27 min

How to choose a CRM, with Maryanne Renzetti Help! My Business is Growing

    • Entrepreneurship

CRM or Customer relationship management software is vital for any growing business.


CRM is an extremely powerful tool that allows you to focus on your customers by building relationships with them, providing solutions, and meeting - and exceeding -  their expectations. 


CRM makes it easier to close sales if you harness the data it gathers about customer behavior and preferences. And with pipeline information,  it also helps to predict your financial performance. 


But seamlessly integrating your CRM with your current systems and workflow may not be smooth sailing.


There is a lot of prep work involved to get it right.


So how do you decide what is the right CRM for you and/or if it’s time to update your existing one?  


In this episode of Help! My Business Is Growing, my guest  Maryanne Renzetti talks about Customer Relationship Management (or CRM) Solutions and how they can help you forge meaningful customer relationships that will inspire customer loyalty and retention.


Maryanne is a CRM specialist and founder of Virtual CRM Solutions, catering to entrepreneurs that need Help streamlining their systems, integrating, and setting up their CRMs. 


Essentially, she enjoys taking disorganized, high-level information and breaking it down into manageable steps--making sure business systems work for business owners, not against them.


In this week's episode, we discuss:


03:50 What are some operational benefits of having a CRM in place?
05:19 How do you determine which CRM is appropriate for your business and the particular stage it's in today?
07:38 What are some examples of CRMs that businesses in the $1M to $10M revenue range use that is not complex to use but still provide the same benefits? 
08:52 What are the main differences between HubSpot and Salesforce?  
10:20 What are some common mistakes that businesses make when they're trying to integrate a new CRM into their operations on their own?
11:56 How should businesses prepare before buying a CRM? Should they map out all the systems and workflows on paper first? 
15:12 How do you prepare your team for a new CRM? How do you manage that transition?
17:37 What is the best way to structure how your team should learn your new CRM? 
19:58 What are some examples of how to keep staff accountable after giving them time for change management with a new CRM?
20:52 How do you deal with clients that implemented their CRMs on their own, which went horribly wrong?
24:53 What tangible next step can businesses take next week to get them started on implementing a CRM?


Resources:
Maryanne Renzetti, CRM Consultant and Founder of Virtual CRM Solutions:
https://www.maryannerenzetti.com/

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryanne-renzetti-3a891126/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/maryannerenzetti/ 


Other Resources mentioned in the episode:

Salesforce:
https://www.salesforce.com/

Hubspot:
https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm

Salesloft:
https://salesloft.com/


Kathy Svetina, Fractional CFO:
https://www.newcastlefinance.us/
Blog post | How to Choose a CRM
https://www.newcastlefinance.us/post/how-to-choose-a-crm

CRM or Customer relationship management software is vital for any growing business.


CRM is an extremely powerful tool that allows you to focus on your customers by building relationships with them, providing solutions, and meeting - and exceeding -  their expectations. 


CRM makes it easier to close sales if you harness the data it gathers about customer behavior and preferences. And with pipeline information,  it also helps to predict your financial performance. 


But seamlessly integrating your CRM with your current systems and workflow may not be smooth sailing.


There is a lot of prep work involved to get it right.


So how do you decide what is the right CRM for you and/or if it’s time to update your existing one?  


In this episode of Help! My Business Is Growing, my guest  Maryanne Renzetti talks about Customer Relationship Management (or CRM) Solutions and how they can help you forge meaningful customer relationships that will inspire customer loyalty and retention.


Maryanne is a CRM specialist and founder of Virtual CRM Solutions, catering to entrepreneurs that need Help streamlining their systems, integrating, and setting up their CRMs. 


Essentially, she enjoys taking disorganized, high-level information and breaking it down into manageable steps--making sure business systems work for business owners, not against them.


In this week's episode, we discuss:


03:50 What are some operational benefits of having a CRM in place?
05:19 How do you determine which CRM is appropriate for your business and the particular stage it's in today?
07:38 What are some examples of CRMs that businesses in the $1M to $10M revenue range use that is not complex to use but still provide the same benefits? 
08:52 What are the main differences between HubSpot and Salesforce?  
10:20 What are some common mistakes that businesses make when they're trying to integrate a new CRM into their operations on their own?
11:56 How should businesses prepare before buying a CRM? Should they map out all the systems and workflows on paper first? 
15:12 How do you prepare your team for a new CRM? How do you manage that transition?
17:37 What is the best way to structure how your team should learn your new CRM? 
19:58 What are some examples of how to keep staff accountable after giving them time for change management with a new CRM?
20:52 How do you deal with clients that implemented their CRMs on their own, which went horribly wrong?
24:53 What tangible next step can businesses take next week to get them started on implementing a CRM?


Resources:
Maryanne Renzetti, CRM Consultant and Founder of Virtual CRM Solutions:
https://www.maryannerenzetti.com/

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryanne-renzetti-3a891126/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/maryannerenzetti/ 


Other Resources mentioned in the episode:

Salesforce:
https://www.salesforce.com/

Hubspot:
https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm

Salesloft:
https://salesloft.com/


Kathy Svetina, Fractional CFO:
https://www.newcastlefinance.us/
Blog post | How to Choose a CRM
https://www.newcastlefinance.us/post/how-to-choose-a-crm

27 min