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Female Founders: How to Lead With a CRM

Each year, International Women’s Day marks a time to step back and reflect on the progress made by women in the professional world – and to take note of changes still to come. The UN’s theme for International Women’s Day 2017, “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030,” seeks to build momentum for gender equality, female empowerment and inclusive, quality education for all. The 2030 agenda lays out key targets and goals for such initiatives, including ending discrimination, violence and harmful practices against women around the world by 2030.

As dynamics in the working world shift, some themes remain constant for all business owners and professionals: productivity, organization and creativity are key ingredients for success. The below female business leaders are using CRM systems to maintain those values and improve their bottom lines in the process:

Chris Kay Fraser, founder at Firefly Creative Writing: In 2014, Fraser began using a CRM system to organize the sometimes-chaotic details that small businesses navigate daily. With operational concerns in check, she could spend more time approaching clients creatively, engaging with their own creative work, and finding her own time to write – making her a more effective writing coach for her clients.

Erin Mathie and Melissa Bamfo, co-founders of Business Made Simple: As a company that works to help small businesses simplify operations and run smoothly, it’s critical for Business Made Simple’s co-founders to maintain the same practices internally. A CRM offered a way for Mathie and Bamfo to improve workflow and task management while maintaining a clean, full sales pipeline.

Lindsey Fish and Lucy Chapman, partners at Little Fish Event Management: Collaboration and information sharing are key to the success of any small business – especially when the employees work remotely. Fish and Chapman streamline their projects using Skype, Google Apps, Mailchimp and Insightly CRM to maintain sustainable databases, capture leads, send reminders and track client conversations.

 

 

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

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Is a CRM Right for Your Non-Profit Organization?

 

Is a CRM right for your non-profit organization?

For most organizations, business growth is defined by revenues won, customers served, mergers and acquisitions, and, sometimes, public market share performance. Non-profits, on the other hand, track a different kind of bottom line: funds raised, constituents served and social reach, for example.

Still, both types of organizations must plan for growth in a similar way. They initiate, nurture and grow relationships with audiences, which may include consumers, donors, volunteers or prospects. They use resources wisely and pursue goals aggressively. And, they carefully pick technology solutions that deliver the highest return for their investments.

Can CRM solutions benefit non-profit organizations in the same way they serve small businesses? Recently, Insightly surveyed 248 non-profit professionals to learn how they use CRM for to manage projects, grow contacts and expand influence to further their missions. If you’re wondering if a CRM is right for you, consider the below findings from the survey:

  • Issues with organizing information are the No. 1 donor management problem for non-profit organizations.
  • More than half of survey respondents said a CRM helped raise their productivity between 10 and 49 percent. One-third of respondents saw a productivity bump of more than 50 percent.
  • Non-profits must close deals to bring in revenue to support their missions – and managing those client relationships is a primary function for a CRM system.
  • CRM systems increased efficiency and efficacy of donor management for the majority of survey respondents, which helped encourage new donor contributions as well.
  • Nearly 60 percent of non-profits surveyed saw a return on their CRM investment within three months of implementing the solution.

Any new solution adopted by a non-profit shouldn’t simply aim to improve how the business runs – it should help run it better, so the organization’s reach within its community can grow. Learn more about how non-profits find success with CRMs by downloading our e-book: “Increase donations and give back more: How non-profits use CRM to fulfill their missions.”

 

 

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

Share love, share Insightly: Refer Insightly, Receive a Reward.

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