If this is your first CRM…
Hey, this is great! You have made a decision to take your business seriously and get some tools to help you. Before you get all red-faced and reluctantly admit that you just learned with a CRM is, let me ease your mind.
In 2021, most mom and pop, small businesses are STILL not using any type of customer management software or CRM of any kind. We are talking about businesses with 5 or fewer employees.
So in a way, you are actually being a trail blazer! Look at you go!
The steps for you to get started are not unlike the steps for an old pro. Here they are:
Step 1: Learn all about your new system.
This is especially important for you. Use video tutorials to get a good overview of the system. If the CRM company offers training or onboarding services, take advantage of those as well.
Step 2: Add yourself to the system.
One of the best ways to learn a new CRM is to take it slow. Add yourself as a contact and see how it all works.
Put in your name and address, add a note onto your contact record, and set up a todo reminder. This will give you a great start towards learning the system.
Step 3: Add your contacts.
Now is the time where you gather up all of your contacts from your notebooks, sticky notes, business cards etc.… Sit down, get comfortable, get a coffee (or a beer!) and start typing in the information. If you have a ton of contacts to enter, pay your kid to do it for you!
If you are using Outlook or a spreadsheet, do an export out of those old systems and import your contacts into your new CRM.
In this step, this is a good time to do some database cleanup. It’s a good idea to remove old, stale contacts. And depending on how big your list is, you may even want to go one by one through your contacts and make any appropriate edits to get the contact records up to date.
Step 4: Start using it today!
This is very important. There is an adjustment period as you learn any new tool including a CRM, so the sooner you get to it, the better.
Don’t give up too early on the system. It’s not Outlook and it’s not Excel – it is much better! Remember, you are upgrading to find something that works better for you – so give it a chance.
Again, congratulations on taking this big step. A great CRM will become the most important tool in your sales and marketing toolkit.
You are ahead of the competition and you are well on your way to bigger and better things.