Steve Jobs once said that “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” and when it comes to Apple products, it’s so true.  Remember when all of the tiny buttons on your Blackberry were replaced with the sleek touch screen and single round button of your iPhone?  I know that operating my iPhone for the first time felt like magic.  As a user, you don’t get caught up in the complexities of the technology running your device. It’s designed so well that you intuitively know how to use it to do what you want – whether it’s to take a photo and text it to a friend, or download a new app.

In the past, the CRM felt more like the Blackberry – complex, clunky and used primarily by enterprise level businesses. But, like smartphones, CRMs have evolved. Web-based with intuitive user interfaces, you no longer need a technical team to install and implement your CRM, making today’s CRM super accessible for small business.

Today, while there is complex technology running your CRM in the background, the CRM brings simplicity to your business in several key ways. Here are four ways that this software can handle the complicated to make your own life that much simpler:

Task Automation

One of the ways that a small business CRM can make your life simple is by automating tasks, including things like following up with leads and creating tasks during the sales process. With task management off your plate, you and your staff have more time to concentrate on the things that impact your business.  For instance, instead of spending time sorting through post-its or fumbling through an excel worksheet to find a contact, your salesperson can focus on building a relationship with the next contact to call right on their task list – getting you closer to your next sale.  In fact, you can automate almost any work-related task (from scheduling follow-up calls to marketing). Combined with providing all workers easy access to centralized information, this software can make your business more efficient than you’ve ever dreamed.

Ease of Use

Some hesitate to embrace a CRM for small business because they imagine many potential headaches – stemming from their experience with outdated software that used to be as costly as it was bulky to install and operate.  For small businesses without an IT department, that used to mean outsourcing implementation and spending lots of time and money to get a new software system to work.

Fortunately, those fears are outdated, as modern CRM for small business is affordable, customizable, and easy for everyone to use – even the busy business owner who’d rather be working with customers or diving into his product than learning a new software system. This is vital because it means that everyone – from marketing managers to sales leaders will be able to adopt a new CRM system, improve their processes, and turn efficiencies into a boost for your business’s bottom line.

Integrated Marketing

One of the most attractive things about today’s small business CRM is that it makes marketing easier. For small businesses, investing in a CRM that includes marketing automation is a game changer. Your CRM makes it easy to track prospects and customers, gathering data along the way. The more data you gather on the CRM side, the more effective you can be on the marketing side. Being able to track essential data, such as which customers have bought particular products, helps you to better customize future marketing campaigns. CRM for small business makes marketing campaigns much more efficient than they would be without it, segmenting contacts in your database by title, interests, industry, lead source and automating follow-up. Ultimately, this allows you to learn more about your audience so you can create hyper-relevant messaging that hits home and increases their interest in your business and products.

Accessibility

One of the perks of today’s CRM for small business is that it’s a software as a service, or SaaS, model. This means that you access it on the web, rather than your own server. You and your employees can log in at work, at home, at a conference – wherever your internet connection and laptop take you. It also means that you can get real-time updates about your contacts.  So if you’re at your son’s soccer game, your CRM can email you a notification that you have a hot prospect, and you can follow-up on the spot. More accessibility means less missed opportunities for your business.

Simply put, the features of CRM don’t have to be complex and intimidating. Confucius said it best: “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” The best way to see how a CRM can make your life easier by automating your daily tasks and marketing efforts is to  watch a demo.