Navigating the CRM Landscape: A Guide for Businesses of All Sizes

Hello and welcome to the show. It's available on YouTube, on Apple Podcasts, and on Spotify. I'm your host, Tavishima Ayede. Today is going to be a noisy episode because I'm out and about. I'm on the road, so expect to hear some interruptions in the background. Now, if you'd love to connect and explore opportunities with me, then call me on 08064662140 or WhatsApp me on the same number. The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, if you'd rather reach out to me on socials, then look for me on LinkedIn.

If you check me on other places, you'll probably hear back from me in a month. But LinkedIn? I'm there almost every day. So today we're going to look at what kind of CRM system is a bet best fit for your business. I'm going to explain what the CRM is for those of you who are newbies. This is your first time listening to the show then don't worry, we're going to get into that. But before I go into the meat of the matter, I'd like to apologise because I was gone for a couple of days and that's the reason.

And the reason because is because my crew and I were providing media services for the British Council. They had an event, which is an annual thing, the Inclusive Education Conference, and that is where they bring stakeholders in the education industry, you know, teachers, principals, what do you call them? Local government chairman, commissioners of education, you know, all these sorts of things. And it's all about making sure that education is accessible for people living with disabilities.

So, you know, people with cerebral policy, people who are hard of hearing or totally deaf, people who have different kinds of visual accommodations or people who are totally blind, people who are wheelchair bounds, people who have mobility issues, all those sorts of things. So this conference is just around making sure that our children and our colleagues who suffer from any of these issues are able to have access to a wholesome education, you know,

the same sorts of education that lots of us were able to receive growing up in Nigeria. So all these sorts of conversations. And so it's always nice hanging out at these events just to see the kind of strides that we're making in Nigeria to try and solve all the challenges that we face. I mean, of course, you know, we Nigerians, we know that our country has problems and every day we're inundated with the the problems of the country.

So it's just nice to be exposed to different corners of Nigeria here and there where people are trying to make a debt and to solve some things. So, yeah, that was a good event that took up the last two days. And yeah, really interesting. So I guess the reason why I'm sharing that is just to say that, yes, Nigeria has problems, but everything hasn't gone to the dogs just yet. And there are people who are dedicated and trying to make sure that we leave behind a greater country.

So it's OK to be frustrated, but don't lose hope. I mean, things can get better. And there are people who are dedicated to making the country better one step at a time. So today, let's head straight into the question, which is which CRM system is the best fit for your business? And of course, the reason why this topic is up here today is because I do meet business people who run into me and who want to know what kind of CRM

system should I be using for my business, Especially since I spend, I devote some time in some of the podcast episodes to saying that every single business should be using ACRM. Now, the best CRM for your business is contextual because it depends. It depends on your industry. It depends on whether you sell a product or a service. It depends on whether you have a sales team or not, how many people there on the sales team and what you want that CRM to integrate with.

Integration just means working with something. So you have a CRM, but then you plug it into something else. Like for those of you who run shops, maybe you know, Mumsy has just opened up a shop, a shop on, in Lagos Island, you know, in Leckie or something. And you guys have a CRM where all the customers data is. But then that also has to integrate with your, you know, that thing that when you guys scan something, it will now put the price up on the computer just so you so you can issue the bill to the to the customer.

So you need to make sure. So for people in that situation, you know, you want to know how your CRM is going to integrate with that thing, you know, that used to scan the barcodes and issue prices to everyone. So integration just means how well is this software working with all the other software. So these are the things that determine what kind of CRM is best for your business. So please do not fall prey to all these people online who are saying use HubSpot.

HubSpot is the best CRM for your business. You can't just say HubSpot is the best CRM for business, full stop. It depends. So whether you're going to use HubSpot, whether you're going to use Begin or whether you're going to use Zoho or Audio or or to ignore them altogether and use your phone, it's it all depends. So there's a whole lot of factors that we need to look into. Now for those of you who are newbies to the show, let's define CRM so that they're not,

you know, so they won't loss. So CRM basically just means customer relationship management tool. Some people say the C stands for clients. So whether you want to call it customer relationship management or client relationship management, some people say it's contact relationship management, any wish are all join. Whether you want to manage your contact, manage a client or manage a customer, that is what the CRM is there for.

