Yaneek Page | A single app can boost business profitability

During the past week, I received more than 50 questions from entrepreneurs and small business operators having to do with expanding their customer base, increasing sales, and achieving profitability.

These are just a few of the messages from social media:

- What's the fastest way to turn my money?

- How can I make more money quickly?

- How can I get more customers buying my perfume oils?

- How can I make more money from this business?

- How do I keep up when I need more cash in my business?

- I need help to make my business profitable.

- What do you recommend to make my day care more profitable?

- What's the smartest way to grow my operation?

Readers of this column would know that I strongly advise against the get-rich quick approach to business and entrepreneurship and, therefore, never offer advice on making fast money.

One of the reasons Jamaica has the unenviable distinction of leading the region in start-up failures is that most people start businesses out of their personal need or desire to make fast money, create a job or side income for themselves, or to become their own boss and 'stop working for people', instead of taking an opportunity-based approach to entrepreneurship where they identify market needs and provide viable solutions that enough consumers are willing and able to purchase.

In a free market economy devoid of monopoly or oligopoly privilege, sustainable profits are primarily a function of real market demand, cost of production, an enabling business environment, distinct and unique competitive advantage, customer orientation, and the internal capacity of the business to capitalise on market opportunities.

One way most enterprises can improve their financial performance and better manage those internal factors that drive business success is to exploit technological applications that can enhance efficiency, productivity, and increase sales. One application that every business could benefit from is customer relationship management system.

 

CRM APPLICATIONS

 

Customer relationship management, or CRM, applications enable businesses to better understand, capture, organise, analyse, automate, and proactively utilise almost every facet of sales and customer account management operations.

For start-up, micro and small businesses, which are particularly constrained by human and financial resources, such applications can completely transform their production, efficiency and financial outcomes by allowing them to better control major functions.

A common complaint from entrepreneurs is that there are too many facets of the business to manage and not enough staff. Entrepreneurs often complain bitterly of being overwhelmed with marketing, sales, customer service, operations, purchasing and inventory management, receivables management, and task planning and execution, to name a few.

An effective CRM app can enable a single user, or a few users, to comprehensively control the aforementioned functions, and more. For example, many small companies do not capture customers' information in any database. They don't know which marketing, advertising, or promotional channels brought the customers to their business. They have no idea which customers are actively referring them to others. They don't even capture customers' contact data to be able to reach them in the future.

 

REAL TIME DATA

 

Some businesses aren't tracking real-time sales and inventory, which leads to inefficiencies in procurement and inventory management, which can translate to lost sales, dissatisfied customers, and poor cash management, among other.

Many businesses do not document prospective customers, or partners, or any aspect of their sales process. Worse yet, many businesses have no formal system to track customer sales. As a result, they are deprived of critical data, which could be used to manage cash flows, analyse customer behaviour and buying patterns, and enhance the sales and customer experience process.

The great news for entrepreneurs is that there is immense potential to expand their customer base, sell more to existing customers, extend customer lifetime value, manage expenses, and improve their bottom line by making the decision to integrate a CRM app in their business.

It is estimated that the use of CRM software can result in as much as 25-35 per cent increase in sales and up to 40 per cent improvement in sales team productivity.

Globally, the popular CRM applications among small businesses include Sales Force, Zoho, Hubspot, ProsperWorks, and Nimble. Most of these applications offer free 30-day trials on their website to allow potential customers to try the service risk free before purchasing.

Unfortunately, my search for tried and proven local options with user feedback, trial information, data and statistics, and details on relevant features and functionalities did not bear fruit. Perhaps this is an opportunity that innovative local tech entrepreneurs may consider, particularly to address Jamaica's market nuances, and possibly that of other Caribbean countries.

One love!

- Yaneek Page is an entrepreneur and trainer, and creator/executive producer of The Innovators TV series. Email: info@yaneekpage.com Twitter: @yaneekpage Website: www.yaneekpage.com