Running a small business is no easy feat. You have to manage sales, marketing, operations, finances, and more – often with limited resources. Having the right technology stack can make a huge difference in keeping everything organized and running smoothly. One essential piece of that stack is a customer relationship management (CRM) system. But not just any CRM will do. For small businesses, you need one that goes beyond basic contact management and integrates other critical functions like project management and electronic signatures. Here’s why:
The Problems of Switching Between Systems
A standard CRM helps you track leads, manage accounts, and log interactions with prospects and customers. This gives you visibility into your sales pipeline and customer relationships. But what happens when you need to carry out projects for those customers, like delivering a product/service or getting contracts signed? Most CRMs don’t have built-in project management capabilities. So you end up having to juggle the CRM with another system like Asana, Trello, Basecamp, etc. Same goes for getting signatures on agreements – you have to go outside the CRM to use e-signature software like DocuSign.
Constantly switching between systems leads to a few big problems:
- Fragmented data. When customer information, projects, and documents live in separate systems, you always have an incomplete picture. You might forget to update info across the board, so things become out of sync. This makes it hard to get a unified view of where customers are at.
- Wasted time. Entering data and tracking progress across multiple systems takes up a lot of time that could be better spent on higher-value work. Employees lose productivity having to constantly switch between windows.
- Communication breakdowns. When data is fragmented, teams don’t always have full visibility into what’s going on. This can cause confusion, delays, and dropped balls during handoffs between sales, service, and operations.
- Human errors. Manually transferring data between systems inevitably leads to typos, omissions, and other errors. This results in mistakes like missed deadlines that negatively impact customers.
- Higher costs. The more disparate systems you use, the more it costs to purchase, implement, integrate, and maintain them. This eats into the budget of resource-constrained small businesses.
By integrating CRM, project management, and e-signatures into a single platform, you avoid all these headaches. But most CRM systems lack those extra capabilities natively.
Why Project Management Matters
For any small business that sells services, completes custom projects, or needs customers to sign off on agreements, project management is an essential piece of the puzzle that can’t be ignored. Here’s why it’s so important to have it tightly integrated with your CRM:
Increased Efficiency
Project management helps you execute initiatives in a systematic way and keep deliverables on track. Features like task lists, Kanban boards, calendars, and Gantt charts give you clarity into what needs to get done and when. This helps teams coordinate and prioritize more efficiently. Instead of constant back-and-forth communication to check progress, everyone can use the PM system as a single source of truth. Integrated with the CRM, all info flows through seamlessly without duplication of work.
Enhanced Visibility
With customer projects in a separate PM tool, it’s hard to get full context on what’s happening without jumping between systems. When project management lives inside the CRM, you get clear visibility into where customer deliverables stand right alongside pipeline data. You can check project status, next steps, and outstanding tasks all in one place for a more holistic view.
Improved Collaboration
Smooth collaboration between teams is critical to delivering successful projects. A shared PM system integrated with CRM ensures sales, service, and operations are all on the same page. Everyone has access to the same info to keep projects moving forward effectively. Bringing collaboration into the CRM also facilitates better knowledge sharing so learnings are retained.
Higher-Quality Delivery
Well-run projects mean happy customers. With integrated PM, teams can work more cohesively to deliver outcomes that consistently meet or exceed expectations. Features like task dependencies, reminders, and alerts help ensure no steps get missed along the way. This leads to higher-quality deliverables with fewer errors, delays, or budget overruns.
Stronger Customer Relationships
When project outcomes meet expectations, customers are satisfied. The transparency and organization enabled by integrated PM helps build trust and strengthen relationships. Customers also benefit from having a single point of contact through the CRM for checking project status instead of getting bounced around. This convenience keeps them engaged long after project delivery.
The Power of Integrated E-Signatures
Electronic signatures have become a critical element of doing business. They facilitate faster, more convenient deals while still maintaining legal validity. Integrating e-signatures directly into your CRM streamlines the entire agreement process from creation to execution. Benefits include:
Faster Turnaround Times
Instead of printing, scanning, faxing, overnighting, or emailing documents back and forth for signature, it’s all done digitally from within the CRM. This significantly speeds up execution, so you can get deals done quicker. Customers can review and sign with just a few clicks from any device.
Reduced Abandonment
Research shows that up to 20% of agreements sent for traditional wet signatures end up stalled or abandoned altogether. Keeping the process entirely digital reduces lag and errors that can cause signers to drop out. Signature requests are trackable within the CRM so you can follow up if needed.