It is that tool that you look at so that you know who exactly you are talking to. Who are your clients or who are the people that you're chasing to close business? What stage are you at at the relationship with them? What is the next step that you need to take or that the other people need to take to close the deal? And then also need to make sure that you have your customer info. So that is the tool that you open up and it's going to tell you that you're currently having a conversation with Missus Ogdenbe, that Missus Ogdenbe lives on, lives in Marina in Lagos, and that Miss Ogdenbe wants ABC and XYZ.

And that this is where you're going to record that you already had two meetings with Mrs. Rogeny. So far? So far. And I just looked at samples and that the next meeting is supposed to be on July 15th where you guys are going to start talking about the proposal. Yeah. So that sort of thing. So, of course, by the example that I've given, I hope that it is obvious why you need the CRM, because if you do not have ACRM, it is going to be very hard for you to wake up today and know exactly how many conversations you've had with Mrs. Rogeny.

What you are Mrs. Will Getting we are supposed to do next because you agree that we'll have a meeting and you've agreed to the agenda of the meeting. But Mr. Getting is going to get busy and I bet you she will forget. After all, you're the salesperson, you're the person who is trying to collect money from Mrs. Will Getting. But The thing is, you're also having conversations with five or six other people. So you're talking to Mrs.

Ogdenbe, but then last week you also spoke to Mr. Bayo, and then today you're going to speak to Malam Tanko, and then next tomorrow you're going to speak to Alhaja Risika. So by the time you're talking to Ogdenbe and Risika and Tanko and all these things, if you don't have ACRM, you just wake up one day and you get all your stuff mixed up. Because like, I was having a conversation with one guy and I told the guy how in the past I

was talking to two potential brides because I came from the wedding photography space and they both had the same name. Now these things happen, you know, for your people, because your people, well, this generation of your people have very common names. So it's not strange for you to run into Chemi Adebayo. So I can be talking about Chemi Adebayo and you as you're listening to the show, you know, a Chemi Adebayo, but we're both not talking about the same person.

These things happen. It's like Ayo Ademi, that's also another popular one because there are lots of Yoruba boys who are named Ayo Deji and who choose to use the short form Ayo. And then Ademi is also a popular surname. So as I'm here, as I'm I'm saying Ayo Ademi, you probably know two or three Ayo Ademi's, but we're not talking about the same person. So this thing happened when I was talking to bride, let me just say Cami Adebayo, well that's not her real name.

So I was talking to two Cami Adebayos, both of them potential brides because I didn't write it down anywhere, which Cameo I was talking to and what we agreed, that is how I accidentally swapped their wedding dates and swapped all the important details. So these are the reasons why you need a CRM because even if you're not in that situation where you're talking to two cameo DE BIOS or two IO are DM ES, you just, you know, you talk to Ogadenbay today, Tango tomorrow and Alimi next tomorrow and you just forget that, OK,

who am I supposed to see on Wednesday? Is it Mrs. Alimi or is it Mrs. Ogadenbay? So if you don't have ACRM, the thing will cause serious trouble for you. So you definitely need the CRM. Now let's look at the concrete example now, because what we're trying to talk about is which kind of CRM is best for your business. But just remember what it is that I said that you can't answer this question in absolute. You can't say there is a best CRM because some people will say, see sales force is the best.

It depends. For small and medium scale or nano business person here in Abuja, sales force, sorry in Nigeria, sales force is too complicated for you. Forget the fact that it's expensive. Even if you had the money and wanted to use it, it's just too big. It's just too expensive. So for one person who has one small business where you have only 10 salespeople as as your employees, sales force is overkill. It's just too much.

