it before you start training teams on how to use the CRM.
Implement a CRM To Manage Your Home Service Business Customers
While implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) tool can be difficult if you have never done it before, you can fortunately take it in steps.
If creating a spreadsheet-based CRM first works for you, you can start small and gradually make your way towards a more official CRM - or you can opt for a free option like Zoho.
If you have any questions about getting started with a CRM for the first time, contact us today. To keep learning more about how you can improve your contract service business marketing, subscribe to our newsletter below.
