Manage your VIP clients effectively

This article was included in the March 8th, 2016 issue of the LACRM Newsletter.

Every business has small one-time customers and big repeat customers, and while it is possible to keep track of smaller prospects with spreadsheets and Post-Its, bigger customers need more attention and focus on detail which a CRM can help with. Tom Crouser, Founder and President of Crouser & Associates Inc., has many consulting projects with big clients and needs to regularly follow up with them in order to make sure all bases are covered. Here is how he uses the CRM for his projects:

“My team regularly adds notes, assigns tasks and schedules events in the CRM, and now that we have regular clients that we work with on a monthly basis, we’ve ramped up our CRM-use even more. We’ve found that this made it much easier for us to keep track of all the moving parts and stay up-to-date with all our clients and high-dollar follow ups.

There are 2 to 3 of us who work with clients in the field, and we have a few other supporting staff. Because of this, it used to be difficult to keep notes on any one client in one spot. By saving files and logging emails in the CRM, any team member can find updated information about any client.”

-Tom Crouser, Founder and President of Crouser & Associates Inc

How a CRM can help

When you don’t have the right tools, it can be more difficult to work with larger clients. A CRM helps minimize this by letting you keep all of your clients’ information and history in one place. The best follow ups are ones that are informed, and with your biggest clients, the last thing you want is for them to feel like just another customer to you. By using a CRM, you can keep track of every little interaction you have with your VIP clients whether you are on the phone or at the negotiating table. This way, you can be assured that you (and anyone on your team) will know exactly what to say each and every time you meet them.

Tip to try: If you are new to the CRM, add one of your big projects/customers into the system to see how it can help you out first. Do you need to change any part of your usual CRM workflow? Should you create a new pipeline for them? See what helps you the most with this client -- is it email logging? Is it the task feature?

Even if you’ve used the CRM for some time, working with bigger customers in the CRM will make you take a closer look at what habits you can tweak to work the CRM to your benefit. Once you have a process that works successfully with your VIPs, you’ll have a process to works for just about anyone!

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