Investing in customer relationship management (CRM) software is absolutely essential for small- and medium-sized businesses that want to up their sales performance. It helps sales departments understand their clients, tailor their marketing efforts, and more. If your business isn’t using CRM yet, here are five reasons why you should. Grows with your business The ol’ Rolodex may have been useful for managing a few clients, but you’ll need a much better solution if you plan to maintain relationships with hundreds, possibly thousands, more. CRM scales with your business, meaning it can handle larger data sets and more clients as you expand your sales operation. Organizes your data CRM software acts as a central database for all your sales records and transactions. This means important customer information can be retrieved in just a few clicks rather than by rifling through thousands of documents, sticky notes, and disorganized cabinets. And since CRM is hosted in the cloud, sales data, customer interactions, and other actionable information are available for the entire company. Improves customer service Your sales team could be the most persuasive individuals in the world, but this means nothing if they can’t recall anything about their clients and their preferences. When your sales staff follows up on leads or existing customers, CRM will automatically retrieve contact history, past purchases, and customer preferences from your client database and display them on a single page during the call. Armed with detailed customer information, sales representatives will be able to recommend products and services that meet the client’s needs. So instead of struggling through a sales call, marketing employees can focus on delivering a professional sales pitch. Streamlines your sales funnel CRM comes equipped with workflow management functions, supporting your sales pipeline in a number of ways. For example, you can configure your CRM to send instant follow-up emails when a lead visits a particular product page. You can even use automation to track where certain leads are in the sales pipeline and delegate the task to one of your sales closers. Analyzes sales data With real-time sales information, business managers can track marketing campaigns and adjust their strategy accordingly. For instance, you might notice that click-through-rates for promotional emails and company newsletters are higher during Tuesday afternoon than Friday night. Having this information can help you focus your marketing efforts and message to generate more leads. In addition, you can use CRM to analyze customer calling activity, market demographics, lead conversion rates, and key performance indicators to influence future business decisions. Understanding your customers can put you several steps ahead of the competition. If you need to manage contacts, eliminate time-consuming procedures, and improve your sales performance, CRM is the perfect business solution. Contact Multi IT today on 011 435 0450 to find out whether CRM is the right fit for your business.

In today's business world, computers are an essential investment. Considering the tight budgets of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB), one can't afford to invest in the wrong hardware. Which is the smartest investment, especially for startups? Laptops or Desktops? Portability Laptops allow you to keep working when you don’t have an electrical outlet. However, this ability to take your work anywhere can be counterproductive by creating more stress on employees who think they must work all the time. Memory/Speed Desktop computers used to have more memory and faster processors than laptops. And although high-powered laptops have caught up, they are more expensive. If work is limited to word processing and emailing, affordable less-powerful laptops should be enough. Anything more will probably require a desktop machine. Security Data security is necessary not only against data leaks but as protection from litigation, reputation damage, and loss of business. With a network security system and IT staff, vulnerabilities are easier to address for desktop computers within office premises. They're also less likely to be stolen. For laptops, however, mobility makes them more vulnerable. Data loss is a real risk as laptops may be connected to unsecured networks and hotspots or be lost or stolen. Protecting your laptops require special safeguards, and consequently more time and money. Price Laptops and desktops come in varying prices according to preferences. On the cheaper end of the price range spectrum, there are notebook-style laptops that are limited to word processing and web browsing capabilities. Desktops have affordable equivalents as well. The deciding factor when it comes to price is your IT service provider or hardware supplier. With the right partner, you should be able to get a good bulk deal on powerful but affordable desktops or laptops. Longevity Laptop computers may provide the convenience of mobility, but it’s much harder to upgrade their components as they get older. Laptops are also easier to drop or damage and more expensive to replace or repair. Being in a fixed location, desktops are less prone to this. And unlike laptops, many desktops are not always pre-assembled. Many desktops can be custom built with parts that are easily removed, replaced, or upgraded. Final Recommendation A growing company really needs a combination of both types of computers. However, a desktop computer will be generally more reliable for the fledgling company owner. Laptops should be added as budget permits to provide that extra portability and convenience, especially for managers who work remotely. If you have other questions regarding enterprise hardware, give Multi IT a call on 011 435 0450. We'd be happy to recommend the best solution according to your company's business needs and objectives.

Every marketing channel has best practices. For websites, it comes down to being user-friendly. Without this, even a terrific-looking website may discourage visitors from signing up for a free e-book or consultation. Be sure your website follows these 5 rules that make it easier to attract visitors and convert them. Make it mobile-friendly More people are now surfing the web on the go – via smartphones, tablets, and laptops. If you want a piece of this traffic, you need to make your website's design responsive to all mobile devices. To give your visitors an enjoyable mobile experience, make sure your website design fits the screen of any device. Additionally, all elements of your website – pages, resources, actions, and so on – should be easily accessible. If not, visitors will get frustrated and click away to a competitor. And who can blame them? You’d probably do the same. Make it easy for customers to contact you This means displaying your phone number in the upper-right corner of every page and providing a simple, easy-to-find contact form. While some people prefer not to give up their email address for fear it will be picked off by spambots, it can serve as another contact option for those who hate web forms. Ideally, you will provide more than one way for your customers to contact you. Give your visitors a choice, make it easy, and they will come. Keep it simple Have you started to notice a theme here? Proper web design can be summed up in one word: easy. People are always busy. They don’t have time to navigate a complicated website, dig through dozens of pages to find a contact number, or try and figure out what it is that you’re selling because your mobile site doesn’t display content properly. So when it comes to design, simplicity makes sense. When producing a simple website, every page, word, and image you create must have a singular purpose: to get visitors to contact you. Don’t waste time distracting them with excessive information, silly games, or flashy animations. Instead, have a nice clean layout so they can understand what you’re offering quickly and can contact you with a click. Include personal photos whenever possible Say you have to choose between two different websites. They both sell the same thing and look virtually the same. The key difference is that one uses real photos of the owner and his or her staff, while the other uses generic stock images of business people. Assuming images from both sites are of the same quality, which one will you more likely choose? Undoubtedly, the one that looks the most authentic. So next time you have to choose between stock images and shooting photos of you and your staff, invest some time and money in quality pictures taken at a studio – it’ll be worth every penny. Move social media icons to the bottom of the page Everyone loves throwing social media icons on their websites, and it’s not a bad idea to show your credibility. However, if you put these at the top of the page, your visitor is more likely to click on them immediately. Sounds cool, right? Wrong. When this happens, you just created an exit for them to leave your site and never return – and we all know how easy it is to get distracted on social media. Instead, place your social media icons at the bottom of the page or in the footer area. Remember the goal of your website is to convert. If your visitors leave before they get a chance to explore your services, content, and offerings, you’ve lost them before you even had them. Need a website or another solution to enhance your digital presence? Give Multi IT a call on 011 435 0450 and leverage our IT expertise for your business.