So we can't just say sales force is the best go and buy sales force or that hot spot is the best go and buy a hot spot. We have to ask ourselves a couple of things. Who am I? What industry am I in? What is the product or what's the service? What's the size of my sales team ABI, am I the only person and does this thing need to integrate with someone else? So we're done with the definition now that this over the CRM is and how it helps us track who we're talking to, who our client is, who our contact is, who our potential customer is, what stage are we at in the relationship?

What is the next step that we need to do? What is all the customers information and Oh yeah, you can also use it to track who is owing you money. So by the time you're down misses, we're getting there and you guys agree on the proposal and then she transfers you 50% deposit. You also put it down there in the CRM. OK, today by the we're getting there, we agreed she transferred 50% deposit which equals to 2.5 M, therefore she's owning us 2.5

M and she says she's going to pay the remaining 2.5 staggered over three months and she will pay 3030. So 33% each month. So you noted that in the CRM when you get back to the office you update your organ or orga, this is what happened blah, blah, blah. And then you know organ knows how he and accounting are going to reconcile that and you know or what not. But bottom line is you use the CRM to track all of these sorts of things in the relationship that you and this contact has or you and this client has or you and this customer has.

So don't get into many arguments about whether CRM is customer relationship management, contact relationship management, or client relationship management. For those of us who all want to just want to sell or join, you can call you whatever you want to call it. Bottom line is we're going to use it. We're going to use it whether we're dealing with contacts, whether we're dealing with customers or whether we're dealing with clients.

So, so I was going to give you a contract, sorry, I say contract. What's that word? Concrete? Yes, I'm going to give you a concrete example now. There is someone that I'm talking to right now, someone that I'm training right now on boarding, who is going to be part of the sales team for a real estate company that is selling tech solutions. So I'm handling their, I'm handling training their sales people. And so they've gotten the first person and it's now time to get her on board.

Now I love this client, this candidate. I well, when I say I love, I mean lovers in like not lovers in love. You know, I'm happily married. And besides, it will be unethical As for me, a sales trainer, to start putting eye on an employee in somebody's company, you know? So anyway, I was like, yeah, So what I love about this candidate is that she has previous selling experience because sometimes people come into a sales role,

they've had no selling experience before. They haven't tried running a business before. They haven't tried doing anything, no matter how small. Because even if you've tried selling Indo me before, it's good. You might be wondering, how is selling Indo me going to make somebody good at selling insurance? Well, at least you've tried, at least you've spoken to strangers, at least you know what rejection feels like. And at least you know the frustration of trying to talk to one person, two people, three people, 10 people because you're trying to sell something.

So she has, she has some previous experience. She sold perfume in university. For her final year, she sold a perfume. I'll be body oils or something. So I'm not in that space. So I don't know the difference between the perfume between a scent and between a body oil. So for me, I just say all of them are the same. But yeah, I know those of there are some of you who say, look, young man, these things are not the same. Perfume is this body scent is this deodorant is this body oil is this.

So yes, they all smell fresh, but it doesn't mean that the same thing. So in talking about her previous history selling perfume as a final year student undergrad for her, we didn't use the term CRM, but I was trying to find out how issue with CRMS. So for her, the way that she kept a record of her stuff was she had a small diary that she used to use. And see those of you listening to this podcast who are starting off new into the game, you can see how when I say that we need a CRM, it doesn't have to be tech.

It'll be nice if it's tech because tech or digital means that it can be cloud based and it can be shared with other people. But The thing is, if you start with a diary, it's not bad. Especially those small Diaries that you know, if you're female, the ones that you can just put inside your back pocket. Even that size of diary is not bad, which is what she had and this is how she used it. In her diary. She had a list of people that she needed to talk to and I

thought that was fantastic. It's very nice to start off the day or the week with a list of people that OK, among my classmates. I'm going to talk to this person after this person. I'll talk to this after this person. I'll talk to this after this person. I'll talk to that. Because if you just leave it up to how you wake up, you might wake up today and you say, oh, I wanted to talk to my classmates, but man, today I'm not feeling it or the weather is cold or I'm afraid or whatever, or I have headache.

