What should be the most valuable asset in your business?

I’ll give you a clue: it’s NOT you; it’s NOT your staff; it’s not even your customers – although, of course, all three are important. No, in modern day business the most valuable asset of any business should be your database.

What I mean by database is all the details of every customer and every prospect – in a format that you can use to help your business grow.

Let me share with you a short story to illustrate my point; we launched a new product recently. 10 days before launch we began sending messages out to our database. We used email and SMS texts and we even wrote to a few hundred previous customers using good old fashioned letters. The result: almost 4,000 people registered to be on the Priority List and we sold a bucket load on the first morning.

And you see, no matter how hard I’d worked, or how much effort my staff put in, there’s no way we would even have come close to this result if we hadn’t had our database and the tools with which to use that database effectively. That’s why your database is so valuable.

Of course, whatever we do in life, having the right tools makes a big difference. Digging a hole without a spade, for example, is difficult. Trying to open a tin without a can opener is incredibly frustrating. Building a business in these super- competitive, economically challenging times WITHOUT the right tools to build your database AND use it properly is equally difficult.

That’s why I’m so vocal in encouraging ALL businesses – whatever you do – to systematically build your database of both customers and prospects and then systematically use that database to communicate with these people. When you do this well – your sales will soar. It becomes the cheapest and easiest way to grow your profitability and the results are usually dramatic.

Which is why I’m constantly shocked by how many businesses don’t have a database and don’t use a CRM system.

I’m under no illusion: my business wouldn’t have enjoyed anything like the success it has if I hadn’t made the conscious decision over 6 years ago to find the right CRM system for us, and then set it to work. Since 2004, my CRM system has helped me to build and manage multiple customer and prospect databases, to send out millions of emails, and to sell over £13m of franchises and business opportunities – more than anyone else in the UK. Quite simply we couldn’t have come even close to these figures without our CRM.

Having the right CRM system working effectively in your business not only brings in more customers (and gets them buying from you more often) it also frees up so much time. It’s like having an extra employee – only much, much cheaper and way more reliable! You see, your CRM works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, doing everything you ask of it.

There are lots of different CRM systems available in the UK and I’ve got to grips with many of them for different projects that we have done. We use different systems because typically each CRM is great at some things and not so great at others.

When, in early 2009, we started pulling together the requirements for thebestof CRM I pulled in all the best bits from all of the other CRM systems I’ve used. The best email editor, the easiest contact management, the most useful reporting, the smartest shared calendar, the perfect mailmerge functionality, easy-to-use SMS and the most reliable email gateway, all coupled with top-notch UK-based customer service. The result is what I believe is by far the best CRM system available for small and medium sized businesses in the UK.

It was designed and built specifically to cater for small and medium sized businesses and I’m really proud of what my team have delivered. thebestof CRM strikes the perfect balance between sophistication and useability. It’s very easy to get to grips with and it’s been road-tested now for over 9 months by my own business and by dozens of my franchisees. It’s not just working well – it’s bloody brilliant!

I’ll be blunt – if you haven’t got a CRM in your business right now, you need one.

You can’t build and use your database effectively without one – and with no database, in this climate, you’re snookered. You simply have to have a CRM. It will make your life much easier. You’ll be able to grow your profits much quicker. And you’ll be able to look after your customers much better.

I firmly believe that thebestof CRM is the best CRM available in the UK right now and I have no hesitation in recommending it to you. It’s priced to make it easily affordable to every business (there’s nowhere else that you can spend £29 per month and get even close to such huge value) and you even get to try it for free for a month.

thebestof CRM will save you time, make you more productive and enable you to communicate more effectively with your customers, your prospects and your colleagues.

It’s a sophisticated but easy-to-use system that can help any organisation to work more efficiently, and get more done in less time. Whether you’ve got a hundred staff or there’s just one of you, I guarantee that thebestof CRM can help your business to grow.

1. It puts everything you need to know about your customers and prospects in the same place
2. It’s dead simple to use
3. It’s supported by real people, based right here in the UK
4. It’ll save you time and money
5. It puts detailed, super useful reports at your fingertips
6. It enables you to easily share information with colleagues
7. It’s just £29.99 plus VAT  per month
   

A full overview of the system and how it can help you is in this brochure but if you have any questions just call 0121 765 5551 and we’ll be happy to answer them for you.

 

Nigel Botterill