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Why do I need a CRM? 

CRM is a bit of a buzz word at the moment. If you don’t already use one, then you probably have heard of them before. It seems every business is jumping on the bandwagon, but why? After all, if it ain't broke, don’t fix it! Your business is tracking along well, with sales targets being hit. Why would you change it? 

11 signs you need a CRM

The simple truth is, it is broke, you just can’t see it. You and your team are working twice as hard as you need to be in order to achieve what you could with the help of a successful CRM. Sure, you’re meeting your sales targets, but with the help of a Pipedrive CRM, you could be exceeding them and taking your business to new heights

Let us show you exactly why you need a CRM like Pipedrive CRM.

Running Your Day-to-Day Business

Running a business is no easy task. You need to keep track of suppliers, customers, leads, referrals and so on. If one salesperson picks up the phone and speaks to a client, that needs to be passed on to the rest of the team to ensure everyone knows where the lead is in the sales funnel. 

So, you begin using Excel to keep tabs on interactions, tasks & activities. You use notes to track the relationship between everyone in your ecosystem. And this works. For a while. But Excel has its limitations. You’re limited by the skills of those running it. Plus, it wasn’t designed for this purpose. It doesn’t have the user-friendly customer interface that CRMs have.

It’s a lot to keep track of, and no doubt, leads end up falling through the cracks. It’s only natural right? As long as your business keeps winning the others, you’re on the path to success!

The problem is, as you grow, your estate business will eventually reach a point where the manual processes simply can’t keep up anymore. The cracks will get even bigger and you will find more and more leads and clients sinking into the abyss. This is where a Pipedrive CRM comes into it. You can speed up processes, close up those cracks and win even more leads. 

What Is A CRM? 

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Manager. Your Pipedrive CRM holds all the records, interactions, tasks and communication with your current and future customers, as well as all of the ancillary organisations that you deal with, such as accountants, lawyers and courier companies. 

A Pipedrive CRM tracks everything to do with everyone that you interact with and has so many advantages over an Excel spreadsheet. From someone’s first visit to your website, to contacting you about a house listing, the follow-up emails, becoming a lead, closing the deal and finally becoming a fully-fledged client. 

Along the way, you track the stage of the process they’re at, who in your organisation is looking after them, when they open that proposal you’ve sent them, if they’ve clicked on links in your emails, and changes in their contact details, personnel and relationship with your business. At the end of the day, spreadsheets are good for managing data. A CRM like Pipedrive is for building relationships.  

GIF of a Pipedrive CRM pipeline

Why should I switch from Excel to Pipedrive CRM? 

At the end of the day, Excel isn’t even comparable to a CRM. They were both built for different purposes, and it’s the CRM that will see your business soar to new heights. But, let’s look at some of the main advantages you will see when you make the switch. 

More visibility and better teamwork:

As a manager, do you ever feel like you’re flying blind? You have zero idea who your sales staff are even corresponding with and where the lead is at in the sales process. They might even be claiming victories that never actually materialise. A CRM lifts the cloak of invisibility. Not only will you as a Manager gain a lot more insight into the work your salespeople are carrying out, but the entire team will become much more collaborative.

Team members can pick up tips from each other, share valuable information and even take over from their colleagues if they’re sick or on holidays. The CRM allows someone else to seamlessly slot into their role and take over from exactly where they left off. Handovers can be done in minutes, not days. 

Better Stats:

A business is built around stats. How many houses did you sell last year? How many listings did your team manage? How many properties are you overseeing? How many leads did you convert into clients?

 Without the data, you not only stay in the dark about where your business has been, but you have no way of predicting where it’s going. With a Pipedrive CRM that has an inbuilt BI Tool, you can get a helicopter view over your entire business.

By analysing the data on a company-wide level, you can drill down into team statistics and focus on individual performance. You can track everything from deal size, value of deals by stage, deal velocity, conversion rates, deals started by user, lost deals by reason and much more. The list is endless. 

But the important thing is what you do with the data. Actionable insights are the key to progress. Once you have an understanding of what is working, you can then put in place policies that lead to improvement. You can use that data to make educated decisions moving forward to help you secure even more leads and turn them into clients. 

Productivity Gains:

Automation is changing industries. Your industry is no exception. You can now automate everything from sending emails, SMS, reporting and business intelligence to creating contacts and sending contracts. 

These are all the manual processes that your team is currently handling through Excel. Imagine the time they will all have if you can automate this. What used to take two salespeople and an admin, can now be done by a single salesperson. With time to spare. This means you can reduce costs or increase sales – or both! 

Customer Experience: 

Mark Cuban said, “Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.” 

Customer experience is everything – especially in your industry. People who are looking for businesses they can trust. If you can’t provide them with a seamless, personalised experience that makes them feel valued, then they will take their business elsewhere.

With an easy-to-use CRM, all that crucial data is populated by your team. You can take notes about what your client likes, for example, “Bill plays golf”, which can then be used on a follow up call to create that personal experience.

Knowing important information about each lead will create smoother interactions that can turn into deals down the track.

How Motii Can Help

So, do you need a CRM? Honestly, you should be asking yourself why you don’t have one yet. You can save time, money, increase leads and sales, and scale your business to heights you have probably never even considered before. A Pipedrive CRM is the perfect solution to help you run a seamless business that puts the customer first and sees the sales rolling in. So, sure. You could stick with your Excel spreadsheet. Or, you could fast-track your business success and make your entire team’s life much easier. The choice is yours!


Ben Fuller

Associate Director at Motii

Associate Director at Motii | Pipedrive CRM Experts | Pipedrive and Monday.com official partner in the APAC region | Pipedrive global partner of the year

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