And so I'm not going to talk to anybody. But if you open your diary and you see that you wrote in your diary that today you are going to talk to Bio to see how he can buy 5 body oils for his girlfriend, then you're going to talk to BC to see how she can buy 2 body oil for herself. Then after BC we're going to talk to Chinedu. This is how you can get him to buy 3 body oil for his mumsy. And then after that you're going to talk to Dauda to see how they can buy 3 body oil so that they can use in their incense burner at home or something.

So if you wake up and that's in your diary, you can see that. Well, there's a plan. Now you have to come up with with the course of action. Who am I going to talk to 1st? Will I will, are we going to talk before this lecture or before that lecture? How do I branch this person in all these sorts of things? But at least you have a list of people you're supposed to talk to. That's a prospecting list. And then that was in her diary.

By the way, she didn't meet any sales trainer. This was just her trying to be proactive and trying to get things done. But you can see how it works and you can see how even the diary can be ACRM because the list of the customers, or rather in this case, potential customer is there, potential client is there, contacts are there, because these are people that she goes to class with. So these are just contacts. So everything is there.

So in her diary that she'll put in her back pocket, not that big Diario, the small one that fits inside your back pocket, the jeans of your back pocket, list of people to talk to, That's what she put. She also put inside that diary people that were owing her money. So we put it there that she closed the deal with Bio Bio eventually bought 5, but she only had money for four. So he gave her cash for four. He said he's going to do the transfer.

The remaining ATK, he's going to do it after Philosophy five O 1 exams. So you put it down there in your diary. On the day of Philosophy five O 1, you put it there, go and chase bio, he's owing ME80K. He agreed to do bank transfer, you know that sort of thing. So list of people was in her diary. People owing her money was in her diary. She also put next appointments in the diary. So you spoke to Dauda. Dauda thinks this is a good thing, but he's broke right now,

Mom. She's going to send him money next month, January 20th. So let's talk after January 20. She will now put it down in the diary so that she can send Dauda a reminder, a text reminder January 18th. And then so that January 21st, you can start chasing him down, knowing that transfer would have entered January 20th. So yeah, she also put people owing her money. Yeah, next appointments. So scheduled next appointments. And then in the diary, she also put down people's preferences because you also need to know Dauda, which kind of oils does he like?

Bio. Bio is one who's buying for his girlfriend. What kind of body oils does girlfriend like? And then Professor Alimi, which kind of oils does he like? Let's say you're bold enough to sell to your professors. Maybe Professor Alimi buys it because maybe he has small arthritis, so he's looking for body oil that doesn't just smell good but also helps with arthritis. So it's inside that diet. I write everything down so you can see how for someone who is a final year student in a university selling perfumes and body oils, you can see how a diary is adequate for this stage.

When she's ready to scale up and to get other people to sell perfume on her behalf, then a diary would be inadequate. But for now, the diary that folds neatly into the back pocket so that she never forgets it, whether she's going to church or for lecture or for prayer meeting, it is always there. You know, because you know now that you need lifestyle. You know when you're hustling, you're trying to sell something, you have to be ready.

You can finish prayer meeting right now and it is a potential customer. And then you, you know, you do your thing, you swing into motion. I say you can't close that deal. So at that stage, the diary was adequate. Now that she has left that world, she's no longer selling perfume. She's no longer in university. She has finished university. And right now she has an employer who wants her to sell tech solutions for real estate companies.

Her own suggestion this was just normal interview banter was that you can use Trello as ACRM. Once I describe what the CRM was, because this company actually does not have ACRM right now. So that's a conversation I need to have with the company owner. So she wants to use Trello as ACRM now. Trello. Trello is a project management tool. There's a mobile version, so it's available on your phone. There's also a computer software web.

