Misconceptions flow easily in the business world.
Several solopreneurs shun CRM feeling it is a software designed for big giants with deep pockets and large sales teams.
Sadly, many opportunities are lost due to this misconception. A business of a solopreneur is no different from that of the top players of the industry. Like the large enterprises even you want to move in a profitable direction and boost your business revenue.
Besides being a solopreneur, you are expected to handle everything alone. The big enterprises at least have a team to handle their sales. From ensuring a steady revenue flow to maintaining a healthy relationship with the clients, everything needs your attention. The stakes are higher for a solopreneur, which is why advanced technology like CRM is needed to support your efforts.
“If you don’t let technology help you, if your rest good ideas, you condemn yourself to dinosaurhood”- Yann Martel
Maybe my business can survive without a CRM — Can it? Think twice
Being a solopreneur, you need to wear multiple hats and do a wide number of things.
But in the end you are a human, there ought to be errors when you handle various things together. You miss out on a few things and mess up the others. These mistakes and blunders can negatively affect your deals.
Think about this situation:
Your satisfied customer referred your product to one of his friend, who got interested and called you to inquire about the product. You noted his requirements and details on a piece of paper. You both discussed the product and agreed to meet after two days on Friday.
Sadly, it slipped your mind that few meetings were already scheduled for Friday.
Due to various projects and meetings, you completely forget about rescheduling the appointment with the prospect.
Later when you remembered, you couldn’t find the details you had noted on the piece of paper.
Such situations don’t only affect your sales but also your business image. On the one hand, you gain the loyalty of a satisfied client with your impressive work.
But on the other hand, you make a bad impression on the prospect with your carelessness — that too a prospect who approached you after hearing positive reviews about your work.
The scenario would have been different with a CRM
You could directly add notes about the details mentioned by the prospect in a CRM and keep it secured there. A CRM for individual users allows you to schedule appointments and even reminds you about the same through timely notifications.
There are fewer chances of missing out an appointment with a CRM no matter where you are.
Most of the CRM has a mobile app so you can access your details as well as receive notifications about your activities and appointments even when you are traveling.
Besides on a neat dashboard, you can see the activities you need to do for the day. Which means no clutter and confusion, as you had in the above scenario.
Moreover, a CRM for solopreneurs like Salesmate that comes with a built-in virtual phone system allows you to automatically log call. So, you get all the details about the calls without putting in any effort.
A CRM for individual users even gives you the flexibility to record the sales call. So, you can know what the prospects exactly need to offer a better solution.
When you understand the prospects’ needs, it becomes easier to link the product’s benefits with the problems and show how can it help.
Signs you need a CRM as a solopreneur
Is the cloud of doubt, whether you need to invest in CRM still hovering over your mind?
Well here are the signs that will help you in clearing the doubt.
1. Your contacts are scattered all over the places
Whether it is a one-person business or a well-established enterprise, no one can afford to miss the contact information of the clients.
Think about this you went to a seminar and had an interaction with an attendee who was looking for something that you are selling. So, he handed you his card which you kept on the table. But unfortunately, it fell when someone sitting next to you went to take a brochure that was lying below the card.
Wouldn’t it be better if you would have entered the details directly in the CRM through the mobile app?
Instead of having your contacts in multiple places, bring it on one unified platform where all the details are available at a glance.
All your contacts and related information is systematically streamlined in CRM software.
You don’t need to toggle between platforms to find any specific information; you can manage your contacts efficiently within this intelligent system.
Easily know when you called the particular contact and what was the outcome of the call. This and other such information is easily accessible through a CRM.
The easier the things are, the better it is for you a solopreneur. That’s what a CRM for solopreneur does –‘Makes your life easier and hassle-free’.
It helps you in keeping your contact database clean and up-to-date. You can merge the duplicated data and keep your database organized to reach out to prospects instantly.
It allows you to add tags and group the contacts of prospects having similar interest. This will help you in targeting multiple prospects together.
You can send bulk emails and texts at the same time. It makes your work better and faster.
2. Deals are slipping through the crack
As a solopreneur sometimes it gets difficult to manage your sales deals. So, some deals are stalled and never converted into sales.
If you have paid a digital marketing agency for generating leads, then you’ll just end up wasting your money. Prospects easily find an alternative when you do not give them attention in real-time.
A CRM for solopreneur helps you in tracking each deal inside the sales pipeline.
Create multiple pipelines for clients in different industries and add various deals to it.
Know what’s the status of your deals and how are they progressing in the sales pipeline.
Easily spot the deals that have been stalled for a long time.
Moreover, a solopreneur CRM allows you to set win probability for each deal. So, you can give high value deals attention at the right time and convert them into sales. The deals can be easily dragged and dropped in a CRM when it shows movement in the sales pipeline.
The best part is that CRM like Salesmate allows solopreneurs to add products to the deals. So, you can bring all your products on one platform and view its details besides the deals. You can add variables for each product with their price, image, and descriptions.
A CRM for solopreneur allows you to set prices for each product. You can calculate the best discount price for making more profits.
3. You are spending a lot of time on repetitive tasks
Every minute is valuable for a solopreneur. It makes no sense wasting it on repetitive tasks. Using workflow automation in a CRM, you can automate most of the time-consuming daily tasks.
All you need to do is define workflows, and the action will be triggered automatically when the set criteria are met. With the automation, the work isn’t just completed, but it is done at the right time.
As a solopreneur with a long to-do list, there are chances you might forget to send an email to a prospect, but a CRM won’t.
For instance, you can set a workflow that when a new subscriber signs up for your service send him a welcome email. So, whenever someone subscribes for your service, the email will be sent automatically.
This way, you can set emails for different scenarios like for reminding a client about a meeting or sending him information about your product. Such emails help in nurturing the relationship with the prospects.
4. You have no clue where your business is heading
Are you on the right track? Which tactics are working? Where are you lacking? Finding answers to these questions is important for a solopreneur.
Till you don’t work on improvements, you’ll keep getting the same dissatisfying results.
An advanced CRM for individual users allows you to create insightful reports for getting vital insights that can help you in optimizing processes and taking informed decisions.
You’ll know what’s going on in your business and identify risks on-time. You can track your performance and know where you need to put in extra efforts.
A CRM for solopreneurs helps you in forecasting sales. You get a clear picture of the potential sales. You can find out when will your current deals close.
With the predictive insights, you can plan your sales for ensuring positive outcomes.
The conclusion
A CRM, if used wisely, can be of great help for you as a solopreneur. It can help you in managing all aspects of your sales. It also aids in establishing and maintaining lasting relationships with customers. Salesmate is one of the best CRM for solopreneur.
Many businesses trust it for increasing their sales and improving their bottom line. From streamlining the sales process to tracking the effectiveness of your outbound emails, everything can be done with the intuitive software. The best way to understand the full potential of a product is by trying it. So try Salesmate CRM for free and see how it can be beneficial for your business.
We welcome you to Salesmate. An effective and most liked CRM for small businesses! 🙂 A subtle yet systematic and intuitive sales intelligence-based CRM that provides high quality service without blowing a hole in your budget. Want to know more? Start a free 15-day trial, today!
