How Small Businesses use CRM technology to spur growth
The April jobs report was released today with more good news for the economic recovery. Approximately 290,000 jobs were created in the month, the highest total in over four years. In an ironic twist, the unemployment rate also edged up from 9.7% to 9.9% as more job seekers returned to the market. Nonetheless, it is clear small businesses have a new found confidence in the future of the economic recovery and their own business prospects.
In a prior post we examined the rocky path that we and and our customers have traveled over the past couple years of economic decline and highlighted some positive signs we see emerging in the small business market. Drilling down a bit deeper, using our customers as a microcosm of the larger small business market, there are very specific indicators of reinvigorated efforts to reach out to current customers and find new ones. To this end we see existing customers requesting training on our bulk email Campaign management application with the intent of renewing marketing efforts, or to send out monthly newsletters, or customer surveys. We see renewed interest in our Reports application for use in analyzing the information our customers have stored in the AppShore data base and leveraging it more effectively. We see folks starting to manage and organize their time more effectively using our shared Calendar application. We see renewed interest in streamlining the lead management process by capturing leads directly from web sites using our web lead capture feature. Overall, we see a refreshing return to the basics of business; get to know your customers both personally and professionally, build strong and lasting relationships with them, and continuously strive to identify new ways to add value to your solution based on the feedback they provide. Most importantly, we all need to keep our communications well organized and well documented for future reference. This is of course one of the primary functions of CRM applications like AppShore. How has your business been effected by the economy? What positive trends do you look for to indicate things are turning around in your business? Feel free to share. Some times it feels good just to express your hope (or frustration) in writing. And remember, you are not alone. Hang in there and let's get this thing rolling again. Small business is the engine that drives our economy - the nation depends on you!
