This episode I I begin the session with a little history on my professional background. From my early days starting FrugalBrothers, and how I began using YouTube and live streaming to build an audience. My chief goal was to bring traffic to my website with social media. Only about a year ago I began to build the Business Computing Weekly podcast.

10 Reasons Why Your Business Needs CRM Software

My professional background started in consumer finance. I ultimately ended up as a mortgage banker with a call center that required CRM software to function. This led me to a product called GoldMine, and I was hooked. I eventually left the mortgage industry to follow my passion for CRM and Salesforce Automation software.

In 1997 I founded Sales Automation Group as a GoldMine reseller and built the company into a Platinum level dealership serving the west coast. I eventually sold the business in 2001 and opened FrugalBrothers Software in 2006. Since that time I have been using Microsoft CRM to run my business. Below are some of the top reasons that all businesses should be using CRM software.

1: It helps you analyze your work flow and sales cycle. If it doesn’t flow on paper you can’t automate it.

2: You can centralize your customer data, phone calls, support, emails in . No more chasing around information on a contact.

3: You gain valuable insights into your sales funnel and pipeline. Get a better handle on results from campaigns and marketing collateral.

4: It's never been cheaper or easier to get a CRM system up and running. But a word of caution it’s not typically a do it yourself project.

5: There really is Gold in the data you manage in CRM with the right reports, and analytics. Think about the cost to market and sell to a new customer vs an existing one.

6: You can build customer for life with sold CRM system. By leveraging not only customer history but also social media.

7: CRM is great way to understand your competition. By providing analytics into why opportunities are lost and to whom they are lost.

8: Save money with automated touches, new product and service launches, birthdays sent via email phone or fax or even traditional mail much of which is automated.

9: CRM can help you grow your business in new areas, and learn what markets are hot and what might be cooling off.

10: CRM makes sales people more productive. There will be prima donnas who will put up a fight, but in order to make it work they must use it or did not happen. A well designed CRM system holds sales people accountable with their time, lead and opportunity management .