CRMs are designed to centralize the management of your contacts and leads and make your sales process more effective and streamlined. Many caterers still manage this process using spreadsheets, email inboxes, and/or sticky notes, with varying degrees of success. At some point, these systems just can’t keep up. As your sales activity grows, you might find it is time to try a CRM.
With an Excel spreadsheet, you might track:
- Name [icon name=”user-alt” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Email [icon name=”mail-bulk” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Phone number [icon name=”phone” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Website [icon name=”wifi” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Address [icon name=”house-user” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Type of customer [icon name=”list” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Date purchased [icon name=”calendar-alt” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
With a CRM, you can track all of that plus:
- Multiple contacts within a company [icon name=”users” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Contact title [icon name=”chess-king” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Email correspondence tracking [icon name=”list-alt” style=”regular” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Notes history [icon name=”pencil-alt” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Current sales pipeline stage [icon name=”search-dollar” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- Detailed reporting [icon name=”chart-area” style=”solid” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
- And more!
At its most basic, you only need a customer name and email address to use a CRM for simple contact management. You will be able to add tasks that you have planned or completed (like follow-ups with new prospects) and then track data on what kinds of replies have (or have not) worked so far.
With just this basic information, you now have an effective and strategic task manager. CRM software can quickly show you how hot or cold a lead really is.
The better the data you input into your CRM, the more successful it will be for you!
HOW DOES A CRM WORK?
As you generate leads, a CRM can help you track the actions of a potential customer through communication. The system should be able to inform you as to the best process of guiding your potential customer through a planned journey that hits all the preferred sales spots.
For example: Suppose a bride is looking for someone for their upcoming wedding. They contact your company and are asked for details about what they want for their wedding, the planned budget, and the venue being used. All this information would go into your CRM.
This may initiate a series of events, from an email with a video showcasing your company’s previous weddings or a follow-up call scheduled for 48 hours later.
Vice versa, if this lead offers information that suggests they’re now considering doing their own catering or going with a different company, this lead might fall out of your sales funnel. In that case, you can mark the leads as such and direct the sales team’s time toward more likely prospects.
In the end, that is one of the biggest benefits of a CRM system: it aims a company’s time and efforts in the most profitable directions, rather than a “talk to everyone and hope for the best” approach.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF A CRM?
Organization
Perhaps the biggest benefit is organization. As you transition to a CRM system, you will enter basic contact information such as phone numbers, email addresses, and preferred contact information. Once your CRM system is up and running, users can follow and track basic information and advanced data about every single customer.
A CRM system is a central place to store and manage all information, and that makes life easier for everyone. And “everyone” includes your customers, who get better service and more detailed attention as you begin to understand them more deeply.
Task Tracking
A CRM integrates a company’s typical workflow and saves time spent on daily tasks. Automation can boost customer engagement and provide consistency. Consistency is very important in sales: customer’s can become confused or disinterested when they are presented with mixed messages.
More Sales Opportunities
Caterers can spend a lot of time trying to come up with ideas to grow their customer base. If you already have a list of established clients, you can use what you know about them to target new clients. A CRM system can track their history with your company so that you can look for trends and opportunities that you might not otherwise see. This information can help your team develop targeted marketing plans and effective strategies for encouraging more sales at specific times.
Tracking Sales Progress Across Your Team
A CRM can track sales progress for your whole sales team. If you are a one-person team, you can use the CRM as a better way to track leads and follow up. If you have a larger team, each new lead can be assigned to a specific salesperson and their activity is tracked from that point on. It’s also an easy way to track the performance of your entire sales team.
Personalize Communication
In addition to more efficient use of sales resources, your customers can benefit from the personalization features many CRMs offer. All of the data you enter in your CRM database can be used to build deeper customer relationships through personalized communications.
HOW DO SMALL CATERERS USE A CRM?
A CRM gives you a detailed view for all of your customers. That’s especially helpful for small caterers, who may have limited staff dedicated to sales—or even just one—who need to track activity during the process.
As a caterer, meeting with prospects and clients is a critical step in building trust, selling your services, and scaling your business. But scheduling and managing meetings can feel like a time-consuming chore. Back-and-forth phone calls, emails, and texts to find a mutually beneficial time to chat can be exhausting. Then, more time is lost when calendars don’t sync or when there are scheduling miscommunications.
As a small business owner, it’s important to get the most out of your time and money. Implementing a CRM system is a great way to streamline your sales efforts, saving you time as well as increasing your revenue.
Customer Relationship Management
Remember: it’s not the customer you’re managing, it’s the relationship.
With a central location for all your contacts and customer history, you’ll be sure to be consistent in delivering excellent service even when key staff leave or accounts get moved around.
HOW DO I GET STARTED WITH CRM?
Once you find a CRM system, you will want to train yourself and your staff. Change can be hard, and some “CRM pushback” from staff that is used to doing things their own way is not unusual. Remember that a CRM will make your lives easier in the long run and increase your sales, but only if your team commits to doing so.
Leading by example and accountability are two of your best tools when it comes to adoption of new processes.
HOW LONG DOES CRM TAKE TO SEE VALUE?
A CRM can create value the moment you enter your first lead. For best results, make sure that all leads are processed through your CRM. (That’s one way to get everyone in your company comfortable with it, too.)
Now you can see which salespeople are most successful and which might need some help. Also, monitor deals as they progress and work with your team on how to move stalled deals along.
Take a high level view and watch your pipeline to see if the leads and deals in the process are enough to support your revenue and cash flow goals.
ADDITIONAL POINTS
CRMs are tools to build relationships with customers and, in turn, increase sales for your company. In general, they won’t help with event planning, production, or billing.
Also, a CRM can’t manage what it can’t see. If your salespeople work leads or deals outside the system, that lowers its effectiveness for everybody.
CRMs give you more insight, improve customer relationships, and help you sell more to every lead and customer, and that’s the quickest route to happier customers.