Version. So whether laptop, desktop or phone, you can use Trello. Now Trello actually is not a CRM, it is a project management tool. But however, like I keep saying on the podcast, you might decide that you want to do CRM but for now you are broke and you cannot pay for CRM using these tools. Trello, a project management tool, you can use that as a CRM. Evernote is a note taking tool, but it has scheduling functions and has a calendar.

You can use that as a CRM. And I've always said that if you don't use any of these things for now, you can use your phone, the Google Suite, Google Suite as the CRM. You can use the calendar to be scheduling stuff. You can use the Google notes to be writing down stuff. You can use what else? What else? But I hope you guys are getting the picture to see how all these things work. So even if the employer does not get ACRM for her, I'm impressed and I'm glad that she's looking at Trello as ACRM tool.

Even though it's for project management, we can use it now. Trello has 2 features. There's a list feature, you're creating a list of things to do. And when she said Trello, that's the reason why that's what she was thinking of. The list feature where you list activities for the day and then tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. So you can use the list feature to come up with based on what she was doing before, a list of contacts.

And as you approach each contact, you take off, you take off, you take off a list of contacts or a list of leads. Then you can also create a list to show the number of qualification meetings or conversations that they need to have this week for potential clients. And then you can also use the list noting list function to track the quotes that you've issued or proposal that you've issued. So you can use Trello lists. Now, Trello also has a feature that is called cards.

Cards is like, how would I say like a file, you know, like back in the old days, how you enter into your office. That's for those of us who parents works in the civil service. You know, you enter Popsy's office and then you just have files on the desks. So that's kind of like what the card is just the digital version. So you can create a Trello card for an individual client or an individual contact or an individual person that you're chasing to try and close the deal.

And then in those cards you have the contact information, you have notes about the conversations. Last week I saw the person December 1st, you write it down, this was what the meeting was about. This week I met the person December 7th, this is what the meeting was about. The next meeting is supposed to be December 23rd, and this is what that meeting is supposed to be about. Everything will go down there in the travel card.

And then you now use the scheduling function so that the card keeps pinging you on the important date so that you wake up, you're going about your day, then your phone does zoom, zoom or ping him or whatever the notification sound is. And then you look and then you see the Trello meeting with Mrs. Ogdenbee, 11:00 AM at her office. And you know, remember that it's true. I haven't buffed yet. Let me buff and let me hurry up and go for this meeting.

So that's how you use Trello. So these are just examples. It's not exhaustive, but you can see how before Diary was fine for her. Now it's a new industry, it's a new product, it's a new service. She's going to be working with other people, but she happens to be salesperson #1 and right now she's exploring Trello as a CRM. So this is how you're supposed to think about it when you're answering the question, which CRM is the best fit for your business?

So don't just say HubSpot is the best go and buy HubSpot or Salesforce is the best go and buy Salesforce or say, OK, I don't have money. So let me only look at free audio is free. Zoho is free, which was, you know, it's not, it's not that simple. OK, well, it's simple, but it doesn't have to be that complicated. So this is how we narrow everything down, small, small, small, small. And this is how we can use different things as CRM options.

So my own recommendation for those of you who are small and medium scale business people, especially if you think you're going to scale anytime soon. Right now you're selling by yourself like this real estate person. Next year you want to get one person to sell and hopefully in two years you won't have like 5 people selling for you. My recommendation is just out with a dedicated CRM. So auto is free. They also based in they also an African company so I think they have like Niger offices and stuff like that.

So maybe customer support should be easy, I don't know but that's just a guess. That's my own guess. But I know that auto is is an African thing and the auto is ODO. That one is free. It's not just CRM. They also have human resource solutions. They also have accounting something, you know, like when you send invoices, you know, how much money do you have in your bank account, blah, blah, blah, all those sorts of things.

Audio does that as well. Sorry, excuse me, the Qatar is still there. So audio ODOO, that one is free. Zoho is also free. That's ZOHO. Zoho, that one is free. What problem is over is for your free account, I think you're limited to only three users. So if you have two people selling for you, that's fine. You will have one account. The other people have one account. If you have four people selling for you or then there's a problem because you can only have 3 users.

