My construction company recently celebrated its 15th year in operation and, even better, business is really heating up. My concern is that, with this lengthy history and sizable client list, so much information seems to be falling through the cracks. We try to track everything through a shared spreadsheet, but it’s kind of a mess. Is there a better way?
Indeed, there is. Your construction company might benefit from customer relationship management (CRM) software. Of course, you’ll still need to carefully assess such a purchase in relation to your budget and any product’s return on investment. But here are a few ways a CRM system could help:
Consolidate client data in one place. The basic purpose of CRM software is to organize and store customer and prospect data in one, easily accessible centralized location. This streamlines communication among employees because it eliminates the information silos that often occur when estimators have some contacts, project managers have others, and so on. As a result, everyone has access to the same, comprehensive data — no more lost time hunting down missing information!
Client data can include anything from company and contact information to project history and email exchanges to their relationship to your company (for example, long-term client vs. prospect). You can then organize these contacts into groups (for instance, by company) or into any list you see fit. This helps identify trends or client-specific requirements that may dictate which team members need to be involved in the sales process.
Create a library of past projects and bids. A CRM system can serve as a library for past projects and bids, which estimators can use to find the optimal projects to reference for a proposal. This data can also be analyzed to identify the types of jobs your company has a high percentage of winning, so you can then focus on more winnable bids.
Organize business partners. Business partners also can be added to CRM software — including general contractors, subcontractors, architects and even competitors. You can use this information during the sales process to provide staff with a complete picture of the owner, competing general contractors, relevant subcontractors, the architect and anyone else involved in the bid.
Access data from anywhere. Cloud-based CRM solutions take sharing to a higher level by allowing users to update and retrieve data on the go. Employees equipped with mobile devices can quickly find the details on a company, contract or bid — in real time, from anywhere. As a result, tasks don’t get stalled and team members can oversee projects more effectively and close bids more quickly.
We welcome the opportunity to put our construction industry expertise to work for you. To learn more about how our firm can help advance your success, please contact Dave Wolfenden at (302) 254-8240.
