As a printer who desires to do things well, you’ve learned four things so far in this email series that will help you get there:
- On-point estimating,
- Superior order and workflow management,
- Steadfast scheduling, and
- Reliable accounting.
Today, we’ll look at the number one essential of any business: customers! And, we’ll unpack one of the best ways to nurture relationships with your print buyers before, during, and after a sale with the help of a simple tool.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how effective is your customer relationship-building strategy? Amazing? Just ok?
As a small business owner, you may be tempted to think you know your customers pretty well already (since you don’t have thousands upon thousands of customers to worry about). Or, maybe you at least know the bigger or more frequent customers. But, what about the infrequent customers or one-time visitors? Could your print business benefit from knowing them better? Of course, it could. That’s why it’s time to start thinking bigger.
9 Questions to Ask Yourself to See if a CRM Solution is Right for Your Print Business
As a successful print business, your business is built on relationships with other businesses within your community (or online).
Managing those relationships shouldn’t be done through complicated and costly systems, such as disjointed spreadsheets, email inboxes, or compounding piles of sticky notes on desks.
This is where a contact relationship management tool becomes your biggest ally. Not only can you keep track of all the details about your prospects and customers, but you can also note their unique (product or service) preferences and any other information you’d find useful.
“The only way you do not need CRM is if you have a very, very small business with five clients, maybe ten. Then you may be able to get by with something like Google Contacts. But as you grow, you’re going to need something more sophisticated.”
Ramon Ray, Founder of Smart Hustle Magazine
But, is a CRM solution best for your print business? Well, here are nine questions you can ask yourself to find out.
1. Do you want to scale your print business?
The days of Rolodexes have long passed.
With the internet age and online ordering, you now have to accommodate a much larger audience. You need to be able to care for those customers in the same way you would if they walked into your shop and spoke with you directly.
A CRM solution allows you to handle a lot more customer information. When you have the information you need at your fingertips, you can provide better, more personalized service. It paves the way to developing relationships that go deeper and fosters an environment of loyalty and increased customer referrals.
2. Do you wish your print business was more organized?
Increased customer information means an increase in customer data. Is your business prepared to handle the additional data effectively?
With a CRM solution, you can organize information in such a way as to have a customer’s history at the ready, creating better relationships and, in turn, selling more effectively to them. Organized information also helps you remove those workflow bottlenecks and create processes your team can adhere to consistently.
3. Does your team have to track down client details frequently?
If your team is spending their time tracking down details about who last talked to a print buyer or what was said or promised, a CRM solution allows you to keep the “egg off of your face.”
Customers expect you to remember why they called or who they last spoke to, and when you’re missing that critical information, it can reflect poorly on your print company as a whole.
Unify your wealth of customer information among your employees in real-time and stop wasting countless hours tracking down details.
4. Are your customer records and mailing lists frequently out-of-date?
If your team is spending time tracking down details, the details should at least be accurate, right!
A CRM solution lets you say goodbye to outdated contact records when it takes your customer’s interaction with your website and uses it to create a new contact record, ensuring you always have the most current information.
It’s time to leverage the correct customer data so that you can increase your print sales.
5. Are you falling out-of-touch with clients and losing their business as a result?
Once the sale is made, how are you staying top-of-mind with your print buyers?
A CRM solution helps you throw out the excuses for not reconnecting with your clients by equipping you with scheduled tasks and reminders, contact notes, and more to help you keep in touch more frequently and continually nurture relationships that breed more sales.
6. Do you know which promotions or products would land best with specific print buyers?
While all people (and customers) may be created equal, their interests are all unique.
If your promotions are falling flat because of your one-size-fits-all marketing approach, it’s time to harness the power of more personalized customer experiences.
With a CRM solution, you can take a more targeted approach, grouping contacts for specific promotions or events, or segmenting your customers based on their specific needs and interests. This also means you can prioritize your leads, so you spend less time on unqualified people who aren’t ready to buy.
By understanding exactly what your print buyers want and their pain points and preferences, you can continuously perfect how you interact with each of them and manage your sales pipeline more effectively.
7. Do you have a follow-up strategy to guarantee repeat business?
Did you know that it costs 6-7 times more to acquire a new customer than keep an existing one?
But the ability to keep existing clients doesn’t come without superior follow-up. With a CRM solution, you can avoid following up too late and manage churn more effectively. This superior churn management allows you to retain those precious print buyers, minimize your costs in doing so, and maximize your print company’s growth.
8. Do you want your team to cherish clients as much as you do?
A CRM solution is one of the greatest ways to help your team keep your clients on a flywheel of sales instead of dropping out the bottom of a funnel.
You can easily guide employees through best practices, develop checklists for each phase of your workflow process, and ensure nothing (or no one) slips through the cracks. A CRM solution also gives your team the tool to do their jobs better and helps them get on board and up to speed a lot faster.
9. Do you need to bend the curve and do more with less?
If you want to boost the return from even the most limited resources, implementing a CRM solution is crucial.
Why? Because a contact relationship management system allows you to do more with less, you don’t have to do all the heavy lifting. The system does it for you. As a result, even if your print business is operating with the smallest of crews, you can offer top-notch service and level the playing field with printing companies of every size.
Ready, Set, Connect!
Isn’t it time to help your print business grow, help your team do their jobs better, and start selling printing more effectively? With contact relationship management software in place, your print business will be on its way to delighting more print buyers and driving more sales.
