First, before you read the below, note that there are probably more different CRMs than there are people. The market is ridiculously bloated, and they are mostly similarly over-complicated. A good CRM is worth its weight in gold, but they are rare. We’ve tried about 15 of them for our own manufacturing businesses, and the one we’d recommend is OnePageCRM. It might not be suitable for a mega-corporation, but I’ve found it ideal for single users or small teams, and the way you use it is refreshingly intuitive.
It basically tracks all the communication you have with your contacts and methodically tells you what you need to do next, and when (and provides things like email templates to save a lot of time).
You can use ‘pipelines’ to manage and monitor sales progress, though to be perfectly frank my biggest issue with most CRMs is that this over-focus on pipelines often isn’t applicable to manufacturers who just want people to remember that they exist the next time they want to buy something.
While Factory Superstar tracks things like what purchases a customer has made, when they last ordered, etc., it’s not a full blown CRM as such. We have no intention of making it one (see comment above on bloatedness, and we want to be the best at managing production instead of being half-good at lots of things).
A CRM, or customer relationship management system, is a software solution that helps manage their interactions with customers and prospects. The systems are designed to help increase sales, improve customer satisfaction, and optimize customer engagement.
Some of the key features of a CRM system include:
Overall, a CRM system can help improve their customer relationships and drive growth by providing tools for managing the entire customer lifecycle. By using a CRM system, can streamline their sales and marketing processes, improve customer service and support, and gain real-time visibility into their customer interactions.
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