Strong relationships between a business and its customers are the backbone of every successful enterprise. But we would argue that it’s particularly important for smaller or newer businesses. When you don’t have the reputation or name value of your larger competitors, it’s crucial to stay on the ball when it comes to tracking your sales and maintaining a relationship with each of your clients.

That’s where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems come into play. CRMs are software suites with programs and features that help business owners sort and track data about their sales and customers, ultimately allowing them to build and maintain strong relationships with their clients. That might sound vague, but we promise there are plenty of concrete ways CRMs can directly benefit your business - let’s look closer at five of them.

1. Staying Organized

The header image for a blog discussing Zoho’s CRM software.

We know that running a business can feel… hectic, to say the least. You have plenty to keep track of and monitor regardless of how many regular customers you have, but when clients do start coming in, you’ll need a way to sort the influx of data to keep from overwhelming yourself with the details.

CRM systems are many things, but in a big-picture sense, they’re ways to stay organized. Every CRM will store your customer data digitally and on an easy-to-read platform automatically, that way, you don’t have to track all that new information on your own.

2. Real-Time View of Your Sales Data

Most modern CRM solutions provide real-time data on all your sales and relevant customer exchanges. That means the second a customer purchases a product or service, you will be able to view the data in your CRM.

But more importantly, the real-time data provides an accurate overview of your sales and trajectory. That ensures you won’t work with outdated information when determining your budget and sales performance.

3. Providing Extra Customer Support

A promotional graphic for Hubspot’s CRM from their website.

It’s no secret how important it is to keep your customers happy. Strong business-customer relationships ensure that your active audience will keep coming back while boosting the odds that they’ll start telling others about your work. But the more your business grows and the more customers you have, the trickier it becomes to track complaints and keep everyone happy.

A CRM system is one of the best ways to stay on top of your customer support. Of course, the system will have all your customer’s relevant contact information, and that alone will help you smooth over any issues your clients have, knowing every way available to get in touch with them. But on top of that, CRMs track all your customer’s messages to you across all channels and display them on the same page. So rather than checking your email, voicemail, and social media direct messages for client questions, all you have to do is check your CRM.

4. Detailed Customer Profiles

Among many other things, CRM systems conveniently store all your clients' information in one organized system. Once you log them into the system, all their contact information, purchase and interaction history, and order status will be readily available on your CRM.

5. Better Conversion Rates

A graphic from Salesforce’s website listing all the applications available in their CRM.

Saving the best for last, a robust CRM solution providing all the benefits listed above will ultimately lead to better conversion rates between you and your prospective customers. According to a study from Aberdeen Group, 23% of CRM users reported higher conversion rates than they had before using a CRM system, and it's easy to understand why.

Because of the data they track and provide, business owners can stay in closer contact with their customers, monitor their purchasing trends, and use that information to market to them directly.

Which CRM is Right For You?

If you’ve decided you’re ready to try out a CRM system, you won’t have any shortage of options. But just because you have choices doesn’t mean they’re all good. Especially if you run a small business, because many of the highest-rated CRM systems are either available at too high a price or are not optimized for smaller businesses.

When it comes to business tools like CRM systems, we always recommend doing your own research. Your business is unique, and it’s crucial to find a CRM that matches your unique needs, which won’t happen unless you’re taking time to comb through all your options. But if you want help trimming down your candidates, check out our list of our five favorite CRMs for small businesses on our blog.