Lower Costs
When you eliminate printing, faxing, shipping, and in-person signing, the costs add up – not just in dollars, but time as well. Electronic signatures keep the entire agreement process digital to maximize efficiency. The savings quickly justify the investment in an integrated CRM solution.
Enhanced Security
Top e-signature platforms use advanced encryption, multi-factor authentication, and other security measures to keep documents safe. This reduces vulnerability compared to paper documents that can be lost, stolen, or altered. Integrated within CRM, signed agreements can be securely accessed long after deals close.
Better Compliance
Digital signatures include detailed audit trails that track viewing, signing, and edits. These tamper-evident logs help maintain compliance, especially for regulated industries like healthcare and financial services. Having records integrated within CRM makes audits and record-keeping simpler.
Why Small Businesses Need All-in-One CRM
The benefits of having project management and e-signatures capabilities natively built into your CRM are clear. But most platforms on the market today don’t offer those functions, or only do so through incomplete third-party integrations. For resource-constrained small businesses, that’s not good enough. You need an affordable, purpose-built solution that brings it all together in one place.
A Single Source of Truth
The right all-in-one CRM eliminates silos by unifying customer data, communications, projects, and documents in a single system. This creates a true 360-degree view of customers and business operations. All teams work from the same single source of truth instead of disjointed systems.
Streamlined Processes
An end-to-end platform maps and connects CRM, PM, and e-signatures into one streamlined workflow. Processes become more efficient by removing redundant steps needed to patch together different systems. Everything flows smoothly from lead to close.
Enhanced Usability
Unified UIs are inherently more intuitive than disjointed systems. With all features and functions accessible in one place, usability goes up. Less time is wasted figuring out where to enter data or track specific items. Onboarding and adoption is faster across the business.
Seamless Data Sharing
There’s no need to manually transfer data across systems. Information flows automatically where it needs to go to the right people. This keeps data in sync, reducing errors and improving collaboration between teams.
Lower Total Cost
Purchasing and managing one integrated solution costs significantly less than multiple standalone systems. Bulk pricing, single sign-on, unified APIs, and less vendor management reduce overhead. Integrations also minimize IT costs.
Higher ROI
The return on investment is multiplied when you can leverage CRM, PM, and e-signatures together instead of in isolation. Your ability to win and deliver business grows exponentially when these capabilities are synthesized into one smart solution.
Introducing TeamWave: All-In-One CRM Purpose-Built for Small Business
So how can you get all the benefits of a unified CRM, project management, and e-signatures solution without breaking the bank? Meet TeamWave. This innovative platform brings together everything small businesses need to streamline sales and service in one powerful yet easy-to-use system designed for small teams.
CRM That Goes Beyond Contacts
TeamWave CRM provides robust contact management, pipeline tracking, and sales automation. But it goes further to also encompass quoting, invoicing, scheduling, and project management. This connects the entire customer lifecycle within CRM.
Built-In Project Management
TeamWave’s project management module lets you create tasks, assign due dates, set dependencies, and track progress. PM is fully unified with CRM data, contacts, and tools.
Legally-Binding E-Signatures
Create, send, track, and manage the entire lifecycle of sales contracts and paperwork right inside TeamWave. Legally valid e-signatures accelerate deals while audit trails ensure compliance. No more printing, scanning, or mailing documents.
Made For Small Business Needs
TeamWave is designed specifically for the needs of small teams with limited IT resources. The intuitive interface makes it easy for anyone to start using quickly with no lengthy training needed. Affordable pricing provides premium capabilities without the typical high cost.
Rapid Time-To-Value
You can get TeamWave set up in just minutes not days or weeks. It’s built to enable users to be productive immediately thanks to the straightforward UI. Minimal configuration and training requirements means you see ROI almost instantly.
Seamless Scalability
TeamWave makes it easy to add users and grow with your business without added complexity. Built-in automation and workflows scale your processes while the clean interface prevents clutter. Your data is securely backed up in the cloud.
Top-Notch Support
Friendly customer support is available to help with any questions or issues. You get access to email support, live chat, an online knowledge base, and pro services to ensure you get the most from TeamWave.
Get More Done With All-in-One CRM
Stop trying to force-fit disjointed apps together to meet your business needs. Instead, use a purpose-built all-in-one CRM like TeamWave that brings CRM, project management, and e-signatures together under one roof. By unifying these capabilities natively, small businesses can work faster, smarter, and more efficiently to drive growth while delivering an exceptional customer experience. To learn more about TeamWave and get started with a free 14-day trial, visit TeamWave today.