The Best Way To Manage Your CRM On The Cheap

Having a good customer relationship management system is pretty essential when you’re running a business. There are many CRM definitions out there, but it’s really a pretty simple concept: a CRM system offers a way to manage your relationships and interactions with customers/potential customers to improve your profitability.

There are tons of comprehensive CRMs on the market that will cater to medium to larger-sized businesses, but if you’re a freelancer or running a small business you’re in danger of over-complicating things with one of these. When it comes to managing your customer database, it really makes more sense to keep things simple (and cost effective) for as long as possible, and this is where Buckets comes in.

A basic customer relationship management system will track every customer you have from your initial contact to the end sale/conversion. The great thing about using Buckets to manage your customers from your initial contact to the project management stage is that everything is kept in the same place. You don’t have to migrate information from one system to the other like you’d have to if used a separate CRM. Having all of your customer data in one place is invaluable in terms of increased efficiency, mobility, and productivity.

So, how do you get started?

Buckets is based on Kanban method of moving tasks start to completion using a progression of To Do > Doing > Done. This is the basic premise of how the Kanban method works. However, your Buckets Project can be customized by adding/editing Columns/Cards to create your own workflow. You can further optimize this workflow by creating templates for each Card that can be duplicated or moved to a new Project as needed.

These templates should list the key fields of entry in your CRM, such as the customer name, phone number, and email address, along with any other information that you wish to gather. You can easily store these templates in a separate Column within the same Project and utilize them as needed. This a really low-maintenance way to manage your contacts as your relationships evolve.

Once you’ve created a Project, you need to identify the key stages that each of your customer goes through before they complete the sales process. Each of these stages will represent a Column on your Buckets Project and each Column will contain a Card representing a potential customer. You can make these Columns easily identifiable by color-coding each one.

Here’s a quick example of a customer management system for an agency/freelancer:

• Leads: The list of businesses you’re going to contact. Each business is a Card in your Column.
• Prospects: This is where you list prospects/potential clients, leave any necessary Notes/documentation, and add/assign any colleagues who may be working on the pitch to that prospect. You can even add Labels to identify which prospects are more likely to convert.
• Pitch Sent: This is where you track your pitches. You can even attach copies of each pitch to the card. The Sandbox Relay comes in really useful here because it allows you to forward any email correspondence straight to your Buckets Sandbox, where you can drag-drop it into the relevant Card in your Project.
• Follow up / On Hold: This is your holding zone for any clients that haven’t decided to go ahead yet and/or require a follow up but are still on track to convert. Use the Notes section to outline exactly what needs to happen next with this client, set Reminders for follow-ups, and don’t forget to send copies of any further email correspondence to the Card..
• Agreed Terms: This is where you finalize your deals.

Once a client has reached the Agreed Terms Column, the next step is to create a new Buckets Project for that client. This is where you can create a workflow specifically for that client, add other team members on board (if needed) and get to work. You can even add your client to the Project if you wish. If you do decide to add your client to the Project, don’t forget that they’ll have access to all of the information available in the workflow — so make sure that you’re happy to share all of this information before sending them an invite.

This is a straightforward, intuitive, way to manage your clients from the initial contact stage straight through to the Project Management stage of your relationship. It’s necessary to have a CRM, but it’s not necessary to have a complicated CRM.

Buckets offers a catch-all solution for freelancers and small businesses that need a cost effective (free!) way to manage their clients relationships without creating even more work in the process.

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