How do you know your company is becoming a large business? Perhaps it’s when you hire your first Chief Operating Officer. The role typically appears when business owners need someone to manage the day-to-day needs of their company, freeing the owners to focus on new sales, product lines and markets. Running a business takes an enormous amount of energy and time, so a COO is a sign that you can finally afford to put some of that on someone else’s shoulders.
But not every business is in this position. In small and medium businesses (SMBs), it is common for leaders to wear many hats and drive the different priorities of the company. Sales, marketing and service all need delicate attention. Their success and failure depend heavily on how well you can strike that balancing act.
SMB owners are almost always busy, explains Riaan Bekker, thryve’s Force Solutions Manager, “I’ll give an example. We are busy working with a new business, helping them build their software processes to support an exciting new product. It’s not unusual for the owner there to call me early in the morning, sometimes at 5am! It’s not that he can’t sleep – he’s just got that much to do. It’s that entrepreneurial spirit that builds a successful business.”
But an SMB could stagnate against the limits of their owners’ capacity. The only way around this barrier is to invest in extra capacity, which is often expensive.
Getting the essentials
Today, SMBs can use a potent yet affordable investment to improve their prospects and increase their resource pool. CRM or customer relationship management software can make an enormous difference to any company. Large organisations have relied on CRMs for a long time.
A CRM is more than a glorified address book of customers. Modern CRMs such as Salesforce help improve sales, marketing and service.
In Salesforce, you have access to prospects and create sales leads, complete with timelines and consolidated information about contacts, meetings, and other information. You can create and test marketing campaigns, even nurture campaigns that target specific leads. And if there is a problem, Salesforce’s service sections make it easy to open tickets, collaborate on solutions, and even create self-service resources for customers.
But wait a moment. Salesforce is a darling of the enterprise world. Is it really the answer for SMBs? Did we already forget about limited cash flow and resources?
That is a common criticism of proposing Salesforce to SMBs. Yet it’s not accurate, explains Sean Pyott, thryve’s Managing Director:
“Yes, it’s true that Salesforce seems like an enterprise product because it is very good at meeting their needs. The majority of Salesforce customers are larger companies. But it’s not only for enterprises, and Salesforce knows this, so they released Salesforce Essentials. This suite takes Salesforce back to its roots.”
Salesforce is a pioneer of cloud-based software platforms, which means low per-user costs, no spend on servers or bulk licenses, and easy customisation and access to third-party apps. Salesforce helped create the cloud world, where you can access high-end software services at low prices with no strings attached. Salesforce is very compatible with SMBs, and Salesforce Essentials puts the world’s leading CRM back in their hands.
Get your time back
Salesforce provides several advantages to smaller companies. Other than the low per-user cost and easy access (you can use Salesforce on PCs and mobile devices through a browser or Salesforce apps), Salesforce provides dashboards to track your sales, marketing and service operations on the go.
It also provides a large platform ecosystem that will scale as your business grows, making sure you are a digital-first business that can thrive in the connected marketplace. You can leverage Salesforce’s development tools to build your own apps, and you can download some of the thousands of third-party apps available on the Salesforce marketplace. You could even market your app to other businesses on the Salesforce platform.
Some of thryve’s customers go even further, integrating Salesforce with other services to create unique business models, automated and made responsive through the many Salesforce tools on offer.
By using Salesforce Essentials, you can open up time and resources and chase profitable leads. In no time, your growth can lead to hiring those extra hands so you can focus on the priorities. Maybe you’ll even find that COO, who will be delighted to join a business that uses technology to do things faster and smarter.
Expand the potential of your company with Salesforce Essentials. Try a trial of its services. Contact thryve and let us demonstrate why your business and Salesforce are a great fit.