Small brokerage businesses may not realise just how important a CRM can be for generating new opportunities from past customers.
If you’re running a small business, you’ll no doubt know just how hard it can be to grow and find new customers at all stages of your journey, not just the beginning. Without the right support, it can be easy to miss out on golden opportunities at risk of being snatched from under your nose.
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is often treated as little more than a digital address book, storing names, contact details and notes. Plenty of brokers’ version of a CRM is an extensive Excel spreadsheet that, after a few months or years, can become almost impossible to navigate.
What’s important to understand for SMEs in this situation is that managing your customers doesn’t automatically mean getting lost in the cells of a spreadsheet. There are purpose-built solutions that can allow you to not only manage all your admin but also easily keep track of the situations of past clients who may present an opportunity again down the track.
For brokers, as an example, the reality is that mortgage and asset finance customers aren’t automatically a one-and-done. Whether you’re working with individuals in the market for their next car or businesses financing commercial-use vehicles and equipment, many clients want the freedom and flexibility to turn them over once their loan payments are finished (or even beforehand in some cases).
They might even need a different type of finance, such as a personal loan, which you could snap up if you remain front of mind. In cases like these, keeping detailed records and tracking key dates is essential for capitalising on such opportunities. It goes without saying that this can be exceptionally hard to do without the right software at your fingertips, especially if you aren’t super tech-savvy.
A more advanced CRM can take a fair chunk of the burden off your shoulders if you find yourself in this position. Rather than simply serving as a record of past deals, it should also be working for you, automating the process of tracking what stage a deal is at and keeping one eye on your list of past clients through email communication.
Optimise Aggregation helps independent brokers and small businesses do just that, giving you the tools to build on your existing relationships while affording you more time to focus on creating new ones. Essentially, you’re giving yourself the best chance of growing your deal sheet from both within and outside your customer base.
Optimise’s custom CRM, AFOS, is the most powerful asset finance management platform in Australia. Its core purpose is to boost productivity and revenue by simplifying the relationship management process with your customers.
By remaining in regular contact with your clients and tracking settlement anniversary dates, such as the end of their existing loan deals, you’ll be best placed to move when something does come up from within your backyard. Any broker will tell you these leads are invaluable, as there’s no need to pound the pavement or spend on advertising to get them in. Pursuing these deals is a no-brainer.
At the end of the day, customer data should be treated as a long-term business asset, rather than a record of past transactions. An extensive database of client information can be a goldmine of future opportunity for businesses of all sizes, so it’s crucial to give yourself the best chance to use it to its full potential. Plugging everything into a single document or spreadsheet could be squandering your business’ greatest asset of all.
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