Many companies use spreadsheets to organize data such as income and expenses, sales and marketing data, and contact files for mailing lists. Spreadsheets aren’t always the best tool for managing certain types of data. They were actually created to mimic old-fashioned accounting spreadsheets, and can be difficult to use for other types of data, such as mailing lists. If you’ve ever typed what you thought was a proper name into Excel and had it change it into numbers, then you know exactly what we mean.
Yet there are still many companies who continue to use spreadsheets to manage project data, sales tracking, and plenty of business tasks that spreadsheets certainly can handle, even if they weren’t designed for it. But problems arise when spreadsheets get messy and too many users are manipulating the data. That’s where a more robust system might be in order.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Spreadsheets
Companies often turn to spreadsheets instead of other data management options for the simple reason that spreadsheet software is widely, even freely available. Google Sheets can be accessed through any web-based connection, and shared easily among employees working with the same data.
Yet spreadsheets have their limitations. Think about the following advantages and disadvantages of spreadsheets:
Advantages
- Good for the purposes for which it was built – accounting data.
- Software is easily accessible via the web.
- Free spreadsheet software is available.
- Virtually identical software packages make it easy for users to move from one program to another without a learning curve.
- Easy to share among 1-3 users.
Disadvantages
- Data must be typed in manually or made into data files, then imported.
- One mistake can mess up a big chunk of your data.
- Reports can be cumbersome.
- Can quickly become huge and unwieldy.
- Not effective at visually making sense of your info.
- Unless you become a whiz at formulas, it’s difficult to use.
- Not much info can reasonably fit into a tiny box.
Excel was created for accounting needs, not data analysis. As businesses began to rely on more data inputs from different parts of the company, they needed more robust tools to manage and manipulate data. Combine that with the need for better data visualization than spreadsheets can offer you, and you’re looking at the future of data: Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
For companies that need faster, better data, or need data from multiple sources such as sales and financial data in one cloud-based application, a CRM system may be right for you. Insightly is a great example, and we’ll use it to highlight a few specific features below.
A CRM consolidates all of the information it receives into a single program. By using a series of menu pages, it’s also much easier to look at than an array of cells on a spreadsheet. Here’s some of the key advantages of using a CRM:
CRM Advantages
- Robust Contact Pages. A CRM can pack a lot of information onto a simple screen. With Insightly, for example, each contact has a profile page with a photo (automatically transferred from their email or social media profile), contact details and links to their social media accounts, including a stream of their latest Tweets or updates.
There are also tabs along the top which show your email correspondence with the client, upcoming appointments, notes and documents you’ve saved and more.
- Sales Management & Forecasting: A CRM gives you tons of additional tools to track your appointments with clients and monitor the progress of a sale. You can schedule phone calls/tasks and view them on a calendar. Each sales opportunity has a “profile” page where you can view relevant emails and documents and track the probability of winning. This, in turn, lets you forecast your overall sales earning, or view your sales funnel”
- Collaboration: Most CRMs today are web-based, which means instead of installing anything on your computer, you log into the program from a web-browser. This means that you and your employees can login from any device and use the CRM simultaneously. If one user updates a sale opportunity, all others will be notified immediately – you never have to risk working off old information.
How Do I Switch To a CRM?
The one good thing about using spreadsheets for client management is that it will be very easy to import your data to a CRM system. Insightly lets you import data directly from an Excel or .CSV spreadsheet.
By the process of “data mapping,” you specify which column in your spreadsheet corresponds to which value in the CRM. In other words, tell the system which column on your spreadsheet says the client’s name, their company, their phone number, their job title, etc. Then, the CRM will “read” your spreadsheet and automatically create new contact and company pages with all their information filled in.
Alternatively, you can usually also import contacts directly from Gmail or Outlook.
Read more about importing data into Insightly.
How Much Will It Cost To Switch?
As a first-time user, you can usually pay next-to-nothing. A lot of CRMs have free editions that are suitable as long as you don’t have too many users or need too much storage.A user counts as anybody who needs a unique login – to assign themselves leads, schedule appointments, and use the software in general.
Insightly, for example, is free for 2 users and up to 2,500 records – a record being anything you need to save in the system, such as a contact, task, opportunity, etc.
I’m Still Not Sure If a CRM is Right For Me
The key strength of a CRM system is that it keeps client information organized in one place – including email correspondence, appointments notes and documents. This makes it ideal for small businesses that have a fairly long sales process (such as realtors, brokers, or remodelers) as well as businesses who have ongoing relationships with their clients (such as suppliers, consultants, or IT services).
You might also consider another option alongside a CRM. Retailers should strongly consider a modern POS system that can help track inventory, employees, and customer interactions. You might also consider project management software – but this is another feature Insightly offers with its CRM.
Even those who run a shop, however, or undergo lengthy projects, may still want to consider a CRM if they’re trying to acquire new clients. There’s really no better solution out there for managing leads. What’s more is you can usually sync up a CRM with other web-based systems, such as Basecamp or Shopify, so that data is automatically transferred and shared between them.
At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a huge variety of verticals. Learn about Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.
Jeremy Marsan is a business analyst and staff writer for Fit Small Business whose areas of expertise include business technology, real estate, and franchising. When not helping small business owners he enjoys many artistic projects, including music performance/recording, blogging, creative writing, and carpentry.
