Whether you have not yet started your business or are a seasoned pro, a CRM is essential to take your business to the next level. 

What is a CRM?

A Client Relationship Management or Client Management System (CRM for short) is a system to help businesses, organizations, freelancers, and entrepreneurs manage their business and their clients. With a focus on client relationships and service at the forefront, the goals of a CRM platform are to increase productivity and flow while streamlining communication and processes. 

What can a CRM do for me?

As a designer, you may have started with a few clients and grew your business steadily. However, successful designers come to a point where they need tools to support and to manage their growth. Enter a CRM. A CRM helps a designer manage their business and their clients to maintain and to grow. There are some standard tools in almost all CRMs that are helpful for designers, but it’s important for designers and entrepreneurs to determine their needs and the CRM that matches those needs and preferences.

What features are important in a CRM?

INTERFACE

Think of the interface of a CRM as your office. Some of us like simple spaces with a clear desk, minimal distractions while others need everything at a glance or available at our fingertips with bright colors and a visually stimulating environment. The interface of your CRM is similar. You have simple, clean CRMs, and you have CRMs that have a lot of information when you first log in. 

If you want to see the interface of the top 3 CRMs, click here. 

BRANDING

Another area that you might find significantly impacts your choice in CRM is branding. Your company branding may be an important part of who you are as a designer or entrepreneur. As a designer, you have to put considerable thought and effort into the development of your brand, and you want that brand visible to your clients at all times. You want to share that brand in everything you do. You want your logo, colors, fonts, and patterns on all of your materials, emails, and interface! If you’re a simple brand, you may not need the extensive branding that some CRMs offer. Maybe you have two brands that you want to showcase and to differentiate; you would want a CRM that allows you to distinguish between your brands. Finding the right balance on customizing your branding needs is important for many designers.

CUSTOMIZATION

Customization may be important internally or externally or in both. Internal customization includes customizing your workflow and automations--how your process works. External customization includes customizing your outgoing materials--emails, quotes, contracts, and invoices. Most CRMs will allow you to customize some items and features that work for your business needs. 

FEATURES

As designers, we sometimes think we can (and should) do everything. The features in a CRM are usually extensive, and most designers do not tap into the breadth of features. Some of the features are included below.

• Financial Management Tools

  • Financial management tools are a key feature of CRMs. Payment processors give your clients options that lead to getting you paid. You can create and send invoices to accept payments with ease from different portals. Some CRM’s do not accept all payment platforms (Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net), and some will follow up on unpaid bills automatically, which is a helpful tool. Be sure to find the CRM that accepts your favorite platform, and if your CRM doesn't have these features, you should find another. The right CRM will enhance your accounting practices, tracking income and expenses, which is helpful during tax season.

• Workflows and Automation

  • A workflow is the sequence of processes that lead to a final product. Your workflow may be a simple 2-step process, or it may involve 15-20 steps. No matter how simple or extensive your workflow, a CRM is designed to help increase productivity by streamlining that process for you. Better yet, CRMs automate and schedule certain processes for you! A CRM is not the same as project management programs like ClickUp or Trello, but some CRMs have the same concept in the workflow setup. Since you are responsible for setting up your workflow, many designers get overwhelmed and frustrated, so they avoid using the workflow features. However, once it is set up, your job will be so much easier. Click here to inquire about setting up your CRM workflows. 

• Time Tracker

  • One key feature of most CRMs is the ability to track time on a project through the CRM or through an integration with a time tracker. Time tracking is a great way to assess how much time you spend on a project to determine if your rates are where they should be or if you’re ready to raise your rates. If you work hourly, time trackers allow you to see how many hours you have worked on a project and even share that information with the clients through the workflow. You can also use time tracking to automate bills in most CRMs. 

• Client Portals

  • Clients are the first letter in CRM for a reason: they’re vital to the success of your business. A client portal allows clients to access proposals, contracts, invoices, and more. The real benefit of a portal is having everything for the client at their fingertips. They no longer have to search through their email provider for the questionnaires or feedback forms you've sent them. They can see every email, attachment, time input, and link all in one spot. 

• Monitoring and Reporting

  • Another great feature of CRMs are the monitoring and reporting features. You can monitor time spent and receive reports from client interaction, payments, and more. CRMs have extensive monitoring and reporting features to help keep you on track. 

Different CRMs have different features, which is why knowing the features that are important for you, your business, and your clients is the first step in finding the perfect CRM for you.

PRICE

The final factor that you should consider is price. Most CRMs run about $25-$40 per month and offer some discounts if you pay annually. That cost for a small business may feel like a lot, but it simplifies processing by managing clients and workflow, ultimately saving you time and money. If you paid an assistant to call clients to remind them of upcoming meetings, that process alone could cost you thousands of dollars per year. Add to that the cost of training that individual. You may still want to bring them in to help you manage this CRM, but a CRM will drastically reduce the time and money spent on managing your business. 

Finding the CRM that’s right for you is not a simple process. Putting together the right system in your CRM is not a simple process. But once that system is in place and adjusted for your needs, you will feel like the weight of the world is off your shoulders. When you’re ready to find the right system for you, your business, and your clients, schedule a call to discuss your options!