Cartoon Small Business A few weeks ago, during InsideCRM webinar on Top 10 Things To Know about CRM, one of the attendants came with the question - is there a reason for CRM in a very small company, one person company? The answer I gave then (”primary value of CRM to one person company is in Contact management”) indicates that I am not very quick thinker, and that I tend to focus too much on Sales pillar of CRM strategy because it is much more challenging to implement profitably. However what I lack in speed…

This question came into light again when I read this in Seth Godin’s blog

If your small company can’t deliver a better experience (in areas people care about) than a big one, why on Earth should someone do business with you? I’m not saying you must have faster service, a bigger website, lower prices and twenty-four hour a day phone support. I’m saying that for some of your customers, you have to be monstrously, demonstrably, better.

There is surely no need to break informational “silos” at a one person company, when a person has informational “silos” problem it is more of a clinical challenge that a business one. However the flawless Customer communications, fulfillment, billing and support processes are a very real and formidable challenge even when you have very few customers. Properly used CRM application can help you do just that through use of simple practices of documenting ALL your Customer communication instances and the promises/commitments you have made during these communications. The next step is to create and automate simple workflows to translate these communications into Calendar entries with ticklers to remind you when the time comes to act on your promises. Commonly most people find these things to be too tedious and time consuming to practice, but of course most people do not succeed in small business.

It is unfortunate that so many CRM initiatives, large and small, are focused on achieving some efficiency instead of effectiveness of doing right things by your Customer.