Maybe it was easier back in the days. Maybe customers had lower expectations. As long as you knew their name and phone number, they were happy. Maybe you had an Excel spreadsheet with your customers’ names, their contact information, and, if they were lucky, a sentence or two about them. That was what you could do with the technology, and that’s what your customers were happy with. Not now, however, not by a long shot. These days, even a small business has to be able to provide quality customer care and service. Fortunately, in the field of customer relations management (CRM), there are plenty of solutions. This also rings true for the company in search of small business CRM software.

What can this do for you and why do you need it? Is it really worth $20 whole dollars a month that you could have spent on coffee or sandwiches? The answer to all these questions, surprisingly, is ‘yes’.

Small business CRM software provides communication logs

Small business CRM software like Batchbook provides the option to automatically record phone calls and emails, add useful reference notes to conversations, and distribute said information with coworkers. This way, there is no mystery about what a client wants or expects. Nobody has to be initiated. All is revealed.

CRM software makes following up a lot easier

In the hit TV series Mad Men, one of the partners of the company had no role but to lunch with clients, make the occasional friendly phone call, and of course, play a few friendly rounds of golf. Maybe it was because his father had founded the company, but Roger Sterling Jr. actually provided valuable services to SCDP. Because their clients had personal relationships with him, cultivated over time, they saw him, and by proxy, the company as trustworthy. It’s all about followup. When you establish a personal relationship with a customer, they’re no longer dealing with a faceless corporation. They’re dealing with you. By collecting detailed information about your customers, small business CRM software makes it easier to simulate affability.

CRM keeps you organized

When your company starts adding new employees and taking on a lot of customers, things can get confusing. Who is this guy again? Why should we care about his problem? He says we stole 90$ dollars from him but isn’t it easier to just keep the money? With small business CRM software, you can keep all the information about your customers in one place, so that anyone in the company can access it. This includes newly onboarded employees and battle hardened veterans. This avoids slip-ups, mistakes, oversights, accidents, and of course, snafus. You don’t want one bad experience to make a client think that your company is some sort of scam.

B-b–but, you stutter, we haven’t had that many complaints! What we had was good enough in 1990! Look at the calendar. Is it 1990? MS Dos was good enough in 1990. CD Roms were good enough in 1990. 15 miles per gallon was good enough in 1990. It’s 2016 and if your company isn’t utilizing the newest, most effective, and honestly, extremely affordable small business CRM software, you’re at best shooting yourself in the foot.