Sponsored by Small Business Partner: Insightly
When you think about the number of tools you have at your disposal to help you run your business smartly, you might be happy to have so many options. But at the same time, it can be overwhelming to have so many different tools that you have to log into and manage. It’s easy to let things fall between the cracks.
That’s why tools that offer multiple functionality or integrate with other tools are so hot right now. Think about the social media dashboard that lets you manage Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram rather than you having to log into each separate site. That’s power that saves you major time.
The same goes for customer relationship management software (CRM). CRM that offers multiple functionalities keeps you from having half a dozen tools to get the same effect.
Take project management. It’s something every company needs in order to stay on top of project tasks and deadlines. And yet, if your project is tied directly to a customer, does it really make sense to have a separate project management platform from your CRM?
More and more, we’re seeing CRM platforms with baked-in project management features. The benefit to these platforms is that there’s no gap between the client data and the project management tasks. All the files, assignments, milestones, and due dates are in one place.
1. Projects are Easier to Manage
Let’s say you have a writing project for a client assigned to your best writer. Under this client’s profile, you assign the project to the writer and create a due date. She can sync that task to her Google calendar so she doesn’t even need to log into the CRM to view it.
But if she does log in, she can access your notes from your phone call with the client, view documents of past writing projects to get a sense of writing style, and then upload the documents when she’s completed the work. Everything related to this project and client are in one place. One login. It doesn’t get simpler than that.
2. Teams Have Better Communication
Teams that collaborate can easily see where each team member is on a project, what needs to be done in order to complete it, and any files that relate to the project. You don’t waste time hunting for a document on your computer or Google Drive, only to realize someone else has it or has modified it since you last viewed it.
3. Reports are Easy to Run
If you need to find out the status of a given project, you can easily run project reports from within the CRM that provide data on what’s been completed and what’s still pending so you can address any project bottlenecks that could potentially hold a project up.
4. Nothing Slips Through the Cracks
Not only can you view your assigned tasks on the CRM’s calendar, but you can sync it with your Google or Outlook Calendar so you don’t miss anything. Then, you’ll get email reminders as a backup.
Using CRM with built-in project management capabilities just makes sense. Being able to get a 360 view on both a client and the work you do for him from a single place cuts down drastically on the time you’d otherwise spend on several tools and websites.
