Even though I have written about CRM software for decades, I was still using an Excel spreadsheet to run my membership business.
It was a massive, complicated, color-coded Excel spreadsheet with 13 tabs. It was a spreadsheet that I hesitated to share, even with my business partner, for fear someone would mess it up. So I saved copies of it to a shared folder once a month, along with at least three other documents to track related information. Then there was the customer data in our QuickBooks billing system that I didn’t have quick access to. When one of our customers (blog members) asked a question, there was never one place that had all the information. Everything had to be entered and changed in multiple locations by multiple people.
We looked into CRM solutions in the past, but as a very small business, we felt that every system was overly complicated and too expensive. And the inexpensive monthly services would require too many changes to the way we viewed data and take too much time to set up. What if I started using it and then realized I didn’t like it, and I’d wasted all this time getting my data in there? It just seemed too overwhelming. So once again, I would I shelve the CRM task “until later,” and we just kept limping along with the Excel spreadsheet. But I knew in my heart of hearts that there had to be a better way.
I just wanted a solution that was simple, fast, secure, and VERY affordable. Oh, and completely customized to the way I wanted it to work.
That may sound impossible, but I am happy to say that I finally found it: P2xRM from P2 Automation.
My small business CRM solution
I’ve known Steve Pestillo, the owner of P2 Automation, for years. I’d seen the overview video of his custom CRM system and thought it looked great. I even remember showing it to my business partners more than a year ago. But we all assumed his system would be too advanced (aka too expensive) for us.
But recently Steve introduced a small-business level of his product. When Steve listened to my challenges and my goals, he assured me it could be done and for less than $5,000! According to Steve, every business has their own “x” factor in “X Relationship Management”. For us, the X we needed to track was members and subscriptions.
My company, ERP Blog LLC, owns the ERP Software Blog, CRM Software Blog and ERP Cloud Blog and provides a monthly subscription membership and add-on services to about 175 companies.
I needed a way to track:
Blog member company info, including key contacts, dates and activities.
Blog member subscriptions, including states they represent and amount they are billed each month.
Prospective blog member company info, including last time I emailed them.
Special programs, including who participated and extra billing.
Steve looked at all of my Excel documents. Then he did a mock-up of the system to show me how it would work. We made a few adjustments, and then it went online. Some of my data was imported, some of it I typed in manually.
I will admit it was a bit painful getting all of the information in there initially and getting it to the point where I was ready to trust that all the data was complete and correct. I missed my Excel spreadsheet. But I knew it was time to step up to a better system.
The best part about the P2xRM system is that it is completely custom. All I had to do was tell Steve, “I want to see this field on this other screen” or “I forgot to tell you that we also need to have a field to track this” or “It would be great if we could….” Steve and his team just made it happen. I really don’t think they ever told me that what I wanted couldn’t be done. I am sure he wished that I had thought of some of these changes earlier on in the process, but he never let me see him roll his eyes.
Going forward, I am going to work with P2 Automation to create some custom reports and even workflows.
The advantages of our new CRM system:
Multiple people can access the cloud based system, so we all have the same information.
It is safer than using Outlook contacts, Excel spreadsheets, or notebooks.
There is no more double entry or information falling through the cracks.
Anyone can answer customer questions quickly now that all the info is in one place.
If we ever want to sell our business, having a professional system adds value.
I now have a simple, no-frills cloud CRM system that exactly fits my business, and is just so much better than running my small business on Excel.
If you want a custom CRM system for your business contact Steve at P2 Automation.
By Anya Ciecierski
ERP Blog LLC and Collaboration Works Marketing
(No, I am not an affiliate in any way, I just wanted to share. But you can tell Steve I recommended him, and perhaps that will make up for all my annoying change requests.)