CRM is the Most Important System

22 Sep 2015

When you get right down to it, most businesses have two sides – the public persona (sales/marketing) and the internal operation (manufacturing). I’m using manufacturing here to describe that big concept that is ‘what you do’. It might not always be tangible, but it is the service or product you are providing.

It isn’t enough for these two sides of your business to simple communicate, they need to be intertwined and driven by the same overarching goals. They are two sides of the same coin or, to use a slightly better analogy, the two halves of a bicycle, with you as the chief visionary and manager steering and powering it down the road.

In this metaphor, your public side is the front wheel, making first contact with whatever the road (or off-roading trail if you’re feeling adventurous) has in store for you. The manufacturing side is the rear wheel, converting all your energy and drive into actual forward motion.

You can see how simple communication just isn’t enough, the two halves need to function as a single unifying whole – otherwise you just have two unicycles bumping along in tandem. Which might get you to your destination, but it is going to be a lot more work.

So how do you bring the two halves of your business bicycle together and keep it moving in the right direction? You first need your industry specific tools, a plan, and a framework to connect it all.

Your industry specific software or processes really function as the gearing. It interacts between you and your core business products. Your vision and ideas are the handle-bars, keeping this bicycle company moving in the right direction.

But what holds it all together? Aha! That’s the frame – the central structure that allows everything to move forward as a single entity. and in our case, it’s your CRM system.

Your CRM system allows your sales side to connect to the manufacturing, keeping all the details of what both sides are doing in one central location. It tells you what your customers have purchased, what marketing links they’ve clicked on, and what kind of questions they’ve been asking your service team.

By connecting all the various aspects of your business in a single, cohesive and structured environment, you as the driver are able to get an overview of the organisation as a whole.

…and then you can add the streamers, basket, and noisemakers. Those don’t really represent anything, they’re just for fun.