Maybe what you do is you remove yourself and then you you give access to the other three people. Then maybe we need to cross check something. You collect somebody's phone and you start looking inside. That's how you get overview function. So Zoho limited for, although I don't know if there's any limits on their free on the free. What's it called on the free package. Then there's also begin, which is in the same family as Zoho as in the same company that makes Zoho that makes begin.

Begin is there begin. You can now pay for beginning in naira. So you don't have to look for hard currency, you don't have to pay in dollars. I've noticed that Begin has been doing lots of advertising. I've been seeing lots of their billboards in Abuja. So I don't know about Lagos, what accords all those other parts of Nigeria. But at least in Abuja, Shah in central area in Abuja, the advertisements are popping up everywhere.

So Begin, it looks like Begin is here to stay. Like they really want to enter this Nigerian market. So you can now pay in naira, you don't have to pay in USD. And that's also another thing, some of these softwares, I know people who do what you call like computer coding and things like that. So some of the problems that they have is some of these things that they need to pay for, they need to pay in dollars. And then you know how our banking sector is today you can use your GT bank card, but then tomorrow CBN chairman will wake up and say something and then they now discontinue it.

And then you don't have access to the thing to do your job. So that whole thing of whether you're paying in naira or paying in dollar, it actually does make a difference. So we begin now that you can pay in naira, you don't have to use your GTB dollar card or whatever. But my recommendation is, bottom line, you should be using something, some sort of dedicated CRM system. However, if you choose not to use any of these or you don't have a choice, there are other things that can be done.

You can use diary like this lady. When you graduate to something much more sophisticated, you can use Trello. She's familiar with Trello. You can use Trello. So bottom line, what I'm just trying to say is the answer to the question, which CRM system is the best fit for your business? There's no one answer. It depends. If you're selling perfume, it's just you. You're a final year student diary, absolutely fine. If you're about to be employed by a real estate company and it's a startup, you guys should be looking at something that is a bit more tech oriented, a bit more cloud oriented so that when you update your thing like Trello.

Now, if she uses Trello, as this babe puts in any information into Trello, all of her team members will be able to see this information, you know, wherever they are, if it is a shared list or a shared board. So that's the advantage. You know, you don't have to be with her. That's why I like some of these cloud based solutions. So I can be here in Abuja doing my thing. I update Trello. You can be where you are right now in Port Harcourt listening to this podcast as I update the file.

Just give you like 2-3 minutes, you'll be able to see all the updates there. You now know how to follow up so that if the company sucks me today and I leave and tomorrow are the one that's supposed to continue. All you have to just open up Trello. All the details are there. You know how you can continue that conversation, miss or getting way and close the deal. So yeah, so that's the bottom line. Bosha, try and be using something.

The person that is in the worst situation is the person who decides, you know what? Let me just run this thing. Let me freestyle this thing. Let me run it from my brain. The person that is running from your brain, that's the person that is in the worst possible situation. You will definitely forget something. And the moment you forget something, you forget to push the deal. And that's how you wake up one day in three months.

And like I was talking to Madam, if I had closed that deal would have been worth 2.5. The reason why you're now saying had I known it should have been worth and you know, all of this, all of that, and here. Yeah. And looking into the past is precisely because you did not have a CRM. So please, please, please, please do not try on Freestyle. If it's a diary, get a diary. If it's Trello, use Trello. If you have money, go and get begin or get Salesforce or get a hotspot.

If you're looking for something free, Zoho is there, Auto is there, and I'm sure that there are other alternatives. If you just do a quick Google search, you will find out the stuff. So thank you very much for your time and attention. That's all for today. Remember that you would love to connect and explore opportunities with me. You can call me on 080 64662140 or WhatsApp me on the same number. The country code again is +234.

For those of you who are not Nigerian and for social media, connect with me on LinkedIn. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.